My friend, the Russian composer Liudmila Knyazeva, has composed an album of Eastern Orthodox choral music. It’s a wonderful venture with the vaunted hymns the Church is known for. This is an especially nice thing to hear as we as Orthodox prepare for the Marian Fast, as well as for my Saint’s Name Day (Ilija, or Elijah).
From Remix-Culture‘s Bandcamp site:
“Recorded live in May of 2017 by Hatim Belyamani and Bajram “Kafu” Kinolli in Çorovodë, Albania.
We are a non-profit organization celebrating musical traditions in harmony with digital remix art.
Our mission is to inspire people to reconfigure their relationships with other cultures, communities, and individuals, through film and musical experiences, both live and virtual.
Otherwise we are lost.“
It seems like a noble effort by Remix-Culture. I look forward to hearing more from them.
Jolanda Moletta is an Berlin-based experimental vocalist who used to sing for the group She Owl. This album features her gently eerie, comforting vocals and not much else. To add to such glorious tones would be a crime. Her voice is delightful as is.
We celebrate Eastern Orthodox Holy Week and today is Good Friday according to the Julian Calendar. May your Paschal season end peacefully. Thanks to St. Elizabeth Orthodox Church out of Murfreesboro, Tennessee for the wonderful and timely hymns.
The now-legendary Antonovka Records have done astounding work documenting music from Russia’s myriad of ethnic communities. This one is from the so-called “Polish” Old Believers in the Altai region. From the label’s Bandcamp site:
“The ancestors of the Altai “Polish” Old Believers were peasants of the Vetka-Starodub territory of the priestly Old Believers, who fled from the persecution of the authorities to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and to the bordering area of the Starodub regiment as part of the Russia. Upon her accession to the throne, Catherine II invited the Old Believers to return to Russia with a manifesto. However, they did not want to. Therefore, in 1764, at the behest of Ekaterina, Vetka was devastated by the troops of Major General Maslov — more than twenty thousand Old Believers were forcibly resettled to Altai and Transbaikalia. In Altai, along the rivers Uba, Ulba, Berezovka, Glubokaya and others, the Old Believers from Vetka and Starodub founded the first settlements in the 1760s, having received the nickname “Polish” in the new place. Now the territory of their residence is divided between Russia and Kazakhstan.”
According to Wikipedia, “…the Speciálník Codex (CZ-HKm MS II.A.7) is a 15th-century speciálník (i.e. special songbook) originating from a monastery in the region of Prague.” It is considered something of a ‘missing link’ between medieval and Renaissance music and it features several rather unknown Czech composers. The Hilliard Ensemble sing pieces from this book so elegantly that I almost forgot about my classes this evening. After a rather traumatic week, this was pure balm for my ears, mind and soul.
Though you can find it at your favorite CD shop, you may want to consider ordering this through Qobuz as a download, as the sound is exquisite.
I knew nothing about the band The Crossing, but after seeing that a composition by drummer Tyshawn Sorey was featured, I thought it prudent to listen to that track and then to the whole album. It is, unsurprisingly, a gorgeous, if dissonant, listening experience.
From The Crossing’s Bandcamp site:
“Throughout its history, the Philadelphia based contemporary chamber choir The Crossing, led by conductor Donald Nally, has championed works that address social, political, and environmental issues. So it is consistent with the group’s history and mission that their latest release, Carols After a Plague, takes a broad view of our collective experience of the recent pandemic era, inviting twelve composers to look inward and engage with some of myriad ways in which the last few years have forced all of us to confront difficult realities and gain strength from solidarity with one another. The result is a moving tribute to the resilience of communities and a clarion call to renew our collective commitment to justice.”