Polish guitarist Raphael Rogiński presented his album Žaltys live at Utrecht’s Pieterskerk during Le Guess Who? 2024, accompanied on stage by Lithuanian singer and kanklės player Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė and American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily.
You can now listen to the full performance, which was co-curated by Unsound as part of the collaborative project TIMES (The Independent Movement for Electronic Scenes).
Named after the grass snake Žaltys, a revered household spirit in Lithuanian folklore, Raphael Rogiński’s album explores themes of mythology and nature. Žaltys is deeply rooted in the rolling hills of the Suwałki region, in the northeast of Poland, where Rogiński spent childhood vacations and became intrigued by the music he heard from nearby Lithuania. Later, it was on the border with Dzūkija in Lithuania that he bought his first electric guitar, recording soundscapes on a four-track recorder in the forests; he returns to those techniques on this album.
Le Guess Who? Recordings
The publication of this recording is part of Le Guess Who?’s ongoing expansion of the festival’s recordings archive, with 100+ recordings from past editions now freely available online.
This archive contains audio and/or video recordings of performances by Gibrana Cervantes, Brian Jackson, Myriam Gendron, Kamilya Jubran, Alan Sparhawk, Stereolab, Tom Skinner, Selda Bağcan, clipping., Aldous Harding, Deerhunter, Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Microphones, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Lightning Bolt, Neneh Cherry, Arooj Aftab, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and many more.
Captured at Pieterskerk Utrecht on Saturday, 9 November 2024.
Audio recording by Lucas Broer; mix by Marc Broer
Photography by Tim van Veen