Italian jazz musician Paolo Fresu pays homage to the late British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist David Bowie. He will do it on June 5th in Pristina, during the second concert of a very special Balkan tour supported by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the integrated promotion programme “Vivere all’Italiana”, accompanied by a top-notch band: Petra Magoni (vocals), Filippo Vignato (trombone), Francesco Diodati (guitar), Francesco Ponticelli (contrabass) and Christian Meyer (drums). The event will take place at 8 p.m. at “Kino Armata”, a multifaceted cultural space in Kosovo’s capital.
“For this project, I decided to put together a unique band, specifically created, with great and eclectic musicians coming from different experiences, beyond jazz. Approaching David Bowie’s music is a great emotion and an extraordinary opportunity for all of us, especially in a region like the Balkans and in a country like Kosovo, where jazz is loved, but so are rock, funk, and blues music experiments”, Paolo Fresu explains.
Fresu and his fellow musicians have selected around thirty songs, including “Heroes”, “Life on Mars”, “This Is Not America”, “Warszawa” and “When I Live My Dreams”. Each band member has contributed to the project, adding more variety and dynamism. “Bowie is an immortal artist who had always been close to jazz. We will try to have the utmost respect for his art but also be proactive, casting a fresh light on these songs”, adds Fresu.
For the Italian Ambassador to Kosovo Antonello De Riu and the Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tirana Alessandro Ruggera “the concert in Pristina by a prominent exponent of Italian music like Fresu, an internationally renowned jazz musician, falls within the strategy of making our artists even more known in a region and a country that are central to us. Jazz, always being the music of integration, can help to tell the story of a region that is trying to leave behind its recent past and move towards the European future it rightfully aspires to”.
Alush Gashi, Director of “Kino ARMATA,” expresses his “pride” for Fresu’s concert and the collaboration with the Embassy and the Italian Cultural Institute, which “significantly increased Italy’s offering in Kosovo in all artistic forms: music and cinema, theatre, as well as art, design, and science.”
Tickets for Fresu’s concert, priced symbolically at 5 euros, are available for purchase every day from Monday to Friday, between 16:00h – 20:00h, at “Kino ARMATA” in Pristina (Brigada e Kosoves) or by booking them at info@kinoarmata.org
Prior to the Kosovo concert, Fresu and his fellow musicians will perform in Podgorica (June 3rd) and subsequently in Tirana (June 6th) and Bucharest (June 8th).
