What an amazing week in Cottbus, and such a great creative experience 🥰

Thanks so much to

WALES ARTS INTERNATIONAL AND KOLLEKTIW WAKUUM FOR THEIR SUPPORT IN MAKING THIS HAPPEN!

Last night we finished the week off with a showcase at @chekov_cottbus as the sunset 🌅

During the week we’ve produced/recorded 15 songs which is more than any of us could imagine! On the second slide on this instagram post you can hear the hilarious Welsh-Sorbian anthem which our Sorbian collaborators wrote to the tune of Calon Lân 🤣 This was the silliest creation of the week!

We also have a (good humored) hip-hop diss track between the upper and lower Sorbian languages featuring Sophia Ida Hex and Stoi; a Sorbian folk-dance number with translated Welsh lyrics about pigs; 19th century Sorbian melodies combined with breakbeats (with feminist lyrics/vocals by @ida__bux @efasupertramp and @izrabes to come!); angry Sorbian poetry by @anneliecemjerec about the hypocracy of church goers (the church has a lot of influence in the Sorbian region); an experimental anti-right wing hip hop song by @jectoplastic (neo-nazis are also strong in this area, and we were warned to keep window shutters down when not in the building in case of attacks); a Welsh-language songs laughing at ‘precious’ classist traditions; loads of incredible violin parts by the skilled Geigerzähler (one featuring Sorbian vocals by @rasenderenate)….. the list goes on!

It was an amazing week and such a great joy to make new friends and discuss our parallel frustrations between wanting to use and create through our minority languages while also putting forward a progressive vision for a queer feminist future ✨💘 Thank you so much to everyone who participated!! We still have lots of post-production to do, and unfortunaetly the amazing @ceryshafana never made it out to Germany to meet us 💔😷but she is planning to contribute when we’re back in the UK! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿⚡️ Izzy Rabey is also busy conguring up some Welsh-language rap verses for us. Big thanks to @hellastoletzki for filming footage for a documentary about the project during the week and doing all the organising behind the scenes, and of course to our producer @nick.ronin who worked every day 12+ hours in the dark cave (make-shift studio) 

Now to work on the post-production and plan our mini tour of the Sorbian region in the Autumn! We would also love to bring the Sorbian artists over to Wales to do a similar project here…. I hope we can find some funding!