Project A11UREA
The realm where music and sound from different cultures hybridise
Шепіт вітрів - A11UREA розквітає! | Whisper of the winds, A11UREA is in full bloom!Sawadee ka! I'm Danielle (or Dee), the artist behind A11UREA and a much smaller project, Svarögg's Hands, though I go by Hierodana or Hierobohdana more as of late. I am an Asian-Slavic folk artist, educated and based in Singapore. I explore expressing my modern experiences in traditional folk art styles, building a bridge between past and present, loving to crossover Slavic folk music with folk music of other cultures.
Music BackgroundMy personal interest in music production piqued in 2019, back when I was in CHIJ Katong Convent being mentored by Dr. Yeo Wei-Wei for the Creative Arts Programme under the Gifted Education Branch, and my interest has burned bright since then. When I joined Millennia Institute (MI) in 2022, I joined the Millennia Institute Concert Band as a timpanist, and played for SYF 2023. When I left MI and joined Republic Polytechnic in 2024, I joined Endang Ratiana, a girls' dikir barat group under DKRP, and joined Beats Encore as a timbal and marcacao player. It didn't take me long to realise I love and greatly enjoy the flavor of traditional music. In 2026, I rejoined MICB as the resident alumni timpanist and I am playing for SIBF 2026. I also joined PUTERI, a public women's dikir barat group as an awok-awok (choral member) and a trainee tok juara (frontman), and Veeravel Urumi Melam as a thavil player.I'm currently co-directing a collaboration between PUTERI and Veeravel Urumi Melam, where the art of dikir barat and urumi melam come together and hybridise beautifully to retell stories in a new light.Project BackgroundThe musical-audio project A11UREA was created in 2019 to fulfill my desire to play around with the art of music composition and production. I primarily used Soundtrap (and very much still do even as I learn how to use other DAWs such as Pro Tools and Ableton in my diploma!) for my music. The more I made music, the more I wanted to pay tribute to my heritage. Around 2020-2021 when the war in Ukraine rolled around, I decided I would help to sustain my culture, my language and my heritage in whatever ways I can. At first I combined Ukrainian traditional music with Nordic and Neofolk elements, then I combined it with some genres that I took a curiosity to. After I joined dikir barat and felt familiar enough with the art form, I decided to hybridise the two together.War is one of those things that evoke a visceral feeling in the soul, so instead of just making music, I also used sounds/soundscapes to help tell the stories I told in my songs. Feelings such as loss, fear, worry, were things I employed the use of non-musical sounds to help narrate. The result was works that were dynamic and felt more like being inside a story rather than being surrounded by music.
