May started with new body music recordings. Two songs in cooperation with our daughter, Alisa, Vrbice, vrbo zeljena (Gorani song from Kosovo) and Dokonanje (Being idle in loose translation). The last one is a song we composed almost 20 years ago. The lyrics are still our moto:
We’re not being idle
We’re playing and digging
We’re not being idle
We’re mowing and carrying water
The May/June tour starts with the residency in Banhof Leisnig on May 20 with Vilma Talvitie. We’ll teach together a workshop and perform a concert on May 24. Next weekend we’ll be performing on May 31 at FUJÁREK festival in Czech Republic, with a workshop of Balkan body music the same day. First time in Prague, we’ll perform on June 7th at the Habrovka festival: two concerts and one more performance in cooperation with the other artists.
In June we are again in Poland in Silesia to work with Slavyk on the finishing of the album and recording a new video. We’ll work in parallel Ildikó Kali in Trnava in Slovakia to record one more song for the next album of Alice in WonderBand. Ildikó Kali won the Radio Head Awards in the World music category for 2024 for the album Jore Jore. If you remember, Marko recorded body percussion for one of the songs of the album, Oh, čierna som. Did you listen to it?
4th edition of the New Balkan Rhythm festival
The New Balkan Rhythm festival will have a special Polish edition this year! In cooperation with the Polish Institute in Belgrade, the Rozbark Theater and the Academy of Theater Arts from Krakow (dance theater department in Bytom), our festival will be held in Sremski Karlovci and Belgrade, at the end of August and the beginning of September. You will have the opportunity to listen to the quartet Slavyk, to attend workshops and watch Mirror with sound, a dance performance we created last year at the residency in Bytom. Traditional songs of Silesia and Vojvodina meet dance and movement, telling stories of life, war, love, happiness and support. We are announcing the full program soon!
Slavyk spring
What a spring this was in Poland! With our dear friends from Slavyk we were very busy. We performed in Teatr Rozbark for the first time, and then again in Krakow at Kontakt. Presztren Ruchu Tańca i Muzyki. As this wasn’t enough, we collaborated with Maja Rączka, a musician, teacher and cultural influencer from Katowice and recorded a Do Dzieła! session that will premiere in June.
While there, we couldn’t resist recording a new music video for the song Śpiewaj mi slaviczku (Sing to them, nightingale). It speaks of loss and forgiveness. It is a requiem for the people we loved, a story of family bonds and homage to generational trauma.
While in Poland, we also did workshops at Publiczna Szkoła Podstawowa Specto with kids from the first, second and third grade. Sometimes you don’t need to understand the language to play and move! We are thankful to Anna Trąbała for the organization and the team of the school for cooperation.
06 Slavyk, Do Dzieła session premiere, YouTube
07/26 Alkantara Fest, concert and workshop, Catania, Sicily
08/31 New Balkan Rhythm festival, Slavyk concert, Sremski Karlovci
09/03 New Balkan Rhythm festival, Slavyk concert, Belgrade
09/04 New Balkan Rhythm festival, Mirror with sound performance, Belgrade
10/04 – 12/23 AIR-M, Residency with Octopus Theater, Munich, Germany
10/26 Tampereen Ylioppilasteatteri, off-WOMEX concert with Vilma Talvitie, Tampere, Finland
11/14 Kulturhof Langenzenn, concert, Langenzenn, Germany
11/28 Freies Musikzentrum, concert, Munich, Germany
11/29 Freies Musikzentrum, workshop, Munich, Germany