Reviews: Ring Ring Festival, Belgrade Yugoslavia [18-05-2001]  |  Heather May 10-15 2001 - www.cyberrex.org/ringring The fifth annual "Ring Ring" festival in Belgrade, Yugoslavia wrapped up another year of events featuring exciting veeery new and veeery old musicical guests from around the world. The festival, through the near-super-human tenacity of it's organizers, has managed to grow in its breadth and diversity over the last five years. Considering the tumultuous political and economic situation in the festival's home town, this has been quite a feat. Highlights of RingRing 2001 included blistering performances by Peter Brotzmann and Michael Wertmuller, uplifting Hungarian folk/rockery from ensemble Kizz Erzsi Music, eclectic Czech madness from violin legend Iva Bittova, electronics feats by UK experimentalist Kaffe Matthews, the dueling mousepads ofYugoslavian post-techno-electricians Blank Disc, and "contaminated chamber" turbo-charged Czech/Austriain string music by quartet Metamorphosis. Ring Ring's ending performance clearly was the highlight of the festival: this was a performance by Romanian legends, Taraf de Haidouks. After a week of glorious Mediterranean weather, few imagined that the festival's only outdoor performance was in barometric danger! But, only ten minutes before the concert began, storm clouds gathered over the Danube and consequently let out their wrath upon the unsuspecting festival, pouring torrents of rain upon the theater which was carved into the rock at the base of Belgrade Castle. Many feared the show would be cancelled, but innovation prevailed! Obviously practiced in last-minute performance trouble-shooting, the Haidouks dodged from the podium into a long tunnel deep under the castle which terminated in a large catacomb-like chamber. Following them of course were upwards of 1000 eager fans, filling the crypst and starting a dance which would end hours later. Taraf began a nearly two-hour set of exquisite Rom (Gypsy) music, from frenetic dances to haunting ballads. The muti-generational 12-piece group (members ages vary from teens to those in their 90's!) delighted and amazed a soggy and progressively dustier crowd. Without microphone and amplifier, it was frequently difficult to hear nuances of the performances, but what was lost in fidelity, was more than made up for by the concert's unsurpassable atmosphere.
	© & ® - 2001 - TAMIZDAT nonprofit organization    |    U Rajske zahrady 4, 130 00 Prague 3, Czech Republic tel/fax: +4202.2272.1167 press and sales: heather@tamizdat.org booking and development: matthew@tamizdat.org dispatch design and building: martin@tamizdat.org logo and support: martin.turzik@deadred.sk tamizdat webmaster: scott@tamizdat.org