The Slovenian trio share music made in collaboration with French hurdy-gurdy player Yann Gourdon
We try to reach the common point,” Širom’s Iztok Koren tells Miloš Hroch in The Wire 469, “which sometimes is a long road to walk. That’s probably what makes our music interesting. It would not be that multidimensional if we had much more unified taste.”
Vocalist and violinist Ana Kravanja, hurdy-gurdy player Samo Kutin and banjo player Koren state that their sound is informed by their individual experiences growing up in disparate geographic and topographic regions of Slovenia, as well as their home country's deep-rooted relationship with psychoanalysis. These elements fuse with the band’s sonic investigations into the traditional music of Slovenia and many other countries to create what they call “imaginary folk” music.
Here Širom share an exclusive recording of music composed during an artistic residency with French hurdy-gurdy player Yann Gourdon in Kranj, Slovenia last year. “The song “I Want To Begin To Be Shining Through” is one of the five compositions which we created together,” says Koren via email. “It was very intense and fruitful,” he continues, “as we made rough material for the whole album in just three days, which we then presented live at Sonica festival in Ljubljana. The chemistry [with Gourdon] was good so we're already making exciting future plans as a quartet.”
Read more about Širom in The Wire 469. Wire subscribers can also read the feature online via the digital library.
