“Otucha” is a polish word for an act of care between beings. To give “otucha” is to lift someone’s spirits, to surround them with encouragement.

Otucha Collective is a Berlin based vocal ensemble of FLINTA+ practitioners with immigrant backgrounds. It was formed in 2022 as a self-empowerment group, following our shared desire to re-work our personal heritages and engage in communal practices. Since then we create vocal performances and public interventions, facilitate workshops and hold regular singing circles. 

We focus on phenomena of the human voice, its healing & empowering qualities. Our practice is rooted in rural Eastern European vocal traditions, deep listening and somatic practices. Through singing we share the experience of a deep, transforming togetherness in a collective sound flow. By braiding our voices together, we awake sonic energies of the past and weave them into the now.

We work with traditional songs as sonic beings that carry in its DNA a memory of the old times. For us, a song is a vessel, it is filled with unique knowledge that has no beginning and does not belong to anyone. It carries the potential to connect with and transform tradition through each act of embodiment, across different times and geographical contexts.

Otucha are : Agnieszka Bułacik, Ewa Brokos, Mina Dordević, Magda Jaroszewicz, Kata Kwiatkowska, Agnieszka Kucharska, Julia Legeżyńska, Paulina Miu Kühling, Doro Michalak, Liene Šilde, Ola Zielińska

PHOTO CREDITS KASIA SEKUŁA