In Slovenian, godala refers to bowed string instruments. Godalkanje brings together young musicians who play folk tunes without sheet music. The main focus is on playing by ear and adding in improvisation. This movement is led by two incredible violinists and mentors Bojan Cvetrežnik and Barja Drnovšek.

By organizing workshops and jam sessions all around the year, Godalkanje helps kids and adults get comfortable playing in front of a large audience and with more experienced musicians. For this purpose, they invite violinists from different countries to organize special classes, recordings, concerts, or tours.

Jean-Christophe first met Godalkanje in 2012, on the way back from Romania to France with his collaborator and friend Emilio Castiello. Since then, they were invited several times to collaborate with Godalkanje.

Balkan Fiddle Gate (2021)

In August 2021, a large gathering of violin players took place in Kamnik (Slovenia), where the aim was to share repertoire and participate in a few workshops specifically focused on Transylvanian and other Romanian music, led by Jean-Christophe. On this occasion was born the band Trionica. The workshops resulted in the following video recordings (Music and Ballet Conservatory, Ljubljana, October 28, 2021):

• Încâlcita (Anatol Ștefăneț)
• Hora lăutărească (Adam Stîngă)
• Csárdás in G, Csárdás in Gm, Közjáték
• Csipinek a legényese (Varga István 'Kiscsipás'), Fecioresc (Tiberiu Gheza)
• Purtată Melancolică (Ovidiu Barteş)
• Estam in D (Gruci/Stângau), Po jezeru, bliz' Triglava (Miroslav Vilhar)

Romanian Violin Special Courses (2016)

The Special Courses are the initiative of Godalkanje. They are mostly run by playing all together and with a strong intention to perform publicly as soon as possible. In 2016, Jean-Christophe was invited as a mentor of Romanian violin.

• Final concert of the Special Courses
• Transylvanian Suite
• Călușul Oltenesc (feat. Nicolas Hauzeur)

XXLive album (2015)

The European Symbolic Orchestra is an extended international version of the Slovenian-based Symbolic Orchestra. Its founder Bojan Cvetrežnik has invited classically trained professional performers of the bow string instruments from 15 European countries to produce and perform the brightest possible spectrum of European's violin music.

The XXLive production presented on this album features Jean-Christophe Gairard (FRA), Emillio Castiello (FRA), Aritmija (SLO), Ida Meidell Blylod (SWE) and the BBC world music award winners - Terrafolk (SLO).

Listen to the album on Bandcamp: