"Making the best of it"

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Jazz guitarist Filip Dinev during the corona crisis - a portrait

Since fall 2019, guitarist Filip Dinev has been a student in the Dr. E. A. Langner Foundation’s Jazz Master’s program. Offered at the HfMT since 2014, this program for exceptionally talented musicians serves as a model for jazz education both nationally and internationally.

Raised in a small town in southern Macedonia, Filip began playing the guitar at the age of 13. Inspiration was plentiful: his father and brother are professional musicians, and their home studio is filled with instruments. After finishing school, he began studying engineering but dropped out after a year. This was followed by years of apprenticeship and touring as a musician, after which he finally began his music studies in the provincial town of Štip. He then spent a year in Budapest, a city that, by his own admission, continues to shape him to this day and influences his style, which oscillates between jazz, blues, Balkan, and pop. He also dedicated a track to the city on his debut album *Szvetlo*, released in late 2020, which he recorded with French drummer Pierre Martin and Hungarian bassist Dani Arday.

The Pandemic—A Detour in the Creative Process
We arranged an interview with Filip in February 2021, when teaching and events at the HfMT were largely on hold due to the restrictions of the second lockdown. As a starting point, it therefore made sense to ask him how he dealt with the crisis while pursuing his master’s degree. “One of the most significant things the pandemic has done is shift the social dimension of the entire musical experience. And by ‘musical experience,’ I mean the process of inspiration and creation. I consider this very important. Of course, this has had a dramatic impact on the program. As social interaction changed during the pandemic, so did our practice. Normally, you practice with a focus on a specific event, and you try things out for specific reasons, with the main goal of sharing it with others. These days, we’re all trying to embrace the situation as if it were a ‘new beginning’ and make the best of it.”

A Harmonious Atmosphere and Cohesion as a Source of Energy
So interaction with other students is still taking place? “Of course, we’re in constant contact with one another. It’s very important to share your feelings and thoughts with other musicians and colleagues during these times. Mutual encouragement and support are really very necessary right now.” What impressions and experiences were you able to gain during your first year of the master’s program despite the exceptional circumstances? “The HfMT Hamburg is truly a unique, creative, and diverse musical environment. One of my first impressions was how welcoming and friendly everyone is. You have to keep in mind that I had absolutely no connections in Hamburg and had applied to the program on my own. Then everything happened very quickly: I boarded a train in Budapest and was in Hamburg a few hours later. Shortly after I completed my audition, I formed a trio with HfMT graduates Tilman Oberbeck and Moritz Hamm, with whom we mainly played my compositions. Almost at the same time, drummer Dominic Harrison invited me to join his quartet, with which we were able to play a few concerts before the pandemic. The master’s program itself is brilliant in many ways. It allows you to expand your personal artistic vision with the teachers of your choice.”

Modest expectations, yet radiating spontaneity
Hopefully, the COVID-19 crisis will come to an end soon. Are there already concrete goals for “the time after”? “I’m currently working on a few new compositions, mainly for the trio format. At the same time, I’m involved in a few band projects at the HfMT. We’ve recently started rehearsing with the ensemble led by Lauri Kadalipp, a brilliant new master’s student from Estonia who recently moved to Hamburg. My original plan for this year, however, was to perform the music from my album *Szvetlo* in concerts as often as possible. To what extent this wish will come true remains uncertain at the moment. The only thing we can do now is take a deep breath, be patient, and not force anything.”

TEXT BY DIETER HELLFEUER
PHOTO: FILIP DINEV CHRISTINA KÖRTE

This article appears in the issue of “zwoelf” published at the start of the summer semester. The 28th issue of the HfMZ college newspaper focuses on the theme “Heroes.”