Welcome to 2024. Balkan Express is back on Ara City Radio with your, more or less weekly, primers on bands that are either well known or should be well known. Case in point Astrid, a Slovenian electro-pop artist that could well have been a member of a philharmonic orchestra.
Astrid-
Astrid, styled as Astrid- is a classically educated harpist and has attained a masters degree in opera singing. And yet, she took to electro-pop as her genre of choice, albeit with a distinct classical tinge.
To say that Astrid is a conceptual artist would be an understatement. She seems to be in constant search of new ways to express herself, with music being only the main, but not nearly the only medium of choice. This is why in addition to singer and harpist, she also a dancer, producer and a music video directress.
She entered the scene in with her debutant single Coconut, which we just heard, and then tempted fate in next years Slovenian Eurosong competition. And even though fate wasn’t interested, Astrid wasn’t dissuaded and continued to collaborate with Jani Hace and Martin Štibernik (the latter of Roma Child fame).
After that episode, however, Astrid turned a creative corner and started working with multi-instrumentalist Tomaž Zupančič. This is the beginning of her trippy electro-pop era, which still lasts today.
These days, Astrid – who goes by Ana Kljun in civilian life – performs as a part of a four-piece act. Joining her and Tomaž Zupančič are Luka Flegar on guitar and David Nik Lipovac on drums.
Astrid’s lyrics are a mix of Slovenian, Croatian and English, She is her own songwriter, video director and conceptual designer, while Zupančič takes care of the musical arrangements. Astrid is set to release her debutante album any time now. And in preparation for that, she released her latest single, Dry Out.
Check out Astrid- on YouTube, Spotify and wherever you get your music from and Balkan Express will be back next week.
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Balkan Express brings you the latest and/or the greatest in music from the Balkans. On air every Tuesday at 11am on Ara City Radio, it is hosted by Aljaž aka @pengovsky who once did the world a solid and vowed never to sing again in public. Which is how he ended up doing radio.