Sarajevo plays Hamlet at the beginning of the 21st century
The first release of East West Orchestra joins the three acclaimed Bosnian musicians, Dino Šukalo (guitar, keyboards and programming), Attila Aksoy (bass guitar, baglama, cumbus, percussions) and Amar Češljar (percussions, vocal, chants), with one of the finest young Turkish nay players, Melih Berse (ney, vocal, chants), for an extraordinary musical adventure titled HAMLET.
The music was originally composed for live performance accompanying the Sarajevo East West Centre’s theatrical show of Shakespeare’s HAMLET directed by Haris Pašović. This HAMLET, situated at the Ottoman court, was also the biggest regional co-production in the past 20 years. The production had an immense success in its regional tour including performances in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), St. Petersburg (Russia), Zagreb (Croatia), Belgrade (Serbia) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
The HAMLET concert emerged from this venture as a project in its own right. Inspired by Shakespeare’s masterpiece, East West Orchestra explores classical Turkish themes creating an organic synthesis of oriental and occidental flavours typical for Bosnian East-West tradition and culture. The musicians surpass all political, ethnic, religious and geographic boundaries, seeking inspiration in traditional Sufi melodies, Middle Eastern colours and a distinct jazz and rock’n’roll flavour and creating a sophisticated unity-in-diversity music. It is the fine contemporary world music, spiritual and uplifting, deep, yet entertaining. It is serious and – essential.
Equally devoted to their art and development as the human beings, the musicians of the East West Orchestra emerge from the turbulent times and troubled places in an enlightening way.
