What's going on in Russia these days?

[some guy]

I travel around to new music festivals a fair amount. Just heard Dan Warburton at the festival in Mulhouse this past summer. (Hi, Dan!) That was fun. And every once and awhile the topic of music in Russian comes up. It's surprising how little anyone knows about this. Maybe I'm just hanging out with the wrong people. But most of us know maybe one or two names and few details.

I've gotten the impression that there's been a huge free jazz movement there the past few decades. I'm more interested in electronics myself, both fixed media and live stuff, but I'd also be interested even in instrumental "avant garde classical" kinds of things. And the free jazz stuff. I know that there's been jazz there, but I don't know very much of the what.

Thanks in advance!*

*The responses to my "turntable" thread were overwhelming, by the way, and the result has been hundreds of dollars flyiing out of my pockets--and thousands of happiness flying into my ears. In a manner of speaking....

[ReverendLove]

Few weeks ago I saw a concert in Düsseldorf / Germany with Alexej Borisov and Olga Nosova. Both are from Moscow and they did some interesting stuff: Improvising on a footage of improvisations by them self. They used customized electronics, sticks, little recorders and (bended?) toy instruments. Borisov is involved since ages in the Russian alternative scene. Nosova is much younger but she is a really talented drummer and very good in exploring sounds.

[some guy]

Whew. I was thinking the only way I was going to get an answer to this was to go to Russia, again. Not that that's such a bad idea, really. I will be in Lithuania in the spring, I hope.

Anyway, I will explore those two names and hopefully they will lead to more, as these things usually do.

Thanks Reverend!

[grisha]

saw Alexej Borisov and Olga Nosova some time ago. didn't like it, but saw some people who were completely in awe. there was some other guy with them, vtol. wasn't that much interesting either.

anyway, there seem to be plenty of net labels coming from that area. like this:

http://top-40.org/Music.html

and there is this (haven't read it yet):

http://www.farfrommoscow.com/

[some guy]

I just got a CD from one of the finest and tiniest CD stores still around, Anthem Records in Portland, OR. It's a issue from 2004 on nexsound, Kotra's Dissilient. Now there's some very satisfying, very listenable music. It's not quite Russia, to be sure, but the Ukraine is also nice.

When I went on the nexsound site, I saw that I already had a couple of CDs from them, the Perlonex, Rowe and Charlemagne thing (Tensions) and the VA disc (Rural Psychogeography) that includes the nexsound founder, Andrey Kiritchenko.

So let's refine the question. What's going on in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and environs nowadays? (As I also have run across very little from those other places, either. Nowadays seems mean "within the past ten years," too.)

[schiksalgemeinschaft]

If we're talking Ukraine as well, there's one name to check: DRUDKH

metal though, but some of the finest of the last decade.

[ananas]

http://www.last.fm/music/Various+Artist ... +De+Caviar

[cheerios]

Can anyone recommend me any Russian folk songs, contempoary and traditional, and/or singer songwriters from Russia? I found this great youtube clip of Siberia, and am unsure what the song is in the background, but it is just great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi_FF3NyARo. Thanks.

[D.D.]

Can anyone recommend me any Russian folk songs, contempoary and traditional, and/or singer songwriters from Russia? I found this great youtube clip of Siberia, and am unsure what the song is in the background, but it is just great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi_FF3NyARo. Thanks.

This particular song is composed by Mikael Tariverdiev who used to be quite famous for scores to Soviet movies. This is not really folk music.

I am not too knowledgeable about the Russian folk music. While not persecuted or suppressed, Russian folk was definitely not particularly supported or promoted during the Soviet times (a nauseating cheerful version with a lot of red-cheeked dancing ladies in big dresses was manufactured - I doubt it had much to do with real folk music). In general public, there is very little knowledge of and interest for it, as far as I know, definitely not in the cities. But there should be good bands, every country has a couple, why not Russia. There was an excellent experimental folk group called НЕТЕ (NETE in English transcription) - not sure if they are still active. They were signing some really scary stuff. Singer (and reeds player, I think) Sergey Starostin is doing some good folk-based stuff (with jazzers, most often). Dutch Pan label has some Russian folk choirs releases, but I have not heard them.

As for Soviet / Russian free jazz, there were like 20 guys playing something decent. It's quite well documented by Leo label (in Golden Years of the Soviet New Jazz sets + Ganelin Trio + Kuryokhin + Vapirov + Rezitsky / Archangelsk discs).

I am absolutely ignorant about the Russian EAI / electronic music.

[some guy]

Me too, hence the thread!

So keep those cards and letters coming....

In the meantime, I found that Roulette Russe Pour Un Peu De Caviar cd at Discogs, which is good, because the Monochrome Vision site was cranky. And that led me to a startling insight. Use the Discogs search to find Monochrome Vision and Russia and Electronic, and Bob's your uncle! 38 results.

But still, still do keep those cards and letters coming. Putting in Russia and Electronic gives a lot of results of things I probably won't like. (The word "electronic" having been co-opted by a branch of music I don't particularly care for.) Hence the thread!