Estonia

 We arrive in the Baltic states on our virtual travels, starting in the east with Estonia.  Although declaring neutrality during World War II, they were overrun several times, first by the Germans than the Soviet Union, who occupied the Baltic states until 1991.  Their language is related to Finnish and therefore totally unintelligible to the average human.  I have yet to visit the country, but by all accounts it's worth a visit.  Their national epic poem is the Kalevipoeg, which tells the story of a giant who throws rocks at his enemies, talks to hedgehogs and finally gets his feet cut off by his own sword.

We start at the north-eastern town of Rakvere, where violinist & singer Maarja Ruut was born in 1986.  She is classically trained, but started experimenting in different genres, most notably Estonian village folk, but also Hindustani music, and electronica.  Her interest in Estonian folk came when she discovered an archive of 78's from pre-Soviet times, which became her inspiration to create her more contemporary folk using a loop station to add layers to her music.  Here is a track from her 2016 album Une Meeles (In the hold of a dream) called Siidisulis Linnukene (The Silken-feathered Bird):

Next stop is Talinn, the capital of Estonia.  I'm not actually sure where folk-rock band Trad.Attack!  are based, but they were formed in 2013, taking archival folk recordings and adding their own rock tunes and rhythms to them.  They spine of the group is a trio consisting of Sandra Vabarna on vocals and torupill (Estonian bagpipe), Jalma Vabarna on guitar and vocals and Tõnu Tubli on drums.  Live they really rock the place, especially in their home country, but they have toured internationally.  Here is a live version of the song Jaan'kene from their 2015 album Ah!:

Multi-instrumentalist, story-teller and anthropologist Polina Tšerkassova was born in Talinn in 1986, but is ethnic Russian.  First and foremost she tells fairy tale-like stories form all over the world in Estonian, Russian and usefully English.  She accompanies those stories herself with a number of exotic instruments.  She has an absolutely captivating and enchanting style.  Here she gives her own version of what she does, of course in story form, from her 2017 album Singing Stories (also available in Estonian and Russian).  The piece is called Who Is a Storyteller:

Duo Ruut were formed in 2017 by 2 young women, Ann-Lisett Rebane and Kateriina Kivi, who play one(!) Estonian zither between them and singing together in harmony.  They were still teenagers when they were mucking about in the music room of their school trying to arrange a song together.  They tried every instrument they could or couldn't play until they stumbled across a neglected Estonian zither, which they considered uncool, but tried it out nevertheless.  They soon discovered that they could produce sounds on it, which are not traditionally associated with this instrument, and the rest is history as they say.  Given that Estonian folk tunes appear to have a tendency to be quite simple with sometimes only 2 or 3 notes, this sounds like the result would be very sparse and minimalistic, but they somehow produce a beautiful richness of sound and atmosphere.  Here is the title song from their 2019 album Tuule sõnad (Words of the Wind), which is a spell to drive away the wind.  Apparently the Estonians don't like weather of any description and therefore have a spell to ward of any weather condition.

I'm not sure where Kannel Player and folk musician Eva Väljaots was born in 1986, but she is Estonian, but now resides in Helsinki.  The kannel is the Estonian version of the Finnish kantele.  Her music is purely instrumental and inspired by nature.  Here's the title track of her 2021 album Hundinuiaõis * Bulrush Bloom:

Next stop is the small town of Märjamaa, where mouth harp player and singer Cätlin Mägi was born in 1979.  She plays mostly traditional Estonian music, using a loop station to accompany herself on the parmupill, the Estonian version of the mouth harp.  In fact she uses about 50 different types of mouth harps, which she interchanges mid-song giving the impression of a whole band playing along.  The effect is fascinating.  Here is the opening track to her 2018 album Mu Pill Parmupill (My Harp, my heart) called Koka Nokast (Wood Shavings):

 Finally we visit the south eastern town of Võru, where folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Mari Kalkun was born in 1986 (1986 seems to have been a very good year for Estonian musicians, must have been something in the stars...).  The region where she grew up is surrounded by woodlands and nature, which has inspired her style.  She is considered one of the driving forces behind the revival of Estonian folk.  She accompanies her songs on piano, Estonian zither, accordion and guitar.  Here's a song from her latest 2023 album Stories of Stonia called Lend Põhjataeva All  (Flight Beneath the Northern Sky):

That's it from Estonia, it's only a small country.  Next up on our imaginary travels is Latvia.  In the meantime you can follow the journey so far on my Tripline map.

Russia - The West & St. Petersburg

 After Moscow we are heading due west to the town of Usyaty in the Pskov Oblast.  This is where button accordionist Ekaterina Trusova has recently released an album of traditional music of the region called Usyaty: Russian Music From Pskov Region in Modern and Archival Recordings.  It's a slightly bizarre album.  The modern recordings are Trusova playing traditional tunes on the accordion, but the archival recordings were made by her in the 90's and are of bad quality, especially those of her father Dimitry Kozintsev, so we'll play a tune from the first and better quality half of the album, a short tune called In the Village at the River:

Next for something a bit more polished we are heading to the city of Pskov itself where gusli player and harpist Olga Glazova was born in 1993.  Her speciality instrument the gusli is an ancient east Slavic multi-stringed zither.  On it she plays her own interpretations of Russian folk songs accompanied by her own voice.  Here is a song from her 2023 album Live in Alexandrinsky Theatre called Memories:

Next we are heading into St. Petersburg itself, the second largest city in Russia and the birthplace of the Russian Empire, formerly known as Leningrad.  Here's a picture of the above-mentioned Alexandrinsky Theatre:

Photo credit

First up is the fun folk-rock band Otava Yo (Отава Ё).  They started life around 2003 as a Pogues-style Celtic punk-folk inspired band called Reelroadъ, but have since moved onto Russian folk with their own energetic rock.  Their breakthrough came through their funny YouTube videos, having them dance madly in costume and tell fun stories that are understandable even to those who don't speak Russian, although they often do come with English subtitles.  It is also worth pointing out that they have publicly spoken out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  Here's the opening track to their 2018 album Do You Love / Любишь ли ты called Once Upon a Time in a High Hill / Как на горке, на горе:

The 3 original members of klezmer and Balkan band Dobranotch (Good Night) are all from St' Petersburg but originally met busking on the streets of Nantes in France in 1997.  They left Russia in 2022 in opposition to the invasion of Ukraine and are now based in Germany.  Their main raison d'etre is klezmer with a good dose of Balkan brass, Gypsy tunes and Russian folk.  Here is a song from their 2019 album Mercedes Kolo called Ya Rayah:

Russia's coolest female band, according to Russian Rolling Stone, folk-rock outfit Iva Nova were formed in 2002 in St. Petersburg.  Whilst rooted in Slavic folk, don't expect traditional Russian songs, these ladies rock with a real urban grunge.  Apart from Russian they also sing songs in Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Georgian and Tatar languages.  Here's the opening track from their 2021 live album Snow White Concert called Don't Want It! / Не хочу!:

Gypsy band Loyko were formed in 1990 by Sergei Erdenko initially as a duo, then a trio, sometimes with the addition of his niece Leonsia Erdenko on vocals.  Sergei was actually born in eastern Siberia in 1958 into the sub-group of Servitka Roma, but started this project in St. Petersburg.  What this man can't do on a fiddle is yet to be determined, from lightning fast pizzicatos to making train noises, bird calls, horse trots and other effects.  Whilst gypsy music is at the core of the group, they are not afraid to cross over into other genres such as flamenco, Celtic music, Hungarian folk or classical.  Here's a song from their 2012 album Gypsy Times for Nunja called Gypsy Street:

Finally we head west a bit towards the Estonian border stopping at the town of Kingisepp, where composer and accordionist Evelina Petrova was born in 1974. Whilst vaguely rooted in Russian folk, she very much veers off into experimental music and world fusion genres.  Her singing is mostly in made up language and includes hollers and whoops.  One of her projects is the Evelina Petrova Trio formed in Oslo together with Norwegian trombonist Andreas Rotevatn (also supplying electronic effects) and California Hardanger fiddle player Laura Ellestad.  This unusual combination took the form of an experimental lab where everything was permitted and nothing left untested.  Here is a live version of the opening track Farewell from their 2019 album First Dance.  Ellestad is replaced by Scottish fiddler Sarah-Jane Summers (whom we met in Oslo) on this occasion.

So much for European Russia for now..  I'm sure there's a lot more to find in this vast country, but a lot of websites there seem to be blocked here in the west and it's not easy to find stuff.  Next stop is going to be Estonia, until then you can follow my virtual travels on my Tripline map.

Russia - Moscow

 

Photo credit: By Ludvig14 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31764182

We arrive in Russia's capital Moscow, home to the Kremlin, the centre of power, and unsurprisingly a rich music scene. We'll just scrape the surface with some local acts.  First up is all female ethno-experimental quartet FolkBeat, who started life in 2012.  They combine traditional Russian folk songs with contemporary pop idioms using beatbox techniques and loop stations incorporating hip-hop, drum'n'bass, jungle and punk influences.  Here is a song from their 2016 album FolkBeat & Friends - The Joyful Meeting called I Can't Stand It:

Folk & jazz composer and performer Sergey Starostin was born in Moscow was born in Moscow in 1956 and is famous for his modern interpretations of archaic Russian, Tuvan and Sámi folk music often combined with jazz.  He went through several phases from traditional to more jazz influenced music and back to his original roots.  He collects and makes some of his own instruments including various flutes such as the kalyuka overtone flute and reed instruments.  During his research he recorded thousands of tracks of authentic songs and instrumental compositions.  On his 2004 album Easy As Pie he combines with percussionist Mario to produce a very pared back folk album, which was a result of a jam session.  It includes a version of this song called Deep:

Singer/songwriter Inna Zhelannaya (b. 1967 in Moscow) started her career in rock music as part of various bands and writing her own material.  In 1989 she began collaborating with the above mentioned Sergey Starostin, who introduced her to folk music.  In 1994 she founded her own rock band called Farlander, with whom she performed for nearly two decades.  In 2013 she changed direction again with a new band, incorporating more folk elements as well as psychedelic rock, producing her own psych folk style.  Her 2014 double album Izvorot (The Bending) received much critical comparing her to King Crimson meeting Russian roots.  This a song from the album called Palisade:

Experimental singing group the Dimitri Pokrovsky Ensemble was founded in 1973 in Moscow by Dimitri Pokrovsky himself and his wife Tamara Smyslova to research, collect and perform traditional Russian village music.  Pokrovsky has since died in 1996, but the choir goes on and has recently celebrated its 50 birthday.  Here's a track from their 1991 album The Wild Field (re-released in 2019) called Mosquito:

Gypsy guitarist Vadim Kolpakov was actually born in Saratov in 1981 near the Caspian Sea, but is now based in Moscow.  He is the third generation in his family playing the 7-string gypsy guitar.  Together with his uncle Alexander he formed the Kolpakov Duo.  Here are the 2 opening tracks of their 2010 album Introducing the Kolpakov Duo called Suite of Gypsy Tunes and Dui,Dui:

In the mid 1980's, when Perestroika and Glasnost began to bloom in the old Soviet Union, 4 students around Igor Yuzov got together playing music in their dorm.  Rock'n'roll was still banned, but having a rebellious streak they combined Russian folk with this decadent western genre to create their own Russian folk'n'roll.  They called themselves Limpopo after the river in Southern Africa, because it sounded exotic.  They were having a lot of fun together and at their peak performed at a Soviet/American peace walk.  That's where Igor met an American woman, got married and emigrated to California.  Soon the other band members followed him and they reformed, initially busking on the streets of Santa Monica, adding ridiculous dance moves and a good dose of humour to their performances.  They became so popular that they were discovered by a producer who invited them to record their song.  They went in for one session in which they recorded 20 songs, which became their debut album Crazy Russian Folk'n'Roll in 1991.  Later they entered a talent competition, which they won.  Nowadays they go under the name of the Red Elvises with some changes in personnel.  Here is the winning entry to the talent show called Korobeyniki, which features on the debut album:

 

I can't find out much about singer Anna Hoffman, other than she is based in Moscow and specialises in Sephardic music, the music of the Jewish community that inhabited the Iberian peninsula until they were largely expelled by the late 15th century.  They spoke their own Spanish dialect called Ladino and mixed cultural influences from Spain, North Africa, Turkey and the Balkans.  Hoffman's voice is strong and expressive as her backing band Romancero Sefardi subtly accompanies her.  Here is a short concert of hers showing women's songs of the sephardic tradition, some of which feature on her 2013 album Juego de Siempre:

Finally the all female vocal ensemble and internet sensation Beloe Zlato (White Gold) originally formed in the city of Norilsk in deepest Siberia, but are now based in Moscow.  They all studied music and got together over their shared love of traditional Russian folk.  They made a name for themselves on YouTube performing in romanticised rural settings, wearing simple dress, sometimes traditional costumes, sometimes just jeans and T-shirts, singing in beautiful harmonies a Capello or accompanied by a balalaika.  Their recorded music is not available on the usual channels, but their videos are a joy to watch, as they exude a fresh and carefree energy.  Here is an example of a song called A Week:

That's it from Moscow, next we're heading towards St. Petersburg.  As usual, you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.