There are many disadvantaged groups in this life and the components of Mesom Jerry know first-hand that a moment shared in music is capable of lifting the hearts and spirits of anyone who needs it. With a long and rich history of touring most of Europe and further with many different musical outfits, Bogdan Stoian (multi-instrumentalist, performer and producer) is well versed in collaborative performance and is something of an expert in classical and gypsy Romani music being the product of a Jewish traveller family in Romania. This diverse heritage holds a special place at the heart of Mesom Jerry and carves the ethos into a mission of multicultural altruism directed at the many historically and contemporarily oppressed communities; many of which there is a direct relation to, and of others there are keen collaborators with equal energy.
Having spent the last 15 years bringing together collections of artists for bespoke, one-off gigs as well as incepting and executing extended, long-form projects, Bogdan Stoian has learnt over time that encouraging people to get in touch with their emotions through music has essentially unlimited potential in unlocking something that person or social setting. Take his prison work for example; after pitching to a funding institution his intentions to help current inmates express themselves, Bogdan and a band of instrumentalists hit the road and visited facilities across Europe to perform and teach music. The scheme was met with high accolade once finished, and the visits themselves were filled with heartfelt testimonials from inmates too touched to express their gratitude adequately. There is intention of returning to some of these facilities to regroup with inmates and arrange some outside performances.
As well as his own initiatives Bogdan has enjoyed levels of success with long-term electronic, psychedelic neo-manele outfit from Bucharest, Steaua de Mare. Boasting two successful full-length releases as well as a long string of significant performances in Romania and much further afield, Steaue de Mare have also appeared on multiple Romanian compilation albums and, after capturing the imagination of thousands with enticing encapsulations of Romanian pop-folk, have been endowed with such befitting descriptions as ‘the Boards of Canada of Manele’.
Now residing in London with a sharp and focused vision for the near future, Bogdan works with solo filmmaker Max Burton to incorporate visually striking settings and energy into his performances, working together to project Mesom Jerry into a position of influence where they are able to make art that can provide relief for struggling communities, and boost humanity as a whole. Current objectives are to secure funding from the European Arts Fund to put into motion the beginnings of a music school in rural Romania, and to set up a string of live performances around Europe for beneficiary initiatives, with the help of a never ending string of local and international artists, collaborators and friends.
The model provides an ideal description of the next stages of the decision-making process: debate, decision-making and implementation of solutions. The opinion and public reactions of those persons and groups whose interests are affected show whether the solutions will correspond to their purpose and whether they will be accepted. Minorities or groups that are too weak to promote their rejected interests may express protest or criticism. If the attempt to solve a problem was a success (or was considered successful), the political cycle ended (the end of the policy); In case of failure, the cycle starts from the beginning. In some cases, a solution to a problem creates new problems that now need to be addressed in a new policy cycle.
