Fire engines, epic dance sessions, concerts & fish market hangs
Cruising around Ljubljana on my friends´bike pretending that I live there, hanging out at the local fish market with a whole huge bunch of really close friends, drinking coffees and teas and chatting for hours in our favourite cafe, playing concerts here and there, catching really amazing shows, hopping around on the dance floors while the gang was being held together by Frida the dog and the fire truck
that, like a moving home base, followed us around to all sorts of different venues - serving as a stage with people on top, infront or crusing around in it, as well as serving as the food station in the evenings ... Kavč Festival 2023 far surpassed all of my expectations - and I expected a lot !!!
The gang at the fish market Tygroo and the Fire Truck
Together with Los Hostes (aka Matija Solce & Aleš Zorec) we got to play at Salon za ENO glasbo (footage to follow very soon!!!), were warmly welcomed into a photography studio and got to open the festival at Zorica (this was an interesting one ... after a violent night with a stomach bug, I was totally spaced out on low sugar and
salt levels. It does weirdly catapult you into the moment, with no energy to be elsewhere !! One of my favourite gigs with them so far ... )
It´s always very exciting to share the stage with those boys - you never know what happens, but you sure have to be on your toes !!!
With Matija @ Zorica, photo c Larisa Kazic Oj Jelena, Jelena - Los Hostes @ Zorica
The very next morning we got to perform live on Radio Prvi, featuring the amazing Hannah James on clog dance, vocals and accordion!
You can listen back to the whole thing (around 30min.) here: https://prvi.rtvslo.si/podkast/prva-vrsta/173250920/174932692
Here´s "Jodlfunk":
For the rest of the week, I caught really
amazing and inspiring shows, such as Toro/Azor with their songs about sleepless nights and bipolar friends ... Two young slovenian rappers improvising on Frida the dog or this scene of a conversation between a fire fighter and a social worker ... so quick and excellent that I got it even though I didn´t understand a word ! Fairy-like young slovenian singer Kiki ... Matija´s show Pulcinella ... our crazy czech friends Tygroo ... Zvezdana Novaković´s choir and new project ... Trio Katastrofa with long lost friends Stefan Hedborg and Sofia Hoegstadius, creating this crazy acrobatic moments of seemless transitions between Bulgarian, Swedish and Rumanian music, served up to us with incredible mastery of their instruments and a good dose of humour. Beautiful singing by Dunja and Louise from Chant Electronique ... A whole Croatian choir at noon at the bookshop ... Where would you get it ?¿
On the last day of the festival, we had a great last blast at Castle Zneznik. Surrounded by the beautiful snowy forest, I got to reunite with Hannah James for a set of tunes and songs, the whole thing culminating in a final session with soup pot percussion and tiny accordions, blasting out songs from La Gomera ...
Being involved in one of Matija Solce´s socio-political cultural interventions is always guaranteed to be an epic adventure. This time was no exception!
So much musical and human closeness, what a boost for the system !!! Hvala lepa Matija and gang for organising this madness, what a great concept, getting the whole city involved via making gigs happen in people´s livingrooms, offices and studios! But what else would you expect from the kind a guy who sings to their dog!