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.