Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ljubljana / Hostel Celica / Slovenia
Concert date: 06.06.2015
Attendance: 60
Ticket price: €10.00
The fourth and final day of this year’s GodiBodi festival belonged to two singer-songwriters. It was actually a pretty inspired pairing of a Dolenjska native and a Prlekija native. Hence the basic gap in what their music is aiming for, even though their creative vision starts from similar places. The two in question are Borut Antončič aka Bort Ross and Samo Budna. Both released new studio albums in late May this year on the Celinka label, so it was only right that they gave them a thorough live airing.
First on stage was Bort Ross with his band of backing musicians. His studio debut »Sančo Pansa« is considered an enormously expressive album, both in its poetry and in the compositions themselves. You can file it under easygoing alternative rock that flirts with pop catchiness, which sensibly brings it close to radio rotation. In a healthy mainstream environment, which in the case of Slovenian music is a debatable topic full of question marks, radio stations should fall in love with it pretty quickly.
Bort Ross has an exceptionally beautiful vocal tone. His vocal delivery suits the poetry with great feeling, soft and deeply lived-in. The verses come alive when he communes with them. On Bort’s right stood the very likable Lea Likar, a singer from Kočevje, who colored Bort’s voice effectively with her own, and the two singers created a seamless compatibility through vocal harmonies of clearly contrasting range. Bort Ross was also surrounded by a crew of backing musicians (keyboards, guitar, bass, drums), among them El Kachon’s percussionist Primož Malenšek »PimpS«, and accordionist Marko Šuštaršič also stretched his fingers on one of the numbers. Bort’s crew worked as a tight, coordinated unit. The sound was optimal, with the building blocks of the sonic picture mixed in just the right balance.
This is music of exceptional gentleness and fragility, with that unmistakable Dolenjska melancholy. It’s remarkable how Bort’s voice occasionally recalls the timbre of Tokac (Dan D), which only underlines that recognizable melancholic charm Dolenjska performers are known for. Bort Ross played exactly ten songs, all of them from the album »Sančo Pansa« – RockLine review HERE. They weren’t played in the same order as on the album, though. It was a really lovely gig, with an excellent studio debut giving it a strong foundation. While Bort Ross was performing, a new painting also took shape on the canvas, created by Tilen Mihelič Kurent.
Samo Budna and his backing band delivered a somewhat longer set. He has two studio albums in his pocket, after all. The repertoire was naturally built around the current, just-released »Za nazaj in za naprej« – RockLine review HERE. Alongside Samo, who handled lead vocals, acoustic guitar and violin, the stage also held guitarist Kristian Majcen, keyboardist Davor Klarič, bassist Rok Škrlj and drummer Jože Zadravec. On »Za nazaj in na naprej« Budna »borrowed« the whole band Elevators. On stage, though, only Davor Klarič (ex-Šank Rock) joined him from that lineup, and he’s considered one of the most respected virtuosos on the black and white keys in Slovenia.
Samo Budna also has a vocal trademark, one that impresses a great deal through his delivery of verses where you can’t miss the narrow »O sounds« typical of Prlekija (and Prekmurje) performers. Even before the new album came out, three new songs had already caught on pretty well on the radio. These are Dnevu se slabo piše (played in the obligatory encore, with Samo picking up the violin), the musical setting of Sončna hiša (originally a poem by Feri Lainšček) and Kje si. Samo Budna is a seasoned musician and he came at it with a lot of confidence. Like Bort Ross before him, the strapping and very self-assured Prlek is incredibly devoted to interpreting his poetry, which is so full of passion and bubbling emotion that it pulls the listener in instantly. Of course, the basic appeal is once again that strongly melancholic melos, inherited from the wide-open Slovenian plains around Ljutomer. Hence the opening of this report, about the vibrational and musical gap between the two musicians, even though their creative vision is similar.
Samo Budna and his crew also conjured up an excellent concert. As with Bort Ross, I can write that his solo studio output of two really beautiful releases gives him a superb starting point, showing the gradual maturing and evolution of Samo Budna, especially as a composer but also as a performer. Samo Budna’s set was accompanied by painter Stanko Makuc, working in pastel colors on the canvas.
With the performances by Bort Ross and Samo Budna, the 8th Godibodi festival officially came to a close. But a little festival encore still happened, when Aleš Hadalin and then Sandra and Adam Klemm played on a smaller improvised stage at Hostel Celica on 09.06.2015.
Setlist
BORT ROSS:
1. Moja jutra
2. Da si tu
3. Sama je
4. Še na tisti dan
5. Ostajaš
6. Ko bo julij
7. Led
8. Grem
9. Sančo Pansa
10. Namesto sonca
SAMO BUDNA:
1. Intro
2. Brez skrbi
3. Včasi ne veš
4. Komu boš rekla
5. Vse se spremeni
6. Greva v tišino
7. Sončna hiša
8. Kje si
9. Manj je več
10. Mi smo edini
11. Hvala ti mala
12. Sanje so večne
13. Da si ob meni
14. Rdeče oči
15. Za nazaj in za naprej
—encore—
16. Dnevu se slabo piše
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