Jazz Ravne Concert Cycle
Festival of Slovenian Jazz
Jazz Ravne School
Viva Jazz Forma
OUR KEY ACTIVITIES
Non-governmental organization Drugi zvoki Cultural Association (“Drugi Zvoki” is Slovenian for “Other Sounds”) is an organizer of concerts, educational events and other activities, tied to jazz. Since 2007 we have been operating as an association of volunteers, jazz music aficionados. We are supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the local community, embassies of foreign countries, local sponsors, and, of course, an excellent audience. In addition to presenting established Slovenian and foreign artists, we extend opportunities to promising young musicians, and complete our programming with an ever-stronger original production output.
Jazz Ravne Concert Cycle: showcasing jazz and musicians from around the globe, with an emphasis on collaborations with Slovenian musicians. Each year, we offer at least ten well-attended concerts of enviable quality, which are rarely found outside the large cities. More…
Festival of Slovenian Jazz: once a year, Ravne na Koroškem turn into a center of Slovenian jazz creativity. The five-day festival focusing on the music of Slovenian authors is often performed in collaboration with prominent artists of the global jazz scene. More…
Jazz Ravne School: a workshop for the youth of 9 years and above during which a majority of our original productions takes shape. We also collaborate with other organizations in the field of cultural education. More…
Jazzopis: to this day, the only Slovenian magazine on jazz and simultaneously one of the few jazz publications, published in countries of comparable size. We have published five issues since 2011 and have not said our final word yet. More…
Viva Jazz Forma: a unique musical project drawing inspiration from the world of visual art, built around the sounds of the sculptures of the Forma Viva outdoor urban exhibition, local to the city of Ravne na Koroškem. It aims to connect the musical and visual arts without sacrificing the individual artistic value of any of the two, instead being an ongoing exploratory project benefitting both. More…
Publishing: some of our own productions have been released as albums: Zbudimo Kralja Matjazza (2011), Marko skače (2016), Jazzosledci (2017) and the upcoming release Rojenice (2022).
Documentary engagement: in collaboration with photographers and camera crews, we document our own activities, which focuses on preserving the Slovenian cultural heritage.
Further information on our activities can be found in the “Projects” submenu of the homepage.
SPONSORS
Jazz Ravne Concert Cycle
Jazz Ravne Concert Cycle runs year-round in Ravne na Koroškem.
In its 15 years of existence it has grown into one of the most prominent and well-attended jazz events in Slovenia.
Humble beginnings in 2007
The initially planned jam sessions of local musicians soon grew into popular jazz evenings in a place, where jazz was anything but at home.
Attuned well-being
The attention to well-being of our musicians and the audience is a guarantee for one-of-a-kind concerts. We offer exceptional musical events at least ten times a year.
Connecting the region to the world
In collaboration with related organizations, we aim to host ever-better musical acts, but remain committed to showcasing Slovenian groups on foreign stages.
Festival of Slovenian Jazz
The Festival of Slovenian Jazz aspires to showcase Slovenian jazz creativity, irrespective of the style of jazz performed, in one place and in a couple of days. Even though it prioritizes works by Slovenian authors, collaborations of our musicians with esteemed colleagues from abroad lend the festival an international character.
In service of jazz since 1959
It was in the year 1960 when the Ljubljana Jazz Association organized the first jazz festival in Bled, which featured performances by a staggering 35 ensembles. In 2003, the first Festival of Slovenian Jazz was organized, the reins of which were passed to the Jazz Ravne team in 2012.
Something for everyone
We stand by our belief that each visitor must find at the festival some of the jazz, such as they like. Let it be ragtime or the most avant-garde jazz – all streams of jazz have a right to be represented at the festival.
Growing an audience, seeking partners
Emphasizing education and bringing jazz to children from kindergarten to high school, we are raising our future audiences. The attendance of festival organizers from the broader region opens possibilities to our musicians for concerts outside Slovenia.
Jazz Ravne School
Jazz Ravne School has been the center of our attention since our beginnings. We have, after all, started out with the youth, who are now studying at various Slovenian and foreign universities and colleges, such as the Gustav Mahler Privatuniversität (Klagenfurt, Austria), Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA) and Manhattan School of Music (New York, USA).
Improvisation is no stranger to kids
Children are improvisers by default, and have no fear of making mistakes. They are perceptive and take it all as a game, if only they meet the right mentors.
Preserving the folkloric heritage
Simultaneously to learning the theory, instrumental skills and improvisations, our kids are introduced to the music of our ancestors. Musical motives originate in Slovenian folk music and in the ideas of the participating children as well.
Jazz Ravne School around Slovenia
On the 100th anniversary of jazz in Slovenia, we joined the Music School of Ravne na Koroškem in a collaborative initiative of all the music schools in Slovenia, where jazz is being taught.
Viva Jazz Forma
Jazz has always been hard to define, today perhaps more so than ever before. It adopts characteristics and compositional as well as performative approaches of many (in fact nearly all) other genres. Viva Jazz Forma, a peculiar musical fusion all of its own, can easily find a place in this sonic landscape and, we hope, bring something new, especially in terms of combining multiple branches of art.” — Vid Jamnik, Artistic Director of the Viva Jazz Forma project
There is one art
Fusing various artistic branches is a return to the origins – art has always been in will remain singular, divisions are man-made. Viva Jazz Forma unites sound and shape, tangible and intangible, into one.
Improvising the instruments
Improvisation – the discovery of new approaches, spontaneous music-making – goes a step further here: we are playing the sculptures that were not designed with sonic characteristics in mind.
Let’s build a sonic Forma Viva sculpture
How would a sculpture sound, if it were designed to offer a wide range of sounds? Celebrating the 100th anniversary of jazz in Slovenia, we are looking for solutions to building a dedicated sculpture – one meeting both sculptural and musical needs.
Jazzopis
To this day, the only Slovenian magazine on jazz and jazz-related people. On of merely a handful of jazz publications from countries of comparable size in Europe and the World, issued sporadically, however, due to relatively high production costs. Do you have an idea of how to finance its sixth edition?
Issue 1, 2011
Issue 1, 2014
Issue 1, 2017
Issue 1, 2018
Issue 1, 2019
International Jazz Day Stamp
Commemorating the International Jazz Day, April 30th, we joined forces with the regional Carinthian philatelic society, designer Borut Bončina and painter Stojan Brezočnik in unveiling a postal stamp that is an interlacement of a graphic, the Jazz Ravne logotype and the logotype of the International Jazz Day. The stamp is accompanied by a postcard and a printed envelope. A corresponding postmark was available at the Ravne na Koroškem post office.
Jazz Festivals Association
The Jazz Festivals Association aims to nurture its members, exchange experiences, and promote and exchange musical acts among its members. Interested in joining? Contact us!
Members of the Association are Jazz Factory Festival, Bitola (North Macedonia), Petrovac Jazz Festival, Petrovac (Montenegro), International Jazz & Blues Festival Kikinda, Kikinda (Serbia), Modoars, Skopje (North Macedonia), Jazz Fortnight Festival, Skopje (North Macedonia), Jazz Ravne, Ravne na Koroškem (Slovenia) in Transilvania Jazz Festival, Cluj-Napoca (Romania)
100 Years of Slovenian Jazz
As the story goes: “In 1922, a Trieste resident, Miljutin Negode, establishes a jazz band in Ljubljana, called the Original Jazz Quartet, renamed in 1924 into Jazz Quintet Negode. Its members were drummer Jože Aleksander, violinists Ivo Kit and Milan Dietz, saxophonist Srečko Rozman, and Miljutin Negode playing piano. That quintet is deemed to be the first jazz group of the then-Yugoslav territory.”
This year marks 100 years since the ‘baby steps’ of jazz in our neck of the woods. As the Jazzopis magazine will likely not be published this year, but we at the same time could not overlook such an honorable anniversary, we decided to film several statements of people, tied to those beginnings.
