Welcome to the presentation of our Balkan body music residency in the wonderful space of Ebenboeck Haus! At the Open Studio event on the 27th of November we’ll show you a work-in-progress that combines juggling, circus and body music with Andreas Schantz.
You’ll also have a chance to hear the premiere of the songs from the next album of Alice in WonderBand titled The Courage to be Afraid.
Have you heard about the premiere of the videos recorded last summer in Italy? We’ve performed in July of 2024 at the Folkest World Music Showcase program, supported by UpBeat platform. In the scenic surrounding of San Daniele del Friuli on an old town square the Balkan body music spread its sounds.
The show was quite unforgettable, as you might see from the videos. Featuring one of our favorite songs here, Croatian Bratec kosio (Brother mowed the grass) there will be a premiere every Tuesday and Thursday until the middle of December.
If you still haven’t subscribed to our YouTube channel, now is the right time to do it.
11/27 Open studio Ebenböckhaus, presentation of the residency with Andreas Schantz, Munich
11/28 Freies Musikzentrum, concert, Munich
11/29 Freies Musikzentrum, workshop, Munich
12/05 Zirkel fur kulturelle Bildung e.V. workshop for artists and social workers, Munich
12/06 Offener Raum Traunstein, Body as an instrument workshop, Traunstein
12/13 Open studio Villa Waldberta, presentation of the residency with Andreas Schantz, Munich
Workshops and concerts in November and December
Hungry for more music? Come to Freies Musikzentrum on November 28th. If we’re not mistaken, our last concert in this space was in the winter of 2018, anyway, before the great gap of pandemics. We are happy to come back to the special music place and perform again some of the songs we did back then, but the new songs as well.
We have three different workshops to offer: on November 29th in Freies Musikzentrum we offer a body music workshop with focus on odd rhythms and songs from the Balkans.
During the workshop, we will learn the basics of the body music technique. Starting from simple sounds like snaps, claps and stomps, we will step by step learn to use body percussion for making odd and even beats. Adding the voice and learning songs from the Balkans will be the next element. Combining all this with movement and dance will bring new dimensions in performing folk music.
We’ll also do some theater games, warmups of the body and voice and stretching. We will learn more about our body and how to use it as an instrument in performance.
On December 5th in the organization of Zirkel fur kulturelle Bildung e.V. we will teach a workshop for social workers and artists, focused on the body music community practice.
If you are near Traunstein, join the workshop on December 6th there and learn more about body music and songs from the Balkans. Send your inqieries to Offener Raum Traunstein, the organizers of the event.
Balkan body music in November – studio time, workshops, performances
The residency in Munich gave us a little time to work with our favorite artists from Germany.
Aside from the circus work, we dived deep into our next album with two groups of friends. The first song, Tmina (Darkness), which is Ana’s original composition, we recorded with Bavarian Immigrants: Denise Weise, Stefan Knoll and Heribert Haider.
What makes the song super special isn’t just its wonderful solo parts and improvisations by our music friends, but its unforgettable Bavarian lyrics.
Heribert wrote the vocal arrangement for three voices that follow Ana’s dark journey into black depths of her soul, and he re-wrote her Serbian lyrics. The song brings original poetry in Bavarian and Serbian, mimicking the lyrics and style of traditional songs.
This is maybe a way to write new traditional music, one that can talk to souls of all walks of life in this new century.
The second song, tradiotional Macedonian Što mi e milo em drago (I am so glad) was arranged and performed with Kathryn Doener and Christoph Schoenbeck.
Do you remember our September Bahnhofs Orchestra trip to Leisnig? These wonderful people are not just artists, but also basically Alpha and Omega of this unique cultural center, together with Alireza Rismanchian.
The song speaks about the moment when everything is just right. And so many things alligned during the work on the song and recording!
We are grateful to Tobias Laemmert for recording and Simon for hospitality in the studio.
