| HULU PROJECT / TRANCESIBERIA
(CCn'C Records, 2001)
Press review (Folk-tales Portland
USA, 2001)
"Trance" is an offshoot of electronic dance music,
the kind of stuff you hear at raves. I was a little concerned when
I received this disc, dreading a 72-minute soon-to-be coaster of
echoed beeps and stunted drum machine farts. Instead, I am stunned.
TranceSiberia is one of the most fascinating collisions between
tradition and the present I have heard, an aural tapestry of ancient
cave paintings digitized.
The Hulu Project is a duo of renegade musicians, Hubl
G on drums and sampling/programming, and Luigi Archetti on guitar
and effects. With many projects ranging from world to jazz to experimental,
this disc comes as a logical next step for the pair. Here they team
with Stepanida Borisova, a woman with a background in Yakutian vocal
music from extreme north eastern Siberia. Adding to this mix are
a brace of musicians from around the globe, running the gamut from
didgeridoo and Celtic harp to soprano sax and turntable scratching.
It's a complex mix of sounds, with
Borisova's wonderful vocals over top, singing songs
from a tradition as ancient as time itself.
The music of Yakutia could be best described as legato
Amerindian. (Borisova's vocals remind me of some traditional Blackfoot
styles, only with notes sustained and vibrato added.) She sings
the traditional songs of her people (some translations are provided),
covering many of the universal song subjects: love, loneliness,
and worry. Although a trained singer, she limits pure technique
for emotion, showing an amazing amount of restraint at times (she's
also an esteemed actress and concert singer in Russia). She also
controls this disc: no matter how fascinating the music underneath
her is, she is the focal point. She has two solo a cappella tracks
here, the gentle "Keghe" being the most fascinating, with Borisova
dropping vibrato (almost a trill) on every note. A beautiful style,
and a mesmerizing performance.
The music boarders on the indescribable. The listener
is hit from all sides right from the opening "Barastylahyy," which
mixes drum machines and electric guitar with Celtic harp. The sonic
deluge mixes electronic with World and jazz, with often surprising
results. "Serejuem Ajmakhtyy Duuhany" mixes samples and turntable
work with beautiful Coltrane-like sax flourishes, rather like a
steady train trip across a plain, with the occasional grove of trees,
and Borisova singing as the sky to the horizon, tying it all together.
Or "Uruu Tulluk Ere Molbystuur," stripped to vocal, sampling, and
electric jews harp (!), which is beyond description in its eerie
beauty.
Beautifully produced, wonderfully packaged, and with
liner notes that detail the aims of the recording, TranceSiberia
is an amazing disc. Already climbing the World Music charts in Europe,
it's sure to become a classic in the experimental sub-genre. It
makes you think, it makes you listen, and at times it is danceable.
So much for my preconceptions about what dance music can accomplish:
TranceSiberia breaks barriers most musicians wouldn't even consider,
let alone ponder. A must have.
(Folk-tales Portland USA, 2001)
back
to TranceSiberia
|
