PJEV is a female a cappella quintet from Zagreb which preserves and cherishes traditional vocal music from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. PJEV gathers singers from these countries that each contribute songs from their respective homelands. Their common ground is a shared tradition transmitted by a common language and its varying dialects. In times when mainstream rhetoric serves to divide these nations and cultures, their songs pay tribute to the underlying unity, mutual understanding, intertwined narrative, and inevitable coexistence which connects them all.
The most important performance to date of the group was a sold-out concert in September 2021 at the Cologne Jazz Week festival featuring Kit Downes on organ and Hayden Chisholm on Saxophone. The live recording made by Deutschlandfunk radio was broadcast to critical acclaim and has just been released for Redhook records in May 2023.