Album Review: ВеданЪ КолодЪ - Племена

Artist: ВеданЪ КолодЪ (Vedan Kolod) [Russia]
Album Title: Племена (Tribes)
Record Label: Panfiloff Music (Russia)
Released: 2007

[April 15, 2009 edit: I made at least one error in writing the review below. The band is still located in Central Siberia, not Moscow. Also, as you can see by Daryana's comment, Polina was only 11 years old (!) when Tribes was released, which is much younger than the "early 20's" guess I made. I should never get a job in a carnival "Guess My Age?" booth, because I'm usually way off. Thank you to Daryana for clearing up my errors! :-) ]

Tribes, the debut CD of the young Russian folk band Vedan Kolod, begins with the deep drone of the Scythan horn, a digeridoo-like instrument. The Scythian horn is joined by some hand percussion and a male voice that, a minute and a half into the title track, changes to a form of throat singing as it is joined by a female voice. This is not how I expected a Russian folk album to start, though I have not heard very many (unfortunately) so I really didn't know what to expect. The atmosphere of this first track is one of a primal feeling, somewhat shamanic, perhaps not dissimilar from Native American music.

Vedan Kolod makes it immediately clear that they are not an ordinary folk band. There are no electronic sounds or effects used, no modern instruments that are now associated with Russian folk such as the bayan or balalaika, no guitar, no violin, no modern rhythms. Their music is described as "authentic Russian folk," and though I am no ethnomusicologist, this does sound like what I would imagine ancient pagan music to be.

Vedan Kolod is a family band, made up of three women (Tatyana Naryshkina, Daryana Antipova, and Polina Lisitsa) who come from the same family, and a man, Valerii Naryshkin, who is married to Tatyana. The band is located in Moscow, but are originally from Siberia. The band seems to wear two cloaks; not only are they artists, but they are musical archaeologists. Their intent is to revive and recreate the music of ancient pagan Russia, especially of Central Siberia and Altai. They play traditional songs and also original works, though their original works contain themes of folklore and old tales and use ancient Russian language (I believe). The band has revived and recreated many ancient Russian folk instruments, some of them almost forgotten. Similarly, they use old vocal styles including the aforementioned throat singing.

Their debut CD, Tribes, is by far the easiest of their three albums to find in the United States. I bought my copy from Amazon, but there are several music websites that stock this album. Technically, it is not a replicated CD but a professionally-printed CD-R. I wouldn't have known this if it did not say so right on the disc label. Anyway, this is not important information, though it may be to some.

The music of Vedan Kolod is difficult for me to describe, as I have very few musical reference points to use. Many of the songs use sparse instrumentation and put a lot of focus on vocals. The vocals are sometimes harmonized, and sometimes they are singing entirely different things. Both the male and female vocals are very good, and the moments that focus on the interplay of vocals are some of my favorite moments on the album. All members of the band are young (perhaps in their early 20's?), which makes their dedication to their craft and the spirit of ancient Russia even more inspiring.

The band shows much variety on each of their albums (at least the two I have heard so far), so with each new track comes a style and sound that is different from the previous. The elements that are most often present are the vocals and the drums. Many of the songs have drums (ancient drums, not modern), and the rhythm is somewhat tribal, for lack of a better term. All four members of the band are credited with playing some sort of drum, usually multiple types (Slavonic drums [big and small], sharkuncy, etc.), so the presence of drums is understandably important to Vedan Kolod. Some tracks feature the unmistakable sound of the gusli, vargan (mouth harp), and ocarina, as well as at least a few instruments that I didn't know existed at all (a three-stringed, violin-like instrument called a gudok, the fuyara [a huge flute], the aforementioned Scythian horn, various smaller flutes, among others). Also mentioned in the booklet are Slavonic bagpipe and zhaleika, though I don't recall hearing either on this album. They appear on the second CD, though.

A few of the songs appealed to me immediately upon my first listen, including Голубиная Книга (a traditional song arranged by the band, which features gusli and beautiful vocal parts), Перун и Скипер Зверь (which has a great female vocal solo, gusli, and some nice percussion), and Сера Птица (which has an excellent vocal performance by Valerii Naryshkin, another appearance by the gusli, and some beautiful supporting female vocals). The production on this latter track is not as good as the rest of the album, which is a bit of a shame because it's a wonderful piece of music. Being a neophyte to the sound Vedan Kolod have created, many of the rest of the tracks took a bit more effort on my part for me to appreciate, but after several listens, more and more of the album sunk in. I began to notice, with each listen, the little beautiful moments throughout the album: the gentle rhythms, the beauty of the Russian language in the recitations, the details of the vocal performances, the interplay of the various instruments, and more.

Tribes is a great and unique album that is worth experiencing for those who are interested in hearing what the music of pre-Christian Russia may very well have sounded like. For me, it is easy to imagine these voices resonating through the ancient forests, and, like most great pagan art, it stirs my spirit even though I don't understand the words. For fans of pagan/folk metal who have expanded their musical interests into various types of folk music (or who have thought about it), especially those who are drawn to the Russian scene, Vedan Kolod is well worth your attention. Fans of the folk moments on Arkona's От Сердца к Небу CD should also take notice of this band.