Voxtra - trad./ Ballu Seriu (live @TivoliVredenburg Utrecht)

Full episode: Beglium based international choir Voxtra performs Ballu Seriu, a traditional song. This ambitious project brings together the most incredible vocal traditions. This amalgamation - not exactly a fusion, since each tradition is still perfectly recognisable - showcases Albanian iso-polyphony with its plangent quality, the cantu a tenore of the Sardinian countryside, Beko blues singing of southern Madagascar, Finnish yoik and rune singing and the Belgian récit chanté. Voxtra is about the exploration of common ground between different traditions : a particular rhyme, similar harmonies, a melody that reminisces another one... The Sardinian tenore don’t yoddle like a Malgash, but rather they create a vocal tapestry that supports Talike’s singing. Anu doesn’t sing in Albanian with the Gjini-ensemble but the songs of her youth in Finland resound as an echo of the Albanian polyphony. Voxtra allows the traditions to engage in a dialogue with each other, the similarities come to the surface, but the emphasis lies on the uniqueness of each tradition. More music: Broadcast february 26th 2017. This video was recorded in TivoliVredenburg Utrecht for VPRO Vrije Geluiden.