Balkan Christmas Night

In Romania, Christmas (Colinde) and New Year songs wish you health and prosperity, seek reconciliation with the souls of the dead or tell of a life in close connection with nature. Oana Cǎtǎlina Chiţu gives these songs a crystal magic through her jazzy interpretations and invites you on an acoustic journey into a snowy country at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains.

Together with the Jovanović Trio under the direction of the well-known accordion virtuoso and welcome guest in our club, Dejan Jovanović, she approaches her home country's Christmas songs authentically and freely. Don't miss out on this very special Christmas Eve at ufaFabrik.

Oana Cǎtǎlina Chiţu comes from Humulești in northern Romania and came to Berlin in the nineties. Her repertoire includes tango music from Bucharest in the 1930s as well as songs by the Roma and from various Balkan cultures. So authentically and yet freely, no female singer of the younger generation has ever approached Tangos á la Romanesque.

Oana Cǎtǎlina Chiţu has become known to a larger audience throughout Europe through her sensitive interpretation of the repertoire of Romanian folk singer Maria Tănase. The accompanying album “Divine” and the predecessor CD “Bucharest Tango” have been released by the Berlin-based label Asphalt Tango Records.

Dejan Jovanović grew up in Obrenovac near Belgrade. He came to Berlin in 1999 after winning numerous accordion competitions in Serbia to study classical accordion at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. His masterly accordion playing is appreciated and in demand throughout Europe; in 2021 and 2022, he was honored with scholarships by the Music Fund, GVL and the German Music Council. However, Dejan is not only a gifted accordionist, but also composes for accordion as well as for symphony orchestra. Some of his compositions were performed in Serbia at the New Year's Concert in January 2020 with the RTS Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, Dejan was also on tour in Serbia with the “Virtuouzi” symphony orchestra.

The “Dejan Jovanović Ensemble” with the Belgrade Philharmonic String Quintet and Romanian singer Oana Catalina Chitu is his latest project, in which, as in all musical activities, he invests a great deal of passion. His ensemble's first concert took place at the Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade and was broadcasted several times on the radio. For the New Year's Concert 2023 at the “Kolarac” concert hall in Belgrade, Dejan premiered some of his works with his ensemble and the “Kamerata” symphony orchestra.

Vladimir Karparov's music, which is as independent as it is expressive, is characterized by a perfect fusion of contemporary jazz and the rhythmic and melodic colors of Bulgaria's vital folk music. The multi-inspired musician and talented composer, who easily crosses genre boundaries, released very successful own albums such as “Thracian Dance” (2007), Forkolor (2014), Antihypocrisyl (2016), Iglika (2022). In 2020, he received the award from the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture for popularizing Bulgarian culture worldwide. In addition to working in his own formations such as the V. Karparov Quartet, the Balkan Spirit Ensemble, the Forkolor Saxophone Quartet as well as the Duo Stawinski & Karparov and the Karparty Brass Band, he actively performs as a guest musician with various formations.

https://www.vladimirkarparov.com/