Global Union

Reelroad

Sunday, September 14, 2008, 1:00 p.m.

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Reelroad plays traditional Russian music in an original post-folk style in concert halls and at festivals throughout Europe and Russia. This year the band crosses the Atlantic to perform at world music festivals in Mexico and in the United States.

Reelroad makes ancient Russian music come alive with modern arrangements, global rhythms and youthful energy. The use of traditional Russian vocals and folk instruments reveal the band’s close ties to its roots as it plays uncommon folk songs from northern and central Russia and Siberia, music driven underground for decades.

Why is it called “Reelroad?” The band was formed in 1999 during a Celtic music boom in St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia. Initially the band played traditional Celtic and Russian music, with Celtic getting more play on the 2001 release “Reelroad.” However, according to band founder Alexey Belkin “in our synthesis of Russian and Irish musical traditions the Russian takes the upper hand.”

Influenced by Finland’s Värttinä and Latvia’s Iļģi at the 2002 Vendene Festival in Latvia, Reelroad band members decided they did not have to copy someone else’s music. They could play their own. One year later “Strela” came out in equal parts Russian and Celtic. It marked the band’s farewell to Celtic music and the beginning of a new way of performing traditional Russian music. “Guljaju, guljaju” was released late last year, the culmination of three year’s work. It is all Russian folk songs and the backbone of Reelroad’s 2008 concert tours. One reviewer noted with this album the “Russian-Celtic orchestra ‘Reelroad’ finally, it seems, russified.” (Etno and World)

All of Reelroad’s members are musicians. Four serve as vocalists as well, singing in the traditional Russian village voice. Anastasia Karaseva plays the tin whistle, pandereta and Irish harp. Alexey Belkin manages Reelroad and plays Galician and Scottish bagpipes, zhaleika (fife) and winged gusli (psaltery). Aleksandrs “Kep” Dmitrijevs plays acoustic guitar, banjo and harmonica. Natalia Vysokikh is a professional violinist. Alexey Skosyrev made the fretless bass guitar he plays. Svetlana Kondesyuk is a graduate of the Academy of Arts, designer of Reelroad’s “Strela” album cover, and plays the flute and Galician bagpipes. Denis Nikiforov learned to play the drums in the army, studies at the Academy of Arts, and works at the famous Hermitage museum.

In addition to concert performances, Reelroad teaches folk dances from all over Russia in clubs and dance schools. The band welcomes dancers of all skill levels and aims to dispel the belief Russian folk dances are boring or difficult.