Music » Muzika | 79 came back to perform the exciting and genre crossing music festival ArtLink with pianist Tanja Zapolski. The festival is led by visionary CEO Jovanka Višekruna Janković, towhomI presented the idea of this mind-blowing project. Her immediate response was: “We will do that right here in Belgrade!” And so, it happened!” How did you come up with the idea of combining music and running? “First of all, I have been a passionate cellist and runner since the age of 11. The present idea came as I was running with my three kids (now aged 8, 4 and 2) in the baby cart through Copenhagen, more or less constantly for six years or so. I get many ideas out there on the track - some better than others! But this turned out to be among the better ones. Do you get tired; can you play easily after running about 30 kilometres? “Just likewhen running amarathon, you will hit “the wall” around two-thirds down the track and start feeling a certain fatigue - in your legs, of course, but, more importantly in this case, in your arms and hands. So, yes, it feels very tiring and certain things in your playing don’t function at all like normal. So, you have to start compensating by changing your cello technique.That is a very exciting challenge for a cello-nerd like me [laughs].” Why the Bach suites? What made you choose this composition? “Bach’s 6 cello suites, with their 36 movements, are monumental. They are a cornerstone of Western musical history, not tomention for any cellist.The termBachMarathon already exists in the classical music world. It means performing a section of Bach’s work in full at a concert. So, the idea of pairing a Bach Marathon with a real marathon came up. Running long-distance is amonumental act of activity - ask any runner. Performing all six suites is - to me at least – like performing the circle of life. So, I thought why notmirror the two circles, let themface eachother?What comes on top of that is humour, intuition, reflection and, well, a party in the streets!” How do people react; do they run with you to the new suite? “The running audience gathers around the starting line. The starter gun sounds and I play the first movement (Prelude I) and we run the first kilometre. I carry the cello inmy hands, as that’s turned out to be the best way to do it. I use a carbon fibre cello that’s a bit lighter than a regular cello. Then I play the secondmovement (Allemande I) andwe run another kilometre.This continues 36 times in total until the runners reach the finish line. Both the running audience and people cheering along the route have reactedwithgreat enthusiasm. So, inside the Bach Ultra Marathon project, the running audience gets a beautiful and special workout day, while the audiencewe run past gets a fantastic musical surprise.” Bahovih šest svita za violončelo sa svojih 36 stavova su monumentalne, kamen temeljac u istoriji zapadnemuzike Bach’s 6 cello suites, with their 36 movements, are monumental. They are a cornerstone of Western musical history
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