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Nomadic Danube Music Festival

"Against the Stream"

31 March - 10 April 2007

Dear friends,

The first Danube Music Festival “Against the Stream” is already a fact.

All that was planned took place!

During 10 days the cruise ship Sofia was both a home and stage for virtuosos from nine Danube countries. From 31 March to 10 April 2007 Danube turned into a real creative lab and witnessed unique musical dialogues. The tradition, the present and the future of the Balkan and European cultures intertwined. Every possible musical style were performed: from classical and traditional music to ethnic jazz improvisations. All this was performed by virtuosos that have always creatively looked up and against the stream and the inertia.

The festival took off in Vidin, Bulgaria and passed by the shores of Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. It “landed” in Pasau, Germany. During this unique event, the ship had musical stops in the major cities and towns on the Danube: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Krems and Pasau. At every stop new musicians joined us with their music characteristic for the given region. Together we celebrated amidst performances St Lazar day, Palm Sunday and Easter. The festival gave opportunities and freedom of the musicians to work together during days and to present to the audience unique and innovative findings.

Every one of the 51 musicians showed their improvisation skills on the festival river stage along the Danube shores. Guests from France and Belgium also joined the gathering. On the boat we heard the sound of the Bulgarian kaval, played by Teodosi Spassov, the clarinet of Ivo Papasov, the mystery of the Bulgarian voices with Eva Quartet, the violins of Gilles Apap and Zoltan Lantosh, the accordions of Peter Ralchev and Otto Lehner. This was a small part of the big orchestra of the first Danube Music Festival “Against the Stream”.

We want to thank everyone who made this festival possible and who gave the audience the chance to participate in this festive journey trough the mystery of the music.