Iztok Koren, born in the village of Beltinci in Prekmurje, a social worker by profession, is a Slovenian multi-instrumentalist who currently lives in Ljubljana. He began his musical journey in 2000 with the dynamic-playful-melancholic post-rock band Škm banda, continued with the loud-expressive-chaotic post-industrial noisecore duo Hexenbrutal, achieved wider recognition with the imaginary-dreamy freak folk trio Širom and, in addition to other occasional musical projects, during the “lockdown” he also created an intimate-minimalist-zen solo project under his own name. In 2024 he founded the international trio Na tej strani nebes with fellow members from Belgium, and in 2025 a duet with Polish guitarist Raphael Roginski. Iztok also creates music for theater, dance performance and movies. He collaborated several times with theater director Mirjana Medojevič and with dance choreographer Matjaž Farič. He made original music for silent movie Sultan of Love and for Petra Seliškar's movies Mountain won't move and My summer holidays. Iztok plays banjo, gembri, balafon, kalimba, percussion, drums, steel drum, guitar, synthesizer, morin khuur and effects.
Iztok Koren, rojen v prekmurski vasi Beltinci, po poklicu socialni delavec, je slovenski multiinstrumentalist, ki trenutno živi v Ljubljani. Glasbeno pot je začel leta 2000 z dinamično-razigrano-melanholično post rock zasedbo Škm banda, nadaljeval z glasno-ekspresivno-kaotičnim postindustrijskim noisecore duom Hexenbrutal, širšo prepoznavnost dosegel z namišljeno-zasanjanim freak folk triom Širom in je poleg drugih občasnih glasbenih projektov, med “lockdownom” ustvaril tudi intimno-minimalistično-zen solo projekt pod njegovim imenom. Leta 2024 je ustanovil še mednarodni trio Na tej strani nebes s sočlanoma iz Belgije ter leta 2025 duet s poljskim kitaristom Raphaelom Roginskim. Iztok ustvarja tudi glasbo za gledališče, plesne predstave in filme. Večkrat je sodeloval z gledališko režiserko Mirjano Medojevič in s plesnim koreografom Matjažem Faričem ter ustvaril glasbo za nemi film Sultanka ljubezni ter za filma Gora se ne bo premaknila in Poletne počitnice v režiji Petre Seliškar. Kot solo izvajalec raziskuje glasbene meandre t.i. freak folk glasbe in skladb, ki vključujejo igranje več instrumentov hkrati. Iztok igra banjo, gembri, balafon, kalimbo, tolkala, bobne, steel drum, kitaro, sintetizator, morin khuur in efekte.
