For the 600th anniversary of Tabor in Czech Republic I was honored to be asked to participate in two collaborative music videos. This multimedia celebration of Tabor’s 600th anniversary united over 120 musicians from 41 countries and 6 continents to bring you the most unique music encounter of our time. Stepan Pavlik, Mayor of Tabor and Miroslav Vana (Czechia/USA), project’s executive producer, invite you to a journey around the world to experience musical variations on the 15th-century traditional choral song called “Ye Who Are Warriors of God” (“Ktoz Su Bozi Bojovnici”). Project has been developed in collaboration with multiple Grammy Award winners Olle Romo, Alex Venguer and Oscar Zambrano and an award-winning video director Ernesto Galan.
An A Cappella Version:
An a cappella version for 24 singers was written by the very talented Ester Wiesnerova in Bratislava, Slovakia. This version will surely please fan of an a cappella music genre and audiences globally alike with an artistically fulfilling version that didn’t lose the original melody for the sake of brilliant vocal techniques by the individual singers, as often found in this genre. All of our choir members are well-known and respected vocalists around the globe. We could highlight for example a Canadian singer-songwriter Ali Slaight, musical director of an award-winning a cappella sensation “Pitch Slapped”, Tracy Robertson, and MusicLab teacher Gerson Euiguren from Ecuador. A multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winning sound engineer, Alex Venguer (Sting, John Legend, Yo-Yo Ma, Herbie Hancock, Lady Gaga…..) will be, together with a multiple Grammy Award winning sound engineer Oscar Zambrano (Sting, Justin Timberlake Wyclef Jean, Arcade Fire….), in charge of the sonic field, while talented video producer Richard Danela will puzzle it all together into a mosaic-like video.
A Symphony/prog metal version:
One of the most talented arrangers of today, Eren Basbug in Ankara, Turkey, wrote a truly captivating, technically difficult, yet still easily accessible by a broad audience, 8-minute masterpiece version of the 15th-century traditional choral song called “Ye Who Are Warriors of God” (“Ktoz Su Bozi Bojovnici”). 24-piece choir, 3 guitarists, 3 bass players, 3 drummers, keyboard, piano, seaboard, string quartet, iPad GeoShred, and vocal soloists Dora Bondy, Ester Wiesnerova, and Mladen Djelmo recorded over one thousand different parts that will be assembled and mixed by Alek Darson in Canada and then shipped off to Swiss to a multiple Grammy Award winning sound engineer and producer Olle Romo (Lady Gaga, Mick Jager, Muse, Elton John….). After that, the mix will travel for a final mastering to NYC to a multiple Grammy Award winning sound engineer Oscar Zambrano (Sting, Justin Timberlake Wyclef Jean, Arcade Fire….). Meanwhile, back in Boston, Ernesto Galan, video producer for the Boston Ballet, creates a visual medley that helps to encapsulate the global character of the recordings.
