THEin the voice of Natasha Popovića few seconds after that of Andriana Takić and then that of Maja Jovanovska. Attend a concert by the trio Balkan She it means to enter one intimate and surprising spacemade of polyphony, odd rhythms and suspended atmospheres. Three voices, a guitar and a cello they tell a universal feminine feeling, ancient and at the same time very current. These three young musicians, coming from Serbia And North Macedoniathey propose to the public a project that challenges time: a new way of interpreting and living i traditional Balkan songs through original arrangements. Voices from a distant past that find a new disruptive force in the present thanks to music.
A polyphonic song that talks about women
Natasha, Andriana and Maja they met in Milan, in a metropolis far from home which somehow strengthened each of them’s bond with their roots. «After moving here we understood the particularity of our music», says Andriana. «The odd rhythms typical of the Balkans, such as 7/8 or 9/8, do not exist here. I felt another type of love for my roots, for my land of origin».A love that has found a way to express itself through music and through women’s stories, especially those voices and those long silenced emotions of women. «We have united our three voices to tell them and to tell ourselves».
The birth of a female trio
«We met onlineon Instagram and Bumble,” he says Maja Jovanovska – composer and cellist – challenging her sweet shyness. «It’s not always easy to make friends in a new city and in a different language». For Andriana this meeting was fundamental: «I studied classical music, traveled a lot and started doing Balkan song workshops. All the musicians I knew were men. After a trip to Uganda I started thinking about role of women in different cultures. I thought about mine and I felt the need to create a female group». As he says Natasha Popovićthe youngest voice of the grouptheirs Tuning has become an inexhaustible source of inspiration: «We first became friends, the idea of the group came naturally. Musical ideas are born every day, for me it’s an incredible stimulus. We connected musically and humanly».
«We tried to understand what it means to be a woman in our cultures»
Speaking about the role of women in different cultures and societies, Maja added «In my house, in North Macedonia, I have never felt discriminated against as a musician. When I arrived in Italy, people started asking me: “Oh, wow are you a female musician?”. I started to feel a sort of victim, even if it wasn’t my personal story». The trio tells stories of women from seven different Balkan countries. «We were talking about it yesterday too», continues Maja, «it’s difficult try to understand what it means to be a woman in our cultures. The reality is that everything is very varied: it changes between generations, between regions, and often it is not as simple as it seems from the outside».
Balkan Shegiving new life to tradition
The trio, in the last Milanese concerts, mainly performed songs from Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia and Greece. Songs selected from traditional popular music and revisited with a new approach. «Ours is not a traditional way of playing », explained Andriana. «These songs are often performed on the street or at weddings, in a very intense way let’s say, with trumpets and drums». Natasha added: «Our work is different because we use softer voices and Maja’s cello, an instrument that does not belong to the original tradition».
This rereading delicate and sophisticated it had a surprising impact even on those who already knew these songs. «Many of our friends have listened to the songs with our arrangement and told us: “Wow, you made me love these songs again”. We love these songs, and these stories, and we want to put ourselves in the way we interpret them», concluded Natasha. It is precisely this intimate and thoughtful stylistic choice that allows us to give the right depth to the complex and multifaceted stories of women they have chosen to tell.
The woman in the Balkan tradition: «Victim on the one hand, but also very powerful, free and strong on the other»
The heart of the project Balkan She. Women’s songs from the Balkans it is the exploration of female figure in Balkan folk tradition. Immersed in a universe full of contradictions, the woman is the victim of a patriarchal system to which however she does not react passively. «In our songs la woman is a victim on the one hand, but also very powerful, free and strong on the other» Maja tried to explain. The themes of the songs are very universal: love, arranged marriages, desire, anger, magic, betrayal. What changes is the perspective: the male narration is absent. The women speak in the first person, without filters. In these texts, there are no “taboo” feelings”, those that man at the time considered inappropriate, to be hidden, a source of shame. The stories chosen by BalkanShe they challenge the imposed silence, they are voices that sing for everyone. Through the wonderful singing of Natasha, Andriana and Maja, these women seem to remind the world of a simple concept: in any condition, we think, we feel, we exist.
The forbidden emotions of women
As he writes Melissa Febos in Girlhood: «I didn’t choose to show off, to let my eyes be the least expert in judging my body, to have to appear weak or fragile so as not to be a threat, to always have to listen, to repress inappropriate impulses. No woman chose this». Popular songs chosen by Nataša, Maya and Andriana transform the music in a space that legitimizes female emotions long considered “forbidden”, such as anger and madness. No woman chose which emotions to feel and which not. «In a Serbian song, Kupi mi majko top, the protagonist says: “I want to take a knife and kill this man“If you allow yourself to express this anger, you accept it,” Andriana said.We want to show women in all their nuances, madness and anger are part of it: they are emotions that we feel and that exist».
Women of power, the custodians of magical knowledge
One also emerges in the trio’s songs powerful, almost ancestral female figure, holder of ancient and secret knowledge. Maja evokes the image of “witch” to explain the role of women who guard magical and ritual knowledge in the Balkan tradition. «I remember once my grandmother put three things in the corridor: fire, water and an axe. Each of us had to jump without getting burned, without getting wet and without cutting ourselves. A ritual to teach us that “whatever bad happens, it can be dealt with». From Maya’s stories a sort of sacredness emerges around the figure of women. Ritual or magical knowledge is constituted on a balance between natural forces, memory and resistance in which women have a fundamental role.
The mother and daughter relationship in Balkan women’s songs
In traditional singing Eleno kerkowidespread in North Macedonia and particularly dear to Natasha, the relationship between mother and daughter is expressed through a intimate, sweet and profoundly human dialogue. The protagonist of the song, Elena, is thoughtful, immersed in writing a letter to her distant lover, and her mother approaches her attentively, delicately asking her what is bothering her. «Eleno, my daughter, why are you standing there, what do you think? Why do you write?». The daughter responds without fear: «I am writing, mother, to my beloved, in Edirne». There is no conflict, but a relationship made of mutual understanding: the mother, aware of her role and the limits imposed on the female condition in her experience, does not try to repress her daughter’s feelings, rather she welcomes them, letting emerge a silent desire for a freer future for her.
Traditional music, beyond turbofolk
As Maja explains, folk music in the Balkans is not seen as something ancient or outdated, but as a still living part of everyday life. «In the Balkans people have really gone through a lot of difficult times and music has been a tool to express. Today popular music is very often… How can I put it? Associated with something superficial. A bit kitsch”. In the seventies a musical genre called turbofolk: music that draws on popular tradition but mixes it with other genres. «A bit like today’s neomelodic». During the Tito’s Yugoslavia this music was prohibitedtoday it is very widespread. Singing and dancing are central to Balkan daily life. An example is the Kafanamuch more than just a bar. A space to meet where music becomes a cathartic and collective experience. «When my father, usually an extremely shy man, goes into Kafana he goes wild: it’s incredible how she sings and dances in a circle with the others without any problems”, concluded Maja.
Balkan She, music as a cure
Balkan She it’s a act of cultural rediscovery and reappropriation which reinterprets the Balkan tradition in an exquisitely feminine, modern and delicate key. Through their voices, a universe of complex stories—made of love, anger, identity and magic—comes back to life, showing the figure of the woman in all its nuances. The value of their work is twofold: on the one hand, it is precious act of conservation and valorization of an inestimable heritage; on the other, it is an almost therapeutic journey. Andriana’s final reflection contains the ultimate meaning of their music-making: «When I’m emotionally shaken, singing these songs is a cure. Singing and sharing with them is a cure. It can be for all women».
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