Russia is a large transcontinental country located in Europe and Asia, bordering numerous nations in Europe, Central Asia and East Asia.
Introduction to Russian Music
Despite the fact that the hallmark of Russian ethno-music to the world is the group Huun-Huur-Tu from Tuva Republic, the Russian territory is home to about 40 indigenous peoples in the North, Siberia, and the Far East, as well as more than 190 nationalities as a whole.
The brightest representative of Siberian musicians is the oldest and legendary band Altai-Kai from Altay Republic; Olena UUTAi from Yakutia, who participated in the UK’s Got Talent in 2018 ; Shono from Buryatia, who is quite active and frequently tours Europe; and Khartyga from Tuva Republic.
If you look at northern European Russia, the highlights are Karelian group Sattuma and the band Noid from the vanishing Veps nationality.
Despite the general decreasing interest in folk music in Russia, new ethno-electronic projects such as Alyona Minulina, Oligarkh, Lucidvox, and ICHI, from various large cities get more popular.
On the current rise of pure traditional music, you can listen to the group Beneath the Skies who won a state grant to conduct a folk camp in the North village, also won the 2017 Russian World Music Awards and recorded a new album in Moscow in 2019.
Additional notable acts include other awards winners from 2016 and 2017 like Merema from Saransk (they sing Mordovian songs) and Horn’s choir from Nerekhta, real village men from the remote countryside who keep Russian folklore alive.
Other essential Russian acts are Moscow group Varevo, Siberian Vedan Kolod, Taisia Krasnopevtseva, and Yakruna.
There is also a new wave of “peters folk” (folk from Saint Petersburg) rising in 2018-2019: Testo, Otava Yo, Karjala, and EtnoZapil.
Tuvan Music
Tuvan throat singing developed to carry over the long distances of the Central Asian steppes. It can be divided into two main types: overtone singing where a singer produces a regular note simultaneously with a much higher one and undertone singing, where a regular note is “split” and a lower note extracted from it.
Russian World Music Chart
In October 2021, Russia’s first world music chart, the Russian World Music Chart (RWMC), was launched. The purpose of RWMC is to attract the attention of the world music community to the new releases showcasing folk music of multinational Russia, as well as promoting and supporting unique musicians from remote corners of Russia in the Russian Federation and abroad.
Folk Galore-CPL-Music released “Russian World Music Chart 2021,” a compilation with the finest traditional and contemporary Russian folk music acts. The anthology included the following artists: Staritsa – Kak uvadilsya kotok (Klyukva, CPL-music); Vedan Kolod – Witch (Gorodische, CPL-music); Yat-Kha – Kongurgai – We will never die (The Lollipoppe Shoppe); Shoodja-Choodja – Shooldyrak (Shooldyrak, CPL-music); Uutai – Your force (Dope, Mars records); Opycham – Time of Joy – Where to find peace of mind (Sketis music); Tatiana Molchanova – Sokhnet, vyanet – Songs for Lidia Ruslanova. Part 1 (Self-released); Khara – Drunk Russia (Mandragora, Sketis music); Kazachia Sprava – The sun will give the morrow birth (Izba records); Mila Kikina and the project Close the Gate – Creeps and winds (Verbochka, Self-released); Balkhar Ensemble – Balkhar Wedding Song – Lakku Balai: Songs of Lak People, Dagestan / Russia (Antonovka Records) Aleksey Khovalyg – Dorum Doyun – Reincarnation (Self-released).
Top Russian Albums in 2022
The top Russian world music albums in 2022 according to the Russian World Music Chart were:
1. New Asia — Chorchok — CPL-music / Dobranoch — Zay Frelekh! — CPL-music
2. V. A. — Folk and Great Tunes from Siberia and Far East — CPL-music
3. Art project VILY — Krapiva — Zion Music
4. Yggdrasil & Vera Kondratieva — Timint areh — Tutl Records
5. ZOR — Buu Ai — Baikal music label
6. Unknown Composer — Aurora Borealis — Navigator Records
7. Oduchu — Road to Home — Self-released
8. hodíla ízba — Rites — Self-released
9. Damir Guagov & Asker Sapiev — Adyge Oredyzhkher: Adyg / Circassian Music — Antonovka Records
10. Choduraa Tumat — Byzaanchy — Pan Records
Russian Musicians
Alash
Alyona Minulina
Bady-Dorzhu Ondar (Tuvan)
Chirgilchin (Tuvan)
Dmitri Paramonov
Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble
Eugene Zolotaryov (Buryat)
FolkBeat RF
Hartyga
Huun-Huur-Tu (Tuvan)
Julia Vorontsova
Karelian Folk Music Ensemble
Leonsia Erdenko (Gypsy/Roma)
Myllarit
Namgar (Buryat)
Namgar Ayushievna Lhasaranova (Buryat)
Nikolay Oorzhak
Noid
Olena Podluzhnaya, UUTAi
Olga Glazova
Pavel Lukoyanov
Sainkho Namtchylak
Santtu Karhu (Karelian)
Svetilen
Vedan Kolod
Veronika Bulycheva
Vladiswar Nadishana
Yat-Kha (Tuvan)
Russian Music Books:
Russian Folk Songs: Musical Genres and History by Vadim Prokhorov, Scarecrow Press, 2002.
Storytelling in Siberia: The Olonkho Epic in a Changing World by Robin P. Harris, University of Illinois Press, 2017. ISBN-10: 0252041283. ISBN-13: 978-0252041280.
