This month has been a month of stories, as
The Magic Door
is yet another album based around a myth. But this time it’s a story from a warmer region of Europe and much later in time than the old Scandinavian and Sami myths we heard till now. It takes place in Baroque Rome. According to legend, at the end of the 17th century, a pilgrim called ‘Stibeum’ was a guest at the villa of Marquis Maximiliano Palombara, a man who had developed a passion for alchemy since he visited the alchemical laboratory in the Riario Palace, (now known as Palazzo Corsini) in 1656.
The pilgrim (most likely an alchemist called Giuseppe Francesco Borr) disappeared forever after this visit, but he left a paper with seven symbols and epigraphs corresponding with the seven planets that were known to mankind in those days. Unable to decipher them himself the Marquis engraved these symbols and epigraphs in his door hoping that someday, someone would decode them. This door, now known as
Porta Alchemica
or Porta Magica, is the inspiration for this album.
Fast forward 350 years and we find ourselves in October 2016. The moment that
Arthuan Rebis
and Giada Colagrande
started work on a musical project: making an album inspired by the Porta Alchemica. Arthuan Rebis we know of course as the composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Italian medieval group
In Vino Veritas,
and of his solo album
La Primavera Del Piccolo Popolo,
which we reviewed a few months ago. Giada Colagrande is an Italian film director, actress and singer. During the writing process,
Vicenzo Zitello
(an accomplished composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist in his own right) became part of the porject as a third bandmember. Last to join The Magic Door were special guests
Glen Velez
(percussion, frame drum) and
Marco Cavanna
(double bass). Together they recorded the album
The Magic Door,
which was released in November 2018.
Those of you who know Arthuan Rebis his solo album La Primavera Del Piccolo Popolo will know he has his own very unique style: warm and friendly, somewhere between ambient-, new age-, folk- and easy-listening pop music. Well, The Magic Door is just as unique. Which brings me to the impossible task of trying to describe The Magic Doors music. A problem I already had when I tried to describe Arthuan Rebis’ solo music. The honest answer. I struggled. How do you describe 5 centuries of music flowing together anyway? New age music; chamber pop; Baroc, ’50’s pop, a touch of Arabian influences, it is all there, blending together in a unique way, making the music feel refreshingly new and comfortingly old at the same time. Confused? well, join the club. My first two attempts to put this music into words became so complicated to read, that they looked like an alchemistic formula in their own right.
The basis of The Magic Door’s music is the feeling of warmth. An embrace put to music. Listen to the warm notes of the cello in Saturnine Night combined with Giada’s equally tender voice and you’ll melt away on the spot. When Arthuan then also adds his soothing voice to the music, it becomes a warm woolen blanket you can crawl into. A soft musical pillow of ease and relaxation.
The Refrain of Jupiter’s Dew is Just as Silky
The refrain of Jupiter’s Dew is just as silky. It is stunning how Arthuan’s and Giada’s voices blend together. Not only on this song but through the whole CD. Pure magic. Supported by a gentle drum rhythm, a groovy double bass, and pleasant acoustic guitar chords this whole album is a joy for the ear. Sudden surprises as the musical saw in Jupiter’s Dew and Mercury Unveiled add that special sort of mystique an alchemist inspired album should have.
But not every song is cozy and calm. Water of Mars has an enticing bass/cello line. Really catchy and slightly dark. As the song progresses it picks up speed and at the same time drags you back through the centuries into a dark Baroc sounding cello/nyckelharpa solo. Welcome mister Bach into the 21st century. A really clever use of ‘antique’ instruments in a modern arrangement. And that is the essence of the sound of The Magic Door.
Capturing The Essence of the Sound of The Magic Door
On one hand, you have the warmth of the wooden string instruments and the lovely voice of Giada that take you back to the sound of the ’50s. It was a time when you still had an orchestra or a string ensemble ready in the studio to record the music. Giada’s voice has that ‘old’ almost jazzy tone, reminiscent of singers like
Marlene Dietrich,
-dare I say it-
Marilyn Monroe
or, more recently,
Mary Coughlan
and
Tanita Tikaram.
On the other hand, the music and arrangements sound modern and fresh. That is mainly due to the production, AND the modern, folky use of the percussion. It gives this CD its cheer, its vibrancy. It sounds folky, fun, and always upbeat. Glen Velez is a master on the frame drum and it is only fair that he has got his own solo spot on the album with the song Ancient Portal. The subtle, open sound of the guitar and harp is the thing that blends everything together. The song Vitriol is possibly the best example of this beautiful mix of old and new. It is also the folkiest song of them all.
The lyrics are just as intriguing as the music itself. The refrains of most of the songs are translations of the inscriptions left on the Porta Magica 340 years ago. On Water Of Mars, for instance, the epigraph says:
‘Who knows how to burn with water,
and how to wash with fire.
Can make heaven of earth
and a precious earth of heaven.‘
Really poetic, but I do understand why Marquis Massimiliano was never able to decipher it.
Another mysteriously beautiful one is the epigraph in Saturnine Night:
‘When in your house black crows give birth to white doves, then will you be called wise‘. Pure poetry.
The most cryptic of them all goes like this:
‘As Latona is whitened by Azoth and lightning,
Diana comes undressed.‘
[Mercury Unveiled]
It inspired the band itself to equally wondrous astrological poetry of their own:
‘Blessed by the serpent scepter of Hermes,
the lover ascends the draft
to join his female half.
The chemical wedding starts.
The moon marries the sun,
Venus marries Mars. [Venus the Bride]
This album is as mysterious as it is beautiful. A true tribute to Guiseppe Francesco Borri, to Maquis Massimiliano Palombara, and to all the alchemists of 16th century Rome in general. I’ll probably never unveil all the mysteries hidden in the music and the lyrics of this CD, but trust me, I will enjoy every single note of it as I keep trying.
Cliff
Editor: Anna
Picture of the Porta Alchemica: Made by Sailko. The original picture can be found
here on wikipedia.
Sowulo – Grima (2020) review
22Oct
celtadmin
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Once there was, and once there wasn’t.
One thing comes to pass, and the other doesn’t.
Two families fought before men walk the earth.
Out the peace they then wrath, followed unlively birth.
After many moons bloodshed, spears set aside.
In a great hall, they met to turn the red tide.
A cauldron was set in the midst of the thing. The anguish went out and the spittle went in.
From saliva of all, the wisest became, destined to fall and Kvasir his name….
With these words Grima,
Sowulo’s
new album, starts. A rather unconventional way for a Nordic folk band, but Sowulo was never meant to be a conventional band in the first place. Starting out as a musical project founded by Faber Hornbach to celebrate the pagan holidays, it developed into a musical journey deep into our pagan heritage. (Which for me as a dutch person mean the times of the Batavi and the Frisians, part of the west- and North Germanic tribes that inhabited western and northern Europe around the Roman times). And we are doing it through Faber’s eyes, traveling with him to the days of the Northern Germanic tribes. The times were stories were told of the worlds flanking Yggdrasil. Storys of the plights of the gods and their interactions with dwarves, giants, elves, and all the other mythical creatures living in the nine worlds
Just a year ago Faber surprised us with Mann, a personal Nordic folk album, really powerful and tribal, in which he searched for his inner warrior, lover, king and musician, in a way discovering his own person and his place in the ever-turning circle of life. Mann ended up being a very intense and beautiful pagan folk album, sung in Anglo-Saxon. An album that took me a while to fully understand, but I now count as one of the better Nordic folk albums in my collection.
Fast forward a cycle of the sun and we have a new Sowulo album. Part of it already came out as a digital album on Bandcamp, and again it was a huge surprise as it consists of stories, not songs! And not just any old stories. No, Faber and storyteller Niek van Eck traveled back in time to the days of Asgard, when Odin ruled the nine worlds, and Ragnarok was just a small ripple in the future to come. Stories that ended up being written down in the
Edda,
the basis for all our knowledge of the Nordic myths and legends. Three of those stories made it onto Grima. Three stories based around the main theme of faith and destiny. Especially the futile struggle to escape your own destiny, be you a giant, man or god.
Triumph Over Tears, the third story for example, tells about the faith of Baldr, the son of Odin and his wife Frigg. It starts with the discovery of the Gods that Baldr was destined to die, and in their futile attempt to stop this from happening, they actually became responsible for his death! A death that otherwise may not even have happened.
Spātle Ǣghwās, the first single inspired by Grima is based on the ‘Saliva of all’ storytel-trackGungnirs Gap, the fourth story on Grima, is even clearer in its message. It tells of Odin who discovers that the Norns, the ones weaving and breaking the threads of life, manage to laugh at faith while doing so, totally bewildering Odin, who in the end discovers that even for him, the mightiest god there is, trying to avoid faith is futile.
The opening track Saliva Of All and Beguiled By Blood Brew together form the longest story on Grima. It tells about the faith of Kvasir. The wisest of all, whose fate was to be killed by greed, and whose blood was turned into the mead of poetry, the mead that even to this day gives us the beauty of poetry, music, and stories.
It is clear that Niek van Eck (left), our narrator in this world of ancient sagas did indeed ask Odin for a drop of inspiration, as did Faber because Grima is as impressive an album as Mann is in its own unique way.
From the first sentences of Saliva Of All, it is clear that Niek is a gifted story teller. He has a pleasant, deep, strong voice that fits these old Nordic stories perfectly. All told in English, his stories manage to captivate me time and time again. Even now, after listening to them for a fifth time, writing this review. He knows perfectly well when to slow the pace of his story, or when to speed it up to keep you captivated, and also when to change his tone of voice to emphasize a certain phrase or sentence.
Faber in his own right complements Niek very well. He took the stories and composed music under it, creating a perfect soundtrack to support every story Niek is telling. The best compliment I can give Faber is that the music never takes the foreground. While listening you tend to forget about it although you know it is there. The drums; the nyckelharpa; the strokes of the jouhikko; the gentle touch of the lyre; and the mythical sounds of the synth play some lovely repetitive themes that fit the stories very well. They lay a beautiful carpet on which Nieks words find a perfect resting place, changing rhythm and tune to emphasize every new chapter Niek is starting in his stories, but they never take over.
Only at the end of the last story, at the end of Gungnirs gap, Faber finally lets the music flow freely and lets the instruments tell their own story of fate, destiny and human nature.
A perfect ending to a lovely storytelling album.
Now Grima, in the form it was released on April 2020, would never have made it to the CeltCast review pages, as we are an acoustic music station. But luckily on the digipack, there are two bonus tracks, and they deserve just as much attention as the four beautiful stories I told you of above.
With Spātle Ǣghwās and Fæcele, Faber took the musical themes he used in the stories and transformed them into two lovely songs, sung in old Anglo-Saxon. That might sound a bit odd for a nordic folk album at first, an old English language? Not if you know the history of it. Anglo-Saxon was the language spoken by the Germanic tribes living in the north of Germany all the way up to the top of Denmark. It was those tribes who, together with the Frisians, from 375 AD onwards made the jump to east England after the Romans left there, driving the original Celtic inhabitants of England outwards to Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where Gaelic still lives today. So it is actually a north Germanic language
The first thing you notice when listening to Spātle Ǣghwās is the truly stunning voice of
Emilie Lorentzen,
best known as the backing vocalist of
Euzen
and
Heilung.
She lifts the already very powerful, atmospheric folk of Sowulo into new heights, her voice effortlessly shifting from angelic hights to intensely piercing, she puts the crown on this historic folk ballad, inspired by the story of the birth of Kvasir.
Fæcele is a faster song that’s perfectly in line with the music we heard on Mann. It shares the strong male vocals, the nyckelharpa, and drums from Mann, but adds a certain feminine touch to it, especially through the classical influences and atmospheric vocals halfway in the song.
While the music under the four stories is played by Faber alone, on Spātle Ǣghwās and Fæcele he is joined again by his fellow bandmate and Celtic harp player Chloe Bakker. Furthermore, we hear Rikke Linsen
(Pyrolysis)
on Violin and Heleen de Jonge on Cello.
Faber has written yet another chapter in the story of Sowulo, a story that is as exciting as it is unexpected. I can’t wait for what the next page of their story will bring, I guess I will just have to wait till the wheel of life turns once more. But until then I will keep enjoying the ancient myths of the north, and the ancient sounds of the Northern hemisphere, clearly touched by the meade of poetry, the blood of Kvasir himself.
Cliff
(For those who can’t get enough of the old Nordic saga, here is one more, recorded in 2016, just before Sol was released. In this case the narator is Eugene, and it is told in Dutch, but with English subtitles.
Enjoy! )https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6leseChm164
Cliff
Editor: Sara
Cover art:Tim Elfring
Pictures:
Cliff de Booy (1)
Rebeca Franko Valle (2)
Samantha Evans (3 and Grima video covers)
Credits Ginnungagap Story video:
Video production by Jasper van Gheluwe | Deer and Wolf Productions
Soundtrack by Faber Horbach | Auroch Audio Productions
Irdorath – Ad Astra (2012) Review
15Sep
celtadmin
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Do you believe in love at first sight? I do! It happened several times actually. But it has been a while since anybody blew me away so completely as the Belarussian band
Irdorath.
What? You thought I was talking about my love life? Nooo, I wouldn’t want to swap my lovely girlfriend with anybody. It was actually her who started this new ‘crush’ by pointing me towards Irdorath’s amazing ‘performance’ at this year’s
Castlefest home edition.
Recorded at night in the forest, Irdorath totally WOWed me. And I wasn’t the only one. The whole stream exploded from all the amazed reactions: -Who are those guys!’ -‘They sound amazing!’- ‘What a cool set up!’ -‘Please bring them to Castlefest next year!’ -‘I love them’ That was the tone of the stream during their half an hour set.
A couple of lucky viewers that had already seen this impressive band on German festivals or the Dutch
Middeleeuws Winschoten
festival gladly confirmed they had been as impressive live as they looked on that video. And I had only one thing on my mind: Get their albums in as fast as possible, listen to them, and introduce this amazing band to you all. Soooo, This is Irdorath!!!
Irdorath’s story also begins as a love story, with bandleaders Nadezdha and Vladimir meeting each other as students, not only to start a medieval performance group but also to become a couple. (They even married on stage, but I’ll come back to that in a later review) In 2011 the two drop their day jobs, move to Minsk, and start turning an abandoned building around to a performance theatre for historical events. Early on in the project, Anton Shnip joins in and the basis of Irdorath is formed. At the start the trio focuses on a catchy mix of typical German-style medieval music with a real dance feel, a powerful mix of rauschpfeife, bagpipe, chalumeau, and fast upbeat percussion, littered with orchestral moments and intense tender breaks in the music.
From the start it’s obvious that Irdorath don’t do subtle. The intro is as theatrical as you can expect from a medieval performance street art group. A thunderstorm opens the CD with a lone bagpipe leading us into the music. A loud musical BANG introduces a huge film score type of choir. And then we are off. Cool dance beats get your feet going immediately. A catchy bagpipe melody leads your brain into its happy state and the film choir returns for maximum impact. There are worse ways to start an album, trust me. Listen to opening track Rondo and you’re hooked. Permanently!
The second song, Scudrinka, is a Macedonian traditional dance that got the same Irdorath treatment. The acoustic drums give the song a lovely groove. Fast, powerful but really danceable. The strong sound of the bagpipes and rauschpfeifen, so typical of the German style of medieval music (think of bands like
Corvus Corax
or
Prima Nocta
) sticks in your brain like glue, but its the Eastern European flavour that makes this music so interesting. Where a true German-style medieval band, like Corvus Corax, can seem to be just loud and in your face, Irdorath’s music is much more diverse and dynamic.
Sure, Irdorath can sound exactly like Corvus Corax. A song like Bard’s Tale or the midtempo ‘waltz’ Saderalladon would do well on any MPS festival, but there is much more to their music. That sudden break in Scudinka for example, where suddenly the wall of sound drops down to a single beat and an exquisite eastern guitar or sitar melody. Really cool. In general, their sound is also lower than I am used to. Less ‘shrieking’ and percussionist Anton puts WAY more groove into his drumbeats than a regular German-style band would do.
With the 5th song Tourdion, the musical adventure truly starts. We leave the German medieval festivals and go to the East. Another film score type intro sets the mood, and sure, the start of the song is what you would expect, rauschpfeifen playing that all too well-known medieval tune, (with a beautiful orchestra under it by the way), but this wouldn’t be Irdorath if there wasn’t a twist. Suddenly Nadezhda, with nothing else than a simple piano, takes the whole thing down. As if
John -music was my first love- Miles
suddenly takes over. The orchestral section that follows is so powerful. This is by far the most impressive, most grand version of this medieval classic that I ever heard. This song alone proves how good Irdorath are as musicians and arrangers. Truly stunning. And they have no problem stepping it up another few notches live on stage, adding a 4-piece ‘choir’ to this 2015 live performance. How I wish I could see this being performed live myself, if only just once.
That’s the true strength in Irdorath’s music: their arrangements. The space they leave in their sound. Although they often work with two bagpipes (with rauschpfeifen attached to it in true German medieval style); powerful drums; a powerhouse of a voice; and that rich deep sound of the Slidgeridoo sometimes appearing, they are able to give their songs room to breathe. Be it in interesting musical breaks with sudden twists; clever stereo effects and well-chosen placement of the instruments in the sound; or those Eastern European influences effortlessly blending in their sound. Even in those power sections, Irdorath manages to sound ‘acoustic’ and that is what I love about them. That and the variety in ideas.
Did I mention a slidgeridoo and a powerhouse voice just now? Yep, in Ketri we hear both of them prominently for the first time. The song itself is Irdoraths interpretation of a Romani love song, and it takes the band even further away from that initial German Medieval style, deeper and deeper into Eastern Europe, even into Turkish music at some points.
In Cypridis In Vito the band uses those cool stereo effects and even some Medieval-type choral singing, before they throw out the whole musical rulebook, blending all the influences I mentioned before in one cool, typically Irdorath song.
Ad Astra is an album that is almost impossible to describe. It starts as a German-style Medieval party and ends as an Eastern European/ Arabian/Mongolian pagan folk-rock opera. The song Ad Astra is a pure treat for those who love upbeat experimental power folk music.
If you like your folk music Celtic, gentle, and peaceful you might want to tread carefully. But if you’re up for an adventure, and your record collection contains music from bands as varied as
Dead Can Dance (especially their 1990 album Aion);
Prima Nocta; Corus Corvax;
Jimmy Page and Robert Plant at the time of their No Quarter album;
Irfan (just listen to the title song Ad Astra for some beautiful typical Irfan magic),
and yes even
Ayreon (listen to those electric guitars suddenly appearing in Nupla Nu Te Lasa),
then definitely give this wonderful debut album a try. You’ll be hooked. Don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Cliff
Editor: Sara
pictures and video’s: Irdorath
Irdorath – Wild (2017) review
15Sep
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The second review I’m posting of
Irdorath
is actually their third CD called Wild. Where their first album, Ad Astra, is their ‘dance’ album, and their second album, Dreamcatcher, is their alternative-rock-meets-ethnic-folk record, this one is their most in-your-face album yet. You could say on Wild their metal side is coming out, although the band themselves prefer the term fantasy-power-folk. And I do understand that. Metal, as a term, is so limiting for the music Irdorath recorded on this album. Just as on Ad Astra (2012 ) and Dreamcatcher (2015 ) Irdorath is exploring a big part of Europe’s musical folk world again. A world that, on this record, this spans from German medieval sounds through Spanish guitar music into eastern European music. From the waves of the Caspian Sea to the vast deserts of the Mongolian steppe. If you love your music powerful, diverse, and prog metallesque, you are in for a treat.
Just as on Ad Astra, a cool, theatrical intro leads you into Irdorath’s musical world. A world that compared to Ad Astra is much wilder and darker. The biggest difference is in the drums. Where Ad Astra had a groovy dance beat, the double percussion on this album leans much more towards metal.
Take the opening track Varazheya for instance. If I didn’t know any better I would say that I hear a double bass drum there. And a super tight at that. With the strong eastern feel of the track a comparison with the Tunisian metal band
Myrath
quickly comes to mind. But as I said, Irdorath’s music is even more complex, even Leaning towards prog-folk metal. And the most impressive part, just like
Coppelius
they manage to get that strong wild sound using acoustic instruments!!!! Really impressive, and really clever. Using the strength of the acoustic
rauschpfeife;
the chalumeau;
double percussion; and the power of their bagpipes (made even louder by attaching rauschpfeifen to it as
Corvus Corax
and
Prima Nocta
do as well), the sound is so much more dynamic. So much clearer as well. The lack of distortion means you can hear every single note, giving the music a totally different ‘strength’ and depth of sound and power than a true metal band would. Irdoraths clever use of violin and cello arrangements throughout the CD even enhances that.
Like I said, the opening song Varazheya feels like a musical uppercut. The band sounds like a pack of wolves somewhere deep in a dark and ancient forest and not about to take prisoners. As Nadezhda sings in the end: ‘You wanna howl? Howl!‘
Zhahi-Zhazi, although slightly slower in pace, has the same intensity. Again the songtext tells you everything you need to know. Translated, the song is called horrors-horrors, and the first lines go:
Children spend the night in the woods
where the trees roam,
And someone’s eyes are watching them from the shadows.
Children watch the fire and glance into the darkness.
Who hides there?
Do I need to say more? Musically I would call Zhahi-Zhahi a strong mix between the acoustic traditional folk music of the Belarussian ethno-folk band
Troitsa
and the extreme power of Myrath, but in acoustic form. I would define Irdorath’s music as ethnic-progressive-power-folk-metal-played-acoustically, and Zhahi-Zhahi is the perfect example of what that sounds like. Especially the instrumental part that starts about 1:33 in this song is absolutely amazing. That is also the point the band goes way beyond the limitations of metal music. An absolute stonker of a song.
Black Flags is the last of the power folk songs that open this CD. It is also a song that will be extremely popular with our German pirate friends. A sea shanty on steroids, on mega steroids actually. And then there is that chalumeau, sounding like a church organ to give this ‘pirate’ song its own unique Irdorath twist. You cannot help but be dragged in by this ocean epos. Bring out your dead, hoist the black flag and storm the seven seas! Black flags!
The fifth track Storm is the first instrumental piece on this cd and the catchy melody played by the rauschpfeifen makes it an instant earworm. Starting out as another power folk song the arrangment quickly turns full string orchestra, proving the point that Irdorath plays soooo much more than ‘just’ metal on this cd. It transforms this power folk tune into something truly epic. Stunning stuff.
Kupala na Ivana starts a capella (although shortly) and it gives me the opportunity to go into one of Irdorath’s biggest trump cards. Nadezhda’s epic voice. It is big and it is strong. She has lungs made of steel and these big lungs are the reason she can easily hold her own against the five other bandmembers in this beautiful power ballad.
Five? Yes, Irdorath is now a 6 piece band. Besides long time members Nadezhda on vocals, bagpipe, hurdy-gurdy and rauschpfeifes; Vladimir on bagpipe, slidgeridoo, chalumeau, vocals and throat singing; and Anton Shnip on Drums, percussion and vocals, we also have Valery Priyomko on drums; Pietro Marchenko on guitar, twelve string bouzouki and vocals; and Julia Viten on violin. All equally talented and equally important in the sound of Irdorath. But the main star on Kupala na Ivana is Nadezhda. It doesn’t matter what the band throws at her: Powerful drums, the strength of the bagpipes, even a full orchestra, Nedazhda just blows them away with the power of her voice in this wonderful ballad. This song has it all. Just listen to those beautiful arrangements. Going from subtle to full power folk ballad, from a capella to full orchestra. Together with Storm, Kupala Na Ivana is one of my favourite songs on Wild.
Looking at the lyrics I wouldn’t be surprised Irdorath worked with a clear theme on Wild, and the music, indeed powerful and wild, followed out of that.
I’ll be honest, this will not be everybody’s cup of tea. And it wasn’t meant like that either. This album is a hurricane caught on a compact disc, and it wants to come out!. A musical storm hitting you right in the face! And just as I love to walk in a storm, lean against it and enjoy the beauty of mother nature at her full strength, I love this album too.
For all of you who share my love for powerful music like
Ayreon,
Prima Nocta, Myrath,
Edvard Grieg’sHall of the Mountain King, Coppelius and, ….well.., Irdorath! Can’t wait for the next storm to come!
Cliff
Editor: Sara
Picture and videos: Irdorath
Irdorath – Dreamcatcher (2015) Review
15Sep
celtadmin
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The last review I’m going to upload now is actually
Irdorath‘s
second album, Dreamcatcher, released in 2015. Why do I post this one last then and not second ?? Well, I want to end this introduction of Irdorath’s music with a bang and this, for me personally, is their best album, even though I am now comparing two great records with an A+ album.
Dreamcatcher was released in 2015, after Piotr Marchenko (guitar, twelve string bouzouki), Anastacia Filipenko (violin, cello), and Alexandra Aleksiuk (Violin and cello) joined Irdorath in 2014. The record is the logical bridge between the medieval dance folk Irdorath played on Ad Astra and the fantasy power folk they played on their last album Wild. It is more easily accessible then Wild, an album that might be a bit too ‘powerful’ for some of our readers. It also ticks about every box you could tick for me personally, making Dreamcatcher one of the best records I heard in a loooong time, but let’s stop chatting about it, let’s just dive into Irdorath’s musical world one more time.
Where the CD Wild starts as a full-force hurricane that hits you without warning,
the title song on Dreamcatcher starts much more gently. A lovely alternative pop-folk song. Cool mouth harp, percussion with a smooth groove, and a beautiful bouzouki riff building up to a very impressive instrumental start of the song. Lovely orchestra arrangements take you into this nice and catchy pop-folk ballad. A song that again proves that Irdorath knows how to write a good song. They are all catchy, well arranged, and just dotted with all the interesting twists, breaks, and influences that make good music truly stunning.
As Bas is slightly faster in rhythm, and again an interesting alternative acoustic folk-pop/rock song. I know I keep coming up with these weird descriptions in all the Irdorath reviews, but that is actually a compliment towards the band. They have such a unique own style. And it all blends together so naturally. A pagan folk hurdy-gurdy together with a slidgeridoo and a slightly Spanish sounding guitar to start the song? Sure, no problem. A bit of melodic rap to continue with? Yes, why not. A bit of an Arabic feel combined with a slidgeridoo? In the Irdorath world, sure, and the result is catchy as hell.
Tam Nikto is the first of two beautiful ballads, showcasing Nadezhda’s powerful voice for the first time but also Anastacia on cello. I love how those two blend together. the warmth and power of Nadezhda’s voice and the warmth of the cello. Such clever songwriting, such clever arranging, I really love this band in so many ways by now. I love, for instance, how they pick up the speed halfway through Tam Nikto and make this song into a real grand musical adventure. This is songwriting at its very best. Forget about labels and names and styles. This is just 6:00 minutes of beautiful, well-composed music everybody – and I do mean everybody – should hear.
The same goes for Kryly, the second stunning ballad on Dreamcatcher. I’ve been in love with this song since the first time I heard it. Even without knowing what it is about (my Belarussian is a bit rusty) I could just feel how much this song means to Nadezhda. The intent is just pouring out of her with every single note she hits. With the lyrics it gets even better for me. Nadezhda writes most of the lyrics for Irdorath and these must have been one very close to her heart. A song that so deserves to be a true classic pop song.
But, there are more classic moments on Dreamcatcher. Take tracks six and seven, simply called Wedding Theme 1 and Wedding Theme 2. Well…, these were actually composed by Vladimir and Nadezhda for their own wedding! A wedding that took place……, ON STAGE!!!
I hope you don’t mind I won’t tell you any more about these two songs than that. Just watch the video below. The intimate moment at two/third if the song says soo much more than anything I could write. (I didn’t even know you could kiss while playing bagpipe 🙂 )
After all this romance and all these ballads its time to pick up the pace a bit and get our dancing shoes on again. Tochka Otscheta is just he song for that. A lovely groovy Slidgeridoo takes you into this
Omnia
-meets-Arabian-nights type of song that is both a dancing song AND a ballad. It is also the first time you clearly hear Vladimir use his Mongolian throat singing skills, adding yet another dimension to Irdorath’s diverse musical world.
And there is still more. Byu. Josť. Budu that suddenly takes you into the world of
Ball Noir.
Especially that hurdy-gurdy ‘riff’ could easily have been written by Lies Sommer or Marco van Asperen.
Nadezhda shines on vocals again here, but also Vladimir’s spoken vocals are something special. Just another highlight on a CD that already has so many. Again, the way they build up this song to its climax gives me goosebumps. Really, and not for the first time while listening to Irdorath’s music, I have to add.
Tango is a lovely way to end this CD. Another epic ballad, in English this time, building up to a lovely finale. What an A-M-A-ZING CD.
But I’m not finished yet. I have saved the best for the very, very last! I am not going to bother to write a full conclusion, because I think that conclusion is pretty obvious. Dreamcatcher is a stunning alternative pagan folk-rock CD that you just MUST have in your collection.
To finish it all off, I’m going to insert one final video in here. My favourite song on Dreamcatcher. My favourite song by Irdorath actually. Crank this up as loud as you dare and enjoy it! This is Irdorath! This is music everybody should hear! This is instant goosebumps on a disc! This is Dimna Juda! And I LOVE IT!!!!!
Cliff
Editor: Sara
picture and video’s: Irdorath
Guest vocals on Dimna Juda:
Alexandra Grachovskaja from the Belarusian Nu metal/punk/folk band
BY CRY
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Home 
About us
Fast forward 350 years and we find ourselves in October 2016. The moment that
Arthuan Rebis
and Giada Colagrande
started work on a musical project: making an album inspired by the Porta Alchemica. Arthuan Rebis we know of course as the composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist of the Italian medieval group
In Vino Veritas,
and of his solo album
La Primavera Del Piccolo Popolo,
which we reviewed a few months ago. Giada Colagrande is an Italian film director, actress and singer. During the writing process,
Vicenzo Zitello
(an accomplished composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist in his own right) became part of the porject as a third bandmember. Last to join The Magic Door were special guests
Glen Velez
(percussion, frame drum) and
Marco Cavanna
(double bass). Together they recorded the album
The Magic Door,
which was released in November 2018.
Those of you who know Arthuan Rebis his solo album La Primavera Del Piccolo Popolo will know he has his own very unique style: warm and friendly, somewhere between ambient-, new age-, folk- and easy-listening pop music. Well, The Magic Door is just as unique. Which brings me to the impossible task of trying to describe The Magic Doors music. A problem I already had when I tried to describe Arthuan Rebis’ solo music. The honest answer. I struggled. How do you describe 5 centuries of music flowing together anyway? New age music; chamber pop; Baroc, ’50’s pop, a touch of Arabian influences, it is all there, blending together in a unique way, making the music feel refreshingly new and comfortingly old at the same time. Confused? well, join the club. My first two attempts to put this music into words became so complicated to read, that they looked like an alchemistic formula in their own right.
The basis of The Magic Door’s music is the feeling of warmth. An embrace put to music. Listen to the warm notes of the cello in Saturnine Night combined with Giada’s equally tender voice and you’ll melt away on the spot. When Arthuan then also adds his soothing voice to the music, it becomes a warm woolen blanket you can crawl into. A soft musical pillow of ease and relaxation.
The Refrain of Jupiter’s Dew is Just as Silky
The refrain of Jupiter’s Dew is just as silky. It is stunning how Arthuan’s and Giada’s voices blend together. Not only on this song but through the whole CD. Pure magic. Supported by a gentle drum rhythm, a groovy double bass, and pleasant acoustic guitar chords this whole album is a joy for the ear. Sudden surprises as the musical saw in Jupiter’s Dew and Mercury Unveiled add that special sort of mystique an alchemist inspired album should have.
But not every song is cozy and calm. Water of Mars has an enticing bass/cello line. Really catchy and slightly dark. As the song progresses it picks up speed and at the same time drags you back through the centuries into a dark Baroc sounding cello/nyckelharpa solo. Welcome mister Bach into the 21st century. A really clever use of ‘antique’ instruments in a modern arrangement. And that is the essence of the sound of The Magic Door.
Capturing The Essence of the Sound of The Magic Door
On one hand, you have the warmth of the wooden string instruments and the lovely voice of Giada that take you back to the sound of the ’50s. It was a time when you still had an orchestra or a string ensemble ready in the studio to record the music. Giada’s voice has that ‘old’ almost jazzy tone, reminiscent of singers like
Marlene Dietrich,
-dare I say it-
Marilyn Monroe
or, more recently,
Mary Coughlan
and
Tanita Tikaram.
On the other hand, the music and arrangements sound modern and fresh. That is mainly due to the production, AND the modern, folky use of the percussion. It gives this CD its cheer, its vibrancy. It sounds folky, fun, and always upbeat. Glen Velez is a master on the frame drum and it is only fair that he has got his own solo spot on the album with the song Ancient Portal. The subtle, open sound of the guitar and harp is the thing that blends everything together. The song Vitriol is possibly the best example of this beautiful mix of old and new. It is also the folkiest song of them all.
The lyrics are just as intriguing as the music itself. The refrains of most of the songs are translations of the inscriptions left on the Porta Magica 340 years ago. On Water Of Mars, for instance, the epigraph says:
‘Who knows how to burn with water,
and how to wash with fire.
Can make heaven of earth
and a precious earth of heaven.‘
Really poetic, but I do understand why Marquis Massimiliano was never able to decipher it.
Another mysteriously beautiful one is the epigraph in Saturnine Night:
‘When in your house black crows give birth to white doves, then will you be called wise‘. Pure poetry.
The most cryptic of them all goes like this:
‘As Latona is whitened by Azoth and lightning,
Diana comes undressed.‘
[Mercury Unveiled]
It inspired the band itself to equally wondrous astrological poetry of their own:
‘Blessed by the serpent scepter of Hermes,
the lover ascends the draft
to join his female half.
The chemical wedding starts.
The moon marries the sun,
Venus marries Mars.
[Venus the Bride]
This album is as mysterious as it is beautiful. A true tribute to Guiseppe Francesco Borri, to Maquis Massimiliano Palombara, and to all the alchemists of 16th century Rome in general. I’ll probably never unveil all the mysteries hidden in the music and the lyrics of this CD, but trust me, I will enjoy every single note of it as I keep trying.
Cliff
Editor: Anna
Picture of the Porta Alchemica: Made by Sailko. The original picture can be found
here on wikipedia.
