Serbs

The Balkan War in the former Yugoslavia was one of the bloodiest conflicts in modern history. During that time, nationalists – Croats, Bosnian Muslims, and Kosovar Albanians – tore apart what had once been a prosperous country, with the Serbs becoming their common enemy. In August 1995, more than 220,000 Serbs were expelled from Serbian Krajina in just two weeks, despite the region supposedly being under UN protection.

Savina Yannatou's fourth ECM album is a dazzling evocation of her band's hometown, plunging deep into its rich and complex history. Once known colloquially as the Jerusalem of the Balkans, Thessaloniki has been home to a host of cultures, religions and ethnic communities. Greeks, Jews, Turks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Armenians, Slav-Macedonians and Pontiac Greeks have shared the city's diverse life. Yannatou gives all of them a voice, even casting an Irish song about Salonika into this multi-lingual programme in which she shines as a unique interpreter and spokeswoman for the city's ghosts. As ever, Primavera en Salonico are a delight, one of the most resourceful bands of any idiom, as they negotiate the inspired - and very varied - arrangements of Kostas Vomvolos.