Tragedy cancels the 2024 Pančevo Jazz Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia
Tim Dickeson
Monday, November 25, 2024
Tim Dickeson reports back from Pančevo Jazz Festival which was cancelled due to a tragic accident that has killed 15 people
A horrific accident in the Northern Serbian City of Novi Sad and the following government declaration of three days of mourning for the region of Vojvodina cancelled the Pančevo Jazz Festival after only its first day. The accident was caused by the concrete roof over the entrance to the main railway station collapsing killing 15 people.
The tragedy happened at lunchtime on the opening day of the festival on 1 November and the three days of mourning came into effect at midnight that day, which allowed the two planned concerts for the opening day to go ahead although the late night jam session was cancelled.
The two shows featured a solo concert by Israeli pianist Shai Maestro followed by the Robin McKelle Quartet.
The mood in the concert hall was sombre and before he started Shai Maestro reflected on the tragedy and told the audience he would be mainly improvising. Maestro’s playing was delicate and thoughtful and slowly he brought in snatches of recognisable tunes including ‘Eternal Child’ by Chick Corea, Charlie Chaplin’s ‘Smile’, Jerome Kern’s ‘All the things you are’. It was the perfect way to lift the spirits and by the time he asked Robin McKelle’s drummer Francesco Ciniglio (an old friend and former band mate) to join him on stage for a few numbers the mood had lightened considerably and there was a real warmth from the audience for the pianist.
Maestro returned during Robin McKelle’s set to play a duet with her (see above), ‘The Nearness of You’ and then stayed to play side saddle with McKelle’s own pianist the excellent Laurent Coulondre on Jobim’s ‘No More Blues’.
For the festival this accident and the subsequent government declaration is something that can never be planned for and now leaves a large financial hole in their accounts. Artists, flights and hotels were all booked and most had been paid.
While the festival is partly state funded, for a smallish city Cultural Centre in difficult financial times this is going to be tough. The first good news to emerge was that two of the headline artists Fabrizio Bosso and David Murray agreed to return and play on new dates. Murray very generously agreed to pay the cost of the airfares to come back to play – which he did four days later.
