Lakiko

Cellist extraordinaire Lakiko is an exciting and experimental artist going against all Balkan stereotypes while still being unapologetically local and authentic.

Lakiko is a cello – bowed, scratchy, repetitive and haunting.

However Lakiko is also a voice, singing about a nomadic existence, nightmares, an archaic past and a dystopian future. Lakiko – aka Lana Kostic – was created in 2016 in the bowels of an EEG-machine in Biel, where the cellist experimented with the idea of free will. While using her brainwaves simultaneously as instruction manual on what to play next, Lakiko created material that originates seemingly beyond the depths of human consciousness – a part of our brain usually buried deep inside. This music – an impression of her musical biography – could not be more manifold: influences of Bosnian music blends with classical, breathy pop vocals with contemporary spoken word, driving beats next to nearly endless glissandi-loops, and in between again and again the haunting sound of a cello. Lakiko`s music seems to brainwash its audience, reprogramming eyes and ears, screening a non-existing movie in your mind’s eye. And once the spectacle is over the listener is sent home with a sense of bitter-sweet melancholy.