Posts
VulgarGrad bring you a highly alcoholic and volatile blend of the old songs of the Russian thieves (called blatnie pesny or blatnyak), along with punk classics of the Perestroika era and a strong dose of contemporary St. Petersburg swearing ska. The band delivers this music with style, raucous menace, stripy shirts and a smattering of grim smiles (very important).
Legend of stage and screen, Jacek Koman (Children of Men, Moulin Rouge, Romulus My Father, Australia) is the genial but vengeful front man who roars with the voice of a man betrayed, and he is backed by a gang of Australia's most illustrious ex-cons drawn from bands such as The Spaghetti Western Experience, The Blue Grassy Knoll, Zulya and the Children of the Underground, Croque Monsieur, Blue Drag, and the Five Angry Men. The Line-up is guitar, drums, trombone, trumpet, accordion, and watch out for the largest, most triangular instrument of them all, the mighty contrabass balalaika.
"This album is an absolute hoot! The album title (read with tongue firmly planted in cheek) says it all really – think Tom Waits in Russian meets Waiting For Guiness or any of that ilk. VulgarGrad are a Melbourne-based outfit featuring bassist Andrew Tanner (Zulya’s Children Of The Underground) on contrabass balalaika, with an able crew of guitar, horns & accordion, and at the helm the extraordinary guttural vocals of Jacek Koman.
All the songs are sung in Russian, delivered with all the morose hilarity we love from the Eastern Bloc proletariat, and with titles like ‘Alkoholik’, ‘Why Did The Aborigines Eat Captain Cook’ and ‘Anarchy Is Our Mother’ you can probably assume this is not music to be bourgeois to. It swings, stutters, stumbles and growls, veering and careering from cabaret cheese to jazz groove to carny to ska. While the musicians are clearly seasoned (or pickled), they play with shambolic abandon, often threatening to slide off the vodka-soaked table and into a puddle on the floor, with Koman’s growl providing enough rust to prevent proceedings from ever getting too slick. A fat horn section slithers & seesaws with well-oiled grunt, peppered with tasteful sprinklings of Nara Demasson’s jazzy guitar and what I assume is Svetlana Bunic’s MIDI accordion sounding like xylophone, hammond organ, flute and other sundry effects.
Superlatives aside, this is a great slab of music – energetic & fun, well-played and imminently danceable, although possibly even better to get very drunk and hurtle to."
01. Murka (trad.)
02. Alkoholik (S.Shnurov)
03. Why Did the Aborigines Eat Captain Cook (V.Vysotsky)
04. Anarchy is Our Mother (V.Tsoy)
05. The Giraffe (V.Vysotsky)
06. Vaninsky Port (trad.)
07. This Russian Rock 'N' Roll (F.Chistyakov)
08. The Years Rush By (A.Severny)
Jacek Koman: vocals
Andrew Tanner: contrabass, balalaika
Renato VaCirca: drums
Ros Jones: trombone
Adam Pierzchalski: trumpet
Nara Demasson: guitar
Phil McLeod: piano, accordion
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
“..you don’t need to tell about Russia
to the foreign people. It’ll better to them
to listen to the cd of the Pokrovsky Ensemble.”
Anton Batagov
The Dmitry Pokrovsky Ensemble was founded by prominest musician, scientist and researcher of Russian national culture Dmitry Pokrovsky(1944-1996) in Moscow in 1973 as a «living laboratory» for the study of different Russian folk traditions.
The Ensemble was the first group of professional musicians who performed the folk music in authentic village styles at the academic scene. To learn the essence of the village music, Ensemble's members have traveled the lenght and breadth of rural Russia, documenting and studying to perform themselves the music traditions they encountered. The special vocal school of Ensemble based on various styles of traditional Russian singing is absolutely unique.
It is difficult to find now another collective of singers that can conquer the audience with their original interpretation of classic and avant-garde musical compositions, having a large repertoire of Russian village music of different traditions and styles.
The variety of the Ensemble’s interests is seen in their constant collaboration with different musicians, contemporary composers, theatrical directors and filmmakers..
The Ensemble had been performing modern music, working together with many modern composers and at the same time having classical compositions in its repertoire. Having introduced western audiences to Russian traditional and modern music, the Ensemble has become a figure of world music culture.
01. Epic Song
02. Birch Tree on the Sea
03. Where Have You Been You
04. Limerick
05. 116TH Psalm of King David
06. Girls Are Walking
07. Gusly
08. Green Grass
09. Prayer of a Young Man
10. Down in Kiev
11. Fog
12. Friends Horsemen
13. Sunset
14. Vargan
15. Soft Light
16. First Commandment
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Ethno-folk from Rybinsk, from around the Volga river.
"Folk-project "Raznotravie and Mitya Kuznetsov" from Rybinsk of Yaroslavl region, Russia. It is one of a few musical projects, which brightly represent Russia in the direction of world music. As the basis of creation "Raznotravie and Mitya Kuznetsov" is assumed ancient Slavic poetics, melodics and musical traditions of the different countries of the world. The poetic and musical style speaks about the uniqueness of the project, which is characteristic precisely for the Rybinsk Volga river Region and Poshekhonia , whence by birth almost all musicians of group. Poshekhonia is a big part of land to the north from central region of Russia with the wild woods, fields of various herbs and lost villiages. Many russian people still shure that Poshekhonia is unexisted and mistical place. The name "Raznotravie" takes it roots in the ambiance of nature of this land which stores the memories about ancient time in every wood, in every herb. That is why the name could be translated as "Manifold Herbs". But in russian it brings very bright, wild, and ancient image in one word. The history of the project:
The group "Raznotravie" was founded in 1997. In summer of 1997 group recorded the first concert program "Seven". In January 2000 "Raznotravie" invited multiinstrumentalist and performer of folk music Mitya Kuznetsov (known by group "Sedmaya Voda") to be producer and arranger of the new studio album. Close collaboration made it possible to find conceptually new sounding for the group "Raznotravie" and record album "Katorga". After recording the album Mitya Kuznetsov offered to combine songs of "Raznotravie" and his own solo programm. The result of joint operation is the adapted to stage show-project, which combined in itself the original creation "Raznotravie" and ancient russian folk songs performed by Mitya Kuznetsov and presented in his solo album "Pigeon book".
01. Hard Labour
02. Sinful soul
03. Yarilo
04. The curve path
05. Grave cross
06. Lullaby
07. I do not care
08. Her name
09. About the thief
10. The Bride
Mitya Kuznetsov – back vocals and instruments
Mikhail Posadsky - voice
Vyacheslav Kamenkov - guitar
Valery Ershov - bass guitar
Pavel Davydovich - drums
Anna Kuznetsova - hurdy-gurdy
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
This wasn't really intended to become an album - that it has is the result of fortunate circumstances and the musicians' desire to let a wider audience enjoy the magic result of the spontaneous coming together of unaccompanied vocal music from Russia and Bulgaria.
The background: the Bulgarian Voices Angelite choir went on a long concert tour with Sergey Starostin and Mikhail Alperin of the Moscow Art Trio. Spending plenty of time in each other's company, they - inevitably perhaps - started to experiment with singing together, each contributing material from their own traditional background. They were so pleased with the intensity and beauty of the result that they felt it should be heard outside of hotel and dressing rooms. At the Edinburgh Festival in 1999, the opportunity arose to make a recording in Grey Friar's church. And here it is.
The album presents pure unadulterated vocal music, beautiful and deeply relaxing, almost meditative. Perhaps to increase this effect on the listener, it includes about 9 minutes of trailing silence - to stop you rushing back to your stressful lives after diving into this sea of calm.
A journey well worth taking. The only minor criticism is that it is so short. It will leave you wishing for more.
Anja Beinroth
01. At Night
02. Travelling Tatars
03. Sun Prayer
04. Sergey's Ballad
05. I Was Fooling the Turkish
06. Not the Last One
Sergey Starostin (Vocals)
Nadia Vladimirova (Vocals)
Sonia Iovkova (Vocals)
Tatiana Douparinova (Vocals)
Youlia Koleva (Vocals)
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"Germany and Russia haven't had a history of amicable relationships through the years. The twentieth century was a particularly bad time, as each took turns in occupying the other for extended periods. However, this hasn't stopped Russian musicians being welcomed when they've gone searching for greener pastures in the West as they look to make a living from their craft. Which explains how the Russian group Ersatzmusika comes to be based out of Berlin Germany and is about to release their second CD, Songs Unrecatable, on the German label Asphalt-Tango.
If you download one of the first things you'll notice is the lyrics are in English, and that's not because they've been translated, it's because almost all the songs on Songs Unrecantable are sung in that language. Although to be honest lead singer Doubrovskaja's accent is so thick that if you're only listening casually chances are you're going to assume she's singing in Russian. To be fair, it's not just her accent, the music the band plays is so different from what most of us are used to hearing when it comes to Eastern European folk, the combination of the two makes for a sound so alien to our ears you can be easily forgiven for not noticing she is singing in English.
Before anyone starts jumping to any conclusions about brooding Russians or anything equally stupid, by mood I'm referring to the fact that Doubrovskaja sounds likes a Russian accented Marlene Dietrich. Yet while both she and Dietrich evoke smoke filled cabarets with dim lights, musically, lyrically the two women are miles apart. For while the former's stock in trade was sultry love songs, the latter's lyrics drip irony onto music that tastes of a little bit of everything from Balkan beat box to traditional folk sounds. There's actually something eerily familiar about Ersatzmusika's overall sound that escaped me for the longest time, until it struck me how much they reminded me of The Doors in their slower and more pensive moments.
While they might share certain characteristics with other performers and have drawn upon various styles, it's doubtful you've ever heard anything quite like Ersatzmuzika before.
Where one has come to expect a lively sound inspired by polka's, the heady influence of gypsy violins, or other rural traditions, you find moody, atmospheric sounds which are a far more accurate reflection of life today. The lyrics in turn are a match for this sound as they offer commentary on humanity's checkered history and uncertain future.
The opening lines of "Gypsy Air", the first track on the CD, give you a good idea of the band's appraisal of our past: "Woe filled times we must abide / woe betide him who knows not this...Let us compile a list/Of the wrongs that man commits / Never shying ignominy / Clipped the wings, ducked the tail/Little boy, Nagasaki."
However it's not only the past they are concerned with as they capture the true price of the greed and materialism that plagues today a little later in the same song with the following lines, "That tenderness' needs must contrast / With tender, its negation."
I don't think I've heard a condemnation of a system that puts selling above caring phrased so succinctly and directly before. Now, lest you think they're only a one note band, they also show themselves capable of being darkly humorous. "Oh Pterodactyl", track seven, is a darkly delightful examination of our genealogy. "There has of late been much debate / Bout what is round and what is straight / And why no politician / Could have a forebear simian / But oh pterodactyl / To you we owe a / Oh pterodactyl / A debt of honour / Oh pterodactyl / Although that Noah / Oh pterodactyl / Wants to disown ya."
t's hard to describe the experience of listening to Songs Unrecantable by Ersatzmusika simply because there's not much else like them around to offer up as a comparison. Their accents mark them as Eastern European, and there are elements of their music that reflect that heritage, but not in the way we've grown accustomed to hearing them as presented by world music labels. This is an edgier, more contemporary, and urban sound which, while it doesn't discount its heritage, uses it as its springboard to something new instead of just recreating what's been done before. It's only fitting though considering their song's lyrics, which are not only predominately in English to allow for more universal comprehension, are also far more relevant to today's world than what we're used to.
Recently we've seen how young musicians from backgrounds as diverse as Balkan and Roma have begun to make their sound more contemporary while maintaining a connection to their traditional music. Ersatzmuzika is on the leading edge of the movement intent on proving anything old can be new again and in the process are creating some great music."
Richard Marcus
01. Songs on a Gypsy Air
02. Wild Grass
03. Train-slow Adagio
04. It's the Russian Beat
05. Berceuse
06. Tver (feat. Unterwasser)
07. Pterodactyl
08. HMS RIP DTs
09. Winter
10. Unredeemed
11. Letter from Baltimore (feat. Unterwasser)
12. Antediluvian
13. Incantation vs. Causation
Leonid Soybelman - guitar
Ruslan Kalugin - guitar
Phil Freeborn - guitar
Konstantin Orlov - bass
Michail Zhukov - drums, percussion
Irina Doubrovskja - vocals, accordion, piano, keyboards
Thomas Cooper - vocals
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
With a history of bizarre and dramatic destiny, Tales Forest been a long and unpredictable way - from rabid hooligan punk, a hardcore, psychedelic with a touch of shamanism and Irish folk, before these disparate components formed her own very unique style.
1. So far at Ladoga
2. Undead
3. Hey, the spirit
4. Vorojeya
5. Ulyatay
6. How nice
7. Jolta Ku
8. Ladoga
9. Kalyaki-Maliaka
Andrei Figa – vocal, accordion (music composer)
Pavlik Vlasov “Egypt” – shaman-drummer (poet)
Roma Tentler – contrabass
Petya Sergeev “Jaguar” – percussion
Volodya Molodcov “Professor” – flutes and bagpipes
Sergey Kirianov “Korotishka” – guitar
Dimarik Shihardin – fiddle
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
The ethnic project 'Bugotak' was found in 2004 in Novosibirsk, Russia, and currently located in the same region.
Bugotak plays native siberian music in these variations: Mostly - northern turkic (Altai, Tuva), but also Tungus-manchurian, and music of the Deep Northern folks (Eveny, Negidaltsy, Orci etc) Mostly - traditional folklore, but also ethnic turkic rock and hard ambient. Mostly - its own songs, but also original folk songs and tributes to rock classics, played in traditional siberian instruments.
The main idea of Bugotak's art is that only those traditions come alive, which develop itselves; stark traditions are subject to nobody. Mean both creativity and traditions.
Bugotak was found by George Andriyanov, a multi-instrument player and throat singing performer.
Awards in 2006: - 'The best folklore band' within professional performers on The Baykal Necklace international festival (Ulan-Ude, Russia)
01. Bass Barchyzy
02. All You Want
03. We Siberians
04. Young Shaman Returns Home After Medical Institute
05. The Wheels Must Rotate (Bermuda From Askat)
06. Makary Lykov
07. Assigning Heritage
08. Shaktar-Baatyr (Folk)
09. Kezitke Sening Söstöring
10. The Valley Is Covered With Ice Of Dead People's Tears
11. Of Course, The Word
12. What I See That I Sing (Parody Of Linkin Park's Breaking The Habit)
13. There Is No Fate (Dedicated To Yanka Dyagilevaya)
14. To Live Up To The Winter (Dedicated To People Who Weren't Able To Reach The Foot Of Their Own Mountain)
Sayan Andrianov
Taras Ablamsky
Barbara Sapozhnikov
Eugene Zhukovsky
Vladimir Glushko
Sayan Andriyanov
Nicholas Roerich, Irina Smirnova and Pavel Shaikin
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Russia-based world/jazz fusion collective Vershki Da Koreshki (a.k.a. VeDaKi) is a meeting of different cultures, rhythms, languages, energies, forces of the world (Africa, India, Russia, Tuva, Europe), and joining them together in search of natural understanding and communication, link between traditional and modern, roots and improvisation (not without humour and hope).
Plants hide their roots (koreshki) to protect them from bad weather while their leaves (vershki) are directly affected by the constant changes in the weather. These two vital parts develop simultaneouly but in opposite direction thus maintaining the balance of the overall organism.
The group Vershki da Koreshki grew in the same way: the roots are formed by two descendants of ancient cultures of Africa (Senegal) and Central Asia (Tuva). The leaves are two compatriots from Saint Petersburg who are nourished by jazz, classical and contemporary music and improvisation.
The synthesis of these seemingly contradictory elements results in the band's great freedom of style and concept.
1. Borbannaadyr
2. Toumkoumani
3. Trance-later
4. Ana
5. Khoomei-bas
6. Vershki da Koreshki
7. Khomouz-bas
8. Chimtchak Salghin
9. Pitchendebin / Khoomeyim Algap Tour Men
Kaigal-Ool Khovalyg: voix, khoomei, ighil, khomyss
Mola Sylla: voix, kongoma, xalam, kalimba
Alexei Levin: accordeon chromatique, piano, khomouz, kongoma
Vladimir Volkov: contrebasse
Paco Diedhion: sauruba
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
The Band says:
"We got acquainted studying the repertoire of traditional Jewish musicians - klezmers, in the kitchen of the rented apartment of one familiar guitarist on Prospekt Mira. In the process of creative mess and disorder we spent several months and played several open and closed gigs, among them one real Jewish wedding.
Concert in the synagogue of shtetl Saltykovka in Moscow region in November 2004 finally confirmed people in their desire to play Jewish music. Mess and disorder ended by that time, the group has got constant staff and name - "Der partizaner kish" ("The kiss of partisan girl").
The style of our group unites the desire to give to everybody, who hears us, the possibility to cry and at the same time - possibility to make merry and to have a dance. Therefore we sing shrill lyrical Jewish songs in Yiddish, and also play traditional rollicking wedding music."
01. Shvester Khaye
02. Yam-lid
03. Der Terk in Amerike
04. Borsht
05. Vilne
06. Moldovian Hora
07. Lid fun Titanik
08. Gas nign
09. Tepl
10. A nign
11. Dzhankoe
12. Oylem Habo
Anna Smirnitskaya - vocal, guitar
Alexandra Skvortsova - violin, back-vocal
Vladimir Zaslavsky - mandolin
Dmitriy Shamshin - percussion
Matvey Gaidukov - bass-guitar
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
These 6 Berlin-based musicians spent a large proportion of their lives in the USSR - that mythical and legendary place beyond the iron stage curtain where Gypsies sing of woollen boots, worshippers of Mammon decry broken hearts and glasses sing paeans to lost love. And where, what's more, the troubadour is an outlaw. Several band members have already caused a sensation in the Moscow underground scene. They immigrated to Berlin at the beginning of the nineties and have been enriching the Russian diaspora with various musical projects ever since. The multifaceted artist Irina Doubrovskaja founded ErsatzMusika in 2006, also writing the songs and lyrics for their debut album. Despite the remove from dub, urban folk, world, minimalism and balladeering at which ErsatzMusika stays, the group's music proves strangely familiar to audiences of these musical strains. Yet their music is not an eclectic lucky dip, but rather a collection of acoustic letters in a strange vernacular, a human-made-for-human ersatz for the sounds of information-age intercourse. It goes out with love...
"A very subtle yet striking album, wintry in colour yet warm and human in affection."
"Berlin based but Russian in soul, Ersatzmusika's Voice Letter is one of the most remarkable debut albums of recent years. The six piece band are fronted by Irina Dubrovskaja, a Ukrainian singer-composer-conceptual artist, and it is her warm, weary vocal that sets the tone for an album which reflects on life in the Soviet Union. Not that this is a nostalgia trip – anything but! – instead Ersatzmusika (named after the ersatz coffee they had to drink under communism) look at a fractured empire and its secret history: Considering they sing of the Gulags this is a history that Putin and co. are now trying to bury.
Ersatzmusika's distinctive, droning sound recalls Francoise Hardy’s finest 60s recordings. If Hardy had grown up on the Black Sea . . . The band operate on an off kilter tempo, often conjuring a Felliniesque fairground waltz tempo, never rushing songs, instead aiming for atmosphere while letting the lyrically beautiful songs drift past. Although all songs are sung in Russian the album’s sleeve carries translations of a few lyrics and as several appear to be adapted from poems they are quite mesmerizing.
Opening track, "Beside Myself To You I Came" finds Irina singing to friends who have left the former Soviet Union and resettled across the world (thus the Voice Letter of the album's title) while "Cranes" is based on a poem written by an anonymous Gulag prisoner who looks at the cranes flying past and attempts to send them mental messages.
Voice Letter is a very subtle yet striking album, wintry in colour yet warm and human in affection. It is also beautiful and haunting – and I don't speak a word of Russian."
01. Beside myself to you I came
02. He4y, Gngway!
03. The gold prospector
04. Still waters
05. Antediluvian
06. Bevelled glasses
07. And why
08. Cranes
09. Upon the earth
10. Tsaritsino station
11. The mushroom hunter
12. Eh, Kalina
13. Went and drank
14. How here's how
Irina Doubrovskaja - Keyboards, Accordion, Vocal
Leonid Soybelman - Guitar
Mikhail Zhukov - Percussion
Sergey Vorontsov - Bass, Guitar, Vocal
Igor Vdovchenko - Bass, Harmonica
Roman Bushuev - Drums
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Bugotak plays Siberian music in a traditional folk basis, but their musical references are so diverse to be classified by genre (let’s call it Siberian Contemporary music). They even dare to cover rock classics, in their traditional Siberian instruments. The main idea of Bugotak’s art is that only those traditions come alive, which develop itselves; stark traditions are subject to nobody. Therefore, the project declares itself to play in any style, keeping native Siberian spirit. Lovers of ‘pure folk’ should stay away, to avoid stagnation of native folk’s culture.
01. Kon' Togethy (The Beatles's Come Together)
02. Altai Kys (Uriah Heep's Gypsy)
03. Kaar Mege (Nirvana's Rape Me)
04. Hododoo (Metallica's Nothing Else Matters)
05. Maadai-Kara (Mission Impossible)
06. Kozhung Of The Rising Sun (The Animals House Of The Rising Sun)
07. Ajylham Djiktite
08. The Crow And The Crucian
09. Aduushanai Duun (The Cowboy's Song)
10. Men Sanaarym (Queensryche's I Will Remember)
11. The Arctic Fox (It Happens)
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Bareh Droma is a classy little compilation of Russian gypsy music, the acceptance of gypsy culture in mainland Europe has undoubtedly improved over the last few years and the music is often promoted but in Russia, like a few genres there, it's still not that easy to get although it is available from certain websites. This compilation of classic tracks from over the years, is I find more rustic than the majority of Balkan or Iberian gypsy music and it has a unique sound of a bygone past.
The track Opai Dad sounds almost like an Eastern Siberian Inuit chant and it's obvious that where as the Balkan music has more oriental and the Iberian - North African ones, the Russian gypsy music has remained relatively untouched with maybe a few influences coming from traditional slavic songs as well as other smaller ethnicities in the region.
The guitar work on "The Little Hut" is devine whilst there is also a collection of excellent vocalists who show a lot of emotion whether it be pain or excitement as does "Wings of the Peacock" in fact I find this to be a more acoustic guitar heavy album than wind-instrument which after having listened to a lot of windy Macedonian music in particular, makes a pleasant change.
01. Poshunenti (Listen) - A. Saveliev
02. The River Neva - B. Ivanesku
03. Opai, Dad - P.Mihay, T. Mihailova
04. Britiyano - P.Mihay
05. Vanka - M. Buzyleva, M. Buzylev
06. The Lady Of The House - A. Saveliev, D. Savelyeva, L. Shishkova
07. Polka - V.Romano-Orlov, M. Buzylev
08. Wings Of The Peacock - L. Shishkova
09. Don't Judge Me - A. Kolpakov
10. Natasha - D. Savelyeva
11. The Roma Propineh (Crossroads) - B. Ivanesku
12. Potpourri - A. Buzylev
13. Kheroro (Small House) - D. Savelyeva, L. Ivanesku
14. The Little Hut - A. Buzylev
15. Dadyves (Nowadays) - A. Buzylev
16. Sosnitsa (The Little Pine Tree) - A. Saveliev
17. Pernytsa (The Down Quilt) - D. Savelyeva, A. Saveliev
18. Shel Meh Versty (A Hundred Miles) - B. Ivanesku
19. Kako Sanka (Uncle Sanka) - M. Bueypeva,N. Buzyleva
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Album was released by two of Russia’s leading lights in the world of folk music. In particular these are Sergei Starostin and Andrei Kotov, together with Vladimir Volkov (double bass/viola), and Leonid Fedorov, lead singer of rock staples Auktsyon.
The CD is a collection of spiritual or “edifying” songs, some of which are based upon bona fide medieval texts, whereas others are stylizations. The project has been extraordinarily well-received by the Russian press, who praise its “virtually monastic degree of modesty,” together with a successful avoidance of both “archaisms and kitsch.”
Andrei Kotov is leader and manager of the folk ensemble Sirin. Inspired by the idea of somehow modernizing the choir’s repertoire, he began seeking support for a show that would “bring together tendencies not only from Russian folk performance, but spiritual, and modern acoustic genres, too.”
Jazz/folk vocalist and ethnographer Sergei Starostin was soon on board, together with Fedorov, if for no other reason than the threesome have been experimenting together since 2002.
They decided to base the project on carefully selected traditional refrains, together with songs from both monastic and nomadic canons. The common ground between them all soon manifested itself as “Life, Death, and Eternal Life.”
The press release frames the CD as follows: “The performers of ‘Edifying Songs for Every Day’ have combined both a national heritage and contemporary talent. Together they slowly and respectfully touch upon those eternal questions that - sooner or later - stand before each of us. This is music for our ears, mind, and soul. It’s about the past, the present, and the future. It’s about timeless matters.”
To the folk texts already mentioned, we can add 16th-century spiritual verses and variations upon the Psalms of King David. This is a remarkable recording that left one Moscow journalist declaring it a “genuine masterpiece” - and hoping some of the tracks would be adopted by the nation and sung around family dining tables!
One of the most remarkable reactions has been the tendency - in several publications - of referring less to time-honored folk tradition than to the collaborative output of Coil. The desire of Kotov, Starostin, Volkov, and Fedorov to drag these recordings away from dusty archives, through jazz, and out into borderline psychedelia leaves the press finding more useful contexts in electronic drone!
“These are spherical songs,” says one journalist, “rounded melodies that form a circle of life, death, and resurrection. An almost pagan interpretation of a Psalm will link to an Okudzhava waltz; spiritual songs will overlap with a form of Indian ragga.”
“It’s very hard not to note the structural similarities with Eastern music as a whole. This recording is more than willing to draw itself out, endlessly and effortlessly. It is constantly changing, yet never moves from the spot.”
“These ‘Edifying Songs’ exist in a form of spiritual simplicity. Each word and sound does no more than designate itself: an oak is a tree; Russia is our homeland; death is inevitable. This is almost not music, but a pure and naked element, lying somewhere in the depths of time immemorial. Four grown men raise it to the surface.”
At this point the enthusiasm is both a little extreme and bordering on the edge of awkwardness. As a result, rather than spin off into metaphors of the motherland, it’s better to bring things back to the opening reference regarding monastic simplicity.
Starostin’s reputation as ethnographer, as collector of living folk traditions, has kept this CD far from the dangers mentioned above: archival tedium and/or tastelessness. This is a smart, challenging, and deeply moving album.
01. Zavedu Ya Kompanyu
02. A V Lugakh
03. O Cheloveche
04. Kogda Uydu
05. Stikh O Smerti
06. Makariy
07. Psalom #1
08. Gluboko
09. Otshelnik
10. Greshnyi Cheloveche
11. Kuda Letish Kukushechka
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
Leningrad is a Russian ska punk band from Saint Petersburg.
Composed of 14 members, the band appeared in the late 1990s around singer Sergey "Shnur" Shnurov. It soon became famous for its vulgar lyrics , the main reason it was avoided by most radio stations at first. But this did not stop its growing popularity. As Shnurov said himself: "Our songs are just about the good sides of life, vodka and girls that is." The band is known to be disliked by Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, who cancelled many of their concerts in the city. But since then, the band has made its way to radio and TV, with Shnurov even presenting some New Year's Eve TV shows.
In 2001 he recorded the album 'Made in Zhopa' with the project Tri Debila. Tri Debila was a sort of mini band for small clubs featuring vocals, tuba, accordion and drums. Although this turned out to be only a spontaneous short time project, the songs are an essential part of the Leningrad oeuvre.
01. V klube modnom
02. Polnye karmany
03. Ne so mnoj
04. Hip-Hop
05. Million alyh roz
06. Parnishka
07. Ne slyshny v sadu
08. Devushka s ponjatiem
09. Zlye puli
10. Svobodnaja
11. Jeh raz, ewe raz
12. Stop-mashina
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
This international band consists of musicians from Russia, Moldova and Lebanon and plays music inspired by traditions of these countries.
Founded in 1997 in Nantes (France) by some Russian musicians, Dobranotch moved down to Saint-Petersburg (Russia) to find the new line up. For the last few years toured extensively all over the Europe. Such a well-renowned klezmer musicians as Michael Alpert, Frank London and Merlyn Shepherd appeared on stage with Dobranotch as a guests. Dobranotch released 3 CD albums in 1999, 2001 and 2004 and recently the new CD single “Handmade”. The music of Dobranotch can be heard in the number of Russian films and documentaries. Dobranotch worked with Frank London for the Russian production of his “Green Violin”.
Mitia Khramtsov is a founder member of Dobranotch. He is a specialist in klezmer fiddling. Mitia appeared at Krakow Jewish Festival with Kharkov Klezmer Band and participated in “East meets west” program at KlezCanada in 2005. Worked with Merlyn Shepherd for his coming out solo album.
Jeka Lizin been introduced to a klezmer music as a kid while playing in Saint-Petersburg Jewish Community Center Youth Band. Jeka appeared at Krakow Jewish Festival with Kharkov Klezmer Band in 2005 and worked with Merlyn Shepherd for his coming out solo album.
Andrey Sapkevich is a Saint-Petersburg Conservatory trained classical musician. While his father is a traditional musician, plays fiddle and accordion and his main teacher is Bulgarian accordion player Fiodor Jekov, so Andrey grew up with Moldavian and Bulgarian traditional music.
Osama Shakhin grew up in family of musicians in Lebanon. He learned to play darboukka from his uncle Josef Mussa.
Alexey Stepanov use to play in Saint-Petersburg Jewish Community Center Youth Band us well us Jeka Lizin.
01. 740 A.M.
02. Yoshke (Tanz Tanz Yiddele)
03. Freylekh
04. Otz Totz Pervertotz
05. Dobranotch
06. Limontchiki
07. Hora
08. Kogda My Byli Na Voine
09. Scotchne
10. Troptyanka
11. 7'40 P.M.
Mitia Khramtsov (Russia) - violin, vocal.
Jeka Lizin (Russia) - cimbalom, percussion, vocal.
Andrey Sapkevich (Moldova) - accordion, vocal.
Osama Shakhin (Lebanon) - percussion, vocal.
Alexey Stepanov (Russia) - tuba.
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"La Minor is a Russian band which was founded in 2000. It brings Russian street ballads with influences from the folk and Klezmer influences. The group plays music from the Soviet era and especially the music of gangsters. They like to sing about swindlers, prostitutes, thieves etc. La Minor brings music from the Russian Underworld in a fresh and open minded way. The bayan (Russian accordion) plays a big role in the music and sounds really well. I love the way this instrument gives extra power to the saxophone in the song Death of a jeweller. In Forgive and Farewell Odessa mama, they play some traditional Odessa klezmer that sounds really ancient and brings back the atmosphere of an old Odessa nightclub. La Minor has created a nice cd with music that is Russian in any way. It is professionally played and this Death of a jeweller has a good overall sound."
01. Resnicy / The Eaves
02. Nadja / Nadia
03. Smert' juvelira / Death Of A Jeweler
04. Prosti-Proschaj, Odessa-Mama / Forgive And Farewell, Odessa-Mama
05. L'et dozhdem ijul' (pamjati Hvosta) / July Pours Whith Rain (Memory Of Hvost)
06. Byla vesna / Spring Passed
07. Nemeckaja / German Songs
08. Val'sok / Little Watz
09. O Leningradke / About Leningrad
10. Mal'chishki / The Guys
11. Storia d'amore / History Of Love
12. Madera / Madera
Slava Shalygin – vocal
Igor Boytsov – saxophone
Sanja Ezhov – bayan (Russische accordion ), back-vocal
Lyonya Agafonov – double bass
Vova Uspensky - gitara, banjo
Zhenja Bobrov – drums
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
"The Terem-Quartet is a unique group which has improved the performance of traditional Russian folk music and which is now has a national endowment. The group does not belong to any of the existing musical trends or genres. Musical experts call it a “terem-style”, which has added fresh sound and new aesthetics to traditional genres.
20 years ago the Terem-Quartet opened up traditional ideas of professional musicians and common listeners about the performing abilities of folk instruments. However, the exotic “flavor” of Russian folk music is not the key ingredient in what the Terem-Quartet does. They are not traditional “folk musicians”. First, the very structure of the band – two domras, an accordion and bass balalaika – make the “folk company” a true acoustic band. Second, their sound and manner of performance are very special. They play with the energy and passion of an English rock-band and have little in common with a trivial folk instrument company.
The Terem-Quartet has gained a number of Russian and international awards and took part in a number of theatre performances and film projects. Over 20 years, the musicians have given 2000 concerts, wrote over 200 original musical pieces, performed in 55 countries, and released 15 records.
Today the Terem-Quartet represents Russia in the world. Almost all the world concert halls have risen in applause to them. Pope John Paul II, Mother Theresa and Prince Charles greeted them. The Terem-Quartet played before the leaders of the G8 at the summit 2006 in St. Petersburg. There is a fan-club of the contrabassist Mikhail Dzyudze in America. On the eve of St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary, English director Robert Stern shot the film Globe Walker St. Petersburg Special (ordered by the Japanese TV channel NHK) with Andrei Konstantinov the Terem-Quartet starring as a cultural symbol of the city."
01. Lyrical Dance
02. Fantasy
03. The Legend of the Old Mountain Man
04. Cossack's Farewell
05. Toccata
06. Variations on Swan Lake
07. Simfonia Lubova
08. Old Carousel
09. Two-Step Nadya
10. Tsiganka
11. Letnie Kanikuli
12. Country Improvisation
13. Valenki
14. Barnynia
Link
Pass: music2007
Original uploader: UKRuss. Thanks!
The ensemble LA MINOR was founded in summer 2000.
The ensemble performs in the style of street chanson with Russian folk, ska, jazz and Klezmer (Odessa style) influence. Once the style of LA MINOR was named as “Odessa beats”. It s the most precise determination in which LA MINOR live, create and perform.
The music of LA MINOR enriched by bayan (Russian accordion), saxophone, balalayka and tuba brings you back to the atmosphere of 20-40-es Soviet years and reminds the soundtrack to good old films about gangsters, tragic love and great swindlers of that time. Happy and nostalgic in the same time their music will not leave you untouched. Teeming with thieves and policemen, prostitutes and undercover agents, La Minor's Soviet-era street songs about the urban underworld strike an all-too-familiar chord with local art-house fans. But as the St. Petersburg band has learned on its frequent trips abroad, foreign audiences bring their own life experiences to the music.The collective consists of professional musicians.
Right from the outset, the voclaist Slava Shalygin set out to emulate urban folk guru Arkady Severny. Severny's genre, now euphemistically known as Russian chanson, surfaced from the music underground after the Soviet Union's collapse, and has since become ubiquitous in popularized renditions on radio stations, at cafes and in taxicabs. But La Minor returns to the music's roots, with the sophisticated arrangements and deadpan delivery that originally marked the gangster sound.
La Minor is known for its careful choice of material, and for ignoring the standards in place of obscure gems of folk poetry.
01. Aleshka zharil na bajane
02. Kokain
03. Devushka v Plat'e iz Sitca
04. Postoj, Parovo
05. A Ja Hozhu Pohodkoju Pochtennoju
06. Val's
07. Nikolaevskij Tramvaj
08. Murka
09. EvrejSKA
10. Istorija Studenta
11. Bros', Zhalet' ne Stanu
12. Gorod Anapa
13. U Son'ki Imeniny
14. Kakim Ty Menja Jadom Napoila
15. Mama, Mama
16. Konfetki-Prjanichki
Slava Shalygin – vocal
Igor Boytsov – saxophone
Sanja Ezhov – bayan (Russische accordion ), back-vocal
Lyonya Agafonov – double bass
Vova Uspensky - gitara, banjo
Zhenja Bobrov – drums
Link
The band Leningrad was set up by Sergey Shnurov (a.k.a. Shnur) in St. Petersburg in 1997.
Leningrad's line up has changed quite a few times, although their backbone has always remained guitars, drums and a strong brass section. Sometimes keyboards were added, an accordion, double bass, xylophone, balalaikas or even a singing saw. Their last massive line up changes occurred in 2002. Shnur recorded the album 'Piraty XI veka' together with the musicians of St. Petersburg ska band Spitfire. Soon the whole Spitfire gang became part of Leningrad, which again significantly raised the musical level.
01. WWW
02. Bljadi
03. Pidarasy
04. Komon evribadi
05. Sobaka Baskervilej
06. Rezinovyj muzhik
07. Mne by v nebo
08. Ljudi ne letajut
09. U menja est' vse
10. Novyj god
11. Banany
12. Bez tebja
13. Privet, Dzhimmi Hendriks
Link
pass: bluesmen-worldmusic.blogspot.com
