Atalyja (LT) Aleksandra i Konstantin (BEL) Ales Las' Group (BEL) Altanka (BY)

 

 Atalyja "Atalyja" is a Lithuanian dialect word meaning "approach of rain". Repertoire of the group embraces mainly ancient seasonal songs and the sutartines (ancient Lithuanian polyphonic songs). The band transforms and interprets ancient Lithuanian folk music to make it sound modern. They also combine traditional folk means of expression (vocal and instruments) with the elements of rock and, occasionally, of Indian classical music. Jazz-rock and funk also feature in the arrangement of some songs.

The two CDs of the group present original interpretations of traditional Lithuanian music.

Indre Umbrasaite, Gedimina Salkauskaite, Audrone Pociute - vocals,
Gediminas Zhilys - bass guitar,
Salvjus Zheimys - percussion,
Darute Matylionyte - kantele,
Eirimas Velichka - fiddle, vocals,
Ernest Jepifanov - fiddle, vocals, bagpipes, Pan pipes,
Gintaras Kaminskas - guitar

Contact:
Gediminas Zhilys
Tel. +37061490469
E-mail: visi@atalyja.com, audronep@hotmail.com

www.atalyja.com MP3

 

 Aleksandra i Konstantin The "Alexandra & Konstantin" Duo was formed in 1998 in Borisov, Belarus. The Duo's first concert programme consisted of cover versions of famous blues, country and jazz compositions which were performed in English.

In 2000 the "A&K" Duo became a prizewinner in the national TV contest for young talented performers and was awarded a chance to record their debut album in the studio of the National State Teleradiocompany of the Republic of Belarus. That was the beginning of the Duo's star career. Concerts in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Poland and Germany followed.

A&K" won a number of awards participating in numerous international song contests and festivals - e.g. Ethno-Folk Music Festival "Ethnosfera 2002" in Skierniewice (Poland), the International Contest of Popular Song "Vitebsk 2002" (Belarus), International Music Festival Palangos Gaida 2005 (Lithuania). The duo has released three CDs: "Za likhimi za marozami" (2001), "Soika" (2003) and a compilation "My Galileo - the Best" (2005). The albums include Belorussian folk songs recorded in the folk-modern style.

The "Alexandra & Konstantin" Duo officially represented Republic of Belarus at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest (the debut of Belarus).

In Dec?mber 2004 the "A&K" Duo was recognized as the Best Folk Performer of 2004 in the show "On the Crossroads of Europe" produced by the First National TV Channel.

In May 2005 the duo presented their new concert program "The Stairs of Separation".

Alexandra Krisanova and Konstantin Drapeza are also musicians in the Belarusian State Concert Orchestra headed by Mikhail Finberg.

Contact:
E-mail: a_and_k@tut.by

www.ak.fromby.net MP3 CLIP

 

 Ales Las' Group The group aims at reconstruction of traditional, ritual and secular music. In the band there are five musicians who play double bass, cello, violins, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipe, dulcimer, baraban and drum. The group has issued three CDs - " Lira" , "Smykowaja muzyka Białorusi" ("Belorussian stringed instruments music"), "Musica incognita". They are currently working on a new album which will include music performed on bagpipes, based on materials collected on research trips to central and northern Belarus.

Contact:
E-mail: los@lingvo.minsk.by

 

 Altanka Two musicians of the band ALTANKA - Dmitrij Lukjanchik i Witalij Shkilonok - come from a well-known Belarusian band TROITSA. In 2004 they decided to play together after 5 years of having performed in different groups, as their former common activity in the mid-90. and unfulfilled ideas were hard to be forgotten. Keeping in mind that number 3 is necessary and sufficient in a music band, they decided to invite to cooperation a third musician who turned out to be their old common friend Sasha Andrieshchuk "Jaya". Percussion, main vocal and stringed instruments have been taken up by Dmitrij, Witalij plays the guitar, stringed instruments and sings, and Sasha plays the unusual bass domra and sometimes stringed instruments, and sings, as well.

The concert programme was created not long after the group was formed and they started to perform in clubs. From clubs to festivals - and the project swung into action. The band has already recorded material for the first single in CUBA-STUDIO (Minsk, Belarus), they plan to record a big concert programme and a video clip.

The music of ALTANKA is well-known not only in Belarus, but also in Poland, Hungary, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia and in the Balkan Peninsula.

The musicians arrange traditional motifs in such a way so that the music would preserve the features of antiquity and magic. For them, an important element in creating music is spontaneity (in a positive sense of the word) and the personal input of every member of the group into creation and shaping of songs.

Among last events important for the artistic activity of the band the following should be mentioned:

beginning of July 2005 - website of ALTANKA launched

28-31 July 2005 - participation in the IV International Festival of the World Culture ETHNOLIFE 2005 (Podmoskowie, Russia)

August 2005 - performance at the celebration of Pentecost (Minsk, Belarus)

August-September 2005 - ethno expedition in Brest region (Belarus) together with Masha Lagoditch (JAR)

end of September 2005 - concerts in Poland

www.altanka.com MP3 MP3