New
album "Oboroty" reviews download
"There is something
like the La Minor sound: warm and authentic with live acoustic instruments;
no overdubs or mini disc fibbing. This band you recognise instantly
and they create their own atmosphere. They are real. And they have charm..."
(Read complete press-release from
Eastblok Music)
If Gogol Bordello had
stayed unplugged in the Ukraine, playing folk music rather than discovering
punk rock and emigrating to New York, they might today sound rather
like La Minor. The St. Petersburg-based group, who first came to light
on the Russendisko compilation a few years ago, mine a rich songbook
that draws upon the pre-war Odessa criminal demi-monde of gangsters,
pimps, whores, no-good gamblers and dodgy bars. Cleverly inventive arrangements
for sax, acoustic guitars, upright bass, mandolin and bayan (Russian
button accordion) breathe mercurial new life into traditional folkloric
lyrics that deal with such classy subjects as drinking, fighting and
getting locked up, delivered by singer Viacheslav Shalygin in a wonderfully
deadpan baritone, with suitably vernacular English translations of several
of the songs helpfully provided in the liner notes. The result is a
splendidly impudent example of the style now widely and rather annoyingly
known as ‘Russki chanson’ as La Minor’s lurching tangos, tottering polkas
and inebriated waltzes are given feral twists of klezmer, swing Django
Reinhardt-style and street-corner jazz. The band are not Roma, as far
as I know, but, like all the best Gypsy music, La Minor manage to sound
like they’re completely pissed without missing a note. Sometime’s they’re
maudlin drunk, as in ’Koybelnaya’ (Lullaby) and sometimes they just
want to have a wild old knees-up, as they do on ‘Tihiy Vecher’ (Quiet
Evening), and on a great new version of the track we first heard on
Russendisko, ‘Devushka v Platie iz Sitsa’ (The Girl In The Cotton Dress).
Brilliantly disreputable stuff. ****
Songlines, Issue 62 2009, Nigel Williamson
St. Petersburg's La Minor
term their music "street chanson." More than a concise abbreviation
of their melange of Eastern European, Balkan and French influences typical
of the Odessa region, it aligns them against the traditional Russki
chanson and firmly with the underground. Slava Shalygin's voice is somewhere
between a guttural chansonnier and Vegas showman, accompanied by the
filigree of saxophone and bayan (the Russian button accordion), anchored
by guitar and swinging drums. The band are supremely tight, especially
during the blistering tempos of "White Acacia." If anything,
the execution is too clean — the wonderfully ragged edges that give
klezmer and Balkan brass band music their energy have been polished
to a gleaming shine. Shalygin's lyrics deal with subject matter ranging
from love and passion to alcohol and imprisonment, all of which could
benefit from a whirling dervish sentiment in the music. There seems
to be a resurgence of all things manouche these days, and La Minor are
a welcome addition to the crew. (Eastblok)
By David Ryshpan. Exclaim!
Magazine, Canada.
Nice record this;
apparently a collection of underground gangster, prison and camp songs.
And (apparently again) the band La Minor are the refuseniks who play
these old songs in the most “unacceptable” way possible. Fine by me,
as this LP certainly gets the foot tapping.
Apparently this LP contains polkas or slow waltzes and tangos. But you
wouldn’t know as the band doesn’t stick to strict interpretations of
any musical convention. Sometimes there’s a jazzy klezmer, a lullaby
or gypsy swing; sometimes there’s folk punk, or sometimes a mutated,
speeded up ska. La Minor use sax, Bayan, guitars & double bass to
create a warm, fluent and incredibly mercurial backdrop to these rebel
songs. The bands musical wanderings are informed further by singer Slava
Shalygin’s incredibly warm voice. The fact that (not understanding Russian
beyond “da” & “nyet”) I have no idea what he’s babbling on about
matters not a jot; the lad has considerable presence.
When the songs aren’t about drinking, they’re about getting locked up,
or about fighting over girls. Class. Highlights are Tihy Vecher (Quiet
Evening) which is a breathless whirl, completely belying its title.
And White Acacia after a deceptively gentle beginning is a breakneck
stomp that gets Too Much Too Young on your ass at one point. Check out
the up-tempo question and answer of The Girl in the White Cotton Dress
and the brilliantly maudlin Lullaby, which is like a pissed-up choir
rehearsal.
Great stuff.
Words: Richard Foster, Incendiary
Magazine
Gangster-Swing aus St.
Petersburg – mal ganz was Neues. Kenner nennen es auch Russki Chanson.
La Minor bestehen aus Knopf-Akkordeon, Saxophon, Stehbass, Gitarre und
Schlagzeug und bewegen sich zwischen Underground-Drinking-Party, Odessa-Hafenbar,
Dirty Folk und Zirkus-Lobby. Sympathische Lieder zum Mitschunkeln und
Mitgrolen, je nach Bedarf. Sanger Viacheslav Shalygin hat das Organ,
das jeder Stimmung gerecht wird und seine Musik-Kumpels holen ihn in
jedem Gemutszustand ab, egal ob im Tango-Schritt, mit einem bi?chen
Klezmer im Koffer, als Schlaf- oder als sportliches Sauflied im Ska-Rhythmus.
Was fruher zur sozialistischen Subkultur gehorte, ist heute Stoff fur
Tanzparties a la Russendisko im Kaffee Burger Style. La Minor passen
da prima hin, haben sie doch die alten Zeiten mehr oder weniger unversehrt
ins Heute hinuber gerettet und geben sich betont leidenschaftlich. Naturlich
auch mit dabei das „Madchen im Baumwollkleid”, das mittlerweile zum
Standard-Repertoire einer jeden Russenparty gehort. Eine Platte, die
von vorne bis hinten Spa? macht und die auf keiner ernst zu nehmenden
Fete fehlen darf.
http://www.sound-and-image.de/
Underground-Chanson
mit menschlichem Antlitz
Es gibt so etwas wie
den La-Minor-Sound. Warm und authentisch. Live-Akustik-Instrumente.
Keine Overdubs oder Mini-Disc-Geflunker. Diese Gruppe erkennt man sofort,
und sie schaffen eine eigene Atmospha"re. Sie sind echt. Und sie
haben Charme. 2000 in St. Petersburg gegru"ndet, waren La Minor
seitdem schon oft auch in Europa auf Tour und haben in vielen kleinen
Clubs und Spelunken, aber auch schon in gro"?eren Hallen und auf
Festivals gespielt und sich dabei eine
treue Fangemeinde erspielt.
“…
La Minor, whose blend of cool, jazzy urban folk has been a huge hit
in the city since the band first appeared in November 2000”.
The St. Petersburg Times. Friday, May 31, 2002
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CD review "Death
of a Jeweller"
2006
La Minor is a Russian band which was founded in 2000. It brings Russian
street ballads with influences from the folk and Klezmer influences.
The group plays music from the Soviet era and especially the music of
gangsters. They like to sing about swindlers, prostitutes, thieves etc.
La Minor brings music from the Russian Underworld in a fresh and open
minded way. The bayan (Russian accordion) plays a big role in the music
and sounds really well. I love the way this instrument gives extra power
to the saxophone in the song Death of a jeweller. In Forgive and Farewell
Odessa mama, they play some traditional Odessa klezmer that sounds really
ancient and brings back the atmosphere of an old Odessa nightclub. La
Minor has created a nice cd with music that is Russian in any way. It
is professionally played and this Death of a jeweller has a good overall
sound.
Eelco Schilder http://www.folkworld.de/
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With
Russian chanson more popular than ever, a band from St. Petersburg gets
back to its gritty gangster roots.
By Sergey Chernov
Teeming with thieves and policemen, prostitutes and undercover agents,
La Minor's Soviet-era street songs about the urban underworld strike
an all-too-familiar chord with local art-house fans. But as the St.
Petersburg band has learned on its frequent trips abroad, foreign audiences
bring their own life experiences to the music.
"We are normally promoted as 'Soviet folk' or 'ska gangsta folk'
in Europe," said La Minor lead singer Slava Shalygin, who recently
returned from a monthlong tour of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
More than once during the tour, he said, La Minor's members were mistaken
for Romanians performing gypsy music.
In reality, La Minor draws its material from old-time gangster songs,
or blatnyak, the title of the band's first album from late 2001. One
art director of St. Petersburg's Griboyedov bunker club, Anton Belyankin,
dubbed the band's Klezmer-influenced style "Odessa beat,"
a reference to the rich criminal traditions of the Black Sea city.
But La Minor is known for its careful choice of material, and for ignoring
the standards in place of obscure gems of folk poetry.
Shalygin, 32, was first exposed to gangster music as a child, and started
out as a singer in 1994 with the short-lived rock band Navigators, which
split up after performing four concerts at St. Petersburg's pioneering
but now-defunct punk club TaMtAm. In the wake of the breakup, he drifted
between several colleges and the odd job before forming La Minor in
2000.
A self-taught vocalist, Shalygin was joined by St. Petersburg Conservatory
graduate Alexander Yezhov on the bayan, or button accordion, and drummer
Pyotr Ketlinsky, who had previously played with the local garage-rock
band Kacheli. More recent additions include Alexander Volkov on upright
bass and Igor Boitsov on saxophone.
Right from the outset, Shalygin set out to emulate urban folk guru Arkady
Zvezdin, more commonly known as Arkady Severny, who died in St. Petersburg
in 1980. It was Severny's gangster songs that Shalygin first heard in
his parents' collection of clandestinely circulated recordings as a
child.
"I've listened to a lot of Arkady Severny and wanted to create
something with the same sound," he recalled. "To perform all
the street hits he used to sing."
Severny's genre, now euphemistically known as Russian chanson, surfaced
from the music underground after the Soviet Union's collapse, and has
since become ubiquitous in popularized renditions on radio stations,
at cafes and in taxicabs. But La Minor returns to the music's roots,
with the sophisticated arrangements and deadpan delivery that originally
marked the gangster sound.
The
Moscow Times February 4 - 10, 2005
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Gangsterbeats
mit La Minor aus Russland beim Hagener Muschelsalat
Beim Hagener „Muschelsalat“ wartet am Mittwoch, 25. August, um 20 Uhr
in der Konzertmuschel im Volkspark das dritte und letzte Konzert der
Reihe „Odyssee - Kulturen der Welt“ mit der Gruppe La Minor.
Bevor es La Minor gab, nannte man die Musik der 30er bis 50er Jahre
in Russland Odessa beats - Klange, die sich wie Sound-tracks aus klassischen
Gangsterfilmen jener Zeit anhoren.
Seit Slava Shalygin vor vier Jahren mit funf weiteren Musikern La Minor
grundete, hat diese Musik an Popularitat wieder enorm gewonnen. Die
Profis an Saxophone, Contrabass, Gitarre und Bayan, dem russischen Akkordeon,
begeistern in Clubs von Moskau und St. Petersburg bis Paris, Wien, Helsinki,
Amsterdam und Berlin.
Wenn La Minor in Unterhemd und Schiebermutze auf die Buhne steigt und
die frischen eigenen Arrangements ihrer klassischen Vorbilder Arcady
Severny, A. Berinson, A. Dmitrievich und Ju. Morfessi in atemberaubendem
Tempo liefert, verfallt das Publikum ihrem Tanzrhythmus so-fort. „La
chanson Russe populaire“ hei?t schlicht die erste CD mit „kleinkriminellen
Chansons“, die mit viel Seele auch sofort die Kritiker zu uberzeugen
wusste.
Der temporeiche, coole, manchmal jazzige Sound machte sie vom Geheimtipp
schnell zur Kultband des wilden russischen Untergrunds. Wenn La Minor
auftritt, wird ge-sungen, getanzt, gefeiert bis sich auf wie vor der
Buhne Erschopfung breit macht.
Kulturamt der Stadt Hagen
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Ganoven
Beats aus St. Petersburg
Bevor
es La Minor gab, nannte man die Musik der 30er bis 50er Jahre in Russland
Odessa beats - Klange, die sich wie Soundtracks aus klassischen Gangsterfilmen
jener Zeit anhoren. Seit Slava Shalygin vor vier Jahren mit weiteren
Musikern La Minor grundete, hat diese Musik an Popularitat wieder enorm
gewonnen. Die Profis an Saxophon, Kontrabass, Gitarre und Bayan, dem
russischen Akkordeon, begeistern in Clubs von Moskau und St. Petersburg
bis Paris, Wien, Helsinki, Amsterdam und Berlin. Wenn La Minor in Unterhemd
und Schieber-mutze auf die Buhne steigt und die frischen eigenen Arrangements
ihrer klassischen Vorbilder Arcady Severny, A. Berinson, A. Dmitrievich
und Ju.Morfessi in atemberaubendem Tempo liefert, verfallt das Publikum
ihrem Tanzrhythmus sofort. „La Chanson Russe populaire“ hei?t schlicht
die erste CD mit kleinkriminellen Chansons, die mit viel Seele auch
sofort die Kritiker zu uberzeugen wusste. Der temporeiche, coole, manchmal
jazzige Sound machte sie vom Geheimtipp schnell zur Kultband des wilden
russischen Untergrunds. Wenn La Minor auftritt, wird gesungen, getanzt,
gefeiert, bis sich auf wie vor der Buhne Erschopfung breit macht. Wer
wei?, wann der nachste Grund zum Feiern ist.
http://www.bahnhof-langendreer.de/+++Odyssey%202004%20La%20Minor.htm
Gaunerjazz
und russische Chansons
Ausgelassenheit und Schwermut sind die beiden Extreme, zwischen denen
die Musik von La Minor aus St. Petersburg schwankt. Die sechs Musiker
von La Minor arrangieren russische Chansons und alte Ganovenlieder zu
moderneren, lebendigeren und urbaneren Versionen um. La Minor verbreiten
die Atmosphare der Sowjetunion der 30er bis 50er Jahre und klingen wie
der Soundtrack einiger guter, alter Filme dieser Zeit: nach verrauchten
Spelunken, Gangstern und tragischen Liebesgeschichten.
Ihre komplett akustischen Versionen von Klassikern der russischen Stra
enliedes entfernen sich deutlich vom russischen Folk der Originale.
Bei La Minor gesellt sich zum Folk eine gute Portion Jazz und eine Prise
jiddischer Klezmer. Deswegen wird ihre Musik auch als Odessa Beat bezeichnet:
Die Stadt am schwarzen Meer ist stark judisch gepragt und eines der
Zentren fur Klezmermusik in Osteuropa.
Russischer Folk, Jazz und Klezmer
La Minor klingen jedoch schmutziger und auf eine angenehme Art verkommener
als viele Klezmer-Interpreten. Kein Wunder, schlie lich heit Blatnyak,
ihr erstes von insgesamt drei Alben, auf deutsch so viel wie Knastlieder.
Auch optisch fugen sich die sechs Profimusiker in dieses Konzept ein,
wenn sie im wei en Feinripp-Unterhemd und mit Schiebermutze auf die
Buhne steigen und in atemberaubendem Tempo ihre eigenen Interpretationen
von Klassikern ihrer Vorbilder wie Severnovo, Dimitrivitscha oder Morfessi
intonieren. Der eine oder die andere kennt La Minor vielleicht bereits
von ihrem Beitrag zum Russendisko-Sampler oder ihren letzten Auftritten
in Bochum im Winter und Sommer 2004.
Kleinkriminellencharme
Gegrundet haben sich La Minor im Jahr 2000 in St. Petersburg. Uber alle
Besetzungswechsel der vergangenen Jahre ist der Sanger und musikalische
Kopf Sergej Schalgin der Band erhalten geblieben. Im Vergleich zu den
letzten Auftritten von La Minor in Bochum hat sich in der Instrumentierung
jedoch einiges geandert: Der Kontrabass wurde durch eine Tuba und die
Gitarre durch eine Balalaika ersetzt. Balalaika, Schlagzeug, Tuba und
Gesang bilden das musikalische Grundgerust von La Minor. Unterstutzt
werden sie von einem Saxophon und einem Bayan (ein russisches Akkordeon).
Den Abend mit Gaunerjazz und russischen Chansons gibt es am Donnerstag,
den 21.7., im Zwischenfall (direkt an der S-Bahn-Haltestelle Langendreer-West).
Dann fehlen nur noch ein Glaschen Vodka und ein Zigarillo, um die russische
Kleinkriminellenromantik komplett zu machen
mac http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/bsz/668/3a.html
La
minor ready to light up again
by
Sergey Chernov
The
long-awaited new CD from increasingly popular St. Petersburg band La
Minor is a rare case of a genuinely "difficult second album,"
a term music journalists more often use in an ironic or even mocking
sense to refer to a band's silence after a successful debut.
"Chto-to Sigareta Gasnet" ("The Cigarette Keeps Going
Out") is finally set for release a full 18 months after La Minor
debuted with "Blatnyak," and will be showcased with a big
concert at Red Club on May 4.
Although the cover of "Blatnyak" said the next album would
comprise original material, "Chto-to Sigareta Gasnet" still
concentrates on old urban-folk songs, primarily from the repertoire
of late Soviet blatnyak (prison-folk) guru Arkady Severny.
"There is still a lot of material not written by us that we'd like
to record," La Minor singer Slava Shalygin, who formed the band
in 2000, said this week. "Second, we don't have enough of our own
material for a full album. There are other considerations, too. We're
saving [our songs] for the future."
The new album, currently being mixed in a studio, contains 12 tracks,
from a 19th-century Russian robbers' song to "Dzhaz-Bolelshchik"
("Jazz Fan") by vintage Soviet singer and band leader Leonid
Utyosov to such Severny gems as "Komisionny Reshili Brat"
(We Decided to Hit a Second-Hand Store) and "Zhil Ya V Shumnom
Gorode Odessa" (I Lived in the Noisy Town of Odessa).
According to Shalygin, La Minor aimed at less known songs for the second
album, and the whole band chose the material collectively.
"We usually sit and discuss what we'll do and what we won't because,
for me, it's probably the lyrics that are interesting, while for musicians
it's the music," he said. "So, we try to do something that
suits everyone in the band, so nobody would feel uncomfortable. At the
same time, the song has to be good."
Shalygin said La Minor has a supply of rare, exclusive material thanks
to the band's contacts with Moscow-based urban-folk collectors.
Like "Blatnyak," "Chto-to Sigareta Gasnet" was recorded
at St. Petersburg's Calypso Studios and released on local label Kapkan.
According to Shalygin, the whole disc was recorded over just three days
earlier this month.
Shalygin started his music career in the early 1990s fronting psychobilly
band Navigators, which played at the pioneering underground TaMtAm club.
Quitting the music scene after Navigators split in the mid-1990s, he
returned with the unlikely sound and repertoire of La Minor in 2000.
"I wanted some live sound with old rhythms," Shalygin said.
"I can tell the difference between the sound of live instruments
and a person working with a mini-disc. I mean, when you have live instruments,
it conveys the appropriate mood."
Because of its approach and background, La Minor is a black sheep in
the camp of prison folk, or "Russian chanson," a term referring
to the venerable French tradition that was adopted by the genre's poppier
performers to make the Russian version sound more respectable.
Although La Minor's CDs are filed under "Russian chanson"
at local record shops, the band performs at rock clubs and is rarely,
if ever, heard on popular urban-folk-oriented radio stations. Likewise,
the band did not appear at the huge Arkady Severny Memorial Festival
at Ice Palace last month.
"[Promoters] are reluctant to invite us to such events, probably
because there's too many people in the band," Shalygin said. "For
them, its easier to work with mini-discs. They put on a mini-disc and
sing along to it. We are not prepared to do that."
Apart from Shalygin, La Minor includes Sanya Yezhov on bayan, Yegor
Komarov on saxophone, Sergei Pavlov on guitar, Max Temnov on double
bass and Pyotr Ketlinsky on drums. Two of the tracks on "Chto-to
Sigareta Gasnet" also employ a guest balalaika player.
Having established itself on the local scene, La Minor has performed
more and more concerts in Moscow lately, mostly at underground clubs
like Kitaisky Lyotchik Dzhao Da and O.G.I. The band's summer touring
plans include a trip to Krasnoyarsk, which is likely to become the band's
first Russian venue outside St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Although yet to appear in Russia outside the country's two biggest cities,
La Minor has already enjoyed success in Western Europe, where it has
toured three times. However, unlike most Russian rock bands, the audiences
at whose gigs tend to be dominated by Russian expats, La Minor's concerts
have mainly drawn native listeners.
"They all dance and shout for more," Shalygin said. "It's
all fun."
La Minor has performed locally only a few times this year, which they
started with a four-week European tour.
"We just didn't arrange any local dates before we left," Shalygin
explained.
The band embarks on another four-week, 16-date tour, covering Belgium,
France and Germany, on May 5
ST.Peterburg
Times #863, Friday, April 25, 2003
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