II. FIELD REPORT: Ethnocore in Eastern & Central Europe [18.02.2001] In recent years the strength of ethnic influences upon contemporary music has noticeably increased in the new music of Eastern and Central Europe. What characterizes this trend is how artists combine local sounds with avant-garde, electronic, or rock elements to create a plethora of new musical modes. The term "Ethnocore" implies a fusion of old and new, resulting in daring, bold musical incarnations. From Hungary, KAMPEC DOLORES have been seamlessly fusing Eastern melodies and rhythms with avant-rock and avant-jazz for many years. An exciting new group, the DANUBIANS brings together Kampec Dolores members with the Californian artist AMY DENIO and Czech drummer PAVEL FAJT, for experiments including vocal sampling. Meanwhile, Budapest legend TROTTEL incorporates Hungarian rhythms and melodies into their own punk-progressive-rock. And Hungary's ambient-ethno masters KORAI OROM powerfully intertwine ethnic sound with DJ beats. In the heart of Poland, former members of ATMAN have reformed into a brazen new ensemble KARPATY MAGICZNE. From their travels from Tibet to the Amazon, they have collected inspiration and instruments and combined them now with ambient electronics, mesmerizing rhythms, and Polish lyrics. Pomo folk-rockers, Russia's FARLANDERS bring together ancient sounds from the steppes with folk guitar, bumpin' bass, and rich acoustic and synth sounds. And AUKTYON from St Petersburg fuse David Byrne-style art-rock with historic Russian melodies, theatrics, and rhythms to create one hell of a live show and sound. Czech ethno tends to keep a foot squarely in the door of very rhythmic punk, best exemplified in the music of legendary CZ art-rockers UZ JSME DOMA, or of UJD sister band ZUBY NEHTY (all-girl Czech avant-punk). In live performances, artists sew together ancient and new: witness recent Alternativa concert by Czech drummer PAVEL FAJT and Yakustsk singer STEPANIDA BORISOVA, in which Fajt merged triggered electronics with Stepanida's deep Sacha singing. Or see what happens when Czech legend IVA BITTOVA hits the stage with DJ JAVAS, layering classical/gypsy vocals with Javas' beats. There is so much out there in this field, we can barely introduce the topic in a brief paragraph. So, if you would like to know more, and if you are interested in a promotional sampler CD featuring some of this excellent music, just write to heather@tamizdat.org and of course, check our website for more! Check out these and more "ethno"-related CDs on Tamizdat RPM, www.tamizdat.org/rpm Kampec Dolores "A bivaly hatan" Trottel "Interference" Korai Orom "Recycled" Atman "Personal Forest" Project Karpaty Magiczne "Ethnocore" Auktyon "Ptiza" Uz Jsme Doma "Usi" Zuby Nehty "Lod Odplouva" Bittova/Dunaj/Fajt "Pustit Musis" * For further reading, see article by Matthew Covey in Ba Da Boom Grammaphone on the web courtesy of our friends at InSound: www.insound.com
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