Date/Time Sun 16 Oct 2016 7:45 PM

Price Online - £10 + £1 booking fee; On The Door - £10

Website: https://astrakanproject.com/

Astrakan Project’s music is born somewhere between Brittany (East of France) and Istanbul. From their Celtic homeland, Yann Gourvil (strings, programming and loops) and Simone Alves (vocals) bring in ancient songs and legends, that they then blend with Turkish instruments (‘ud, blaglama) they discovered while living in Istanbul.

Since their debut in 2009, the duet has been performing its dark neo-folk around Europe and beyond, including a couple of tours in the UK and major festivals like FMM (Sines, Portugal).

Simone Alves (vocals) and Yann Gourvil (guitar, ‘oud, saz, violin, programming) had already collaborated on various music projects in Brittany (France) when they initiated Astrakan Project while moving to Istanbul in 2009. After a couple of concerts hosting Turkish percussionists, they wanted to experiment the duet formula further and started touring as such. Since then, the duo have been performing their dark neo-folk around Europe and beyond, including a couple of tours in the UK and major festivals like FMM (Sines, Portugal).

In June this year, Astrakan Project was featured on the cover of fRoots. Both of their albums have featured in the fRoots Album Choice playlist and received 4 stars from Songlines.

While their songs have been described as “romantic tragedies” in the classic vein, the settings are as reminiscent of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s ‘Unledded’ album, or folk supergroup “Imagined Village” as they are of Turkish or French musical tradition.

All the songs are in Breton, a Celtic language from the West of France, close to Welsh (and Cornish), which they both speak. They are now settled in Greek Macedonia (until they go searching for more musical diversions).