Musical Globe: punk, jazz, ethno, Hava Nagila and the Dutch Norah Jones!

The Musical Globe programme keeps bringing the local audience music stories from all four corners of the world. This time they are eight musical documentaries covering a wide range of genres and artists: from punk to classical music, from ethno to jazz, from traditional Jewish song Hava Nagila to the Turkish sensation – the Dutch Norah Jones! One big novelty at this festivals is a concert for all the interested visitors – the mentioned musician, Karsu, will grace us with a performance during ZagrebDox!

In 1967 Columbia Records published the second album by Brute Force and brought him to the verge of stardom. However, dreams of fame soon turned into a nightmare when his record was banned and permanently withdrawn from circulation. In 2010 Sony and Apple reissued Brute Force’s controversial music from the 1960s and gave him a second chance to fulfil his dream of fame. The American documentary Brute Force, directed by Ben Steinbauer won the best documentary award at New Media Festival in 2012.

Last Call – Dresden Dolls by the Hungarian filmmaker János Szász portrays Amanda Palmer’s former punk band Dresden Dolls at their last Texas tour. The film is an in-depth exploration of the bizarre relationship between the band members, Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, their comprehensive conversations about music, life, motivations and the tour, but mostly about the band’s music and modern-day hard rock.

The American punk dance band from New York, LCD Soundsystem, held their last concert in spring 2011 at Madison Square Garden. Their charismatic frontman James Murphy decided to dissolve one of the most popular and influential bands of its generation at the peak of its popularity and celebrate it with the largest concert of their career. The film Shut up and Play the Hits by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern documents an unrepeatable concert thrill, portraying Murphy who has to face the consequences of his decision.

Director Philippe Béziat in his film Becoming Traviata provides a rare insight into the creative process of renowned singers and musicians working on a contemporary reading of La Traviata at the prestigious festival in Aix-en-Provence, France. The film follows and documents the famous French soprano Natalie Dessay from the very first rehearsals to the premiere, conducted by Jean-François Sivadier. This intimate documentary invites to go behind the scenes of one of the greatest operas in the world.

Hava Nagila is definitely a song that has risen above its origins and become a world hit. Hava Nagila: the Movie, The Song You Thought You Knew. The Story You Won’t Believe directed by Roberta Grossman is a film taking the viewers on a fascinating journey across Eastern European Jewish settlements and America’s cul-de-sacs. Conversations with Harry Belafonte, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell, Leonard Nimoy, Regina Spektor and many others take the viewers from Ukraine to Israel and the Catskills, Greenwich Village, Hollywood and Bollywood.

Karsu is the film focusing on the 22-year-old Karsu Dönmez, or the Dutch Norah Jones, a talented jazz singer and songwriter who grew up in a Turkish family in Amsterdam. Karsu was discovered while she was playing the piano in her parents’ Turkish restaurant. The film documents her instant music success through her everyday life: schooling in Amsterdam and summer holidays with her family in Turkey. In the course of three years, director Mercedes Stalenhof followed Karsu and her family from the very beginnings and restaurant performances to her concert at the famous Carnegie Hall. Karsu will also grace ZagrebDox with a concert: on Thursday, 28 February she will perform at ZagrebDox’s festival centre.

Musical Globe also includes two local musical documentaries: Disclosing Afion by Marko Dimić is a portrayal of young musicians from the band called Afion who are trying to define their relationship with ethno music, but also to understand the band dynamics, its drifting apart and coming together. Each member tells a story: about their approach to music, art, lifestyle, highlighting the conflicts with the usual way of thinking which perceives ethno music as a closed rigid form.

Jazz is the focus of Jazz Apartment, a film by Biljana Čakić-Veselič and Tomislav Pavlek. The venue is a jazz tavern Stone Tales located within the stone walls of Bel, a small and quiet medieval town in mainland Istria. For six years a non-profit jazz festival takes place there, the largest of the kind in the country, Last Minute Open Jazz Festival. In time, the Stone tales tavern became an important place for many world-renowned artists, producers and audience thirsty of true art.