Presented by Lancaster Arts in partnership with More Music

 

This gig is taking place at the Nuffield Theatre at Lancaster University.

 

Lancaster Arts welcomes, for the first time, Estonian folk artist Mari Kalkun, a voice that speaks to us from the heart of the Estonian forest. Her music is of a place and also, deeply personal, an intimacy, born of Baltic winter forests and icy landscapes and yet there is renewal, hope and celebration to be heard.

Mari’s music has a timeless quality and unhurried sense of time and space. Rooted in ancient Estonian and Võru traditions, and played on a variety of instruments including kannel, piano and dronegas, her music resonates deep within us. Mari Kalkun takes old stories into a new, maybe even unexpected context. “The motivation for this album is my own curiosity to turn back to a very old layer of tradition and find out what my ancestors have thought and sang and how it will resonate in the era of skyscrapers, steel and metal”.

In summer 2023, Mari released her new album Stories of Stonia (Real World Records), co-produced with Sam Lee. Mari has taken the album across the globe and reached number one in the Transglobal World Music Chart andshortlisted for the Songlines Best New Albums.

“Kalkun’s singing is at the heart of things; joyous and lamenting by turns, but always poised and melodious, her poeticism apparent even without translation. A magical creation.”
The Guardian

For more information about the venue, visit the Lancaster Arts website.