Vasil Hadzimanov Band - Kafanki (2020)

Fighting side by side for quality music and creativity, Vasil Hadzimanov’s band is certainly the best way for Musicology to continue to live and breathe, during this times when the most important thing is that musicians, promoters and audiences are one.

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.

Vasil Hadzimanov Band released their first album “11 Reasons for …” in 2001, 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.”

They released their second album “Kafanki” in 2003, 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.