Sacred Sounds of Sweden

In episode 45 of the Right Brain Music Podcast, Today we meet a trio of musicians whose unusual path has led them to making music that connects the past and future.

The group is VARP. They consist of Polina Pohozha, Nata Popova and Richard Hellgren.

All are multi-instrumentalists with classical training. Polina and Nata are Ukrainian, two of the millions dislocated by the war. They landed on the Swedish island of Gotland. As they were acclimating to this new home, them met Richard, a Gotland resident for two decades. The three of them struck up a friendship and they started making music together - landing on free improvisation as their modus operandi.

Click below to hear their story in their music and a sampling of their original music.

At first the trio played familiar classical works, but they realized a common desire to test the boundaries of their traditional backgrounds. This led them to explore free improvisation.

But there’s another twist. Gotland has over 100 churches, some of them dating as far back as the 12th century. These spaces offer rich architectural history and ambient sound environments. The trio started exploring these sonic qualities by playing, performing and recording in these churches.

VARP recently released an album on Right Brain Records, called “Deal with Bergman.” (There’s a story there too.) The music is improvised and recorded in several of these churches, and reflects all of the group’s influences, including traditional Ukrainian and Nordic music.

Here’s the episode’s playlist. All pieces are from “Deal with Bergman.”

1.  "I MIss Him"

2. "Persona"

3. "Tea Party"

4. "House in Dämba"

5. "I MIss Him"

6. "Varning: Halt som fan"

7. "Island of Sheep"

8. "Dance, Dance"

9.  "House in Dämba" coda

For more information about VARP, see their artist page. Listen to their album here.