Harri Stojka – A Song for My Daddy

Concert & Conversation – Reflektor André Heller

This concert has already taken place! 18
This concert has already taken place! 18
Harri Stojka
Harri Stojka © Sabine Hauswirth
Claudius Jelinek
Claudius Jelinek © Claudius Kölz
Harri Stojka & Claudius Jelinek
Harri Stojka & Claudius Jelinek © Sam Churchill
  • Doors open 17:00

  • Start 18:00

  • End approx. 19:15

Odes to survival

He is probably one of the most famous jazz musicians in Austria: Guitarist Harri Stojka has stood on the familiar festival and concert stages since the 1970s and has worked with many musical greats from John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana to Van Morrison and Herbert Grönemeyer. Despite his unique style varying between jazz, rock, punk and world music, he has always remained true to his musical and familial Roma roots as well as gypsy jazz. André Heller presents the guitar legend as part of his »Reflektor« festival with a very personal and historically important project.

Stojka’s father, Johann »Mongo« Stojka, was one of the few family members to survive the genocide of the Sinti and Roma by the Nazis, known as the Porajmos. As a 13-year old in the Buchenwald concentration camp, he wrote a little book with poems and drawings, which lay in various archives for eight decades, then reached the Holocaust Galleries of the Imperial War Museum in London. It was only there that it was attributed to Stojka – a minor sensation for the family.

The Austrian musician and journalist Robert Rotifer (FM4, Ö1, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, Rolling Stone) was there in January 2024 when Stojka saw the original copy of his father’s childhood creation for the first time. On the stage of the Elbphilharmonie, the two of them discuss the moving story of this remarkable discovery. Following this, Harri Stojka together with Claudius Jelinek will, in a furious acoustic guitar set, celebrate the immortality and vital courage of Romani culture in the face of discrimination and genocide in his favourite way – with the guitar under his agile fingers.

Please note: This event takes place in German.

Performers

Harri Stojka guitar

Claudius Jelinek guitar

Robert Rotifer talk

Programme

The concert takes place without a break.

Festival

Reflektor André Heller

Promoter: HamburgMusik

Supported by Stiftung Elbphilharmonie

From the Mediatheque : Videos, Podcasts, Articles

Leif Gütschow from ByteFM and Elbphilharmonie colleague Tom R. Schulz talk about André Heller and his very special »Week of Amazement« on the Elbe.

Leif Gütschow from ByteFM and Elbphilharmonie colleague Tom R. Schulz talk about André Heller and his very special »Week of Amazement« on the Elbe.

Play Video

: André Heller on his »Reflektor« festival

»I want to share what I love with others«: the outstanding Austrian artist is curating a week of amazement at the Elbphilharmonie.

A Dreamer

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During your visit

Elbphilharmonie Plaza

A public viewing platform on the 8th floor of the Elbphilharmonie

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Food and Drink

Before the concert and in the interval

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Coughing, clapping, chatting

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