... and to leave this reality of a life tucked away among the vineyards of Istria and the forests of Loška Dolina (and wherever that magical place of the Soča valley lies, how on earth did we deserve that .... we did !!)
For over two weeks we got to experience the luxury of abandoning the phone, the laptop, the internet, the outside world. Our sole task was to learn, to rehearse, to arrange, to play, to be there and to look after one another.
Barely ever setting foot inside of a building, our home was the canopy, our tents and hammocks, the trees, the fields, our repertoire and being together.
We jumped into streams, waterfalls, the sea, rivers, singing, yodelling, recuperating from the heat and the lack of sleep, witnessing the moment Laura Betka Krajnc most famously caught an apple mid air while jumping into the water (!)
We performed under trees, by the seaside, on school grounds, with the odd excursion to beautiful cities such as Trieste and Celje. We sang for the Soca river and drank in its beauty. We got to collaborate with amazing Slovenian bands, singers, rappers and poets.
We were paid a visit by the amazing czech band Yamaha Oriental who regaled us with a smashing private concert up at our campsite. We jammed, sang and danced the nights away, continuously choosing music and togetherness over sleep. There were duelling oriental e -pianos, balfolk, hip hop and jump dance moves, flying guitars, moments of Indian konnakol, transylvanian fiddle tunes and everything else from the Spice Girls to our favourite Ethno hits from years past by.
Then at the end the Floating Express Festival, which was famously claimed as actually “not happening” at all by mastermind and force of nature Matija Solce, who walked across the fields with his megaphone – between stages and bars it might be interesting to note – declaring that “everybody, this is NOT a festival!” Only one man that can pull off organising a non-festival!
Beautiful moments with a pop – up Indian fusion band around Venkatesh S. Kadandale and Los Hostes. I still remember this out of body experience of playing with Matija and Aleš, wondering where all that music was coming from!
A last couple of outings with the already dissolving Etno Histeria World Orchestra 2024 ended with the burning of the wooden tower. Mesmerised by watching the fire underneath a clear night sky, I felt like all the music we had been learning and playing was just made for this epic last moment.
We were treated like royalty by our team of chefs from Cats Hill and a small group of very hardworking volunteers. Thank you!
And what an amazing gang to work with: the violins, the flutes, the accordions, the brassers, cellos, drums, percussion and Filipco: thank you for your seemingly never ending motivation to learn new tunes, songs and arrangements. For your gratefulness and your co – operation happily following us with our crazy and ever changing plans and intense schedules. The glitter, the hugs, your beautiful beautiful sounds and spirits. Thank you to all the mentors, what a dream team !!!! I´m going to miss having you around to scheme new arrangements, check out chords and melodies on the bus, over lunch, or at two am in the morning! I could get used to that!
Both my bows hardly have any hair left and are in repair, I felt spaced out and beyond tired for days after leaving Slovenia. Every piece of clothing in my suitcase needed a wash. Broken nails, a few more grey hair and wrinkles around my mouth from all the laughter. Lingering dreams of making arrangements for the orchestra and 140 unread emails. Worth every every second of it. Thank you Matija Solce and all of the organisers for giving us this time. The most precious gifts of all. The creative and emotional well is full up and will make me fly high until we shall meet again!
(Photos and videos c Larisa Kazic, Marko Gasparovic, Bojan Rupnik, Toby Kuhn, Filippe - thank you !!)
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