Story
SO SAID (6)
TAAG (a mock poem)
“He who does not follow the stream, the source he will never meet.”
9 September 2022
Blog
Follow our journey!
During three months a travel companion search for the melancholic soul in music. They reach out to local musicians and get in dialogue with minority groups. Stories are told and experienced, music is played, landscapes change and many encounters are made. Travel along from home with this blog!
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Video
José Fernández Parrondo and friends
The great singer José Fernández Parrondo and friends play in their flamenco club in Carmona, Andalusia.
7 September 2022
Video
Cantiñas: Mujer Klórica
What can you wish more here in Algericas in Andalucia: Alicia Carrasco & José Manuel León.
6 September 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (12)
We pass Toledo. The main city of the autonomous province of Castilla-La Mancha. After the umpteenth tank-drinking-stop, we enter the Autovia del Sur again. A man is hitchhiking. “Adonde vas? Where to?” we ask.
4 September 2022
Story
BORDERS AND BRIDGES (8)
Hiraeth, a journey through 14 countries. Although, and we quote: “Italy are two countries, the South and the North. Spain are four: the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and the rest.” And on and on.
31 August 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (11)
What if melancholy is a memory of a previous life. Or a premonition of what awaits in the next life. What if the source of the melancholy that overwhelms us is to be found there?
30 August 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (10)
All people with roots in the south who were looking for work, security and happiness in the north. After an often long summer stay, yesterday was the day to say goodbye. It is also called the day of melancholy here.
27 August 2022
Story
BORDERS AND BRIDGES (7)
Perhaps it can be compared to the ripening of Sicilian oranges: experiences ripen in music not just once, but two, three,… countless times. And that is why it is possible that melancholic music, written by an experience of loss or impossible desire, eventually tastes so sweet.
23 August 2022
Video
Ninna Nanna
Sicilian musician Sebastiano Pietrini sings the lullaby Ninna Nanna for Elaia.
22 August 2022
Video
Cuncordu Sas Bator Colonnas
Muttos by Cuncordu Sas Bator Colonnas, tenores from Sardegna.
19 August 2022
Video
Cantu a chiterra
Hiraeth in Sardegna with Daniele Giallara from Cuglieri. The autentic Cantu a chiterra e violino.
18 August 2022
Video
Proe proe a tzia vetza
Pierangela Calzone en Raphaël De Cock sing Proe proe a tzia vetza.
14 August 2022
Video
Non potho reposare
Hiraeth from Sardegna: Pierangela Calzone sings Non potho reposare.
13 August 2022
Video
La nostalgia in Calabria
Giuseppe Longo talks about nostalgia in Calabria, South Italy.
8 August 2022
Video
Ninna Nanna
CantaCunti – Gianni Vico, Roberto Bascià, Maria Rosario Coppola – play Ninna Nanna, Il Martirio di Otranto.
2 August 2022
Photo
Greece: Néa Mikhanióna
Discovering the cosy town with a concert of Niriis next to the coast.
29 July 2022
Video
The Pontiac Song
Polis Efraimidis and Natasa Tsakiridou play and sing Pontiac songs.
27 July 2022
Photo
Greece: Stavroupoli
When we met Pontiac musicians Kyriakos and Zafiris at Stavroupoli.
25 July 2022
Photo
Albania: Travel, Work and Assorted Impressions
On the road in Albania searching for melancholy.
22 July 2022
Video
The Soul of South Albania
In search of the soul of South Albania with Bashkim & Fredi.
21 July 2022
Story
SO SAID (5)
That afternoon we are awaited by musicians at a tavern in Sarandë, a beautiful seaside town on the Ionian Sea. A billboard welcomes us: “Discover your dream!”
20 July 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (9)
Never felt like I had to look for it.
It always knew how to find me. Effortlessly.
Melancholy.
20 July 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (8)
Wikipedia says: “Sevdah is a traditional genre of folk music from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sevdah song is called sevdalinka.” Maybe, but Sevdah is above all that magical moment.
15 July 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (7)
We stay in a towering residential block in a suburb of Sarajevo. The meetings for this day are rescheduled for another day. By the evening, a plan B has been arranged. There would be music! Three violins and a mandolin start their B repertoire. Melodies from Bulgaria, Bosnia, Brazil, Belgium,… pass in review.
15 July 2022
Story
BRIDGES AND BORDERS (6)
We are standing in Mostar, Bosnia. We are looking at a bridge. That bridge. The bridge.
12 July 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (6)
UNESCO? or Tito? Sisan, a small village in Istria. They speak Croatian and Italian. The only restaurant is packed. Let’s stay hungry.
10 July 2022
Story
BORDERS AND BRIDGES (5)
We are in Pazin, a small town in the middle of the Croatian peninsula of Istria. A group of local musicians is playing songs from the region but also from far beyond. Some contradictions linger in the air, but nearby, violins and an accordion, wind and fire, thoughts take their course: who are we, where and when…?
8 July 2022
Story
WANTED, FOUND (5)
Minorities are sung about in all music, all over the world. Hiraeth is also a story with minorities. Count them. Because a minority is never far away. Even if there are many of you.
8 July 2022
Video
The search for the soul of Istria
Istrian fiddler Dario Marušić and Goran Farkas let you hear the soul of Istria.
7 July 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (4)
The suitcase is packed, expectations are high. Departing for the Balkans, in search of music, images and stories of melancholy in all its tones.
7 July 2022
Story
BORDERS AND BRIDGES (4)
A very hot summer evening in Slovenia. A courtyard of a hostel in Ljubljana. There are three musicians. At the very back, 4 security guards stand around, hanging out uninterested and talking a tiny bit too loud. What exactly there is to secure is not entirely clear. But is it ever?
5 July 2022
Story
SO SAID (3)
Music is music. The source of melancholy? Here’s a music school around the corner. Maybe that’s a good place to start that search?
4 July 2022
Video
Durme Durme
The beautiful Sephardic song Durme Durme by great musicians from Ljubljana.
3 July 2022
Story
BRIDGES AND BORDERS (3)
All the good consists of 3. Right through the traffic-free center of Ljubljana, the Ljubljanica flows. The bustling, tourist part on one side, the calmer historic center on the other side of the river. In the center of that center is a beautiful square. Named after France Prešeren a well known romantic poet. To connect his square with the other bank, one built three bridges at just 10 meters apart. Three! Why three? What is the story of these bridges?
3 July 2022
Story
SEARCHED, FOUND (3)
They step. They climb. Two Slovenians, Two Belgians. The four climb a hill. A hill, not a mountain. But when does a hill become a mountain?
2 July 2022
Video
Martesa Jonë
Albanian musician Dino Murtezani & Wouter Vandenabeele play the Albanian song Martesa Jonë.
1 July 2022
Story
SO SAID (2)
“We know where we’re goin’, but we don’t know where we’ve been. We’re on the Homesick Highway.”
1 July 2022
Video
Melody from Moldova
Bojan Cvetrežnik, Barja Drnovšek and Jean-Christophe Gairard play a melody from Moldova.
30 June 2022
Story
BORDERS AND BRIDGES (2)
Music also bypasses boundaries, lines, demarcation lines, obstacles, barriers. The same songs are played from Slovenia to Portugal.
28 June 2022
Story
SO SAID (1)
“If someone plays a song and 1,000 people all start crying, then the source of the melancholy can’t be far.” (Hiraeth score 8.5)
27 June 2022
Story
BORDERS AND BRIDGES (1)
There are many more bridges than borders. Bridging bridges. They connect. They bring together what was separate.
26 June 2022
Story
WANTED / FOUND (1)
Less than 24 hours before departure. Gathering and packing things. Tomorrow at 9.30 am the search starts. A quest for “the source of melancholy”. Melancholy is a feeling; we can agree on that. But what exactly is it?
And where do we find that source?
25 June 2022
Story
“Melancholy, I suppose?”
“Balkan, you have a feeling!” “Que?” Melanholija / melankolia / μελαγχολία / malinconia / melankolija / melancholia / melanholija / melancolía / меланхолија!
22 June 2022
Photo
Support Concert
The Hiraeth project started with a support concert in the beautiful city Ghent, hometown of initiator Wouter Vandenabeele.
12 May 2022