Boris Kovač ( sr, Борис Ковач, Boris Kovač; born 1955) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and multi-instrumentalist.

Biography

Kovač was born in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, Vojvodina region of

, then part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. He studied on the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

as a child and later received one year of instruction on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, but is self-taught on a wide array of instruments.François Couture. Biography of Boris Kovac.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved 1 July 2008. In 1977 he formed Meta Sekcija, a jazz group. In 1982 he created Ritual Nova, an ensemble of musicians, visual artists, dancers and performers, and served as its composer and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

.Biography of Boris Kovac
at CDRoots.com. Retrieved 1 July 2008. Kovač released his first album, ''Ritual Nova'', in 1986 in Yugoslavia, and Recommended Records of the United Kingdom released its 1989 follow-up, ''Ritual Nova 2'', as part of its eastern European music series, ''Points East''. In 1989, Kovač established Ogledalo, a chamber music theater group in Novi Sad. From 1991 to 1996, Kovač lived in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

to escape the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...

, but he returned to Serbia following the cessation of fighting. Inspired by the

1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. The bombings continued until an a ...

in the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

, he formed La Danza Apocalyptica Balcanica, shortened to LaDaABa Orchest, in 2001. The group played

ballroom dance Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television. ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

"to exorcise the madness of war." In 2001 he released The Last Balkan Tango with the Ladaaba Orchestra. In 2002, Kovač founded Kachara Records (from the Serbian качар ''kačar'') named for his family house in Bukovac (part of the

Petrovaradin Petrovaradin ( sr-cyr, Петроварадин, ) is a historic town in the Serbian province of Vojvodina, now a part of the city of Novi Sad. As of 2011, the urban area has 14,810 inhabitants. Lying on the right bank of the Danube, across from t ...

municipality in the city of

) in Vojvodina, where wine was produced from 1868 to 1941. In August 2005 he released the album ''World after history'' as Boris Kovač and La Campanella. He received a ''Sterija's Award'', the biggest Serbian theatre award, for music in the year 2007 for the play “Nahod Simeon”. In 2008 his DVD collection ''Before and after Apocalypse'' received the prize of the German Critics Association. In 2009 Boris composed the music for ''White, white World'', a fiction film directed by Oleg Novković .

Music

Kovač's music draws on folklore traditions – not only Serbian ones, but also Hungarian and Romanian, since they all factor in the musical culture of multi-ethnic Vojvodina. In his ''Last Balkan Tango'', he combines these traditions with the styles of

Argentine tango Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as AB ...

. His musical output falls into three categories: the deeply spiritual cycles he writes for his ensemble Ritual Nova, the more formal contemporary

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

for dance and theater, and the dance music of his LaDaABa Orchest.

"Our advantage is that people from 20 different nationalities live together in the Pannonian Plains. So today no one can say which folklore my music stems from exactly."

Discography

* ''Ritual Nova'' (1986). Symposion Records, Yugoslavia. * ''Ritual Nova 2'' (1989). Recommended Records, United Kingdom. * ''Ritual Nova Collection'' (1993). Recommended Records, United Kingdom. * ''Play on String'' (string quartet) (1996). More Music, Italy. * ''Anamnesis — Ecumenical Mysteries'' (1996). Victo, Canada. * ''The Mask'' (1997). Interzone/Ikarus, Yugoslavia/Austria. * ''East OFF Europe'' (1998). Victo, Canada. * ''Mirror of the Voice'' (CD and book) (1999). Radio 021, Yugoslavia. * ''Last Balkan Tango: An Apocalyptic Dance Party'' (2001). Piranha, Germany. * ''Ballads at the End of Time'' (2003). Piranha, Germany. * ''Profana Liturgija'', ADN, Milan, 1991 (2004). Kachara, Yugoslavia. * ''Damari'' (2004). Kachara, Yugoslavia. * ''World after History'' (2005). Piranha, Germany. * ''Songs From The Garden Of Loves & Graves'' (2007). Serbian National Theatre. Limited edition of 300 copies. * ''Before and After ... Apocalypse'' (2008) (DVD) Piranha, Germany. * ''Chamber Music'' (2010). B92. * ''Catalogue Of Memories'' (2012). Kachara * ''Fly By...'' (2012). Multimedia Music * ''On Eastern Way'': Boris Kovač & David Yengibarian (2012). Interzone Production * ''Someone Killed the Swan (Laments On South-Eastern Europe)'': Ultima Armonia (2014). Leo Records * ''Times Of Day'' (2015). ReR Megacorp * ''The Path'': Boris Kovač, New Ritual Group (2016). ReR Megacorp * ''Muzika Za Vere I Zavere'' (2016). Multimedia Music * ''Mosaic of Time'': Boris Kovač, New Ritual Group (2020). Kachara * ''Late October Lights'': Ultima Armonia (2020). Kachara * ''White World - Music for Dance And...": Boris Kovač, New Ritual Quartet (2020). Kachara

Notes

External links

* Biography of Boris Kovačby François Couture at

Boris Kovač information
at Piranha Records website

at BorisKovac.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kovac, Boris 1955 births Living people Serbian composers Serbian songwriters Serbian theatre directors Yugoslav musicians