Boris Kovač & La Campanella

…la campanella is suggesting a direct experience of a world barely visible upon remains of history, an inner space bringing individuals closer together in humanness in a way that actual reality at this point in history of civilization, despite its all-powerful communication devices – cannot…

…where la campanella is in the air, the Mediterranean and Central European sentimental spaces are interrelated by the treads of nostalgia, joy, triestesa, romantic enthusiasm, melancholy…

Boris Kovač & LaDaABa Orchest

“Dancing at the Abyss… Kovac proves that we humans, still manage to move the cosmos with our music, to find hope in our inner spirits and seek a way out of the morass…”(Clif Furnald, Rootsworld, September 2001)

Kovac’s music is both grounded and path finding – a testament to the resiliency or culture and spirit in a region trying to repair itself after a decade of horror.
(Shepherd Express)

This music is a future classical (Global Beat Fusion)

“La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica” is a myth and a story of the Balkanic area, which defy the games of fateful forces. It is an invitation to dance on the extreme edge of that abyss known as Yugoslavia or a multistylistic masterwork.
(Relja Knežević)

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La Danza Apocalypsa Balcanica

The Last Tango Before the End of the World
“Take all what Life offers to You, Today You are Rose and Tomorrow…” sing the “Ladaaba Orchest” on one of their “Apocalypse Balcanica” tracks, trying to emulate a saloon atmosphere teeming with crude living “on the edge” – which usually refers to the Balkans. The fact is that this unstable ground, inhabited by a Babylonian blend of languages and nations which talk all at once without listening to each other, became a synonym of the occasional outbursts of endemic violence and other kinds of nihilism. Still, regardless of all, The Balkans are interesting mostly because of the crossing of different cultures and traditions which give birth to amazingly vital artistic products and strengthen the feeling of vitality, which is opposed to the notorious “death culture”.

A fascinated swaying in the rhythm of tango – with sharp movements of arms, legs and body which can hardly hold back its passion – is but a small item in the offer called “An Apocalyptic Dance Party”. Though the last dance call occurs in a terribly limited space, like with Schecherezade invited to tell her last story in order to postpone death. The firmament under which the listener is seduced mediates no feeling of anxiety: the sky may be cerulean blue and clear like in Mediterranean and life can either be easy and sweet at times. The dance drags us into a time left to Balkan people without pathos and the irresistible kitsch. In a characteristic manner, Kovac’s individual artistic style gathers compelling tones of the last music before the end of the world, inspired with the sound of the Balkans. His Orient Express travels according to the following itinerary:….. Budapest- Szeged – Novi Sad – Sofia – Istanbul. From within that composition (train) it sometimes seems that nothing is more natural on this planet than dancing with “LADAABA” and Balkan people, becoming engrossed in the time when apocalypse is already behind us and around us, the only unbeaten future which continuously recurs.

Looking out of that Orient Express, we pass through a multitude of themes and motifs, the multitude of faces and sounds characteristic of Vojvodina region, which is a Panonian part of Yugoslavia, inhabited by at least sixteen ethnic and national groups. No wonder, then, that you can recognize in this music the “shades” of gypsy, Serbian, Hungarian, Romania, Ruthenian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Turkish and other ethnic music.

In the key of the fateful tango and playing with the image of the “great lover” who is placing his heart at the feet of his beloved, everything seems to be free and easy, almost like at a wedding party. Still, a part of the face is hidden in the shadow. Behind the sporadic gayety we can smell the “Geschmack” of a tavern more pertaining to Vienna than to the Balkans. At the turn of the 19th century, Vienna is noticeable for a typical central European Secession art movement whose rebellion against artistic conventions anticipates the decline of the empire. However, Vienna was the secret center of the Balkans. Therefore, Kovac’s composition (train) passes through Vienna on its way to the East…

Thus in the music of “LADAABA orchest”, a mixture of tango, folk dance and Secession, waltz and burek (a characteristic pie prepared in the Balkans), carousing, suffering and wit, laughter, tears, sacrifice and surrender, Dionysian drunkenness and vulgar primitivism, on the millennial edge, and for the sake of the promising moment of happiness, The Last Balkan Tango dances again – for dancing, not living, is what matters to us.

Relja Knežević
in Novi Sad, February 2001.
translated in English by Vladislava Gordić

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Boris Kovač & La Campanella

Boris Kovač – alto and soprano sax, voice
Goran Penić – accordion
Vukašin Mišković – classical and electric guitars
Miloš Matić – double bass, tamburitza
Lav Kovač – drums, percussion


Boris Kovač & LaDaABa Orchest

Boris Kovač, Boki – alto & soprano sax
Bogdan Ranković, Bogi – clarinet, bass clarinet
Goran Penić, Gogi – accordion
Olah Vince, Vici – violine & acoustic guitars
Milos Matić, Miki – double bass
Ištvan Cik, Picu – drums, percussion


Videos

Boris Kovač & La Campanella


  1. An Intro Trip – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  2. Danza Transilvanica – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  3. FLY BY…
    Film is based on the live performances at Kalemegdan fortress, Belgrade, and documentary shots from the Castel Torrechiara and Velo Veronese, Italy and Club Zeleno Zvono, Zrenjanin during the summer 2011.


  4. To Entertain You – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  5. Limping Waltz – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  6. Malena – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  7. Damar of Istanbul – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  8. Argentina – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  9. Dukeland in Your Heart – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  10. Balkatino – Boris Kovac with LA CAMPANELLA ORCHESTRA
    World after History – A Sentimental Journey

  11. Boris Kovač & La Campanella – LIVE & MORE
    Film based on one of the last concerts of this project – with “the best of” program of La Campanella and few legendary tunes of The Last Balkan Tango project.

Boris Kovač & LaDaABa Orchest


  1. Orient Express – Boris Kovac with LaDaABa ORCHEST
    The Last Balkan Tango – An Apocalyptic Dance Party

  2. Orient Express – Boris Kovac with LaDaABa ORCHEST
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  3. Begin for Julia – Boris Kovac with LaDaABa ORCHEST
    The Last Balkan Tango – An Apocalyptic Dance Party

  4. Boris Kovač – Tango Apocalypso
    The Last Balkan Tango – An Apocalyptic Dance Party