Russia - Karelian Republic to the Ural Mountains

 Russia might not be flavour of the month at the moment, but we'll ignore the politics for the moment and concentrate on its music.  I have never been to Russia, nor do I anticipate visiting it any time soon, but as we all know it's a vast country consisting of 46 oblasts, 22 republics, 9 krais, 4 autonomous okrugs, 3 federal cities and 1 autonomous oblasts.  We won't be visiting all of theses administrative regions, but for now just race through the European part of the country west of the Ural Mountains, taking a particular interest in music from minority groups.

We start just over the Finnish border in the Karelian Republic, where folk fusion band Va-Ta-Ga were founded in 2000 in the city of Petrozavodsk, initially under the name Reel.  Their original name was due to the fact that they liked to incorporate elements of Irish folk into their Karelian and Russian folk.  Here's a song from their 2002 debut album Странные люди (Strange People) called Поморская (Pomorskaya):

Here's a song from their later incarnation as Va-Ta-Ga from their 2007 album Mikuliny Gory Called Cockroach (Tarakan):

Next we are heading several hundred kilometres south to the Yaroslavl Oblast, conveniently located between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, and more specifically to the city of Rybinsk.  This is where folk rock outfit Raznotravie were formed in 1997.  They combine old Slavonic poetics and music traditions with a more modern rocky sound.  In addition to drums, bass and electric guitar they use a number of traditional instruments such as mouth organ and a hurdy-gurdy they made themselves from an old child's cello strung with guitar strings.  Here is the title track from their 2001 album Каторга (hard work):

We take another massive leap southeast to the Republic of Mordovia and its capital of Saransk, situated between Moscow to the west and the Volga river to the east.  This region is home to the ethnic Mordovians with their own culture and 2 distinct languages, namely Erzyan and Mokshan.  Sadly the languages are dying out as more and more people identify as Russian and only pockets of the old culture remain in remote villages.  in 2010 folk ensemble Merema set out to find and research the traditional music of the region and reviving it both in performances and recorded music, which won them the 2017 Russian World Music award.  They are proudly not state sponsored. Merema in Erzyan means 'story' or 'legend'.  Here's a song called Shakshata (Woodpecker) from their 2023 album Eryamon' Koytneva, which has more than a passing resemblance to a song by Swedish/Finnish outfit Hedningarna called Tuuli:

Similarly the neighbouring Republic of Chuvashia has its own language and culture, which are sadly in decline.  Chuvash indie-folk band Tarai, although now based in Talinn, Estonia, aim to reverse this trend.  Some of their lyrics are openly political, lamenting the loss of their culture.  Their song Пуш Параппан / Empty Drum, the title track to their 2022 album, is an example, criticizing the older generation of their homeland for not upholding their language and traditions.

Next we are heading to the Republic of Udmurtia just west of the southern Ural mountains and the city of Sarapul.  This is where singer/songwriter Zulya Kamalova was born in 1969, although she has since decamped to Melbourne, Australia.  She is of Volga Tatar descend, which is the largest ethnic minority group in Russia.  She now simply goes by her first name and, playing with her backing band Children of the Underground, is now known for her interpretations of Tatar music blended with more contemporary Australian influences.  Here is the opening track from her 2019 album Six Days Loving / Алты көн ярату called First Day / Беренче:

I think we have covered enough mileage for today across the vastness of European Russia.  Next time we'll pop across the Urals for a couple of stops before heading west again to explore the south of the country.  In the meantime, as usual you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.