Aleksandar Bahun, Novi Sad, Serbia.
A composer, arranger and a pianist from an old Novi Sad music family. Father Petar (1945-1999) a composer, arranger, a pedagogue and a guitarist of the Dance orchestra and Big Band orchestra of the Vojvodina-Novi Sad Radio-Television with two awards, who can be found in the Novi Sad Encyclopedia.
He finished the elementary and secondary music school “Isidor Bajić” and then enrolled at the course of composition at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in the class of Professor Slavko Suklar.
At the beginning of 1990, he formed his first jazz band called AB SEXTET, with which he performed in clubs and at numerous cultural events over the next few years in Novi Sad.
At the middle of 1996, he and Adam Klem formed STOMP QUARTET, with which they performed in November 1997 at the JAZZ time Fest in Novi Sad, as the youngest original band and as hosts of the Festival itself.
By the end of 1998, he formed ALEXANDAR BAHUN TRIO, which included Ištvan Mađarić, Robert Pongo and himself as the piano-player and the composer. They took part in a couple of local jazz festivals, playing ECM jazz, which differed from the jazz form of the 90s, in being a kind of free form which allowed any kind experiment. That same year, he became a member of the Big Band orchestra of the Vojvodina-Novi Sad Radio-Television and of the Vojvodinian Youth Big Band, for a short period of time.
At the middle of 2000, he went to Egypt with the members of the funk, acid jazz group “COLIBRI”, with which he performed over the following 13 months.
Upon his return from Egypt in November 2001, with his Trio, he participated at the OLD GOLD jazz festival in Novi Sad. That same year, with Adam Klem Quartet, Groove Masters band,… He wrote music for plays, short films, artistic performances (Ranjeni Orao /Wounded Eagle/, Leptirica /Moth/, Mahniti /The Crazy/…) which were performed at numerous festivals over the years.
At the beginning of 2004, he became a member of the Belgrade Latino jazz band FIESTA LATINA, with which he has performed in the country and abroad. By the middle of 2004, he, Adam Klem and Igor Molnar formed a band called MOBADA, which exclusively performed their own music, and with which he performed during that same year at the Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows Festival, Novi Sad Jazz Festival…
At the middle of 2006, he and Vladimir Samardžić formed a group called PANONIA PROJECT, with which they performed for the first time at the MOTOVUN film festival (Croatia) in 2006, and later at the Umbria Jazz Balkanic Windows Festival in August 2006 and, in November 2006, at the Novi Sad Jazz Festival, where Marko Đorđević joined the group as the lead trumpet.
In 2007, he became a member of the Belgrade almost Big Band orchestra JAZZ CONNECTION, which included leading jazz artists, and with which he performed at the grand opening of the first FILM FESTIVAL OF SERBIA in July 2007, where he collaborated with Duško Gojković, Dado Topić,… In mid July, he traveled to Dortmund, as one of the representatives of the cultural delegation from Novi Sad, within the programme of cultural cooperation between Novi Sad and Dortmund, where he collaborated with the eminent German jazz musician, professor Uwe Plath, with whom he performed at a series of successful concerts in Germany. That same year, with the group PANONIA PROJECT, he performed at jazz festivals in Valjevo and Petrovac (Montenegro). In November 2007, he received an invitation from the maestro Bubiša Simić to perform as a special guest with the RTS Big Band at the Ilija Kolarac Foundation, at the concert “An Homage to a Pianist”, which was dedicated to our amazing pianist, arranger and composer Bora Roković, where Aleksandar had a successful performance.
Today, Aleksandar is working on numerous projects with artists from all areas of the culture and media, home and abroad.
He is a full-time member of the opera of the Serbian National Theatre.