Music of Nonknowledge was recorded, quite literally, in the wild on instruments made of rubbish found outdoors, in moments of complete suspension, with no sense of the future. Each track was an attempt to tackle Nonknowledge as an object, to see what lies behind it.
Is there any sense in speaking about Nonknowledge, Uncertainty, and Loss? The subject is abstract, psychologically subjective, and philologically ambiguous. Overall, wouldn't it be better to focus on something useful and objectively tangible? Perhaps—but what if we feel the presence of Nonknowledge, Uncertainty, and Loss as a very concrete reality? And what if speaking about it makes it somehow more manageable?
What is Samotryas? It’s a raw tree branch outfitted with a long string and anchored by two stones as string holders. The stones are carefully chosen for their size, shape, and mineral type because they act as sound transmitters, carrying vibrations from the string to contact microphones.
We built the first Samotryas in Budapest in 2016. As nomads, we grew tired of lugging around electric guitars everywhere we went. We needed something portable and decided to sell the guitars and create our own instrument. The invention turned out to be even more fascinating than expected—more versatile than guitars, with a wider dynamic range, richer sound, and an added element of unpredictability.
What’s great is that Samotryas can be made from almost any type of wood (though this choice is crucial), with stones that can be found anywhere, allowing you to play and record music in any setting.
In recent years, we’ve been revisiting our archive, unearthing remarkable recordings made in unusual places—on trains, in Vietnamese hotel rooms, among the Lao bushes, on beaches in Sri Lanka, and many other unexpected locations. We experimented with various materials: fallen oak, a paddle, bamboo, and even a piece of mahogany we managed to smuggle out of Sri Lanka. We are preparing the publications of that.