I am happy to share a new project I’ve been working on in collaboration with the Institute of Ethnomusicology at The Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Glasbenonarodopisni inštitut ZRC SAZU), funded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.

Sounds of the Past – Voices of the Present (Sl: Zvoki preteklosti — glasovi sodobnosti) is a field recording and video archive documenting contemporary interpreters of Slovenian folk music — from traditional practitioners to musicians working in the neo-folk and world music idiom. The aim is to create a high-quality audiovisual database that, through sound and image, reveals the diversity of how folk music lives and transforms in Slovenia today.

The archive currently features recordings of eight artists and ensembles captured in field sessions: Andi Sobočan, Cintare, Ljoba Jenče, Zingelci, Vruja, Volk Folk, Bogdana Herman & Jure Tori, and Trstenke.

Author: Andrej Kocan, Editor: Mojca Kovačič

ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS FROM THE FIELD

Beyond the ZRC SAZU archive, the project also produced a number of recordings available on YouTube.

Kačis

Vesolje nikoli ne razlaga zakaj / The Universe Never Explains Why

Kačis is a trio of Ana Kravanja, Samo Kutin, and Tea Vidmar whose paths converge in folk music and free improvisation. Ana and Tea dedicate themselves to repetitive rhythmic singing built from simple voices, syllables, and breathing — reminiscent of folk traditions from around the world — while their intertwining voices create the sensation of a third, emergent voice. The trio’s central interest lies in the transition between the modern sounds of free improvisation and the archaic character of melodies and voices of unknown origin. This performance was recorded in a cave — a natural cathedral that diminished the performers in space while amplifying their sound, and where the piece was performed only once.

Samo Kutin

Bitja z maskami gredo čez gorsko sedlo & Presvetljenje / Hyperlumination

Samo Kutin is a self-taught sound researcher, instrument maker, and one of the most prominent improvisers on the Slovenian scene, known for working with unconventional instruments — those that have disappeared from everyday use, or ones he builds himself. His music fuses folk music and minimalistic patterns into organically alive, unique soundscapes. Though the hurdy gurdy may seem foreign to Slovenian ears, related instruments have been present in Central European folk traditions for centuries, and Kutin’s work reactivates that buried memory — placing it squarely in the contemporary experimental field.

Further recordings will be added as the project continues.

The post SOUNDS OF THE PAST – VOICES OF THE PRESENT appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

A sound composition built from field recordings made in the forest above lake Cerkniško, Slovenia.

Release date: March 15, 2026

Listen on  Bandcamp

Watch on YouTube

The post Forest above Cerkniško is Alive appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

I had never really traveled in Spain before. Well–unless you count a very short trip from Lisbon to Tarifa with an overnight stay in Seville to catch a ferry to Tangier. Or that symposium in the famous Galician town of Santiago de Compostela where I saw those unmistakable tall, pointed hats worn by members of brotherhoods during holy week processions. That kind of counts. Barely.

As I had to return to Lisbon one last time to attend the official ceremony. Flying all that way just to turn around and go home after a couple of days felt wrong, so I added a road trip across Spain as a necessary justification. When the ceremony began and the high priests of the University entered in full regalia, I thought thought to myself: nobody expects the Spanish inquisition. But nothing dramatic happened. We listened to long speeches, received our PhD medals, shook hands. With that, my Lisbon story ended, and the next day I landed in Barcelona.

Things improved with every kilometer as I was gradually moving towards Andalusia, where Jarmusch ends his film in a kind of liberating crescendo, somewhere in the Tabernas desert. But first things first. The film opens with a quote, and it felt right to let it echo here, as a reminder that you don’t get anywhere by staying on the main road.

“As I descended into impossible rivers, I no longer felt guided by the ferrymen.”

Arthur Rimbaud

After landing in Barcelona I visited the city’s biggest tourist trap: the Sagrada Família. To be fair, tho whole city feels like a tourist trap–worse than Lisbon. But once I got out onto the road, everything changed. Long stretches of emptiness. Wide skies. Endless olive trees. Half of Spain looks like a desert. If you leave the highways, it feels like Mexico, or Route 66–only much safer. Traveling off-season helps too: affordable prices everywhere except the places you should avoid anyway.

Of course, you can’t avoid them completely. Stopping overnight in Zaragoza, I visited the Basilica of our Lady of the Pillar and the Moorish palace of Aljafería.

The basilica is beautiful, dense with history, like flags of all territories that used to be Spanish colonies.

The palace was something else entirely. Its stunning ceilings were ordered by new Catholic rulers but executed in the Mudéjar style—Islamic ornamentation built on repetition and geometry. Mudéjar literally means “those who were permitted to remain”: Moors who stayed after the Christian conquest. 

From here on, things loosened. As if the atmosphere itself invited me to enter the void. As if the vast stretchess of emptiness opened me up.

I made a detour to one of Spain’s more remote areas – the village of Albarracín. People became friendlier, lighter, unburdened by the hordes of tourists. A short hike. A night in the village. Things aligned. First at dusk…

…and then in the morning.

Nearby came my first real highlight: prehistoric cave paintings scattered across the Iberian peninsula. A short hike through the Pinares de Rodeno led magnicent paintings of animals–fragile, but stubbornly present.

To reach Madrid I drove through Serranía de Cuenca National Park, so empty of humans that I encountered a family of deer calmly parading on the road. They lingered, unbothered in front of my car, then suddenly decided to vanish leaping up a steep rocky slope.

In Madrid, I barely took photos. The Reina Sofía was the real destination. Not because of Picasso, not even Guernica. It was the early Dalí works and especially Juan Gris that held my attention. In The Limits of Control, the unnamed Lone Man–Isaach de Bankolé–studies Gris’s El violín (1916), and Antonio López García’s Madrid desde Capitán Haya (1987/94). Both were, unfortunately, in storage. So I settled with Gris’s Violín y guitarra (1913) and added Dalí’s early work Figure at the window (1925).

After one night, it was time to head to Andalusia, to Granada. The drive again offerd space and freedom–pulling over in the middle of nowhere to eat incredible food for almost nothing. Somewhere along the way, I had to stop for yet another cave.

In Granada, some of my good friends tried to convince me to visit the Alhambra. They didn’t understand that wandering through another tourist vortex was the last thing I wanted. As the Mexican says in The Limits of control: “For me sometimes the reflection is far more present than the thing being reflected.” So, of course, I went elsewhere, for the villages, desert, silence. Another line from the film, actually, also from the song later in the film, but no spoilers: He who thinks he’s bigger than the rest must go to the cemetery. There he will see what life really is… a handful of dust.

Back in Granada I visited a university faculty at the University on the top of a hill overlooking the city. A local professor gave me advice: go to the towers, go to cafés, wait a couple of days and watch for the violin. I’m, kidding (it’s another quote from the movie :). No, but he did point me to the quieter parts of the city, to have a morning breakfast at a local café there and walk down the narrow alleys.

And that was it. One long drive back to Madrid—five hours. Return the car. One last dinner. Airport. Home.

I will return to Granada. To Andalusia.

No limits no control.

The post Road trip around Spain appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

After my symposium in Shanghai I had an extra week on me, and I decided to take a short trip to Tokyo. So here are some photo highlights from my excursions into street photography during the visit to this metropolis.

The post Tokyo appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

The ethnographic film Nixi Pae Chants of the Peruvian Huni Kuin takes us deep into the Amazon rainforest. The film explores the impact of the Christianisation of the Huni Kuin on the practice of ayahuasca (nixi pae) and the role of ayahuasca chants in the spiritual and communal life of the Huni Kuin.

This movie was part of my PhD thesis in ethnomusicology, titled Healing, Ritual, and Change in the Amazon: An Ethnomusicological Study of Chants among the Peruvian Huni Kuin, which I successfully defended in January 2025.

The post Nixi Pae Chants of the Peruvian Huni Kuin Trailer appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

Edited excerpts of the live performance at the Slovenian National Cinematheque on 20th of June 2019 with Darrell Jónnson on the video manipulation and me on the sound manipulation.

The post Far East Sketches – excerpts appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

That fear? It wasn’t real. It was projection. Other peoples’ and media-fed fever dream. Stay inside the car and you’re still inside your own head. You’re not seeing Detroit—you’re seeing what you’ve been told Detroit is. But step out—walk it, ride it, breathe it—and the story changes. The ghosts fade. The city reveals itself.

It’s the same with anything. Hike the mountain or drive it—only one of those lets you feel the climb. Like in the movie Smoke, when Auggie says, “You’ll never get it if you don’t slow down, my friend.” That line hit me. Still does. Because it’s true.

When you let yourself be here, really be here, you realize Detroit isn’t some post-apocalyptic wasteland. It’s a goddamn masterpiece in motion.

So here are some random photos from my cycling expeditions around Detroit.

The post Cycling in Detroit appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

My first impressions today after walking around in a couple of areas: Detroit is a free zone which is very rare these days. People are warm, open, and sincere. It really felt good and safe. Here are some photos of how it looks like here at the North End.

Here are my first photos taken today after taking a short walk in the area where I am going to live for the next two months.

The post Good morning Detroit appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

Finally happening! Publishing the first song I recorded in Peru. It was recorded in an abandoned church on a plateau above the Sacred valley, near Cusco, played beautifully by Jorge Choquehuillca. It was the last song of our little ad hoc concert and the only take. Hope you like it!

The post Jorge – Cuculino appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.

PAST SONGS PRESENT VOICES – TEASER from Andrej Kocan on Vimeo.

Excerpt of the live performance at the Slovenian National Cinematheque on 20th of June 2019 with Darrell Jónnson on the video manipulation and me on the sound manipulation.

The post Past Songs Present Voices teaser appeared first on Past Songs Present Voices.