I first met Zaid at a Rainbow Gathering in Morocco, playing guitar songs around a campfire. A few years later our paths crossed again at another gathering in Turkiye. We ended up having some adventures after that and I am proud to call him my friend.

00:00:00 - Intruducing Zaid

00:03:15 - Meeting in a Morocco Rainbow Gathering

00:05:30 - Musical confidence

00:09:19 - After Moroccan Rainbow

00:11:26 - What was it like growing up in Morocco?

00:16:54 - Meeting a Polish wife

00:20:02 - Paradise for the rich, hell for the poor

00:25:58 - Colonization from Europe

00:29:58 - Things missed about Morocco

00:32:34 - Experiences in Poland

00:38:22 - Our second meeting in Turkish Rainbow and on to the Mad House

00:47:41 - Musical history

00:53:54 - Learning music from friends

01:01:32 - Making frame drums

01:06:55 - Connecting artists across the world

01:11:53 - Musical collaborations

01:18:25 - Big dreams

01:21:07 - Final thoughts and philosophies

I met Mikael Gunter at a communal camp in Albania during the global lockdown. We bonded over music, tesseracts, and the quest for freedom. Here is our conversation.

00:00:00 - Introductions, our meeting in Albania

00:04:07 - Alone on Winter Solstice

00:07:00 - Staying in Albanian bunkers

00:13:10 - Balkan conquests, appearances vs reality of living in a country

00:20:16 - Returning to Australia after 10 years

00:23:02 - Termites = didgeridoos

00:28:46 - Herniated disc

00:30:54 - Healthcare and employment in Australia

00:35:16 - Cultural cringe

00:40:35 - Some technical difficulties and a brief history of this podcast

00:43:20 - Extended travel: how to live abroad indefinitely without employment

00:48:43 - Technology addiction

00:52:24 - Multidimensionality

00:55:18 - Psychonaut explorations

01:04:36 - Food quality in USA vs Europe

01:10:01 - Mikael's current situation "in the bush"

01:11:35 - Busking at home vs abroad

01:13:10 - Our shared busking experience in Skopje

01:16:21 - Balkan issues

01:21:50 - Belief vs knowledge of presented information

01:27:40 - Observing the cosmos

01:45:57 - Placebo, belief, power of consciousness

01:55:17 - What's next? Final thoughts

Metka Knap is a folklorist, musician, and visual artist from Slovenia. We met in 2022 in Macedonia and took a bardic journey to Prague and beyond.

Unfortunately, the conversation takes place over a Zoom chat with Metka being in a remote cabin in Slovenia, so the fidelity of the connection is at times spotty. Hopefully you will still be able to glean some interesting insights from our conversation.

https://www.instagram.com/vrabovka/

https://www.instagram.com/tjulnica/

https://www.instagram.com/izpodkorenin/

https://www.instagram.com/gruntuntun/

00:00:00 - Introduction, urban vs rural for artists

00:09:44 - Does the USA have more opportunities for artists?

00:16:04 - Metka's musical journey

00:22:18 - Floating Castle Festival

00:26:25 - How did we meet?

00:29:24 - Dandy's banjo

00:31:43 - More instruments

00:35:54 - At the meditation center in Serbia

00:38:38 - Recording "More Izgrejala"

00:41:28 - Onward toward Prague

00:44:39 - Our concert in Ljubljana

00:48:05 - Balkan rainbow in Serbia

00:53:31 - Future plans

00:58:39 - Visual art, a safe place for creativity

01:02:31 - The other band, Grunt

01:05:32 - Final messages