New Voices 2021 Q&A: Jaka Škapin 

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To celebrate the selection of this year’s New Voices cohort, we caught up with all the selected artists and composers for a quick chat.

Jaka Škapin is a Slovenian artist, producer and musician based in London. His musical background is firmly rooted in the choral and jazz traditions, while his practice revolves around the use of collaborative improvisation as a practice of artistic self-expression and creative connection with others.

Can you tell us about your musical influences?

First and foremost, and the more I think about it, I think that all the Classical music that my mum played to me before and after I was born must have made its way into my internal sound world. After that, Ive fallen for Choral pretty early and Im still obsessed with all the ways in which a group of humans can make music together, using their voices and bodies only. More recently, I have of course been inspired by the music of Rhiannon, Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, as well as a broad plethora of Jazz (Shabaka Hutchings, Elliot Galvin) and Classical (Barbara Hannigan, Abel Selaocoeartists 

What are you working on at the moment?

I am directing my first short film alongside Danielle Teale, as part of the Explorations in Collectivity project that involves collaborating with dancers with Parkinson’s through improvised movement, voice and visuals. I am also part of a six voice CVI (collaborative vocal improvisation) ensemble that explores societal and emotional archetypes through the imagined musical and conversational language of early humans. Besides that, I’m producing new content for my Bodies of Sound project (co-created with Pavel Radu – collaboratively improvised movement, sound and camera) and slowly dissolving the pile of pandemic content that I would like to send out into the world in the near future.

What are you looking forward to most about New Voices?

I am so excited to be given the space to combine my improvisational and compositional work, develop my sound, and present interdisciplinary concepts that include improvised voice, as well as movement and visuals. It is a true honour to be part of this extraordinary cohort!



Sound and Music gratefully acknowledges support from PRS Foundation as a Talent Development Partner:

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