VESNA & guests

The music of VESNA (“Spring”) is characterised by acoustic beats, electronic soundscapes and intense vocal artistry. The trio’s songs are based on Ukrainian traditionals, which are rewritten by Christian Thomé’s orchestral drumming, Markus Braun’s delicate sound design and Mariana Sadovska’s indomitable vocal artistry. VESNA’s live performances transcend all genre boundaries, conjuring up archaic worlds and interweaving rhythms, harmonies and lyrics to create a unique musical narrative.

In their brand new programme “To learn from the light”, the Cologne-based trio takes on the battle with our crisis-ridden world, in which the individual threatens to fall under the wheels of time. Current lyrics from the Ukraine form the backbone for songs that oscillate between raw sounds and tender voices. Whether chains of command (“Go! Catch! Hold on! Pull up! Row! Row faster! Swim! Have Faith!”), everyday notes (“Air alarm. All-clear. Today you get away.”) or dark linguistic metaphors (“Dark thoughts have autumn claws”), the new musical direction combines vulnerability and a spirit of resistance.

For the concert at asphalt 2024, VESNA have invited two special guests from Ukraine: poet and songwriter Oleg Kadanov and his duo colleague Stas Kononov. Oleg is considered a cult musician in Ukraine, and it will be a rare opportunity to hear his music in Germany, as Oleg joined the defence of his home city of Kharkiv during the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Singer, multi-instrumentalist and actress Mariana Sadovska was born in Ukraine and has lived in Cologne since 2002. Described by the press as the “Ukrainian Björk”, she creates a fusion of folk and avant-garde in her energetic performances. In 2013 Sadovska was awarded Germany’s most prestigious world music prize, RUTH, and in 2017 she was nominated for the Philadelphia Barrymore Award in the category “Outstanding Original Music”. Sadovska is also in demand internationally as a composer, including a commissioned work for the Kronos Quartet in 2013.

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What the press says:

“Mariana Sadovska goes from the melancholy of Ukrainian folk music to the rage of heavy metal, to the loud lamentation at the end… The artist packs so much emotion into her voice that it gives you goose bumps.” (taz)

“Her voice holds the clarity and bite of Slavic folk styles; her stage presence has the bright-eyed intensity of Björk or PJ Harvey.” (New York Times)

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