Improvised Music

I became interested in Improvised Music in late 1990’s, when I participated in series  of workshops Classical Musicians play Jazz, led by well-known Serbian free jazz bassist and legend Vojin Mališa Draskoci. Since then, I am exploring variety of possibilities/ensemble settings/collaborative settings in which guitar might find its place in improvised pieces. I also started exploring  solo guitar improvsation that includes prepared guitar, electric guitar, pedals, etc. (Written improvised music insired stuies are coming soon – stayed tuned!).

Recently I am also interested in incorporating other elements into improvised pieces, such as poetry (my own haiku especially), visual elements, prepared guitar, simple movement, interaction with the audience, etc.

Some of the improvisers I collaborate with are Szilard Mezei (Serbia/Hungary), Milana Zarić (harp/Serbia), Alex Lubet (dulcimer/guitars/USA), Phil Fried (bass/US), Manja Ristic (violin/Serbia), Douglas Ewart (USA), and many more!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2qsZl7WA28

ImprovIsAn’Do Ensemble: Performance of the improvised piece based on Turkish traditional song “Tini Mini Hanim” (Scott Currie, saxophone; Ben Klein, tuba; Maja Radovanlija-classical guitar)

Part of Freely improvised piece “47’” (Michelle Kinney, cello; Scott Currie, saxophone; Phil Fried, bass; Ben Klein, tuba; Maja Radovanlija, prepared guitar).

Semi-improvised Nostalgic study (M.Radovanlija) is the first of three pieces/studies which explores the idea of improvised piece with elements of Balkan traditional music, such as the meter, thematic material, tuning that emphasize characteristic scale patterns, etc. It is premiered in February 2012, in Minneapolis.

“Kenko’s Departure -2005” (Maja Radovanlija); performed by Horse Aquarium (Adam Zahller, voice; Joey Crane, cello; Andrew Bergman, bass; Maja Radovanlija, guitar)
Download score for this piece here.