What is folk music? Is it music specific to a region and embodying particular cultural traditions, or could there be a more open-ended definition? Perhaps it’s a product of the imagination that can be rooted in traditional modes of expression but also take flight in wonderfully unpredictable ways. Certainly that is where Slovenian trio Širom can be found. They call their music “imaginary folk”, which suggests that in their hands, folk music can travel as far and wide as its creators desire.
The band’s Iztok Koren explains: “It could be traditional music but it’s also experimental. Living folk music is always contemporary – we don’t play museum music. We don’t believe there is only one correct way to play either an instrument or a song. The songs should be alive and that means they will be changing organically.”
