Medna Roso | © Cologne Jazzweek Medna Roso | © Cologne Jazzweek
© Cologne Jazzweek
Medna Roso (Chisholm / PJEV / Downes)

Medna Roso (Chisholm / PJEV / Downes)

A cappella vocal quintet PJEV | Kit Downes: piano | Hayden Chisholm: saxophone | “Medno Roso” is further magnificent proof of the unifying power of the world language that is music. In the project of the same name – and their debut album – the female a cappella vocal quintet PJEV from Zagreb comes together with British pianist and organist Kit Downes and New Zealand saxophonist Hayden Chisholm. Here enchanting vocals and traditional Balkan folk music songs meet upon Hammond grooves and microtonal rapid saxophone passages complemented by the Shruti Box, analogue synthesizer throat singing. A chance encounter between Jovana Lukić, the director of PJEV, and Chisholm in a Kafana, a traditional Serbian restaurant, in Belgrade, led to a new and unique musical meeting of cultures. The performance in Salzburg is only their second joint concert.

Artist biography Kit Downes

With an indescribable versatility, never-ending curiosity and not least a stupendous technique on the piano, keyboard, and organ, 37-year-old Kit Downes has become a type of figurehead of the new London jazz scene. The boundaries of which he has long broken free from: Downes has been one of Europe’s most popular musicians for years. Alongside his own trios – the work of which ECM is, meanwhile, equally as happy to release as his organ work Obsidian – he now also works with, amongst others, the German Pablo Held, Nils Wogram and Benny Greb, Dutch guitarist Rainier Baas, Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and French drummer Sylvain Darrifourcq. Downes has recently also become a member of the new Monkey Mind band of Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola.

Artist biography Hayden Chisholm

In the search for the most significant New Zealand jazz musician you inevitably come across the saxophonist Hayden Chisholm even though the 48-year-old studied in half the world and ended up settling in Cologne. In the nineties he made a name for himself with Nils Wogram’s Root 70, by accompanying James Taylor and with his debut album “Circe”. Since then, the award-winning sound aesthete who often works with Sebastian Gramss has been capturing the attention with special projects for example the two 13 CD boxes “View of Hearts” and “Cusp Of Oblivion” or as a protagonist in the documentary film “Sound of Heimat – Deutschland singt”.