Review of the album Hara "Meryachenie" on the European online folk-portal FolkWorld

Pardon my limited language skills, but I can only go so far with Greek or Russian alphabets. This album has a Russian title, but I went with the subtitle live in studio, which is the only English verbiage other than some words in websites. And of course, I don’t understand the lyrics, but the emotional qualities still come through. Even better is the snaky music this band produces. There is a lot of ethic folk here and they touch on the exotic nature of droning strings and mid tempo rhythms with lots of fascinating instruments popping in and out. And there are only three players with strings, guitar, and percussion combining with their vocals into these undulating mantras (but look out for the sax). This is a fine, fine album.

© David Hintz