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Bojana Janjić
Meet Škofja Loka, a vibrant collective of artists and musicians. In this interview, they share their journey, inspirations, memorable concerts, and future plans, offering a glimpse into their unique fusion of music and visual artistry.
Who are Škofja Loka?
Škofja Loka is a group of artists and musicians, a living entity with a changing form, firm attitude and strong emotions, which is formed as a band in its front, while in the background it deals with the most diverse forms of art.
How did your musical journey begin?
Our musical journey began, as it usually happens in the universe we know, with a meeting and an acquaintance. One of the founders of the group, Sale, met Milica, one of the two frontwomen (aka Puslice iz pakla), in his open art studio Tricky Art, a gathering place for children, young people and everyone who feels energetic and is ready for artistic creation and research, who came to join the studio to learn some new skills. There was an instant energetic recognition, from which a friendship quickly developed, and then one day, while creating something in the studio, Milica sang a little. Sale was very inspired by the color of her voice, as well as the whole aura she carries with her, and he suggested that she starts making music. After a few days, several ideas for possible songs were made and that's how it all started, without instruments, just singing melodies and lyrics.
Where do you draw inspiration from for your musical and visual identity?
We draw inspiration from everyday life, which is a magical interweaving of internal and external events, from memories and predictions, from strong and subtle emotions, from desires and everyday needs, from light and darkness, from colors, from nature and the urban rainforest, from sound and instruments, from forms of words, from rhythms from socializing with children, the elderly, peers, animals and plants, from pain, joy, suffering and enjoyment, from sincerity and finally from LOVE!
Out of all your concerts, which would you choose as your favorite and why?
A tricky question, but probably the whole band would agree that we experienced the greatest emotional charge at the recently held outdoor afternoon concert at "Dorćol Square", where we officially promoted our first release. We subjectively perceive Škofja Loka's music as something that is most suitable to be played live in daylight, or even better late in the afternoon so that the whole event goes from day to night, and that's exactly what happened at that concert. In addition to the fantastic sound, an even better audience and the whole ambience of an urban picnic in a large Belgrade courtyard in the city center, where a good part of the audience included children of different ages brought by their parents to the concert. At one point, several children climbed onto the already overbooked stage to sing, dance, rattle and tap along with us. Such a sight shatters your soul into the tiniest particles and puts it back together in a slightly better form.
Tell us an anecdote related to the band!
Our band is an anecdote. It often seems to us that it is not happening to us at all, but to someone else out there. It's an anecdote every time we get together in full, which is a double-digit number of people, because our entire work is crowned with humor and banter, and the breaks in that atmosphere are only when we sing about some very difficult things. One of the most impressive anecdotes is the emotional reaction from our bass player Derva and everything that followed when we ran out of beer backstage at the Demo Fest in Banja Luka. Unconvincing!
Your concert in Zagreb is supported by the Liveurope platform. What is your opinion about Liveurope and their mission?
Our opinion about Liveurope's mission is the most positive possible, because witnessing that an initiative supports underground alternative bands in this century, in any way, borders on science fiction!
If you could choose any place in the world, where would you prefer to play?
It is difficult to answer this question, because there are many of us in the collective and each of us would have at least ten of our own projections, but we will list some: Machu Picchu, in the market in Lagos, in Palestine anywhere and for free, Ethiopia, the village of Paniman in the Philippines, in the Kalahari desert, in Tibet, Iceland, Golfito in Costa Rica, and we wouldn't complain if we played a concert at Wembley.
What are your plans for the future?
The plans for the future are in accordance with the wishes, to be healthy and energetic, to create as much as possible and to do only what we want, when we want and in the way we want, without compromise and bitter pills that anesthetize the soul.
