Traditional music of Russia

[metu]

So, I hear y'all got a big ol' country over there. Might there be a bit of cultural diversity?

I love the traditional music that comes from Russia. I make sure that I don't call it 'russian folk music' because there's a whole bunch of people besides russians up in there. Tuvan nomads probably don't call themselves russian, for example. This is one of the things which draws me to Russia, sweet Russia. It's a gateway between the East and the West. Sometimes they try to make themselves one or the other, but I think it's the fact that they're both that makes them extra special.

Russian folk music, in the western form comes from Slavic traditions. The balalaika, domra, bayan and gusli are Russian. I'm really starting to like that stuff. I'm a fan of throwing in an oboe or something similar... maybe even bagpipes, though I've never heard it. I think it would work quite well.

It's hard to hear the eastern stuff. The little I have heard blows my mind. It's not so much that it's extreme as it is different from what I'm used to. The little I've heard seems to hold some strong ties with China and India. I can, also, hear a similarity to Native American music. I think that's really cool.

Who else likes and/or appreciates this stuff?

Well, I may as well share some of my research, I reckon.

Golden Ring & Zhanna Bichevskaya samples and more
http://russia-in-us.com/Music/Folk/

tuva throat singers - VERY INTERESTING
http://www.huunhuurtu.com/

Kizhi - based on Karelian, Russian and Finnish folk music.
http://www.karelia.ru/Karelia/Government/Culture/KCNT/Kizhi/index_e.html

Mussian folk instrument orchestra
http://www.strings-of-russia.com/

Folk Music Association of Russia
http://www.fma.sp.ru/

Music samples from Central Asia, Siberia: Gorno-Altaisk
http://www.music.ch/face/altai_m.html

Music by the Khatylaeus
http://www.arctictravel-yakutia.com/sound_e.html

Any response, question, comment, addition and/or insult is more than welcome. :]

 

[metu]

p.s. As far as I know. :]

 

[Sonm]

Instruments (but I reckon I know less than 50%):
Zhaleyka, dudka, vargan, rozhok (3 types), bandurka, gusli (2 types), garmonika (3 types), gudok, svistul'ka, domra, balalayka: these are the most typical ones... then

Lozhki, Treschotki, bubency, kokoshnik, rubel', korobochka, drova (percussions)
Kugikly, svirel', surna, volynka, bryolka (wind instruments)
and others
So why not to make a nice journey to Russia?

 

[Sonm]

P.S. What I named were just 100% russian instruments. But as you have noticed there are more than 50 peoples live in Russia so try to guess what it would be if I would tell you about all of them Despite I am russian I keep on wondering myself - can I know at least 10% of what my own country is and the answer is not... it is like a bottomless will of treasures and wisdom. But I think I'll be pushing my boundaries further on Hehe I just have bought my 20th book about russian ancient times... and then I'd like to go to Pskov-city - this year was its 1100 anniversary, not bad right?
Cheers man

 

[KIRILL]

Thanks for the links metu i was actually looking for russian "folk music" links ... anyway i can´t say i am very familiar with traditional russian music but i listen a lot to russian metal bands who use "folk" influence like (Butterfly Temple, Ashen Light, etc)

 

[metu]

:]

Nice work with the instrument list. Some argue that instruments have no nationality and that they're all a part of a progression above and beyond mankind's cultural borter concepts. Sometimes I like that argument, sometimes I don't. :]

Kick ass list either way.

Sooner or later, I fully intend to visit the shit out of Russia. I want to spend a week or so in Moscow. Higher up on my list, though, I want to spend a full summer riding the Trans Siberian Railroad.

It's my pleasure to drop links in such a way. I plan to do so more often. I hope that less people will ignore my posts and more will understand that I really am trying to help. :]

There's a bunch of interesting stuff on mp3.com from Andrey Vinogradov attempting to show the variety of influences in every way possible.

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/8/andrey_vinogradov_composer__pe.html

-screwed up the link

 

[Sonm]

Trans Siberian Railroad sucks... Not that many interesting things though. Better go first to St. Pitersburg then Moscow then so-called Golden Ring, then Pskov, Staraya Ladoga and Ryazan'... And make a couple of good friends in there first coz going by yourself is just a waste of time. You'll see nothnig and will be ripped off for sure. Cheers man

 

[arkah]

Trans Siberian Railroad sucks... Not that many interesting things though. Better go first to St. Pitersburg then Moscow then so-called Golden Ring, then Pskov, Staraya Ladoga and Ryazan'... And make a couple of good friends in there first coz going by yourself is just a waste of time. You'll see nothnig and will be ripped off for sure. Cheers man

How about Baikal, Sayan range?

I've hichhiked in European part of our country this summer. THIS is the place that really sucks. From musiciants' point of view, its, for sure, not bad. But people there are not of the kind I'd like to know. Yes, I met some, who's really great, mostly from Altai and HH club of Krasnodar.

 

[Sonm]

How about Baikal, Sayan range?

I've hichhiked in European part of our country this summer. THIS is the place that really sucks. From musiciants' point of view, its, for sure, not bad. But people there are not of the kind I'd like to know. Yes, I met some, who's really great, mostly from Altai and HH club of Krasnodar.

No, I meant going by train through the country SUCKS!! I love SIberia and Baikal VERY MUCH, coz I Love my country in general. And I love Europenian Part as much as I do Far East. The point is that there's nothing spectacular in crossing the whole land sitting in a train and making fun of two irritating facts; the first of them is finding yourself ripped off by conductors while the second one is finding your ass getting flatter

 

[arkah]

No, I meant going by train through the country SUCKS!! I love SIberia and Baikal VERY MUCH, coz I Love my country in general. And I love Europenian Part as much as I do Far East. The point is that there's nothing spectacular in crossing the whole land sitting in a train and making fun of two irritating facts; the first of them is finding yourself ripped off by conductors while the second one is finding your ass getting flatter

flatter and fatter

I'm afraid there's no other way. Even in a plain you have to sit. Glad to know I misunderstood you.

 

[metu]

Some argue that instruments have no nationality and that they're all a part of a progression above and beyond mankind's cultural borter concepts

That's not the argument you ignorant fuck. The argument is that when a Manchurian plays an electric guitar, it becomes a Manchurian instrument.

Thanks for the advice. I'm sure I won't be going for a few years. I would plan on making stops to wander around. Still, I guess most of the time would be horrifically boring. I want to make it a journey, though. Driving would give me more freedom, and I really do like to drive. Maybe by the time I get there I could drive south of the border and check out some shit without running into a heroine shipment and somehow, with my Irish luck kicking in, spending the next 30 years in an Uzbek prison. :]

I won't be going alone regardless. I'm a prime candidate for drinkin' a bunch of rot-gut vodka and being robbed blind before I ever leave Kiev. "A man's got to know his limitations." - Harry Callahan

 

[Sonm]

That's not the argument you ignorant fuck. The argument is that when a Manchurian plays an electric guitar, it becomes a Manchurian instrument.

Thanks for the advice. I'm sure I won't be going for a few years. I would plan on making stops to wander around. Still, I guess most of the time would be horrifically boring. I want to make it a journey, though. Driving would give me more freedom, and I really do like to drive. Maybe by the time I get there I could drive south of the border and check out some shit without running into a heroine shipment and somehow, with my Irish luck kicking in, spending the next 30 years in an Uzbek prison. :]

I won't be going alone regardless. I'm a prime candidate for drinkin' a bunch of rot-gut vodka and being robbed blind before I ever leave Kiev. "A man's got to know his limitations." - Harry Callahan

No!!! that can not be that bad You can get robbed all over the globe! So don't hesitate and go to Russia as soon as possible! Let's say in 5 years Cheers man!
P.S. Russia is not what you watch on TV

 

[metu]

heheh. Ich spreche sheisse. :]

Five years sounds about right. Assuming, of course, by that time I'm not either drafted, imprisoned, or killed... or all three. :]

As I think about it, it's true that American tv these days, when Russia is involved in the plot, will almost always be about Russian organized crime of some sort or another. It used to be all about spies.

Still, you can't deny that crime is a major problem in Russia and in all of the former Soviet countries. (Some more than others... Tadjikistan, of course, being the exception as they have clearly achieved an utopian state.) I suppose that you could argue that the crimes in Washington are worse, but that's a whole other can of worms, so to speak. :]

By the way, I've been robbed in two states and arrested in three. This is not a concern which I reserve for Russia.

Cheers, indeed.

 

[Sonm]

Tadjikistan??? What do you mean?

 

[metu]

I was being sarcastic.

Zzzzzzzzzzing!

 

[Sonm]

Ah!! Then better say Turkmenistan

 

[Onyx]

Russia, sweet Russia

Goash, it's weird to hear such words from you. And pleasant, too.

But hey, have you ever been in Russia to get a good reason for calling it "sweet"? [reads the topic again] You haven't?

 

[metu]

Sonm: I considered it. :]

Onyx: No I haven't. Sorry for the let-down. I only really know Russia through music and a couple of friends. I read shit too, but you can't trust words.

Russia, sweet Russia, to be honest, was drunk talk... sweet drunk talk.

 

[Sonm]

2 Metu... see what I mean man? Russia is sweet indeed, sweet and great at least for those who want it to be so. I guess that is pretty normal tho... Still I think there are many freaks you can be robbed by but what really irritates me is the fact that the half of the total population still live in soviet time so to say, hope you know what I mean man. For some odd fucking reason they think they are bloody cool when they curse they own country and try to make ya feel miserable by "keeping on writing" quite a simple formula namely "u suck we rule". I don't fucking know why that is the case but that is the case in maaaaaany places all over the sweet country. Mostly in Moscow tho... And surprisingly enough I've got a good drug to cure the sickness... Fuck it, to keep it short...
Cheers

 

[Onyx]

metu, when I am drunk, I don't have the brain to turn my thoughts into words and post it anywhere. You're a strange fellow, indeed.