Svjata Vatra “Kalyna”
Label: Own label; 2008Well, it’s not a secret that I liked the first Svjata Vatra CD a lot. This Ukrainian-Estonian band that is founded by the Ukrainian musician Ruslan Trochynskyi, combines the best of both worlds and actually it doesn’t stop there. On this new CD the band discover new areas and influences can be heard from many Nordic and Eastern-European countries. They easily blend traditional sounds with jazz, Celtic and even some light brass sounds fill the room. On this new album they sound really relaxed and have a happy kind of folk(rock) that is very easy going. Some beautiful bagpipe pieces like in Song of sunrise where they blend really beautifully with the trombone. The style of this song is so nice that I easily forgive the false note one of the bagpipers is playing. The same for Verhovyna a very nice Ukrain traditional in a bagpipe-brass setting. The sound of Svjata Vatra changed a bit. Their music became more accessible and although not as surprising as their debut album, Svjata Vatra is still a great folk band with often beautiful and sometimes just straight on easy-folk.
Eelco Schilder