Bako Jovanović- Amazing Tziganie Live Session

Bako Jovanović- Romani Gypsy Tenor Guitar Virtuoso

Aleksandr Vyatkin shared a video with us over at our facebook site featuring Bako Jovanović in what I originally titled this post as “Just Riffin’ at home.

Since that time however, the video has been taken down. But what I have put in it’s place though is worth checking out. This video features a classical piece written by French composer Maurice Ravelen titled Tziganie, some interviews in the Serbian language (which is where Bako is from) and then more music which is unspecified in the video description.

For those of you that marvel with the Django Reinhardt approach to the guitar, Bako’s playing is similar in technique (the downstroke for changing strings). But a rapid depart happens with Bako’s vast musical abilities and unique phrasing. Being unfamiliar with the pieces, I’ve got to conclude that there’s a lot of improvisation going on- as I doubt that Ravel composed any of those “musical flurries” that Bako “machine guns” out. Truly an amazing guitarist without any boundaries.

In this live video, it’s a little scary how accurate Bako’s performance is. And although the backup of what looks to be a form of a hammered dulcimer along with acoustic bass and electric piano- this is totally not what you’d expect to see along side of a vintage tenor guitar.

The band (which didn’t get any credits for in the YouTube description) are season pros that perform the pieces perfectly (I will admit to being taken back just before they started to play).  I want to share a little of Bako’s bio. Years ago when I originally looked for bio information, there was none to be found. So of course it was nice to see that Bako is getting the recognition he desires which includes a Wiki page:

He was born on April 30, 1988, in Vienna. Growing up in a musical family, with instruments such as the tambourine (basprim) and guitars that were always nearby, Bako began to express his interest in playing as a child. He learned to play instruments from his uncle, guitarist Dragan Jovanović Sanjika.

From the age of fifteen, he had the opportunity to play in front of audiences in Berlin, Oslo, Tilburg, Osaka, Trrossingen, Udine, Portimao, Rostov, Madrid, Paris, London and Vienna. He won all the first places at eminent competitions in Pancevo, Starcevo, Novi Sad, Deronje – Serbia, Montenegro – Bijelo Polje, Germany, Norway, Japan, Italy, France, Austria, Russia and Portugal. read more here

One thing that I found very interesting is that Bako is also well known for his tambourine playing.. It’s worth clicking on the link above just to read about that!!