Svetlana Spajić is a singer of Serbian origin who is recognized worldwide for her research, performances and transmission work concerning traditional Serbian songs. Her field of expertise is the study of microtonal a cappella singing and the singularity of its vocal techniques and functions. Her research has led her to travel across the Balkans for more than 30 years, studying in villages with the best singers, among the deans and deans.

She has published and produced about twenty albums, most of which aim to preserve intangible culture. The international release of Žegar Živi (Cloudvalley, London, 2008), an album of traditional songs she recorded with the last authentic singers of the Serbian minority in Dalmatia (Croatia), was recognized as one of the most significant contemporary projects for the preservation of the musical heritage of the territories of the former Yugoslavia, and was highly acclaimed throughout the world.

Svetlana Spajić contributes her knowledge and experience to the work of many groups in the field of traditional singing art in Serbia and abroad, including her own group based in Belgrade, consisting of an ensemble of women and including village singers, who sometimes also perform in public.

She is also the artistic director of the Retnik festival, which promotes the transmission of heritage and traditional knowledge through the organization of meetings and promotes interactions between generations of traditional artists. She has been cooperating with Drom for Kreiz Breizh Akademi since 2011.

Selected discography:

• GORDAN – Down in the Meadow, LP, Morphine Records, 2021
• SVETLANA SPAJIC GROUP - Black Horses Romped, Multimedia Records 2019
• ZEITKRATZER/SVETLANA SPAJIĆ/DRAGANA TOMIĆ/OBRAD MILIĆ– Serbian War Songs, CD and LP, Karlrecords, 2017
• SMILJA KOTUR - Songs from Jasenovac, WMAS Records, 2016 (as a performer and producer of the project)
• OBRAD MILIĆ - Traditional singing, diple, and gusle playing and storytelling from Žegar, Dalmatia, WMAS Records, 2014 (as a producer of the project)
• OLGA KRASOJEVIĆ AND SVETLANA SPAJIĆ GROUP - The Falcon flies from Rudnik Mountain, traditional songs from the village of Crnuća, WMAS Records, 2014
• SVETLANA SPAJIĆ & BELO PLATNO: Live in Russia, Etnokuznya, 2014
• SVETLANA SPAJIĆ AND BOKAN STANKOVIĆ – Ancient ballads and airs from Eastern Serbia live at Todo Mundo, Belgrade, World Music Association Records, Serbia, 2013
• SVETLANA SPAJIĆ GROUP - Gray Falcon (CD), Multimedia Records 2012.
• ŽEGAR ŽIVI, Žegar Živi, traditional singing and playing from the village of Žegar, Dalmatia Cloudvalley London, 2008
• EXTENDED EUROPE, live in Vienna, SALON ELISE - VIENNA, 2002
• SRBIJA SOUNDS GLOBAL series, vol. 1, 2 and 3, 4, compilation albums, B92, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2008.
• DRINA – traditional Serbian singing: Living Water, Svetigora, Promezzia, 2000.
• MOBA – Come on Harvest Helpers, BILJEG, 1994.

Main projects:

• Artistic director of RETNIK FESTIVAL of traditional culture, established in 2015, World Music Association of Serbia
• METAMORPHIC ORCHESTRA PLAYS METAMORPHIC SONGS – Serbia's edition of Goethe Institute 2019 international project METAMORPHIC SONGS, 2019 (concept and performer)
• KRIEGSINGEN Singing the War, Svetlana Spajić & Zeitkratzer, RING RING/HAUS DER KULTUREN DER WELT 2015/2016 (concept and performer)
• EUTERPE 2014/2015 (perform)
• TO THE SINGER OF TALES – Svetlana Spajic & KITKA ensemble, dedicated to American Linguists Millman Parry and Albert Lord, supported by ARTSLINK, USA, 2012 (concept and performer)
• The Lost Languages ​​of Europe, PHONART 2010/2011 (performer)

Press excerpts:

• “You'd have to be a lifetime steeped in tradition to sound like that.” Max Reinhardt, BBC Radio 3, Late Junction
• “Svetlana Spajić is one of the world's most precious living archives. “Francis Gooding, The Wire (November 2021)
• ”A key figure in today's Serbian traditional music is Svetlana Spajić.” Andrew Cronshaw, fRoots
• “ Svetlana Spajic and her group of Belgrade singers are haunting”, Clare Brennan, The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jul/17/life-and-death-marina-abramovic
• “Svetlana Spajic is not just and foremost a singer of traditional ethnic music, but a phenomenon whose imposing stage and artistic presence reveals the deep, obsessive and elemental dedication and effort to restore contact with the greatest themes in the history of Western civilization: Eros and Thanatos.” Melita Jurkota, Rovigno Gandusiana Festival
• “It is the Voice of the supernatural tone and unbelievable power. We can rarely hear such top performance of the song art with such fantastic voices.” Karoline Janicek, 'Kulturfocus', Balkan Fever Festival, Vienna

on ŽEGAR ŽIVI, Žegar živi,Cloud Valley“, London, 2008.

• “A truly great album”, (Žegar Živi) Fiona Talkington, BBC Radio 3 “Late Junction”
• A very special album of a unique song tradition that's beautifully recorded… it's music that you listen to and you marvel at”, Lucy Duran, BBC Radio 3, “World Routes”
• “Beautiful singing”, Mary Ann Kennedy, BBC Radio 3 “World on 3”