BOW VS PLECTRUM is a duo of Filip Novosel (tambura) and Tihomir Hojsak (double bass), with the idea of combining two stringed instruments using a variety of styles and traditions. Double bass, played with bow, and the Croatian traditional instrument, TAMBURA, played with an unconventional rectangle-shaped pick or "plectrum," make a unique and organic blend which translated in a fresh and new combination on the music scene.

The music created by this duo combines a variety of styles, but has set its foundation in traditional music from the Balkans, in the Pannonia region of Croatia, and in contemporary jazz. Original compositions of both Hojsak and Novosel are filled with folk motifs, groovy odd meters characteristic of their cultural backgrounds, contemporary jazz harmony and virtuosic improvisations, revealing the full potential not only of their instruments, but of the two musicians' individual training and mastery.

 Bow vs Plectrum (from Croatia Records)

 "While we had a several chances to represent Hojsak, in between as a leader on his two albums Jazzroom and Clockwise, Filip Novosel emerges as a completely new phenomenon. Virtuoso on the instrument miles away from jazz idiom or concept of improvised music, has forced the experts from the prestigious New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York to accept him in their program without audition (after previously completed studies at the Music Academy Zagreb with master thesis on Tambura and tambura techniques in jazz). That's how Novosel became the first ever tambura player in the world to study (and in between to finish the studies) at some major American jazz school.

 Novosel showed impeccable improvising skills in jazz and blues genre in Hojsak's composition Kit Blues. Of course, Hojsak's skills are unquestionable, which is proved during the entire record, weather we speak of bow or finger playing technique.

 We are left to treat Bow vs Plectrum album as one of the most original, brave and intrigue publications of mainstream music from this area, including those from few years back."

 To hear more about this excellent music duo, please click here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pzg0jrQU0qw