Laetitia »Kiki« Pohl
– known as Kikiwritings on the internet – is a graduate playwright, and in
her spare time, she is active as a singer-songwriter and leader of her band KiKi. Her music
album, titled KRiKi, is full of her slightly unusual folk-pop style songs, which can be
enjoyed on all streaming platforms. Kiki is proud of her performances at renowned festivals
such as Druga godba, MENT Ljubljana and Waves Vienna. This year, you can also see her
at the Ema 2025 festival, Slovenian national Eurosong pre-competition for which she has
been selected with her original song O-ou! (Uh-oh!)
Kiki found herself in Geobanda accidentally but stayed intentionally. She was attracted by the
dancing, playful approach to music, and exploring old songs, previously unknown to her.
The fact that she is also building vocal harmonies with her friends Nina and Gala and further
expanding her musical horizons is for her the icing on the cake.
Diskografija:
Nina Slavec
is a journalism student and President of the Students Club of Vrhnika, and
occasionally, she also likes to organize events. She enjoys singing and performing in
theatre plays. In high school, she participated in the school band and the annual
productions. Soon after, she found herself in many other bands, where she
participated as a singer and songwriter. One of her favorite projects from that time is
the song The Wanderer, inspired by the play by the famous Slovenian poet Dane
Zajc, which was created as a school project.
She has appeared on the national radio Val 202 and in the musical The Water Man,
and is also acting in the film Little Trouble Girls, where she performs in the choir that
creates the soundtrack for the film. She also frequently joins creative forces with
singer-songwriter Kiki. Together, they released the song Zvezdna noč (Starry Night)
on Kiki's album KRiKi. Since then Nina has been regularly joining Kiki on stage – just
as they also share singing duties in Geobanda.
Gala Pregel
is a graphic and interactive communication student, equally adept at translating
her creative ideas into visual art as well as music. She studies singing at the Music School
Litija-Šmartno with Professor Barbara Sorč but otherwise performs in her room, where she
can simultaneously be a soloist, backing vocalist, sound technician, and audience member.
You can often find her on stage as a backing vocalist in Kiki's band – this year you can also
hear her at EMA, where she will accompany Kiki.
She joined Geobanda as a third vocalist at the invitation of Kiki and Nina, who lured her into
the band with a simple but effective argument: "Gala, this is totally your vibe." And it is. Her
vocal breadth and sense of harmonies now help shape the band's sound, which is becoming
increasingly recognizable.
Andrej Šmuc
has been musically active since 1981, when he began a career of annoying clarinet teachers. Later
he expanded this very successful career by annoying the conductors of the Pihalni Orkester
Logatec, in which he played for more than 10 years. Like any true Logatec resident, he started
playing the guitar in his desire to find a shortcut to the girls' hearts. Since this career was
very unsuccessful, he tried to supplement it by playing the mandolin. Unfortunately, the successes
were comparable, although he became a founding member of the rock, bluegrass and country band
Uncle John's Band, which was considered a real musical treat in the critical logbooks.
Since 2018 Andrej Šmuc plays clarinet, banjo, trumpet and tenor in the band Geobanda.
Discography:
-
CD album: Wind Orchestra Logatec; Concert at the Slovenian Philharmonic, 28. 1. 1999; Conductor:
Albert Brunner.
Boštjan Rožič - Rodjo
It's good that the uncle's accordion was eaten by mice in the attic of a granary, the family had
no money for a new one, so the boy from Bela krajina got only a guitar for the consolation. In the
first year of high school (1989), he and his friends formed the first attempt of the BCBB band -
Bad Copy Beatles Band (Jan, Tomaž, Rodjo), and then quickly the more serious Nonamé (Prijo,
Gricko, Tomaž, Rodjo). This band, characterized by an innate rhythm and self-taught guitars, made
original music and played in the then extremely lively club scene, only to sing their last song in
their first year of study in 1993. As the music scene in Črnomelj was blossoming due to activity
of the MKK (Youth Cultural Club) at that time, an even nobler band was quickly formed, defined on
the wings of the grunge explosion, Go.be (Jože, Ivo P. jnr, Prijo, Rodjo). Because a much better
guitarist joined the group, the person in question switched to bass guitar, which sounded quite
guitar-like from the beginning, and then moved on to proper bass lines. This music was also
exclusively original, presented in the slowly dwindling club scene, and then fell into a slight
rest after the release of the CD. In the lull of this band's activities, the need for music was
then met by Tinitus (2000), whose musical core was formed by the three well-coordinated members of
Go.be (Jože, Ivo P. jnr, Rodjo), member of Nonamé (Tomaž) contributed his own cord, and adorned by
an exceptional vocal duo (Mare & Vlatka - Maček). On various rock celebrations, they played
selected pieces of the Balkan rock scene, grunge and some modern rhythmic music. Both Tinitus and
Go.be still know how to make noice, if not elsewhere, then in their underground shelter. It should
be revealed that the person in question initiated secretly the formation of Geobanda (2018), where
today he makes up for his lack of knowledge in playing the acoustic guitar and ukulele with
extraordinary enthusiasm.
Discography:
Go.be
-
Compilation CD: Pot med zvezde 2 (2 songs), 2001
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Compilation CD: Green George and Lepa Anka (3 songs), 2001, KBŠ
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CD album: Go.be, 2011, self-published
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Compilation CD: Imamo dobro glasbo (1 song), 2015, published by RTV Slovenia
PAZ Vinko Vodopivec
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CD album: PAZ Vinko Vodopivec (participation as singer), 1998, self-published
Tomislav Popit
has been musically active since 1990 and is one of the co-founders of the Vrhnika band Hic
et nunc, which was one of the biggest turning points of rock poetics in our region. In Hic
et nunc, Tomislav Popit played bass guitar and participated in backing vocals. In their early
years, Hic et nunc were a melodic rock band, but in recent years they moved towards a musically
deeper expression and thus towards a more complex poetry. From this, besides their undeniable
talent, comes the uniqueness of their musical language and its incomparability, that is, simply
the sound of Hic et nunc, which carries a great heritage of rhythm and blues.
Since 2006, he has been a member of The Frictions, which together with Chris Eckman (vocals
and guitar), drummer Luka Šalehar and guitarist Bernard Kogovšek develop a confessional and
emotional rock sound in the direction of Television, Crazy Horse and early Dream Syndicate. The
Frictions have formed a distinctive sound in which we recognise much of what we have heard on the
more than thirty albums of the bands in which the individual members of The Frictions are and have
been active.
Since 2018, Tomislav Popit has been playing double bass in the Geobanda ensemble, which is
composed of geologists ranging from graduates to professors and has performed at numerous national
and international geology congresses both at home and abroad.
Discography:
Hit et nunc
-
CD album: Hic et nunc, 1995, FV rercords, ŠOU
-
CD album: Lava, 1997, FV records
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CD album: Howling Monkeys Blues, 1998, FV records
-
CD album: Manitu, 2002, Statera records
-
CD album: Burn Fat Old Sun, 2005, Nika Records
The Frictions
Discography:
Collaboration with other performers or musical bands:
-
CD compilation: No Border Jam, 1993
-
CD album: Terry Lee Hale – Shotgun Pillowcase, 2007, Borderdreams
-
CD album: Chris & Carla – Fly High Brave Dreamers, 2007, Glitterhouse Records
-
CD album: Chris Eckman – The Last Side Of The Mountain, 2008, Glitterhouse Records
-
CD album: Velvet Fog: The Studio Recordings, 2000, (Fly High Brave Dreamers, 2007, Glitterhouse
Records)
-
CD album: Project Bob Dylan: Volunteer Slovenia: 1. Hic et Nunc with song One More Cup of Coffe
(Valley Below) in 2. Chris Eckman & The Frictions with song Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
Igor Rižnar
In 1984, immediately after escaping from JLA, he joined the punk jazz band Kure na gnoju, whose
members later ended up in the bands Kapela la Chateliere (Andrej Čopar) and Leteči potepuhi (Blaž
Grm), he played guitar and violin.
The following year, was invited as an accompanying member to the group Marcus 5, which represented
the new generation of
Slovenian pop at Novi Rock '85 together with Videosex, Gloria, Avtomobili, Klinika za cinike
and Skakafci.
The following year, he joined the group Basisti, where he played the violin. With original music
(electric guitar) in 2003, he accompanied the presentation of the poetry collection Lila by the
poet Marcello Potocco together with the bass player (Matjaž Medvešek) at the Dnevi knjige cultural
program.
In 2006, he was invited by the duo Demeter to record the album Uvod v strastno, and in 2007 the
album was also presented in Izštekani, where he plays saxophone and mouth harmonica.
In 2010, he joined the group Soma Arsen, with whom they recorded the CD Gluhi Circus.
In 2022, he was invited as a saxophonist to the band Nabla X, where he helped record the album
Julija in sedem palčkov.
Since 2018, he has been an active member of the band Geobanda, where he plays electric and
acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar and saxophone.
Blaž Milanič
is a self-taught percussionist and vocalist in love with music. Even as a child, he had a great
love for it, but the need to do sport won over music, for which there was simply no time in early
childhood.
He got to know percussioning during his studies through his good friend and professional
percussionist Rok Škarabot. During the weekends at his native Miren pri Gorici in the period he
was studing in Ljubljana, he relaxed with endlessly long jam sessions that lasted well into the
night.
He developed his musical taste by listening to a variety of music, from heavy metal music (Iron
Maiden, Metallica, Pantera and even "harder" D.R.I., Anthrax ...), to punk rock (Nofx, No Use for
a Name, Bad Religion ...), reggae and ska music (Black Uhuru, Culture, The Skatalites, Elvis
Jackson ...) all the way to Latin rhythms (Jimmy Bosch, Buena Vista Social Club, Giovanni Hidalgo
...).
Astrid Švara
has been associated with music since 1997, when she enrolled at the Sežana Music School at the age
of seven, where she completed elementary music school for the violin, and at the same time
attended the music school`s string orchestra for 3 years. After finishing school, she played the
violin quite a bit in the church choir of the Komen Parish, nearby maintaining the basic knowledge
she acquired at school.
From 1998 to 2007, she sang in the children's and youth choir of the Komen Elementary School,
where she honed her musical talent as a soprano, mezzo-soprano and soloist, and performed at many
domestic, regional and European competitions, where both the children's and the youth choir won
many awards, medals and trophies. At the same time, she also warmed up her voice in the church
choir.
Since 2019, Astrid Švara has been a vocalist in the band Geobanda. She trained her sense of
performance and dance, which she uses in the performances of Geobanda, during her 12-year Hip-Hop
competition and teaching career, which she completed in 2016.
Discography:
-
CD album: Kipi srce, cvete obraz, 2003/04, Komen Primary School Publisher, master and sound
processing: Erik Šinigoj.
Kristina Mužič
has been involved in music since the age of 7. She began her musical journey by playing the
recorder flute, and as is customary, she continued with the transverse flute, successfully
completing the lower music school in Ljubljana. Due to her love for jazz and blues music, she
started playing the saxophone during elementary school. In the meantime, she was a member of the
elite elementary school band, choir, and wind orchestra at the music school, where she diligently
gained musical experience and fueled her musical enthusiasm.
Since 2005, Kristina Mužič has been a proud saxophonist of the Bežigrad Wind Orchestra, where she
had the honor of playing with many excellent and talented musicians. As a long-time member of the
Bežigrad Wind Orchestra, she gained extensive knowledge in various music genres. Due to her
increasing desire to play more jazz-inspired tunes, she briefly focused on jazz, blues, and bossa
nova - jazz with the saxophone. After several years of intense musical involvement, Kristina took
a longer musical break.
In 2020, Kristina Mužič became a member of the legendary band Geoband, where she enjoys spending
time with her fellow geologist colleagues and arranging songs of various musical genres. In
Geoband, she plays the roles of both a singer and a saxophonist.
Maša Mušič
has been in love with music since she was a little girl. She sang in a children's choir in primary
school, then swapped her vocal cords for dancing shoes when she started learning Latin dances at
the Fredi Dance Club.
Once the music gets under her skin, she becomes unstoppable. Her desire to discover new rhythms
took her to numerous nightclubs' dance floors and festivals, where she danced until sunrise and
beyond.
Maša received the invitation to join Geobanda while on a cigarette break with Blaž at work and
accepted it with both fear and excitement – as a new personal challenge.
She has no discography of her own (yet!), but in her youth, she filled her music collection with a
wide range of genres: from alternative rock with Grinderman and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds to Jimi
Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and T-Rex to funk. She also likes to brighten up her day with Afrobeats with
Cymande and Latin music with Gotan Project. Meanwhile, her electronic music collection ranges from
acid techno to calm downtempo with Kruder & Dorfmeister and Thievery Corporation and experimental
pop with Roisin Murphy.
Tine Vučko
is a classically trained percussionist in love with music for nearly 30 years. He
has been active mainly on the classical music scene, having performed with several
orchestras, most notably the Cantabile Symphony Orchestra (percussion section leader,
timpanist, and occasional soloist) and the Logatec Wind Orchestra, for more than two decades
with great success, performing throughout Slovenia and Europe and contributing to many
outstanding successes. He has devoted himself primarily to classical music and participated as
a member or guest with numerous, including international symphony orchestras, a wide
variety of ensembles, and chamber groups, and has performed on numerous national and
European stages: in France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Croatia and
elsewhere.
In addition to his musical activities, Tine is an audiophile, music critic, translator, and a
great
lover of literature. He currently plays drums in the bands Geobanda and Društvo ljubiteljev.
With all his concert mileage and hundreds of unforgettable musical experiences, the three
musical events he has had the privilege to attend as a listener have been the most memorable:
the famous New Year's concert of the Vienna Philharmonic and two concerts conducted by
John Williams, the film music composer he considers the greatest of all time.
