Russian Sleigh Ride: White Fort and "Svyatki!"

We played this song for years before learning that it was actually a holiday song. No matter, we'll play it again out of season because that guitar and violin are so badass. Svyatki! is by Russian duo White Fort, also known as Two Siberians. The do consists of Artyom Yakushenko on electric violin and Yuriy Matveyev on electric guitar. Actual Siberians, they won a festival award in Novasibirsk in 1986 as best new artists, which almost got them expelled from high school. In 1997, they captured the attention of an American producer while playing for vodka shots at a Moscow photography exhibit, who casually mentioned that they should make a recording in the US. He was surprised to get a call from them at JFK airport as they seriously took him up on his offer. No major label was willing to sign them, and they embarked on a club tour of the US and then financed their own CD, engaging a number of major jazz artists on the recording. They broke up in 2009, but reunited onstage in Moscow in 2012. Not long after that performance, their song 6/8 won first place in the instrumental category of the International Songwriting Competition. The win gave them new energy, and they began performing and touring again. Though it is almost impossible to find their original recordings in the United States save their lone US release (Out of Nowhere), they did release two Anglicized versions of their Russian albums Two Kings and 6/8 in the US, and they have recorded songs in Seattle for a coming release to be announced. Svyatki!, a Christmas song, can be found on their 2012 album 6/8.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Siberians_(White_Fort);

Christmas in Siberia: White Fort and "Svyatki"

Well, we are a little early for this song, but so what? It's a pretty good song! Svyatki! is by Russian duo White Fort, also known as Two Siberians. The do consists of Artyom Yakushenko on electric violin and Yuriy Matveyev on electric guitar. Actual Siberians, they won a festival award in Novasibirsk in 1986 as best new artists, which almost got them expelled from high school. In 1997, they captured the attention of an American producer while playing for vodka shots at a Moscow photography exhibit, who casually mentioned that they should make a recording in the US. He was surprised to get a call from them at JFK airport as they seriously took him up on his offer. No major label was willing to sign them, and they embarked on a club tour of the US and then financed their own CD, engaging a number of major jazz artists on the recording. They broke up in 2009, but reunited onstage in Moscow in 2012. Not long after that performance, their song 6/8 won first place in the instrumental category of the International Songwriting Competition. The win gave them new energy, and they began performing and touring again. Though it is almost impossible to find their original recordings in the United States save their lone US release (Out of Nowhere), they did release two Anglicized versions of their Russian albums Two Kings and 6/8 in the US, and they have recorded songs in Seattle for a coming release to be announced. Svyatki!, a Christmas song, can be found on their 2012 album 6/8.

Christmas Time All Year: White Fort and "Svyatki!"

It took awhile, but I finally realized that today's random world music song selection was a Christmas/holiday song. You see, not having much of a second language, I often don't know the meaning of the titles of songs that I find. I just listen to the song and if I like it, it gets added to my collection and eventually makes it on to our Global Music Show. I suppose I could have run the title, Svyatki!, through Google Translate, but I often don't think of that.

What I heard when I listened to this song at first was amazing guitar and violin work, a fast tempo, a catchy tune that one would want to dance (fast) to, and man, could these guys play! I don't know about you, but my idea of Christmas music, which has evolved over the past 20 years or so, was still music that had some kind of identifier that it was holiday-oriented. Either a word (which was out because I don't understand Russian) or clues in the music such as bells or choirs. Admittedly, my ideas of Christmas music have changed since I have become a kind of collector of interesting, non-traditional Christmas music but, there was always still that identifier somewhere. But not understanding Russian, all I heard was a really jammin' song that had no connection to the holiday. And I liked it. I played it over and over.

I once lived in a community house in Milwaukee and another resident was an ex-nun who had a few issues and loved Christmas music and would play said Christmas music at all times of the year. We eventually had to make it a rule that she wouldn't play Christmas music except during the holiday season. Well, I felt like I must have seemed a little like her when I found out last year, after a year of listening to Svyatki!, that it was a Christmas song. I could see myself in Russia, telling people in July what a great song this was and playing it over an over while they looked at each other and made the universal symbol of craziness sign by twirling a finger around an ear. And wouldn't you know it, just as I was starting to write this post I had the idea to look up the title in Google Translate and the title is very plainly, translated into English, Christmas Time!

Well, I still like the song. And I still will play it whenever I want because I like it so much. The label doesn't mean anything. I shouldn't have been so judgmental of my ex-nun roommate and her Christmas music love, and it took White Fort to teach me that lesson.

White Fort is a duo from Russia. Consisting of guitarist Yuriy Matveyev and fiddler Artyom Yakushenko, the two met in college and started making music together while procrastinating from their studies. They took a prize for Best New Band at their first national folk festival in Novosibirsk and were put on probation back at school. After 3 studio CDs and a ballet score, they moved to Moscow and were discovered by an American promoter who released an album of their music in the US under the title "Two Siberians." They also continued making albums in Russia, and scored film and television. They suspended their music-making in 2008 to take sabbaticals, but reunited in 2012 and began recording touring again. Svyatki!, is from their 2012 CD 6/8.