About Vasil Hadžimanov Band
Vasil’s idea of combining Balkan traditional, folk rhythms and western, modern music styles (jazz, funk, rock, progressive, world music …) is completely authentic in his music, and is a unique approach to jazz music.
In 2001, Vasil Hadzimanov Band released their first album “11 Reasons for …” under the Serbian label PGP-RTS, and the first print sold out in just three months. In 2002, they also won the “Beovizija” Festival award “Best Debut Album of the Year”.
In 2002, Vasil Hadzimanov Band joined Goran Paskaljevic and his film crew on a documentary about Belgrade, for ARTE television. For this documentary Vasil composed music, and the band, led by their percussionist Bojan Ivkovic, acted and played music in the film. In this period, Vasil’s music could also be heard in the film “011 Belgrade”, by young Austrian director Michael Pfeifenberger, and in the film “When I Grow Up, I will be a Kangaroo.”
In 2003, they released their second album “Kafanki”, under the PGP-RTS label, which they successfully promoted throughout Europe. That same year, VHBand won the award “Best Instrumental Album of the Year” at the festival “Suncane Skale” in Montenegro.
In November 2003, VHBand performed at the “Enter Music” festival in Belgrade, sharing the stage with the famous Joe Zawinul and his band Zawinul Syndicate. Hearing how the band sounds live, Zawinul personally invited Vasil and his band to play in his new club “Joe’s Birdland” in Vienna (Austria), in the spring of 2005.
In June 2004, VHBand was invited by violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy to perform with him at his big Belgrade concert. This experience, and this performance were a pleasant surprise for both, the performers, and the numerous audiences.
In August 2005, VHBand presented Balkan music at the big world exhibition Expo 2005 Aichi in Japan, and were the only representative of Serbia and Montenegro. The Band experienced great success and had the highest number of visitors (over 3000) on the EXPO DOME scene, a record thus far. This event was recorded in the documentary film “Bridge Eternal”, written and directed by Natasha Hadzimanov.
In November 2005, VHBand held three very notable concerts in Paris, within the traditional Cultural Centers of Europe Jazz Festival “Jazzy Colors”, again representing their country.
In March and August 2006, they played two greatly attended and welcomed concerts in Trieste (Italy).
In the spring of 2006, Vasil composed music for the film “The Heartbeat” by director Mika Aleksic, which was presented at numerous film festivals.
In October 2007, again in cooperation with the PGP-RTS label, they released their third album entitled “3 – Sega Mu e Majkata”, which they successfully promoted throughout Serbia and Europe.
In April 2009, they recorded their fourth album, “Života mi”, which was rated by music critics as their best work so far, and the last album released in cooperation with the Serbian label PGP-RTS.
In 2013, they promoted their fifth album “Can you dig it?”, which was released in digital format by OverJazz Records music label from Hamburg (Germany), while the CD was released for the Zmex music label from Belgrade.
In 2016, VHBand made a big step up, releasing their sixth album, “Alive” for the prestigious American record label “MoonJune Records” from New York. The album was recorded live in five different cities, in five concert halls. Special guest on this album was world famous and recognized saxophonist and author David Binney.
Album “Alive” picked up many, and universally positive reviews around the world, and has been honored as one of the top releases of 2016, by the acclaimed American “DownBeat” music magazine. In the same year, all band members were recognized as outstanding musicians, reaching the top in the 5 different charts, in their categories.
At the beginning of 2019, they released their seventh album “Lines in Sand” again in collaboration with the American music label “MoonJune Records”. This album again moved the boundaries of progressive music, which is recognized by fans and music critics around the world, rewarding it with highest ratings, and great reviews.
Over the past 20 years, Vasil and his band have been successful in playing their music at concerts and music festivals all over the world.
All recordings and music of VHBand are proclaimed to be the artwork of national importance for Serbia.
O Vasil Hadžimanov Band-u
Vasilova ideja o kombinovanju balkanskih tradicionalnih, folk ritmova i zapadnih, modernih muzičkih stilova (jazz, funk, rock, progressive, world music…) u njegovoj muzici je u potpunosti autentična i predstavlja jedinstven pristup džez muzici.
2001. godine, Vasil Hadzimanov Band izbacuje prvi album pod nazivom “11 razloga za…”, pod etiketom PGP-RTS, kada se prvi tiraž rasprodao za samo tri meseca. Takođe, za svoj prvenac su 2002. godine osvojili nagradu Beovizije „Najbolji debi album godine“.
Leta 2002. godine, Vasil Hadzimanov Band se pridružuje Goranu Paskaljeviću i njegovoj filmskoj ekipi na snimanju dokumentarnog filma o Beogradu za ARTE televiziju. Za ovaj dokumentarac Vasil je komponovao muziku, a bend je, predvođen njihovim perkusionistom Bojanom Ivkovićem, glumio i svirao muziku u filmu. Vasilova muzika se tih godina takođe mogla čuti i u filmu “011 Belgrade”, mladog austrijskog režisera Michael Pfeifenberger-a, i u filmu Raše Andrića “Kad porastem biću kengur”.
2003. godine objavljuju drugi CD “Kafanki”, pod okriljem PGP-RTS-a, koji uspešno promovišu širom Evrope. Iste godine, za ovaj album VHBand osvaja nagradu „Najbolji instrumentalni album godine“ na festivalu „Sunčane Skale“, u Crnoj Gori.
Novembra 2003. godine, VHBand nastupa na “Enter Music“ festivalu u Beogradu, deleći binu sa čuvenim Joe Zawinul-om i njegovim bendom Zawinul Syndicate. Čuvši kako bend zvuči uživo, Zawinul lično poziva Vasila i bend da na proleće 2005. sviraju u njegovom novom klubu “Joe’s Birdland”, u Beču (Austrija).
Juna 2004. godine, VHBand biva pozvan od strane virtuoza na violini, Nigel Kennedy-ja da nastupe sa njim na njegovom velikom beogradskom koncertu. Ovo iskustvo i ovaj nastup su bili prijatno iznenađenje kako za izvođače, tako i za mnogobrojnu publiku.
Avgusta 2005. godine, bend je predstavio muziku Balkana i bio jedini predstavnik Srbije i Crne Gore, na velikoj svetskoj izložbi Expo 2005 Aichi u Japanu, gde doživljava veliki uspeh i najviše posetilaca (preko 3000) na sceni EXPO DOME do tada. Ovaj događaj zabeležen je u dokumentarnom filmu „Bridge Eternal“, čiji je autor bila Nataša Hadžimanov.
Novembra 2005. godine, VHBand je održao tri veoma zapažena koncerta u Parizu, u okviru tradicionalnog jazz festivala kulturnih centara Evrope “Jazzy Colors” ponovo predstavljajući svoju zemlju.
Marta i avgusta 2006. godine održali su dva, sjajno posećena i pozdravljena, koncerta u Trstu (Italija).
Na proleće 2006. Vasil komponuje muziku za film “Stvar srca” reditelja Mike Aleksića, koji se predstavio i prikazao na mnogobrojnim filmskim festivalima.
Oktobra 2007., a ponovo u saradnji sa izdavačkom kućom PGP-RTS, izdaju svoj treći album pod nazivom “3 – Sega Mu e Majkata“, koji su uspešno promovisali širom Srbije i Evrope.
U aprilu 2009. godine snimili su svoj četvrti album pod nazivom „Života mi“, koji je ocenjen od strane muzičkih kritičara kao njihov najbolji do tada i poslednji album koji je objavljen u saradnji sa srpskom izdavačkom kućom PGP-RTS.
2013. promovisali su svoj peti album “Can you dig it?”, koji je te godine, u digitalnom formatu objavljen od strane muzičke izdavačke kuće OverJazz Records iz Hamburga (Nemačka), dok je CD objavljen za diskografsku kuću Zmex iz Beograda.
2016. godine VHBand ostvaruje veliki iskorak objaviviši svoj šesti album,”Alive” za prestižnu američku izdavačku kuću ”MoonJune Records“ iz Nju Jorka. Album je snimljen uživo u pet različitih gradova, u pet koncertnih dvorana. Specijalni gost na ovom albumu bio je svetski poznat i priznat saksofonista i autor David Binney.
Album „Alive“ pobrao je mnogobrojne i univerzalno pozitivne kritike širom sveta, a nagrađen je i kao jedno od top izdanja 2016. godine, od strane čuvenog muzičkog časopisa “DownBeat” u SAD-u. Svi članovi benda su iste godine prepoznati kao vrhunski muzičari, dospevši na 5 različitih muzičkih top lista, u svojim kategorijama.
Početkom 2019. godine objavljuju svoj sedmi album „Lines in Sand“ ponovo u saradnji sa američkom izdavačkom kućom „MoonJune Records“. Ovim albumom ponovo pomeraju granice progresivne muzike, što muzička kritika širom sveta ponovo prepoznaje i nagrađuje najvišim ocenama, i sjajnim kritikama.
U proteklih 20 godina, Vasil i njegov bend sa velikim uspehom sviraju svoju muziku na koncertima i muzičkim festivalima širom sveta.
Sva izdanja i muzika VHBand-a su u Srbiji proglašeni za umetnička dela od kulturnog značaja za ovu zemlju.
