August 21, 2024
To Sing, to Fly Listening Post 382. On their tenth album, the gifted artists of Vedan Kolod channel humanity’s fascination with the singing, flight, beauty and vigor of the winged creatures that share our world. The family band—Valerii Naryshkin, Tatiana Naryshkina...
July 21, 2022
Tangled Up in Blues Listening Post 351. The title of Divanhana’s sixth album is a Bosnian word meaning “knotted,” a refreshing departure from overused terms like “fusion” and “blending” to describe music that unites diverse elements. Based in sevdah (sometimes called...
April 28, 2021
Moral of the Story Listening Post 300. The 14 songs on Kezeren Koiht (Ancient Custom) have everything required of first-rate folk tales: Dreams and journeys, peril and gore, omens and clairvoyants, love sagas that end well and badly. But where the Brothers Grimm had...
January 12, 2021
Tripartite Fairy Tales Listening Post 286. Three women who present themselves as pixies, mixing real and mythic realms. Three pillars: Smart theatricality; venue (a biodiverse marsh); and group name (Sen Svaja), from an Old Prussian term meaning “with family,”...
August 25, 2020
In the Balance Listening Post 267. Siberia is renowned for vast panoramas and extreme temperatures but it is also rich in sound. Over the past 15 years the folk trio Vedan Kolod has been introducing world audiences to the region’s acoustic qualities, from whistling...
