Evelyn Petrova & Alexander Balanescu (Russia/UK)

The brilliant young Russian star on the international new music scene Evelyn Petrova (accordion and voice) is joined by the doyen of new music Alexander Balanescu (violin) to create a blend of structured, warm and heartfelt, hysterical and shrieking authentic Russian singing, hypnotising sadness, and Piazzolla-like driving rhythms.

Alexander Balanescu has built a reputation as one of the leading and most versatile musicians of our time. As a virtuoso violinist and composer he has the bridged the gap between classical, folk, electronic, jazz and pop music, working on the concert platform and with film makers, choreographers, theatre directors and even fashion designers.

Born in Romania, the son of a University lecturer, Balanescu moved with his family to Israel in 1969 to escape the Ceaucescu regime and lived the globe trotting life of an exile, studying the violin in London and at the Juilliard school in New York.

Upon his return to London, he joined the Arditti Quartet, who, renowned for their commitment to new composers, would perform up to one hundred new works a year. Balanescu left the Arditti Quartet to create his own quartet. Formed in 1987 and featuring Balanescu with Clare Connors (violin), Bill Hawkes (viola) and former LSO cellist Nick Price, the quartet soon formed a close working relationship with composers Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman, scorer of film soundtracks including The Draughtsman’s Contract and Drowning by Numbers. They chose to use amplification and unconventional costumes when playing live, and their shows soon started to sell out.

Balanescu himself soon gained an enviable reputation as a truly interdis­ciplinary artist, composer, and improviser as well as a performer. He went on to work in jazz with drummer Jack de Johnette, saxophonists John Sur­man and Andy Sheppard, and com­poser Carla Bley, and he has also toured with Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso.

After the Balanescu Quartet’s extensive touring schedule took them to Romania during the 1990s, Balanescu, deeply moved by the experience, began a quest to reconnect with his Eastern European roots. He collaborated with the Hungarian group Musikas and singer Marta Sebestyen. Using folk material as a source of inspiration, Balanescu created the album Luminlitza, which is Romanian for ‘little light’, and has composed material based on folk songs inter­preted by the great Romanian singer Maria Tanase. More recently he has worked with the radical Romanian vocalist, actress and songwriter Ada Milea, with whom he has previously appeared in Bath.

Described by Jethro Tull’s Ian An­derson as “a rare find in a world of ever-repeating, inward-spiralling popular music” and “Frank-Zappa-meets-Valkyrie-Handmaiden-on-tes­tosterone” following a recent guest spot with the group in St. Petersburg, Evelyn Petrova is a truly dynamic per­former and ideal musical partner for Balanescu.

Born in an industrial city close to St. Petersburg, she lived for most of her childhood in the countryside with her grandmother, who forced Evelyn to study music. She took up accordion at a local music school at the age of twelve and then continued her stud­ies in St Petersburg, where she grad­uated from the state conservatory in 2002.

From the late 1990s onwards she performed with her former teacher from St. Petersburg Theatre and Mu­sic Academy, trumpeter Vyacheslav Gayvoronsky, recording two CDs and playing concerts throughout Europe and in Japan. In 1998 the duo won a special prize for original music at an Italian festival dedicated to Astor Pi­azzolla and the following year Evelyn was pronounced Star of the Year by jazz critics in Russia.
Evelyn released her first album, Year’s Cycle, a collection of twelve songs reflecting the months of the year, on Leo Records in 2004 and has since played solo concerts in France, Belgium, Slovenia, Holland, and Fin­land as well as appearing in many renowned clubs such as Bimhuis in Amsterdam and at Bath International Music Festival in 2005.

An intensely physical performer, she creates such vital, exhilarating music that it’s hard to believe all that sound is coming from one woman with an accordion and yet for all her power and near percussive drive, she can also play with great intimacy, not un­like her near neighbour, the Finnish virtuoso Maria Kalaniemi.

Mari Boine band (Norway)

STERNA PARADISEA is the latest and arguably finest album in MARI BOINE’s illustrious career, one that has now lasted almost 25 years. Her ninth solo collection – her first, Jaskatvuoda Manna was a vinyl only album released in 1985 – it encapsulates many of the themes, musical and lyrical, that have made her such an enduring and charismatic figure. But it also sees Boine continue to push back boundaries, challenging listeners with bold musical initiatives and a rejection of expectations, all the time enchanting and invigorating her audience with her unearthly, haunting voice. And while the fact that she trades in a sound inspired by her cultural roots, sung largely in the language of her ancestors – a language being slowly eroded by Western influences – has led to her being classified as a ‘world music’ artist, her horizons are much greater and her appeal more far reaching than this might suggest. It is, as she herself suggests, “global music from the universal heart.”

Mari Boine was born in Karasjohka, a small town in the Arctic regions of Norway that are also part of what is known as Samiland, named after the indigenous people whose blood she shares. The Samis were colonised by Christians, and their culture slowly eroded until it was dismissed as worthless, so Boine became acutely aware of notions of conformity early on. Her music has always been fiercely proud of her heritage, seeking to celebrate Sami culture while bringing it to a wider audience, fired initially by her anger at the contemporary treatment of their traditions. But though she has not mellowed in her beliefs, convictions so strong that she refused to perform at the Lillehammer Winter Olympics in 1994 on the grounds that she did not want to be used as “an exotic decoration”, she has always sought new ways to integrate her ideology into her work. Her blend of Sami folk traditions – in particular the yoik – with contemporary rock, jazz, electronica and other musical forms sourced from around the planet has made her a revered figure at home and abroad. From the release of her second album, Gula Gula (from 1989), on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, to 2007’s collection of remixes by such acclaimed artists as Mental Overdrive and The Knife, her international status has been unquestionable.

Mari Boine - vocals
Ole Jorn Myklebust - trumpet/saxaphoon/keys
Bjorn Charles Dreyer - guitars
Svein Schultz - bass
Gunnar Augland - drums
David Solheim - sound engineer

http://www.myspace.com/boine
http://www.mariboine.no

Inna Zhelannya (Russia)

Inna Zhelannya appeared on Russian music scene in 1994. Together with musicians of rock-band “Alliance” she started to combine the elements of different rock streams, Russian folklore and other ethnic practices.

In 1998 the band changed the name to Farlanders and gave numerous concerts abroad. In 1998 they successfully played on one of the world largest forum of ethnic music Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX) in Stockholm and got a great number of invitations from different countries. Since 1998 the Farlanders took part in lots of the most prestigious festivals of ethnic, jazz, pop and rock music, played hundreds of concerts in Europe and the USA.

Farlanders’ music got enthusiastic recall of such people as Piter Gabriel, Robert Fripp, Anderson Iann, Joe Boyd. The album “Inozemets” (“ The Farlander”) is listed among the best world music releases of 1998 and 1999 in World Music Charts Europe.

In 2004, after Zhelannaya and Farlanders split, the singer pursued other projects.

In the fall 2006 Inna Zhelannaya started seeking for musicians for her new band and already in February 2007 the presentation of a new music project was presented in Moscow club “Apelsin” . The press told: “An amazing fusion of national folklore and trance with strong electronic sound was spread from the stage… Gorgeous music was hypnotizing, addicting and subjecting to trance…” The band was made of ace of aces. The rhythmic basement of the band was formed by two top-rank musicians – bass-player Sergey “Grebstel” Kalachev and drummer Andrey Romanika. In the concert album “Zima” (“Winter”), which appeared in 2008, virtuous passages of violinist Sergey Yakhushenko and electronic novelties of keyboard player Arkhadiy Marto were recorded. Since 2008 a new talented saxophonist Oleg Maryakhin joins the group instead of Marto and Yakhushenko who left the band and offers a whole arsenal of saxophones and electronic devices. The band of Inna Zhelannaya continues to work with folk materials, but none of the music specialists can attempt to determine the style of this music – it naturally combines the elements of progressive rock, jazz, psychedelic, trance and electronics.

Inna Zhelannaya - vocal.
Serguey Kalachev aka Grebstel - bass, loop-station.
Arkadiy Marto - keyboards, electronica, samples, kalimba.
Oleg Maryakhin - saxophones.
Andrey Romanika - drums.
Artyom Yakushenko - violin.

http://www.myspace.com/inamusic
http://www.inasound.ru/

Jouhiorkesteri (Финляндия)

The sound of the Jouhiorkesteri – The Horse Hair Orchestra – has been described as ”A quartet of horsehair strung Finnish bowed lyres, sounding like a swarm of huskily raspy fiddles [...], but with a slithering, edgy pitching.” Some have been puzzled by how the sound of the quartet ranges from a big string orchestra to an intimate chamber group, from a sweaty corner dance joint all the way to the otherworldly, unpredictable and timeless proto-sounds of the universe. Jouhiorkesteri was founded in the beginning of the third millenium and the members span three generations of players. Jouhiorkesteri is devoted to the drone music traditions of Northern Europe. It’s members are all well established Finnish folk musicians. Jouhiorkesteri’s debut album ”Nikodemus” was released in 2008.

Jouhikko is the oldest bowed instrument of Europe which last handfull of players lived on the last frontiers of Europe in the most periferic villages of Finland and Estonia in the beginning of the twentieth century.
The peculiar sound of Jouhikko derives from the fact that the horsehair strung strings are stopped with the back of the fingers the rest results from the original bowing technique that creates at the same time the feel of a very subtle or rough ancient groove.

Ilkka Heinonen (jouhikko, alto jouhikko, bass jouhikko, vocals)
Marianne Maans (jouhikko, esseharpa, vocals)
Pekko Kappi (jouhikko, alto jouhikko, vocals)
Rauno Nieminen (jouhikko, vocals)

http://www.myspace.com/jouhiorkesteri

Dakha Brakha (Ukraine)

Dakha Brakha is an exciting Ukrainian ethnic music band that consists of three girls Nina Garenetska, Irina Kovalenko, Olexandra Kleynis, Olena Tsybulska and frontman Marko Halanevych.

Instruments: Indian tablas, buddhistic gong, marakas, cello, Russian treschotki, dijeridu, bongo, darbuka, djembe, Carpathian bukhalo etc.

The name is original, outstanding and authentic at the same time. DakhaBrakha means “give/take” in the old Ukrainian language.DakhaBrakha was created in 2004 at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art “DAKH” by the avant-garde theatre director – Vladyslav Troitskiy. Theatre work has left its mark on the band performances – their shows have never been staged without the scenic effects.“We decided to create a new style of music that consists mainly of our native Ukrainian folk motifs, with some African-styles added in. We also combine Arab, Bulgarian and Hungarian ideas. Dakha Brakha collects the components of its repertoire during our expeditions. We go out to villages, pitch our tents and visit local babushkas and ask them to sing their folk songs. We record them and use them in our compositions,” - says the band. Dakha Brakha is still somewhat of a cult phenomenon in Ukraine, appealing to a discerning audience of knowledgable fans who like their aggressive sound, which involves a lot of ritualistic tribal rhythms and frenzied, sometimes caterwauling, vocals.
They perform in native Ukrainian dress, as befitting their faith in Ukrainian culture, which they believe has enormous potential that should be explored and retained.

As well as performing gigs as a band in their own right they are also the 'house' band for the Dakh Theatre company . Dakh Theatre is known throughout Europe as one of the leading production houses of avant-garde theatre combining live music from DakhaBrakha with theatre and dance to create some intense productions. Their series of Shakespeare interpretations has brought them to many of Europe's leading venues including London's Barbican in January 2007.

http://www.myspace.com/dakhabrakha

Troitsa (Belarus)

The trio “Troitsa” appeared in 1996 in Belarus.

The founder and the creative inspirer of collective is Ivan Ivanovich Kirtchuk, the senior lecturer of the university of culture in Minsk, capital of the country.

It was decided to name the group "Troitsa", that in translation means the numeral three, or the religious term "Trinity", which underlines the connection of group with national traditions. The idea of creation of such group has appeared at Ivan in 1986 when he was collecting ethnographic material in Belarus villages. The main motive which has induced him to this step, was the desire to popularize national songs, to connect them with universal musical traditions. In fact, even the history of native land in which different cultural influences mixed up, brought to creation of such music. The group basically is known outside of native country.

From 1997 the collective is starting to tour abroad, first in Russia and later in the Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, Germany and Portugal. Their success has been connected to the singularity of their compositions, utilization of huge number of musical instruments , and also to high professionalism of musicians- strong voice of Ivan and great play technics. "Troitsa" at once started using not only national instruments, but also instruments from any country of the world, keeping old Belarus language in songs.

Ivan Kirchuk - lead vocal, 12-str. guitar, 3 & 4-str. domras, smyk, gusli, pipes, whistles, mound harmonica, reed stick, zhaleykas, lyre, ocarinas, wargan (jawharp), pipe, rainmaker, duda, kalimba;
Yury Dzmitrieu - 6 & 12-str. guitars, 4-str. domra, smyk, zither, vocal;
Yury Paulouski - drums, gong, darabuka, gundang, anklung, bells, zvany (horsebells), wood stick, cowbell, kalimba, djembe, bamboofon.

Gurzuf (Belarus)

Gurzuf is a duet of an accordionist Egor Zabelov and drummer Artem Zalesskiy.

They are playing... well, if I am allowed to add a bit of personal impression here, I'd characterize this as "imagine if King Crimson were to play the tunes of Philip Glass with an accordion".

Gurzuf's music is a synthesis of alternative music
styles such as punk, hard rock, hip-hop with classical and folk music - highly expressive, challenging kind of tunes.

In under two years of band's existence guys have managed to achieve quite a lot: they've composed and recorded a couple of sound tracks for the Belarusian puppet theater plays, released a full-length album, achieved a great level of popularity in the neighboring countries - they're now cruising with concerts in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Russia all the time (in fact it is very sad we no longer see that much of them in Belarus).

Their level of professionalism was previously recognized with many awards on Russian and Polish alternative music festivals, and now finally with an invitation to represent our country at the GBOB competition.

http://www.myspace.com/gurzuff

La Caution (France)

La Caution is definitely matchless.

Armed with an obviously unique musical identity, the two brothers Hi-Tekk & Nikkfurie, native of Noisy-Le-Sec (in Paris suburbs), made a name for themselves on the French hip-hop scene by relentlessly touring and taking part in numerous projects since 1996. Their ground-breaking first LP, “Asphalte Hurlante”, was released in 2001, and was quickly considered as one of French hip-hop’s most significant record. La Caution’s MCs share their very own vision of prose and harmony.

Their lyrics, willing to be urban allegories, have appealed to listeners who fancy sharp and powerful writing. As for the beats, Nikkfurie is known for his everlasting fondness for novelty. It’s no surprise that at the end of 2004, the instrumental version of “The' a` la Menthe”, a tune from their second album yet to come, made its way to Ocean’s 12 soundtrack, Soderbergh’s blockbuster.

La Caution’s ties with the movies industry were then tightened with their collaboration to Kim Chapiron’s first motion picture, Sheitan, starring Vincent Cassel and released on February 1st 2006. Hi-Tekk & Nikkfurie’s eagerly awaited second album, « Peines de Maures » / « Arc-en-ciel pour Daltoniens » was finally out on October 17th 2006. And they immediately proved their new opus was worth the wait: it’s a double-album, with no less than 31 tracks.

Every tune sounds like a thorough depiction. Words seem to flow endlessly, emphasized by beats that fit them smoothly, sounding sometimes light-hearted and energetic, sometimes dark and moody, but always bouncy and intense. Once the listener discovers the luxury of the technical gifts of the 2 MCs and the depth and endless variety of beats, the so-called language barrier doesn't matter any more and the quality of the music speaks for itself.

http://www.myspace.com/lacaution
http://www.la-caution.net

Filastine (USA/ Spain)

Grey Filastine is a musician/producer based in Barcelona but rarely found there. Among his 60+ gigs last year you might have caught him at a club in London, on a junk raft floating down the Mississippi river, at Shambhala festival in Canada, at a tiny breakcore party in Osaka, or in front of forty thousand at the hiphop festival Boulevards in Casablanca. In any context it gets riotous- Filastine bangs out his
music, jumping between a tangle of electronics, acoustic percussion, and an amplified shopping cart, firing off riddims and synchronized live video.

In 2006 Filastine released Burn It on DJ Rupture’s boutique imprint Soot Records to much critical acclaim. Vibrant and original, Burn It made inroads among music fans from the hiphop, world, electronic, and experimental scenes; it was snatched up and re-released by Jarring Effects, Japanese label ROMZ, and anarcho-collective Crimethinc. Tracks from the album received UK airplay on the tastemaker shows of Mary Anne Hobbes & John Peel, and in France peaked at #15 in national independent radio charts. Less visible are the spins on underground stations across Latin America, or the hundred thousand downloads of his dj mix commissioned by Blentwell.com. Other releases include pirate mixtapes and a selection of sold-out vinyl. Look for his latest 12” on Tigerbeat6/Shockout with partner Maga Bo in their duo project Sonar Calibrado.
Before starting up this project, Filastine split his time between driving a taxi in the United States and a series of long research travels- one season playing with coke-fueled samba batucadas in Rio de Janeiro, another in the Moroccan village of Jajouka absorbing their equally intoxicated music. In 1999 he founded the Infernal Noise Brigade, a 20-piece marching band that was the soundtrack of the globalization protests that opened this century, starting with the blockade of the Seattle WTO summit. The Infernal Noise Brigade was purpose-built to bring music to political movements in the street. Filastine is a project to do the reverse, pumping the immediacy of the street through sound systems.

This February Filastine drops Dirty Bomb, a gritty transnational soundclash of urban rhythm, on Jarring Effects in Europe, and simultaneously with three other labels worldwide. He will spend 2009 touring along his DIY trade routes. Expect to find him everywhere.

http://www.myspace.com/filastine

Debruit (France)

French synth-hero Debruit is a musical idiot savant. This DJ/producer mixes Congolese drums with dirty grooves and Souk from Tunesian back alleys into eclectic electronic music. He takes Oizo’s punch, a dose of greasy hiphop a la TTC, Mantronix 909’s ‘oomph’ and makes it sound like pure synthporn. In March of this year he released his youngest brainchild Cles de Bras with Musique Large.

His last album Let’s Post Funk (Civil Music) comprises two slabs of heavyweight unadulterated future-funk blending wonky electro, West Coast hip-hop, and a certain je ne sais quoi. Creator and Parisian synth-magician dEbruit is already lauded in his native France and rapidly gathering fans across the UK, US and beyond thanks to his devastating electronic workouts. Clark and DE:Bug magazines, along with several other titles in the French press, have endorsed him as one to watch, and over the Atlantic US publication XLR8R picked 2 of dEbruit’s tracks in their top 50 of 2008.

In addition to the rampaging Let’s Post Funk single, live dates and becoming an increasingly in-demand remixer, the sonically flamboyant Frenchman will soon relocate to London in order to finish his forthcoming debut album for Civil Music, the independent British label that’s home to Rusko, Kotchy, Drums Of Death and others. dEbruit is already booked to play UK parties with Joker, Mike Slott, Robert Hood, Bullion, Paul White, Toddler T and Floating Points as well as a main stage performance at Barcelona’s Sonar festival and a homecoming hoorah with Afrika Bambaata at the infamous Social Club in Paris.

http://www.myspace.com/dbruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUwIVWtaXUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfAofGqY9I0

DJ Kosta Kostov [balkanXpress] (Bulgaria/Germany)

Kosta Kostov is not a nickname! Born in the Bulgarian Black Sea coast,  Kostov grew up in the unique Balkan way of celebrating. Moving to Germany didn't stop his passionate search for the best rhythms and melodies from the Balkans. Today working as a music journalist and dj, Kosta Kostov is the mastermind and resident "machinista" of the balkanXpress, the turbulent party in Cologne’s club Gebaude 9.

In April 2004, the balkanXpress started in Cologne’s club scene first as a regular party, to introduce and represent the many-facetted music of Southeastern Europe. It quickly became a reference for people who love spontaneous and passionate celebration. The balkanXpress takes you on a dance journey through the valleys and hills of the Balkan beats and breaks, always with view out to new horizons... The rhythms of typical music and dance-styles like horo, racenitza, cocek, rembetiko or klezmer are quite similar to the beats of drum ’n’ bass and breakbeat and offer a great space for fusions. The Balkan music also share a common ground with musical phenomena like the sounds from the Orient & Maghreb, the hispano-brazilian flavas or the Bhangra beats. The trip with balkanXpress will take you beyond the Balkans, to the music related neighbours that have more similarities with Southeast European music than expected. That’s the reason why prominent Global Village DJs like DJ Panko (Ojos de Brujo), DJ Click (No Fridge), DJ Gaetano Fabri (Electric Gypsyland), DJ Eastenders have participated to the balkanXpress.

Meanwhile the balkanXpress is travelling not only through German lands. Kosta Kostov is a well seen guest in the Barcelona clubs Sala Apolo and Sidecar, in Paris’ Divan du Monde, in Athen’s Altera Pars and Booze Club and in Vienna’s Ostklub. On March 2007, the balkanXpress brought for the first time the transbalkan beats and breaks to the clubs in the Brazilian cities of Belem, Aracaju, Brasilia Capital, Porto Alegre, Florianpolis and on 10.11.2007 it was at GO EAST!, the first party 100% balkanbeats in Rio de Janeiro.
Jump on the balkanXpress and enjoy Kosta Kostov's frenetic BABUSHKA-BREAKS, HORO-DUBS, KLEZMER-RIDDIMS, GYPSY-SPEEDBRASS!

www.myspace.com/bXpSoundsistema

Cheinesh (Altay)

Cheinesh - the Altay female throat singer from Russia.

She was born among mountains of Altai where white hills are full of fogs and ancient legends.

Cheinesh: " I think, that our national throat singing is an art which you transfer as an inheritance to the future generations".

Cheinesh - Laureate of the international festival " Sayan-Ring 2007" as the best vocal-singer. She participated in international festivals in France, Norway, Poland, Turkey, Hungary

Cheinesh will be performing together with the animator Maria Stepanova who in real time will be creating animation based on sand.

http://www.myspace.com/cheineshaltai

http://www.cheinesh.ru

Sonido Del Principe (the Netherlands)

Vincent Koreman from Tilburg is a known name in the world of Dutch alternative music (Ex-Travoltas punkrock band en noise act RA-X).

As Sonido Del Principe he produces rough styled cumbia and plays the harder styles of the new electronic world music.

With a deep love for heavy bass, he mashes dub -step- en rave in one big shaker, filled with cumbia ritmes, baile funk, kuduro, speed mambo, kwaito and more.

www.myspace.com/sonidodelprincipe

Obmorok I'Mama (Saint-Petersburg, Uzbekistan)

Obmorok I'Mama is a Russian-Uzbek band from Saint-Petersburg.

Ikhtiyar Kadyrov, the founder of the band, was born in 1968 in Karamazy village near Urgentch in the Uzbek SSR. He has practiced playing music since childhood and has learnt how to play an Uzbek drum, that is called doira.

After having moved to Leningrad he played in an Oriental restaurant, and that was the place where his band was created. It is considered that the name Obmorok I Mama (The Mother's faint) appeared after the hostess of the flat had fainted at the rehearsal of the ensemble.

In the same time due to the worldplay this name can be understood as Obmorok Imama - The Imam's faint.
Obmorok I'Mama has gained the popularity with the playing the comic cover versions of the well-known songs, adopted in Uzbek folk style. Among these songs are: the folk song “Katiusha”, “WWW” by Leningrad band, “Who is Alice?”, “The night in the Blizzard” by Billy's Band, “I am free” by Kipelov, “You Are Not Alone” by Michael Jackson, the fable “The Dragonfly and the Ant”.

The band has got more popularity after having taken part in the "Non-blue light" New Year's show on Ren-TV 2003-2004, where they have played their cover version of the “WWW” by Leningrad band.
Obmorok I'Mama performs different instrumental compositions in Oriental style as well.

Ikhtiyar Kadyrov - vocals, doira
Alexei Barakov - accordion
Vitaly Pogosyan - keyboards, accordion, duduk
Djora Beck - tar

Peterburgska Roma (St. Petersburg, Russia)

«Peterburgska Roma» ensemble was founded in year 2000 by grand-daughter of Alexander Nikolaevitch Il'inskiy (in the past he was a famous tap-dancer, known as Sasha Cherniy)and a grand-niece of Vadim Kozin, Alexandra Il'inskaja. Sasha Cherniy created first avocational Gypsy ensemble in USSR, he was the laureate of many folk amateur performances' contests (1956-1976гг). His ensemble totaled 150 members.

Sasha Cherniy's spirit is still alive in «Peterburgska Roma»: the most part of artists are from Il'inskiy family, which means that they keep and follow the traditions of well-known Gypsy artistical dynasty. Ensemble counts 8 Gypsies, and that's why the ensemble has got such name, which means 'Gypsies from Petersburg'
In 6 years' time the group membership has changed only once. Ensemble has consisted of young and promising people for last five years.

Musical programme of ensemble consists of traditional and modern Gypsy folklore accompanied with camping-ground dance and tap dance. These dances are performed by 5 artists all at once, and that turns ensemble' performances into bright and foot tapping show.

«Peterburgska Roma» ensemble has successfully performed abroad (in Finland and Germany). Their first solo concert took place in City of Porvoo (Finland) in 2003. In 2006 the ensemble became the laureate of ethnic fashion festival - SPb Ethno-Piter-2006.

http://www.tsigane.ru
video- http://www.tsigane.ru/vengerka

Otava Yo (St. Petersburg, Russia)

«Otava yo» - is new folk project from St. Petersburg.

«Otava yo» mostly plays Russian folk songs and tunes which were very popular at the time when their parents were young.

Bagpipes, Russian gusli, fiddles, guitar and percussion - «Otava yo» plays very powerful dancelike music which could be called Russian Beat.

Sometimes the music of «Otava yo» can make you laugh, and what is more important not only Russian speakers could understand bands sense of humor.

Alexey Belkin - galician bagpipe, gusli (Russian psaltery), vocal;
Dmitry Shikhardin - fiddle, vocal;
Alexey Skosyrev - acoustic guitar, vocal;
Petr Sergeev - darbuca, bass drum;
Svetlana Kondesyuk - galician bagpipe, flute;
Natalia Vysokikh - violin.

www.otava-yo.spb.ru
www.myspace.com/otavae

Bugotak (Novosibirsk, Russia)

Siberian ethnic rock - that's how can we name the style of the band. Though using the traditional acoustic culture of Siberian folks as a basis, the band leader has rejected the beaten path of outbound commercial folklore and has preferred the experimental development work with the Siberian ethnic music.
Some methods and mediums of expression of modern music infusion into the traditional music is able to emphasis the merits of the second one. However, in the same time the spirit of the traditional music is still kept within such infusion, and that's what Bugotak strongly demonstrates in its work. You can hear hard rock, industrial, funk at Bugotak's concerts, but it is definitely Siberian rock, Siberian industrial and Siberian funk.
Georgiy 'Sayan' Andriyanov aka Father Gorry is the band leader and the author of the almost all songs and folk cover versions. He plays a lot of national Siberian musical instruments and not so national instruments, like guitar or sampler, as well. He alo practices different styles of throat singing (dzarin, kargyraa and others).
For the sake of authenticity saving Georgiy relies not only on his own and his band-mates' intuition but also on folklore expeditions' materials (mostly of the Novosibirsk State Conservatory of Music) and tractates concerning Siberian folklore.

The concert bill usually consists of two parts: the ethnic one, including Bugotak's songs and indigenous Siberian peoples' rites, and the second one - the ethno-rock part, which combines traditions and modern rock music.

Sayan Andriyanov - programming, vocals (dzarin, kargyraa, khoomei), guitars, igil, Chinese flute, Topshur, khomus;
Dmitriy Rzhanitsin - percussion, drums;
Vladimir Glushko - percussion, drums;
Tatiana Romanova - vocals, khomus

http://bugotak.com , Vidoe, TV-show ProSvet

Testo (St. Petersburg, Russia)

The newly-minted project TESTO tries to combine authentically performed Russian folklore and electronic music (or pseudoelectronic music) - from the intellectual one to the hard one, from the positive one to the doom one. There are the styles that are taken as a basis: jungle, breakbeat, postrock, disco, eurofolk, pseudoelectromusic, trip-hop, idm and some other.

The permanent and invited line-up of the group consists of Saint-Petesburg musicians, that play jazz, rock and ethno and that are well-known due to their participance in such bands as OTOMOTO, Belorybitsa, AURA (DJ Gvozd's project), Theodor Bastard, Opa Novy God, Solar Project and other.

The stylistics of the music they play is rather miscellaneous. In the basis is the traditional vocal manner of the performance of the Russian songs, that were recorded during the expeditions or copied from the original versions. The rest of the group doesn't accompany, but they are engaged in the complicated polyphonic conversation with the female vocalist.

The project was created by Evgenyi Vikki (evikki), musician and producer, also some ethnic and close to ethnic music projects leader. Its goal is to do its bit into the development of the experimental folklore - the style that almost doesn't exist in Russia.

At the moment TESTO is in the process the first demo recording, it is working at the first videoclip screenplay and is getting ready for the performances.

http://www.realmusic.ru/testosystem
http://www.myspace.com/testosystem

Velena (St. Petersburg, Russia)

VELENA is a project of two Russian musicians Elena Novikova and Vera Ogareva, not really like minded but true good friends, inspired by previous mutual experience of playing together in a Russian folk-rock all-female band Iva Nova, formed in St. Petersburg in 2002. The two ladies participated forming the band's style and sound, as Elena played bass and Vera sang traditional songs as well as her own. They left Iva Nova in 2005, but it's only in 2009 that they came up with the idea of performing together under the name VELENA. Elena was influenced by her interests in rock and electronic music and Vera kept singing in a folk manner so they try mixing ethnic with electronic sounds along with acoustic instruments and bring a dance-driven mood to penetrating lyrics sang on tender lonesome tunes

www.myspace.com/velenamusic

Asfaltal Da Kosmosas (Finland-Russia)

Asfaltal Da Kosmosas is a modern day trio with an emotional female voice, thick bass and sample infested live looping station. They build their songs over hiphop drums and funk bass with eastern influenced soundscapes, looping live vocal harmonies on a top of it and mix down the whole thing in jamaican dubplate style. This music could be called northern dub or pseudo arabic funk.

The band was founded 2007 in St. Petersburg, but it’s members are from Karelia, two born on finnish side and one on russian, and you might have heard them playing in bands like Myllarit, Simba Vibration, Maanakka, Samosad Band etc.

Asfaltal Da Kosmosas is recording at the moment their first album and performing adventurous conсerts, mostly in Finland. They already played at such festivals, as Kihaus in Raakkyla, Faces in Karjaa, Hippa in Joensuu, Folklandia on a boat from Turku to Stocholm, Folk Marathon in Petrozavodsk

Laura Vuorjoki -vocals, melodies, poems
Roma Ershihin -bass, harmonies
Untero Luiro -beats, sample

http://www.myspace.com/asfaltaldakosmosas

Hidden Tribe (St.Petersburg, Russia)

«Hidden Tribe» mix electronic music (dub step, break beat, trip-hop) with performing on ethnic music instruments (didgeridoo, vargan, percussion) and female vocal.

Anna Vyatkina - vocal
Nikita Malov — didgeridoo, percussion
Anton Dudarev— production, midi-controllers
Dmitry Shafeev - drums, percussion

http://myspace.com/hiddentribe