Sarajevo Jazz Festival 2016
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
November 2-6, 2016

When your plane lands in Sarajevo, its wheels roll over the crumbling underground tunnel that was the only connection of the city to the outside world during the Serbian siege from April 5, 1992 to February 29, 1996. It was twenty years ago, and a few months later, in a devastated town, Edin Zubcevic launched his first jazz festival.

"This is a post-trauma society, like many other societies," said recently Edin. "We are really trying to do something for society. It's a mission. We are here for the music because we really believe in the music and its power of reconciliation, its healing power."

Sitting uneasily on the edges of Europe, the historical city of Sarajevo where so many key events of European history took place is slowly recovering from the war, in a general economic slump that does not help the economy. Founded by the Ottomans and for centuries one of the most important trading centers of the Balkans, with sizeable Jewish, Muslim, Catholics and Orthodox communities, its still a powerful visual model of tolerance with its cathedrals, mosques and synagogues sitting within metres from one another.

Boys and girls on the streets look like anywhere else, but unemployment is high and perspectives difficult, with a stead outflow of emigrants, draining the country of the brightest talents. Remaining there and fighting the fight is the choice of Edin and his passionate, efficient team, whose hospitality is legendary among musicians.

This year's program centerpiece was the