Band Zventa Sventana about their new album. Interview

Band Zventa Sventana about their new album.  Interview



Igor Gavrilov talked to the musicians of the band Zventa Sventana Tina Kuznetsova And Yuri Usachev about the new sound in the Zventa Sventana album, as well as why in 2023 to go on ethnographic expeditions and what questions folklore answers today.

- Most often, Zventa Sventana is spoken of as a group that "mixes folklore and electronics", and they stop there. Meanwhile, folklore is a fairly broad concept, and electronics can be extremely different. What are your main discoveries on this album?

Tina Kuznetsova: For me, this release is important because we allowed ourselves an absolutely lyrical, spontaneous album, excluding the task of making dance hits. It is recorded in unlimited artistic freedom. As for the geography of tradition, I really like the North. These are cosmically beautiful songs, with complex and tart harmonies, and difficult in terms of singing breath. For example, in the last album, it was bold enough for me to release “I felt it, I heard it.” But we got an unheard-of response - for many, this song turned out to be central to the album. This gave me more strength to translate the depth.

Yuri Usachev: Electronically, we moved into a deeper sound. If we had more active, dance drums, it could basically be called techno. Stylistically, we have moved into such a deep decadence. All styles and genres are deliberately mixed here. I wanted to avoid being tied to any one clear direction, which would sooner or later become outdated.

I wish it was just called "electronics". The album Zventa Sventana is like an orchestra in the broadest sense of the word. On the one hand, this music is classical in its mood. On the other hand, it is indefinable in style. This is electronics that does not care about laws and frameworks. Time signatures in folk songs are always very complex, so our electronics made a big compromise. It is important for us to preserve the authenticity of the song, not to adjust it to modern genres of electronic music. We have done a lot of work so that these complex rhythms are accessible to modern perception and people do not lose the reality of what is happening. Each composition has its own secret keys, and to pack them - to make them understandable, retaining the essence - this, perhaps, is a great achievement for us.

- It seems to me that in the songs “Yes, who is not there, it hurts a pity” and “Oh, I haven’t seen my friend for a long time” you expanded your spectrum towards modern piano music, neo-academism, this is not dance music at all. And look, the next album will be solved in some kind of crossover, ambient or new academism.

T.K.: It should be reminded that I am a pianist and this is my main instrument. Here I just gave him preference - allowed him to come to the fore. I grew up in a classical environment: the home music library tangibly formed musical tastes, and, of course, it was predominantly classical. Mom, as a piano teacher, always played a lot at home. And my sister - a student at the school at the conservatory - also trained a lot nearby. In a word, the classics always sounded at home. As for the next release, we have an idea to release a remix album.

Yu. W.: Zventa Sventana tries to show that all elements of musical culture can be mixed if done with taste and love. In general, the concepts of "dance music" and "electronic music" are not identical. We weave a lot of live instruments - bass guitar, piano, drums, saxophone... They are simply packed into a virtual sound world and virtual volumes that do not exist on planet Earth. For example, we deliberately recorded some parts at a different speed and then artificially returned it to normal, which gave the album a kind of psychedelic sound.

— Russian folklore is a material that your colleagues have been working with more and more in recent years. Moreover, radical musicians began to turn to him, such as, for example, Yana Kedrina (in the Kosaya Gora project). Do you feel your influence in this trend? Do bands like hodila izba or the Settlers come to you for any professional references?

T.K.: Folklore is an element. And for me, folk music, and of any ethnic group, is the best that the people have created. I picked up this element, and we are setting an example that it is possible to work with it, that it works, and it works well. And then - who's like. We influence more indirectly than directly. But I can say with confidence that we inspire colleagues from all artistic fields.

- There is such a point of view: all the songs have already been found by ethnographers of the 19th-20th centuries and it is impossible to find new material. If for the sake of anything it makes sense to go on ethnographic expeditions, then only for the sake of searching for new versions of already studied songs.

T.K.: Each trip is a unique knowledge in terms of anthropology and folklore. This is an immersion in a string of human destinies, in everyday life: cuisine, needlework, everyday traditions, holidays, calendar. In a word, this is an invaluable experience, and it leaves along with the carriers. For me, this is a colossal enrichment, food for creativity and knowledge about my people. One cannot agree that everything has been studied. Each version of a famous song is unique and a new discovery. Words, melody, chord, voice leading, interpretation of meanings and other professional nuances may change.

- There is a widespread opinion that Russian history goes in circles, in fact, everything has already been in it. And then, therefore, in folklore one can find answers to all questions, even the most complex ones. Does folklore provide answers to today's questions?

T.K.: Even in the most critical times, the folk song sings of life. Because only life resists death.



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