Mediterraneo is the title accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegović gave to his latest album, filled with original music inspired by the Dalmatian-Adriatic coasts and nearby and distant lands that influenced the composer's life. Beautiful rugged beaches, rich in nature and ancient settlements that were inhabited long before the ancient Greeks, Romans, Illyrians, Celts and other peoples—some of whom have disappeared entirely—adorn the shores of the Adriatic Sea.
Such a region, bursting with history, colored by melancholy, romance, hard work, delicious food, breathtaking coasts, cities and villages has inspired many artists and continues to enchant them. Today it also inspires composer and accordionist Nihad Hrustanbegović. He daydreams away with his accordion, whether tinged with Balkan notes or not. But be warned, this man has also traveled in Italy, France and many other places. One of his home bases is Amsterdam, where he landed in his early years, and the Netherlands was also the country where he made his breakthrough as an accordionist and composer.
"The compositions are largely inspired by travels in 2024. Split, Ancona, Genoa, San Remo, Monaco, Antibes, Brač, Hvar and Dubrovnik. Beyond the Mediterranean influences on the album, there is of course also Amsterdam."
Mediterraneo, which contains meditation and Mediterranean within it, consists of 10 consecutive parts that you can also easily listen to separately and each can be performed and/or heard on its own. More than one piece would fit perfectly with a film, whether documentary or not, about that enchanting setting. The music paints pictures. Are you in Sarajevo, the capital of the country where the composer lived in recent years? Staying as a tourist in the picturesque UNESCO World Heritage town of Kotor in Montenegro? Or are you enjoying the sun, the sea, a table set with delicious grilled meat and salad on a Croatian island, or are you visiting the young, densely populated, vibrant university city of Novi Sad in Serbia, or perhaps choosing the crystal-clear waters of Europe's deepest lake, Lake Ohrid in North Macedonia, or are you a tourist on the other side of former Yugoslavia in the small but very neat and beautiful Slovenia with its stunning capital Ljubljana? You could of course also stay in a small apartment right in the heart of Amsterdam. Well, it doesn't matter where you are when listening, what really counts is where the composer takes you.
We won't discuss the ten parts separately here—you have to listen to them. Close your eyes and let the images that the music evokes appear before your mind's eye. It's so remarkable, the feelings that Nihad shares with the world through music. The composer performs the work himself and also wrote the text accompanying the album. This way you can better understand what Mediterraneo is all about. Join composer and dreamer Nihad Hrustanbegović on a musical journey and discover how beautiful this part of Mediterranean Europe is. Close your eyes and meditate with the composer as he pays a well-deserved tribute to all that beauty.
