The 2010 international jazz festival in Sarajevo began with a 90 minute journey around Thrace, the westernmost part of Turkey. Multi-instrumentalist Burhan Öçal and his Trakya All Stars ensemble took their enraptured audience on a trip around this region.

The audience cheered Burhan Öçal's performance on the darbuka and gave standing ovations and waves of applause during the concert.

Before the packed auditorium, the Turkish virtuosos performed traditional music from this region with masterly improvisations from the whole ensemble together with solo numbers.

The six day long "festival of music" (Nov. 2-7), as the people of Sarajevo call it, is the most important music event in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most respectable of its kind in this part of Europe.

Musicians from all over the world, including America, France, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, Norway and Turkey, have taken part in the festival over the past 14 years. Improvised and new music are the main features of this gala event.

"We have remained true to our ambition to present only exceptional programmes and artists. We have once again managed to avoid compromises and have presented our audiences with music of the highest quality," said the director of the Jazz Fest Edin Zubčević. Some of the most important musicians of today took part in this year's Jazz fest: for example American guitarist Mike Stern and his band performed there together with their special guest, French violinist Didier Lockwood.

A quintet led by the British bass player Dave Holland, winner of three Grammy awards, and the trio led by the guitarist John Scofield also took part. In addition, the Bosnian pianist Edin Bosnić, currently living in Vienna, gave a concert in the Solo Premiere section of the event.

The Turkish-Canadian artist Mercan Dede and his Tribal Quartet provided the audience with a true spectacle. Mercan Dede was not joking when before the concert he said "Put your dancing shoes on!" to the audience.

Mercan Dede also performs under the name of DJ Allen Arkin. Even though, at first, he may look like a regular DJ standing behind two turntables, this is where all the similarities actually end. Dede plays the ‘ney’ and is surrounded by excellent young musicians whose music, at times, resembles spiritual music transformed into an infectious dance party.

The organisers of the festival pay particular attention to encouraging local and regional jazz musicians to take part in the festival through the New Generation programme.

 

This year, musicians from Sarajevo and Belgrade played together. The Sarajevo Jazz Guerrilla Band performed at this year's Jazz Fest and their guest soloist was trumpet player Marko Djordjević from Belgrade. Together they performed works by Horace Silver.

Edin Zubčević invited all music lovers to visit Sarajevo during the first week of November next year because "Jazz Fest in Sarajevo is something we are proud of, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but in the whole region."

“Many people who organise and set up various programmes in the region often come to Jazz Fest in Sarajevo in order to see something they have never seen before. It is important for Jazz Fest to continue to grow in that respect and to become a sort of reference point for all those who like this type of music," Zubčević said.

Since more and more parents have been bringing their children to Jazz Fest, the organisers this year created a concert and a workshop for preschoolers.

Buzz trio from Bosnia and Herzegovina, comprised of professional musicians who studied at the music academy, specially adapted their programme for the young children who took part in the section of the festival dedicated to them.

"Developing an ear for music through listening to it, the ability to understand, aesthetically discern, build proper taste in music, the ability to perform but also to work with other children – all these things have a serious effect on the general welfare of our children", said the organisers.

The last on the list of the main festival programme was the flamenco guitarist Gerardo Nunez and his "Flamenca Reunion" ensemble. This concluding performance was made even more exciting with the participation of flamenco dancers.