Description
“Basma”, the second album by the Serbian folk collective Vartra, deliberately looks far back into the past: the band draws inspiration from ancient South Slavic healing rituals and invokes folk traditions from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. The lyrics are based on traditional customs from these regions and place a special emphasis on incantations used for healing purposes. These incantations are called “basma” in the local language. Their special power lies in being able to dispel evil curses and evil spirits alike through suggestive rhythmic repetition. The album was recorded in the house of Siniša Gavrić, the founder of the band, which he shares with his fellow musician Ivana Stošić.
Vartra was founded in 2017 by musician and singer Siniša Gavrić and sisters Ivana and Aleksandra Stošić. Dark folk, tribal, doom and electronic music combine here to form a unique, idiosyncratic mixture. Musically, the seven band members are influenced by Slavic folk music and shamanic drum traditions from North America. The lyrics are performed in Wallachian, Serbian and Macedonian. The Wallachians, by the way, form a national minority in Serbia, originating mainly from the eastern Serbian mountain region. The band’s style is described by critics as “doomy neo Slavic folk”. “This project Vartra is a result of our constant arguments. The darker Sinisa gets with this project, the more I try to make it lighter.
Where we really come together is in our pathos and musical moments of catharsis,” says Ivana Stošić in an interview about the background of the creative process. And adds: “Honestly, our creative work is a kind of musical struggle. Our writing process is literally just building something up and destroying it, then building it up again and taking it apart and so on until we finally have a song we can agree on.”
34 Songs from Ayarkhaan, Yat-Kha, New Asia, Uutai, Vedan Kolod and many more.
GENRE: World Siberia
BARCODE: 4251329500474
