Musicians’ Diary


Our thoughts, our creative steps, our everyday questioning about being musicians, emerging ideas & projects… and basically anything we want to share !

Blog, Musicians' Diary

Start with what you have!


Being adventurous and always aiming for more than you are supposed to be able to reach, is a way of life. 🌲 🛣️

Small bits from our road trip in Sweden.

Not finding excuses about what one “could” do if (fill in the blanks).

Without waiting, there’s plenty you can do with what you have already, and you’ll find even more ways to do it on the way.

We recorded our first album on a computer that wasn’t powerful enough. So our first album is recorded on 16b instead of the standard 24 that was the norm already.

I filmed my first video on a webcam, and edited it with a free software. My second video had plenty of pictures included because I didn’t have enough footage, and no room to store that hypothetical footage.

We own an old timer Ford Transit from the 90’s, and we still converted it to be somewhat off grid for a few days, and also access some off-road side.

We did not wait to have a better computer. We did not wait to have a camera. We did not wait to get a 4/4 expedition truck.

We just do with what we have, and solve the problems as we go.

What can you do now? What do you have you could use without waiting and go after your dreams?

We have a full playlist of daily sequences from our artistic road trip in Scandinavia, check out the description area for thoughts about creativity, art, travel and Swedish culture.

Blog, Musicians' Diary, Sound & Video

The Sailors drowned at Sea, whose heart returned to his beloved in a silver box


Happy new year, bloavezh mat deoc’h, we’re happy to start out 2023 with a video with a very long and ghosty history, and yes, it’s quite dark and moody, but, hey! that’s also very Breton!

We hope you’ll enjoy, the sound has been remastered in that version, but the original version is to be found in B album here:

https://astrakanproject.bandcamp.com/album/astrakan-project-b

Enjoy, have a nice 2023! Simone ha Yann

Music, Musicians' Diary, Sound & Video

Chuta Chani, a georgian Lullaby


Many of you already saw it and gave us super nice feedback, for the rest of you, we had been working on this song for a while now, it’s a traditional lullaby from Georgia that we released right before Samhain. Our son was super kind to take part into the video itself – look for the description under the video, there’s plenty about the origine etc…

(please if you have a YouTube user account, like/subscribe/comment, sounds cheesy, but it makes a huge difference on the way our channel and music gets promoted to people that don’t know us yet.)

Simone did an extra video about Samhain/Art/Honouring our ancestors and the meaning of the song to her.

Musicians' Diary

When you live in an Astrakan Project’s video…


This is a truly magical moment I captured yesterday at dawn…

clouds and haze

Otherwise, our next Wild Live Songs’ session is happening tonight, 7.30pm from a nearby location and it will be an unplugged session. (link goes to the live and the replay). More thoughts about these livestreamed sessions very soon, we’ll traveling towards Germany (area of Bremen and Hanovre), and then to The Netherlands and Belgium, where we’ll play in Brussels at an underground tavern we missed.

Blog, Musicians' Diary

I think I win ! Je crois que j’ai gagné !


Your remember the video project I posted last week on our channel ? Well I’m so very honoured to say I got the second place on the challenge 🙂 Enjoy, and celebrate with me xxx Simone

Vous vous rappelez le petit projet vidéo que j’ai publié la semaine dernière ? Et bien, j’arrive en 2ème place de ce challenge, la classe quoi! xxx Simone

Mon projet / My project

Blog, Musicians' Diary

New video out tonight / nouvelle vidéo ce soir


Our Short daily videos is over after 21 days of daily videos (last one was here https://youtu.be/IQIr1xNdpls ) We had planned for a full month, but Simone’s health has sort of shortened the series – but it’s still a nice achievement, that has opened plenty of new possibilities.

Notre série quotidienne de vidéos courtes en Breton est terminée après 21 jours (la dernière est ici https://youtu.be/IQIr1xNdpls ). Nous avions prévu quatre semaines au départ, mais les soucis de voix de Simone en ont décidé autrement. 21 jours ça reste pas mal, et ça nous a ouvert plein de perspectives créatives.

The song is not new, but the video was inspired by a newly finished painting from Simone, finished around the magical time of Samhain/Noz Kala-Goanv. The first part of the video, the music part will be live tonight (7pm UK time), and the poetic vlog titled “Inês Ashes” will be available on Sunday evening. We’re quite excited about this project, which is the second we partially filmed together, generally Simone films on her own (the first one was Koçari in Kiev)

Ce n’est pas une nouvelle chanson, mais la vidéo est inspirée par une toile que Simone a terminé pendant la période magique de la Samhain/Noz Kala-Goanv. La partie clip de la vidéo sera en ligne sur notre chaîne ce soir à 20h, et on vous réserve pour dimanche une version longue avec un vlog poétique intitulé “les cendres d’Inês”. C’est le deuxième projet vidéo que nous tournons en partie tous les deux, en général Simone filme seule. (le premier c’était Koçari à Kiev)

Artwork available with more pictures here / toile et plus de photos disponible ici

https://simonealves.squarespace.com/shop/p/anu-celtic-goddess-of-earth

Musicians' Diary, Sound & Video

Petra Nevez ? What’s Up ? Quoi de neuf ?


Our daily short videos series is running until next Full Moon, we’ve made it until midway and published n°15 yesterday! What already ? Yes, but remember they are short, but we’re having fun sharing small bits of our daily creative life with you! Here’s the playlist for you to catch up 🙂

Notre série de vidéos quotidiennes se poursuit, jusqu’à la prochaine Pleine Lune, on est à la moitié puisque l’on a publié le n°15 hier. Quoi? Déjà? Oui, c’est l’avantage du format super court, mais ça nous amuse bien, on apprend plein de choses, et on vous met le lien de la playlist à partir du numéro 7 donc !

Blog, Musicians' Diary, Sound & Video

Petra nevez? Quoi de neuf? What’s up?


Remember to subscribe / abonnez-vous 😉 http://www.youtube.com/astrakanproject?sub_confirmation=1

The next 3 episodes are here… (but remember they get posted daily directly on the channel 😉 )

Les 3 épisodes suivants sont en ligne… (mais n’oubliez pas qu’ils sont mis en ligne chaque jour sur notre chaîne YouTube)