Marko Đukić

Aleksandar Jovanović Shljuka: Piano solo

Almost self-taught Zaječar-born pianist and composer Aleksandar Jovanović Šljuka (1978) had his musical baptism by fire as a member of the Alegorian Jazz Band, at the public recording of the Radio Belgrade 202 show "All that Jazz" in Zaječar in the early 2000s. He started with the club cover band Coolares, and moved on to the jazz trio Woodcock Group (Marko Fabri – bass, Aleksandar Cvetković Drama – drums). The later entered the finals of the regional competition of the Umbria Jazz Balkan Windows 2009 festival and released an album with the New York's Sunset Jazz Recordings label in 2011. A year later, this trio became the musical base of Ivan Grlić's multimedia project Serbian Jazz Bre! They recorded two studio albums, reconstructed Balkan impressions in the memory of Lala Kovačev, and performed at the 30th edition of the Belgrade Jazz Festival.

Then, the trio "sailed" into the Napeti Quintet of the writer and rapper Marko Šelić Marčelo, and Aleksandar simultaneously launched a solo career. He released his first album Illusion in 2017, presenting "genre-non-aligned music", closer to pop-rock than jazz. But a year later, he gave an impressive solo piano recital at the Novi Sad Piano City festival, announcing a new musical turn. By the end of 2021, he released his first solo album, Piano Solo (Lampshade Media), with six original tracks in the Balkan jazz style and striking covers of the folk songs "Jesen stiže rana" and "Što se bore misli moje". He also writes music for theater (Jedna žena a dva muža) and film (Rođenje, documentary series Underwater Metropolis).

http://www.shljuka.rs/