Define your genre in five words or less:
Folk jazz with cinematic classicism.
Bearing the terrible clichéd nature of this question, what do you reckon people will say you sound like?
Zulya & the Children of the Underground and Anour Brahem meet Dead Can Dance and Tin Hat Trio.
What do you love about making music?
Sharing music with friends and audiences and having them excited and moved by it. The best thing about music is its possibilities to stir deep emotions.
What can a punter expect from your live show?
To be moved no matter what musical knowledge or language background you have. Songs are sung in many languages from Bulgarian and Italian to Hebrew and English. The music twists and turns through folk traditions and original compositions with jazz and classical cinematics.
When are you playing live/releasing your album/EP/single/etc.?
We are currently on our Mountains Tour to release our new album I Monti, which is Italian for ‘the mountains’. We will be playing up and down the east coast all the way from Melbourne to Brisbane.
What inspires or has influenced your music the most?
A big part is the amazing Australian-based musicians we meet and play with, such as Mara! and the Martenitsa, Zuyla and the Children of the Underground, Ryan Francesconi and Mirabai Peart, The String Contingent and Lucy Wise. We also collect sounds and styles on our numerous travels to various places throughout the world. We approach all our music with an open mind – nearly anything could fall into it.
Why should everyone come and see your band?
You will have never seen anything else like this.
When’s the gig and with who?
We have two awesomely different gigs in Melbourne. On Friday May 30 we will collaborate with artist Anthony Breslin at his gallery, The Breslin Gallery. Not only will we play a set of music, but Anthony will then perform his new art work Rhapsody in Hue to Chaika’s live soundtrack. On Saturday May 31 we have the pleasure of playing at the intimate little venue Farouk’s Olive with fabulous local group The Willie Wagtails.
