Raznotravie - Katorga (2001)

Another fine offering from Valery. This time, he presents us a good example of contemporanean acoustic Russian folk, Raznotravie’s 2001 effort Katorga. Thank you very much, Valery!

«Raznotravie blends Russian folk music with influences of world music, ancient music, avantgarde and much more. The group was founded in 1997; almost all members have remained in the band since then. In 2000 multi-instrumentalist and folk musician Mitya Kouznetsov joined them. Together they found a new sound which is presented on this album.
Raznotravie come from Rybinsk in theYaroslavl region in Russia. The group consists of seven members: Mikhail Posadsky (vocal, jaw harp, folk-whistle), main composer; Vyacheslav Kamenkov (acoustic guitar, domra, backing vocal) main arranger and also composer; Anna Kouznetsova (Kholodyakova) (hurdy-gurdy, backing vocal, folk winds, percussion); Mitya Kouznetsov (vocal, svirel [russian whistle], jaleika [russian reedpipe], flute, gusli [russian psaltery], mandolin, jaw harp, folk percussion) is the producer, composer and sound engineer; Alexandra Nikitina (chello); Valery Ershov (acoustic bass-guitar, backing vocal) and finally Pavel Davydovich on drums and percussion.» (kuznya.ru)

«[Raznotravie] is one of a few musical projects, which brightly represent Russia in the direction of world music. […] The poetic and musical style speaks about the uniqueness of the project, which is characteristic precisely for the Rybinsk Volga river Region and Poshekhonia, whence almost all musicians of group are from. Poshekhonia is a big part of land to the north from central region of Russia with wild woods, fields of various herbs and lost villages. […] The name “Raznotravie” takes it roots in nature of this land, which stores memories from an ancient time in every wood, in every herb. That is why the name could be translated as “manifold herbs”. But in russian it brings together very bright, wild, and ancient images in one word.» (From the net)

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