Gitar art festival (GAF) this year for the 20th time jubilee reminds that the spirit of the people is best kept in art. Is it a form of life through the magical Flamenco - jazz or the gypsy sound of the swine - an incredible combination of the temperament of one nation and the skill of its virtuosos.
Rosenberg Trio from the Netherlands is certainly among the best performers of that contagious Roma sound where on the European soil he put up the unsurpassable Dzhango Reinhart, the three-finger lightning, the first and probably the only jazz guitarist who influenced his colleagues across the ocean. But also Rosenberg's Troika, brothers with unusual names - Guitar Strings, Nonni of Double Bass and Guitar Rhythm Wrestling that performed on March 13 at Kombakt Arena within the GAF.
In their music there is something in the world - Romanesque, Hungarian, Balkan, Roma folklore, because they are Manushi, Roma from Central Europe, who inherited the rhythms and music of their ancestors. Then Jango appeared among them and explained how it works and formed a single musical language where the rhythm of the fathers made the swing.
In this way, folk became jazz variation in a European way. Guitars took over the primacy, and the whistle became the place where fingers fly through the wires faster than the fastest racing circles in Monza.
Otherwise, the Rosenberg Trio, as first class performers of that unique style, plays the familiar melodies, but always something their own. There were appearances everywhere (in Belgrade they were twice) from the "North Sea Jazz" festival to the Carnegie Hall New York City, everywhere with a reminder that the legend is one and only.
If you want to learn and understand Roma jazz, start with Django, the best guitarist forever, says Stokelo Rosenberg who started playing guitar when he was only 10 years old. He then started listening to Django and he learned all his solos, emitting it to the last detail, which was a good reason not to miss this performance.
Despite the Romani swing in the trend is flamenco, so the Gitar Art Festival managed to bring one of the best in this style of gig, Porcelain flamenco guitarist Vicente Amigo held a concert on March 12th in the same hall. In his career Amigo visited Belgrade several times and returned again ten years ago to present the numbers from his current album "Memoria de los sentidos". On this album, this artist returns to his traditional roots of the flamenco and paid tribute to his teacher and friend Paco de Lucia with the number Requiem.
Amigo has so far collaborated with well-known names such as Alejandro Sanz, Khaled or Miguel Bose, and with Sting recorded the big hit "Send Your Love". So far, he has performed with the greatest contemporaries of the guitar such as Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and even rock names such as Joe Satriani, Steve Wey, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan.
