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AJVAR & STERZ  .  °  . °  .  °  . °  .  °  . °  .  °  . °  .  °  . °  .  °
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"Ajvar & Sterz" catches you by surprise. The literally unheard-of effect of these songs not only lies in the unfamiliar (more precisely: no longer familiar) "exotic" sound of the hurdy-gurdy --- but even more so in the meticulous precision in dealing with both lyrics and tunes. This is an expedition off the worn-out tracks - with the unexpected result that the presumably familiar realm of Central and South-Eastern European music has to be charted anew: to put things unknown on the map and re-evaluate some of those we thought we knew: Schubert's Winterreise, we realize, belongs to the same musical world as an Albanian dirge. In preparing their ajvar and sterz, Natasa Mirkovic-De Ro und Matthias Loibner do without the artificial sweeteners, flavours and preservatives which we have gotten used to - here we get the subtle overtones which new renditions of Balkans and Alpine music so often lack, all the fine nuances between the tragic and the exuberant.

Johann Kneihs, Austrian Radio


II

It's a blessing that they found each other. Nataša Mirkovic' - de Ro with her never-ending cultural knowledge, fantastic voice and smart presence on stage, Matthias Loibner with his limitless musical creativity and abilities. Their art is glossed with the finest of varnishes.
Purists have to admit that they do not preserve traditional songs, they put them on their feet. They don't mummify their souls but wake them. Modernists on the other hand have to admire the timelessness and placelessness of this delicate treatment of music. It isn't world music, it is "music of world".

Richard Schuberth, Writer and free journalist

III

Versatile Bosnian singer Natasa Mirkovic performed opera, jazz and rock as well as traditional and gypsy song before fleeing war-torn Sarajevo and settling in Austria where she met hurdy-gurdy maestro Matthias Loibner whilst singing with the celebrated Sandy Lopicic Orkestar. With intense, expressive feeling she joins her exquisite vocals to the exotic yet strangely familiar sounds of the ancient hurdy-gurdy. The programme includes Bosnian and Serbian folk song, quirky Alpine tunes, nursery rhymes and sprightly hurdy-gurdy madness with electronic effects, and won the duo a prestigious Austrian World Music Award in 2005. Expect to be enchanted.


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