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Oh, a little late report from last week's concert - what can I say, I was pleasantly busy. Well, it happened on Monday (again), which I don't find appealing, but in these parts of Europe, we (dark music listeners) don't get many chances for weekend concerts. Fortunately enough, they are at least more abundant lately. Again, as boring as it sounds, we had a great time - not only because of the music but for an unusual place: a cemetery. I don't know about you, but I've never attended a concert at the cemetery before. It was an old abandoned one but still a cemetery, laying peacefully on the top of the hill surrounded by larch trees and other typically Istrian vegetation, with Martin's Church in the middle, where musicians stored their stuff for the time of the concert.
The concert started still at daylight, at 20.30 [CEST], and we arrived right on time or a minute or two later since the first kariti's song was already playing. We would probably be on time, but there were no directions to the concert place in this lovely town of Buje situated in the westernmost of the Istria peninsula. Besides being known as the "sentinel of Istria" for its hilltop site located 10 km inland from the Adriatic Sea, Buje has a rich history since traces of life in the region date back to prehistoric times. It developed from a Roman and Venetian settlement into a medieval town, later part of the Republic of Venice.
After asking for directions, we climbed the (typically Istrian) narrow street to the top of the hill. As said, kariti was already on the stage, with magical scenery behind it - the sun was setting down red in the glittering sea... We placed ourselves on the cemetery's wall, with a clear view of the stage and good enough sound (regarding the specific open place).
There it was - kariti (meaning 'mourn the dead' in Church Slavonic, an antique Slavic liturgical language, and therefore, since being a verb, written in all-small caps), a dark folk/ambient/post-rock project of a Russian-born artist Katya currently based in Italy. Her debut full-length, Covered Mirrors (2020), a collection of eight intimate, stripped-down mourning folk songs with crisp fingerstyle guitar and eerie vocal harmonies, represents a cathartic peregrination through bereavement and will (supposedly soon) be followed by a sophomore, from which we got to hear three yet unreleased tracks. The others were from kariti's debut album: "Penance", "Anna (Requiem: to Death)", "Sky Burial", last year's released single "Cairn To You", and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' cover, "No More Shall We Part". It was a pleasure following Katya's enchanting voice, lightly strolling among her guitar and synth sounds while her husband Marco's noisy drone guitar sounds deepened the already dark/sombre atmosphere. By the way, Marco is also one of the founding members of the Italian sludge/doom metal band Grime. I was almost sad when the about-an-hour-long performance came to an end. In the meantime, the night fell, and stage lights enlightened the place, making it magical in yet another way.
New Zealand, now Melbourne, Australia-based dark folk/dream pop outfit Plum Green was the next to enrich the summer night, "summoning ghosts, lovers and other creatures of the night". Did you know Plum Green is the founding artist's full name? Namely, we didn't; we only found out later, during the interview, as many other things - and so will you once it gets published and you read it. The concert in Buje was one of the last (only two more followed) of Plum Green's long-awaited European tour supporting her 2021' full-length Somnambulistic. Accompanied by guitarist Daniel J. Cross, and for the last time on this tour, bassist Duncan Nairn, Plum Green perfectly delivered her nine Somnambulistic's dark lullabies: "Eyes Shut", Alice In Wonderland-inspired "White Kitten", and "Walk Against The Wind", to name some. As known, "guided by guitar, Plum Green's voice travels through walls of bowed soundscapes" - and so it did once again.
When the stage lights went out, although free entry, the relatively modest audience of about 60 people (mainly locals and some tourists), which was commendably quiet during the concert, moved to the improvised bar or left. Tomaz and I, as already mentioned, had an interview arranged with Plum Green, and then we, in the company of beer and spritzer, chatted some more with all the performing artists. After the Plum Green band members said their goodbyes and the venue emptied, kariti's Katya and Marco, concert promoters Tanja and Marco and the two of us went to the nearby village of Momjan, more precisely to the House of Castles, for another drink or two. House of Castles is a unique attraction, but so is the entire Istria. We who are used to it love it; you - get to know it, you'll love it too...
P.S. Tanja and Marco, thank you again for preparing such an unforgettable event and for your hospitality. I hope we'll (soon) meet again. And, Katya and Marco, we shall meet even sooner since being almost neighbours ;).
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