For the first time in Romania, the ensemble of the 5 musicians: Maria Coroiu, Lenuța Fiț, Titiana Drăgoi, Eugenia Gavră, Ramona Pogan and the producer Milan W reunited on September 12 on the open stage of the TNB Amphitheater for a unique concert.
An all-women community who play the tulnic reside in the Apuseni Mountains. A tulnic is an archaic wooden aerophone instrument, up to three meters long, handcrafted from spruce. Its sound resonance is influenced by how dry or wet the wood is. Before playing the tulnic, the performers from the Avram Iancu village wet it in the river, finding the optimal level of wetness to emit the strongest sounds proves to be a challenge sometimes. Historically, the tulnic began as a communication tool, being used for signalling the army to battle, ringing the bell, signaling shepherds, etc., and its musical valences appeared in the 19th century. Its sound was rarely recorded, being one of the few wind instruments for which there are almost no compositions.
A composition in a modern, electroacoustic key for the tulnic was composed by the Belgian artist Milan W, in collaboration with the DJ and curator Dragoș Rusu for EUROPALIA festival, deconstructing and recomposing the tulnic sound in real time, using the synthesizer, and applying the whole sound spectre to new palettes of sounds, adapted to the archaic sounds that the tulnic is capable of reproducing.
Milan Warmoeskerken is an Antwerp based electronic music producer, active on the scene for almost a decade. He released several albums since more than four years ago on imprints such as Jj funhouse, BAKK and Ekster. He has studied jazz guitar in his childhood. Besides running his solo project, Milan has been active with various bands in Belgium. His latest solo album, Leave Another Day, was released in October 2024 at Stroom.