A unique musical performance, a concert of contemporary music for an unusual ensemble: female voice, clarinet, violin, cello and contrabass clarinet, called “Lilith Abi Lullaby – Lullaby for Fear” was held in Belgrade on two occasions: on December 9 as live broadcast in Studio 6 of Radio Belgrade and on December 10, 2022 in the Mestašce Jazz Cafe Bar. The Polish band Bastard Trio, a contemporary ensemble focused on original and improvised music, performed together with prominent Serbian artists Branislava Podrumac, voice, and Katarina Aleksić, violin.
The concert “Lilith_Abi Lullaby – Lullaby for Fear” deals with the theme of the lullaby – timeless, universal, and at the same time deeply personal music. Elements of trance in music and emotions depicted through special sound colors and effects make this program particularly interesting.
This program was realized on the initiative of the violinist Katarina Aleksić who is also artistic director of the “2022 Europe Be My Guest” project.
All performers participate in the creation of music, based on simple, short melodies of traditional lullabies, in a kind of composer-improvisational experiment.
The name of the program “Lilith Abi” is related to the rite of putting the child to sleep in the ancient Jewish tradition and is a magical power to protect the newborn child from the evil female demon Lilith, who was believed to lurk around the house, especially in the first 40 days after the child’s birth, and wait for the opportunity to kidnap a newborn or a woman in labor. The catchphrase “Lilith Abi” evolved to the word “Lullaby”, a lullaby.
Bastarda Trio is a band with an unconventional composition and unique color (clarinet, contrabass clarinet and cello), who plays original music based on improvisation, playing with different themes. In their beginnings, more focused on the research of medieval melodies and musical themes related to certain rituals, on the last few albums they broaden their interests and circle of collaborators, passing fado, klezmer, or traditional songs through their artistic filter, with unexpected results.
Branislava Podrumac, soprano, is a multi-talented artist with great power of transformation who dominates the stage with equal ease in operatic, operetta, musical and even dramatic roles. With the main role in the hit musical “Rebecca” by Sylvester Levay, for which she received the UMUS award for the best young artist in 2012, she began a successful collaboration with the Madlenianum Opera and Theater, where she still performs numerous roles in musicals, operas and operettas.
Katarina Aleksić, violinist and creator and author of the musical concept of this program. Since 2006, she has been acting as concertmaster of the RTS Symphony Orchestra. Shee is the winner of the annual award of the Association of Orchestral Artists of Serbia for 2009 for exceptional success in her work as concertmaster of that orchestra. With the “Orchestra Mozart Bologna” under the baton of Claudio Abad and soloist Marta Argerich, she participated in some of the biggest European festivals. She regularly plays the baroque violin in various ensembles, at concerts and festivals in the country and abroad.