SVETLANA SPAJIĆ GROUP

To listen to the Svetlana Spajić Group takes us to a time and place in which the austerity of material resources contrasts with the exhuberance of creativity and the skills of the voices that borders the superhuman. A capella singing that fills up the space, an incantation between sisters, ancestral and timeless. 

Recognized as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the ancient, orally transmitted vocal traditions of Serbia and the Balkans, Svetlana Spajić has made her special expertise the study of microtonal a cappella singing and its unique vocal techniques and ornamentation. Her research in the subject has led her to travel the Balkans, studying firsthand with the best village singers of oldest generation. 

She has embodied her 25 years of knowledge and experience into the working process of Svetlana Spajic Group, a Belgrade based female ensemble which actively includes the village singers who often publicly perform with the group. She holds lectures and workshops on Serbian traditional singing and culture in the country and abroad and regularly co-operates with art and music academies worldwide. 

The broad and challenging repertoire of Svetlana Spajic Group consists of the oldest Serbian traditional forms such as potresalica (“shaking song”) from western Bosnia, multi-part singing from Slavonia and Banija, kantalica from the Drina river area, two-part singing in intensive intervals of a second from central Bosnia, western and central Serbia, ballads “na bas” from Eastern Serbia etc.

The group performed at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wiener Konzerthaus, Taipei National Concert Hall, WOMEX, festivals of traditional polyphony, folk and new music all across Europe and in USA. The performances and albums have met with high critical acclaim in the country and abroad. Since 2011 they have been part of the theatre play “The Life and Death of Marina Abramović” by visionary American director Robert Wilson. 

Svetlana Spajic Group is a powerful re-discovery of forgotten vocal idioms, Dinaric second interval strikes and unexpected harmonies. What brought them the reputation of traditional avant-garde is their faithfulness to the old principles of traditional singing through uncompromising risky performances of great emotional and physical impact. An ultimate control and spontaneity in one.

Svetlana Spajić has collaborated with world’s best traditional singers including Hronis Aidonidis, Domna Samiou, Yanka Rupkina, Stella Chiweshe. Other notable artists with whom she has performed are in the field of contemporary and avant-garde music and art such as Marina Abramovic, Robert Wilson, Zeitkratzer, Sainkho Namtchylak, Antony, William Basinski, Urs Leimgruber, Boris Kovač.