Vortex

Andrej Hrvatin, alias NIMETU, is a musician and sound artist from Maribor, Slovenia.

His main instruments are diverse “ethnic” flutes (Native American style flutes, ney, kaval), clarinet and percussion, notably frame drums. He is also a sound engineer and sound designer, specializing in psycho-acoustic sound design and sound installations/performances.

He studied clarinet in music school, learned kaval from Macedonian virtuoso Bajsa Arifovska, and studied percussion with Nino Mureškić, and at diverse workshops of several other percussion masters – Pt.Suresh Talwalkar, Okay Temiz, Hakim Ludin, Carlo Rizzo, Jatinder Thakur, Glen Velez, Zohar Fresco, and Andrea Piccioni.

His main inspiration and frame drumming can be traced through Nino Mureškić to Glen Velez and Layne Redmond.

He was involved in several music and dance performances, such as “Doors” by Branko Potočan, “Saltana” by Edita Čerče, “Dia Diasso Diaspora” by Maša Kagao Knez, “Direct Insights” and "Silhueata" by Tina Dobaj and many others.

As a sound artist he recorded, mixed, produced and mastered several international and Slovene jazz, world music and alternative albums. He mixed and mastered the acclaimed award winning albums by jazz masters Zlatko Kaučič and Samo Šalamon, featuring some international jazz stars such as Michel Godard, Roberto Dani, Paul McCandless, Peter Brötzmann, Irene Aebi, and others.

Part of his work was also dedicated to recording sound for film and television (TV Series "Življenja Tomaža Kajzerja", documentary "Marpurgi", and more.)

He was an artist-in-residence at Sonic Art in Delhi, India in 2008 and performed at ISIM conference in New York with pianist Ji Eun Moon in 2014.

He is currently focusing on deeper connections between music, philosophy, and transcendental states of mind (“shamanic” explorations of art, sound and body). He offers frame drumming classes, music journey sessions (Spirit Flute Journey, Locus Solus), and he collaborates with dance, music, and visual artists on several different productions. He collaborated on a "medicine music" album, Sacrement with renowned percussionist Byron Metcalf and singer Jennifer Grais, and visual art installations with Natalija R.Črnčec and Nina Šulin.)

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT ART AND MUSIC/MUSIC THERAPY

Artistic name Nimetu (Ni-me-tu), means literally "I am not here" in Slovene language, or "nameless, anonymous" in Estonian language.

The idea is to embark on a journey to an uncharted territory, starting unmarked from the position of endlessness and multiplicity of possibilities.

It is a solo project of musician and sound artist/recording artist Andrej Hrvatin:

″It is the essence of my expression through sound, simultaneously being in control and loosing myself in sound, breathing, listening, performing, waiting, letting go of preconceived notions, concepts and expectations, heightened attention towards the minutest of the details.

I want to set the coordinates for the artistic ritual and navigate through the vortex of possibilities while letting go of inhibitions and preconceived ideas of what is allowed or expected. Is it art, kitsch, ritual, meditation, show, concert, fake, honest, complex or superficial, original or recycled? It doesn’t matter. I am interested in the direct effects and pure emotional and physical experience of sound, not in conceptualizations of what it should be. I pursue the non-conceptual meaning – the subjective sense of performing something honest, sincere and intimate. It is both music therapy, art, self-expression, exploration of inner worlds and inexplicably beyond all those labels at the same time.

Lost in darkness, embraced by vibrations and musical cues, participating physically with adjusted breathing and other possible body interactions, bathing in sound, losing the perspective of time and space, letting go of expectations and diving into the endless sea. 'I am not here, yet I exist.'

Both LOCUS SOLUS (live performance for a single visitor and the recording), and the reworked HERO'S JOURNEY with added Hemi-Sync® were devised specifically for triggering an intensive mind journey that can also produce physical sensations in some listeners. Experiences reported by many participants of the individual sound performance include: auditory and visual hallucinations (inner visions, transformations, shape-shifting); sensations of energy rising in the body; being pinned to the surface; losing the boundaries of the body; surge of goose bumps and electricity-like sensations on the skin; swooshes of breeze; warmth spreading around the body; out-of-body experiences; and more.

These special audio compositions are devised to take you on a journey of deep relaxation and transformation, where you can rearrange your psycho-physical condition and emerge a renewed person. It is a perfect companion for active meditations, visualization sessions, breathwork and contemporary work with medicine plants.″

Visit Andrej's website at https://nimetu.org/

Find more albums from NIMETU/Andrej Hrvatin at: https://nimetu.bandcamp.com/

Video presentation of Locus Solus live performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdXE63jwwn0

YouTube Video Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC18J4rOBbHAmAJiyHrROlEg

Andrej has also devised a practical set of exercises for helping people with depression and anxiety - a no cost wellness system that can be applied in combination with conventional therapy: http://nimetu.org/antidepressant/