Fri 22 - The Big Stage
Gordan
A trio joining traditional Serbian singing with abstraction, energy, and minimalism, their music is marked by radical reduction, seemingly endless ascension, and a passion for experiments. Serbian singer Svetlana Spajić is an internationally recognized and acclaimed artist. She, like almost no other contemporary singer, is a master of all the complex local stylistic variations of singing from Balkan music. Guido Möbius plays bass and various electronic sound generators. Additionally, he uses guitar amps, microphones, and effects to provoke feedback which either harmonize or are juxtaposed with the song. It is a dialogue between sound and noise which is accentuated or fragmented by means of Andi Stecher’s expressive drumming. With a rich pool of ideas the percussionist drives the sound forward breathlessly and grounds it.
Gordan recorded their debut during the first wave of the Covid19 pandemic in March 2020. Most of the time it was as if the music just happened to the band; playing together felt natural from the first moment on. Some of the old Serbian traditional songs that Spajic sang are extinct forms with a specific local melodic mode. The skillful improvisation of their lyrics and ornaments was of great importance and esteemed among village singers.