Heretical Angels: Rituals of Medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina

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“When I wanted to exist, I couldn’t”. Mystical inscriptions on ancient Bosnian tombstones inspired this program.

Medieval Bosnia fascinates us with its coexistence of religions: Catholics, Orthodox, heretical Bosnian Christians, Jews and Muslims… Their texts and traditions survive in the oral tradition, in mysterious manuscripts in Latin, Cyrillic and Glagolitic script, and on inscriptions from tombstones: monuments through which the dead speak to the living.

As an exploration into ancient pagan and Christian rites from the heart of the Balkans, Heretical Angels bears witness to the traditions of Bosnian Christians, who were persecuted by the medieval Catholic and Orthodox churches alike. Intertwining the tombstone inscriptions with exorcisms and meditations, Katarina Livljanic, Dialogos and Kantaduri have created a story of poignant canticles that comes close to musical theatre and invite us to follow pagan and Christian rites surrounding birth and death.

In this program, after the success of the album Dalmatica (Diapason d’or in 2016), Dialogos meets traditional cantors – among them one of today’s youngest epic singers in Herzegovina – to seek peace and meaning in a land devastated by wars, at the gateway to the East.

Dialogos
Katarina Livljanić — voice, direction
Albrecht Maurer — fiddle, rebec
Norbert Rodenkirchen — flutes

Kantaduri
Joško Ćaleta — voice, direction
Nikola Damjanović — voice
Srećko Damjanović — voice
Jure Miloš — voice, gusle, dvojnice
Tonko Podrug — voice
Milivoj Rilov — voice