Traditional Music of Europe - Maja Backovic & Zoe Papadantonaki

Описание: This concert departs from the classical concert format by opening space for verbal communication between the artist and the audience: the aim is for the traditional stage to disappear, allowing for an encounter with listeners in a familiar and open way. Whether through traditional European songs in their authentic form, classical compositions inspired by tradition, or original arrangements of spiritual music, Maja Backović conveys her personal experience through songs and stories from her nomadic life—a life full of learning and growth along her journey through Europe, from Greece to Portugal.

In direct connection with the landscape, its inhabitants, and thus its culture and traditions, Maja shapes a living and constantly evolving concert, viewed through the prism of her personal search for spirituality and for life lived to the bone.

Through the depth of her travels in countries whose traditional instruments and music she passionately studies, Maja interprets what she has learned with her voice, the violin, the Cretan lyra, and the pandero cuadrado—a square drum from the Spanish province of Salamanca. In her role as a wandering traveler embodied as an artist, she transports the audience into her personal journey while also offering the necessary
space for each listener to travel in their own way.

Following a successful tour in Crete in December 2025, this concert program now continues and expands in collaboration with Zoe Papadantonaki. Rooted in a deep artistic encounter forged on the island, the collaboration brings a new dimension to the project, with Zoe joining Maja on stage with her voice, percussion, and oud. Together, they weave a shared musical landscape shaped by lived experience, mutual listening, and the resonance of Mediterranean traditions, opening toward an expansion into modal music—carrying within it the desire to one day reach and grasp India.

This dialogue between two wandering artists enriches the concert’s intimate format, amplifying its spirit of exchange, presence, and collective journey with the audience.

By exploring the great and small mysteries of life—and by presenting states of being rather than definitive answers—the trajectory of this concert becomes a luxury of philosophical reflection: a call for creativity, warmth, and solidarity.