A Platform for Ethnically and Culturally Inspired Music
ABOUT
Experimental realization of Russian folklore in ethno-ritual and ethno-trance forms.

Voronovo Krylo (Raven’s Wing) – the ethnic project that has been functioning for more than 6 years. The project is a kind of art laboratory, combining artists of quite different (sometimes very different) fields: music, video art, plastic performance. It is Russian ritual folklore that is their general point of interest and most of all – its new forms of expression in the modern world. With the purpose to reveal the deepest levels of ritual songs, the project members investigate folk traditions of various Russian regions. As if returning to immemorial cults and shamanism, the musicians attain trance sound in folk music, for which numerous archaic musical instruments of many peoples are used along with up-to-date computer technologies. However, being neither reconstruction nor ethnographic modeling, it is more an experiment, just a search for new artistic norms.

Mostly used musical instruments:

The Russian gusli, the South-Russian lyrichord (the European hurdy gurdy), folk string instruments (the cymbals, the balalaika, the domra), the accordion and various folk harmonicas, the clarsach, the violoncello (sometimes the contrabass), the flutes (from classic orchestra ones to folk ones, such as the whistle, the bansuri, the shakuhachi, the khulusi), overtone instruments (the jaw harp, the kalyuka - the overtone flute, the didgeridoo), the percussions of different places of the world (the djembe, the cajon, the darbuka, the tambourine, the oud and many others).

Presently there are four principal participants in the project:

Irina Pizhyanova – the band chief, (ethno-singer, plays numerous string instruments); for 20 years has been studying authentic Russian folk culture, leads an experimental folklore project team in Perm (Russia).

Andrey Mikhailov - the band chief, (plays different percussions and overtone instruments: the jaw harp, the overtone flute, the didgeridoo) a musician, a designer, and a video artist.

Leonid Imennikh – a musician, (in the project plays the percussions, string instruments, and the accordion), a composer. Leads an art laboratory of post-academic music and is deeply involved in such modern music activities.

Sergei Misyurev – a multi-instrumentalist (in the project plays wind instruments: ethno-flutes, the clarinet, the trumpet), a sound designer, and a sound engineer. Cooperates with several electronic sound art projects which combine music instruments and high tech. An organizer of an electro music internet label.

Four years ago, these musicians founded an “Experimental folk project team “Sozvuchiye”, that operates in the Culture Centre at Perm State Research University (Russia). The team members deal with theoretical and practical studying of the traditional Russian culture.

Voronovo Krylo has participated in the following festivals: KAMWA (Perm, Russia) 2006, 2007; Pesni Chetyrekh Stikhiy 2007; Plemena (Perm, Russia) 2007-2009; Serebryanyy Put’ 2008; Serdtse Permi (Cherdyn, Russia) 2008, 2009; Kupalskiye Nochi 2010; Bol’shaya Riba 2010; Kolokolnye Zvony Rossii (Usolie, Russia) 2010; Energiya Zhizni (Yekaterinburg, Russia) 2009-2012; Otkrytoye Nebo (Perm, Russia) 2009-2012; Zhivaya Perm 2009-2013; Belye Nochi (Perm, Russia) 2011-2013; Nebo I Zemlya (Tyumen, Russia) 2011, 2012; Krutushka (Kazan) 2011, 2012; Zov Permi (Cherdyn, Russia) 2012; Zhivaya Voda (Novosibirsk) 2012; Mir Sibiri (ex. Sayanskoye Koltso) (Shushenskoye, Russia) 2012; EtnoEra (Omsk, Russia) 2012; Solntsestoyaniye (Omsk, Russia) 2013, etc.