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

For this Summer Solstice episode of Voice Seeker, I am pleased to welcome my good friend and traveling companion, Saša Hajzler.

She is an avid conversationalist, traveler, thinker, and phd student. In this conversation we recollect some moments from our hitchhiking travels through Morocco. We also talk about Yugoslavia, private equity enshittification, the fool's journey, and more.Enjoy!

~Dandelion

00:00:00 - Introduction via Skopje

00:02:49 - Meeting in Morocco

00:04:54 - The allure of Fez

00:08:06 - A Moroccan encounter in Istanbul

00:11:28 - From Turkiye to Morocco

00:13:29 - Arriving via ferryboat to Tangier

00:17:15 - the origin of Sasha's miraculous quest

00:27:32 - From Tangier to Merzouga

00:37:11 - Moroccan Rainbow Gathering

00:39:46 - So many dudes

00:42:06 - Back to Casablanca

00:43:45 - Yugostalgia

00:50:16 - Private equity enshittification

00:54:03 - Things made to last, or at least deteriorate slowly

00:57:40 - Growing up at the end of Yugoslavia

01:05:45 - Class solidarity with Moroccans and beyond

01:12:04 - Back to the hitchhiking adventure

01:17:49 - Food memories

01:25:02 - Communication without language

01:28:29 - A shepherd dog in a field at night

01:34:01 - Hitchhiking a fairy boat

01:38:28 - The instructional act of being a fool

01:48:54 - Wrap up