verbo i voda
milana sarukhanyan - soprano
john bisset - lap steel guitar
shredding ukrainian folk song since 2022
Milana and I met at SKRONK, an improvised music open session in London, in 2022, and very soon began collaborating. We performed as a duo and in other groupings at Café Oto, the hundred years gallery, Avant Garden, and other London improvised music venues. We devised and curated ‘The Artist is Present’, a version of Marina Abramovic’s concept of the same name, where musicians/vocalists face each other and improvise without breaking eye contact, and we established ‘The Pool’, a monthly experimental music venue sited in an underground swimming pool, showcasing numerous experimental works by local and international artists.
The duo verbo i voda was at first freely improvised; but gradually it became apparent that working from Ukrainian Folk songs gave the music a focus and also had a cultural richness, with Milana’s interweaving of English and Ukrainian languages reflecting her own background and journey, while the earthy and sometimes bloody content of these folk songs created what Ashley Wales calls ‘Dark music for Dark times’
When Milana decided to move to the North of England, we hurried into the recording studio to catch some of our music. This produced our album. But what might have been the documentation of a collaboration has become a beginning, with a string of gigs planned in the North for Autumn 2024 and new collaborators getting involved, such as Jem Finer on hurdy gurdy.
John Bisset is a guitarist, improviser, composer, and filmmaker living in London.
‘Improvising with Milana is a rich and enlivening experience. I’m never sure where we’re going from one piece to another, emotionally or musically. Her wide dynamic range - from full blown operatic Ffffffff’s to tiny whisperings and plosive babblings - interacts with the equally wide tonal range of the lap steel. A nightmare to record, but one from which we’ve woken with a dream album.’
Milana Sarukhanyan is a Bradford-based classically trained soprano and improviser.
‘Working with John is a special type of art for me. Apart from his exceptional musicality and micro sound details, John is a truly supportive and hardworking artist who is honest and warm-hearted in the way he works with me and other colleagues. It’s a huge honour to make music together with John’
contact via Instagram: verbo.i.voda
The duo verbo i voda was at first freely improvised; but gradually it became apparent that working from Ukrainian Folk songs gave the music a focus and also had a cultural richness, with Milana’s interweaving of English and Ukrainian languages reflecting her own background and journey, while the earthy and sometimes bloody content of these folk songs created what Ashley Wales calls ‘Dark music for Dark times’
When Milana decided to move to the North of England, we hurried into the recording studio to catch some of our music. This produced our album. But what might have been the documentation of a collaboration has become a beginning, with a string of gigs planned in the North for Autumn 2024 and new collaborators getting involved, such as Jem Finer on hurdy gurdy.
John Bisset is a guitarist, improviser, composer, and filmmaker living in London.
‘Improvising with Milana is a rich and enlivening experience. I’m never sure where we’re going from one piece to another, emotionally or musically. Her wide dynamic range - from full blown operatic Ffffffff’s to tiny whisperings and plosive babblings - interacts with the equally wide tonal range of the lap steel. A nightmare to record, but one from which we’ve woken with a dream album.’
Milana Sarukhanyan is a Bradford-based classically trained soprano and improviser.
‘Working with John is a special type of art for me. Apart from his exceptional musicality and micro sound details, John is a truly supportive and hardworking artist who is honest and warm-hearted in the way he works with me and other colleagues. It’s a huge honour to make music together with John’
contact via Instagram: verbo.i.voda