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The composite term Myownchoir, perhaps not surprisingly, is linked to a solo project. More specifically, it refers to a young Belarusian artist by the name of Zhenya Ivanovich. Despite leaving six interesting tracks at Soundcloud, he has blessed neither that nor any other web venue with additional media. Biographical data, photos, and even EP covers are all absent. Half of his output is either tagged as sketchy "drafts" or simply granted a date - instead of a proper title. Digits are more common than sentences.
In short, we're offered a brief, yet promising insight into the workshop of a young Minsk beatmaker. Contextual information about the outside world is, unfortunately, not much greater. We can only state with confidence that Mr. Ivanovich's birthday is January 8th and that he is currently studying at a local technical college.
Any other social framework is glimpsed only in passing. In a recent tweet, Ivanovich declared that "Spaniards are protesting against their government an hour before elections." Elsewhere he extends that interest in things political when he uploads a small joke, concerning the discrepancy between children's stories and modern life. A famous Russian kids' story - of Italian origin - tells of various (anthropomorphized!) vegetables who are considering a social uprising against the unfair, ruling royalty. The regal positions in that society are occupied by fruit.
Should these hints and their relationship to Belarusian actuality remain insufficiently clear, our musician then appends a direct statement to the joke - itself a pun on the nature of passive human "vegetables": "We're sick of Lukashenko!"
That allegorical narrative, however, contains just as much information on the apolitical, timeless value of friendship. It offers both consolation and critique - especially in its more famous animated form. As a result, and because we're dealing with wordless forms of hip-hop, we shouldn't overemphasize politics at the expense of any proffered calm or sympathy. After all, downtempo dance numbers are unsuitable for storming the barricades.
My soul has often been solaced and refreshed by music
These more comforting contexts for DIY beatmaking - highlighting its positive, social benefit - are found in a series of quotes now gathered by St Petersburg's Muc J. His new album "Mightsound: Volume One," is connected to a page at Vkontakte, where we find the words of famous folk - all celebrating the civic aspects of harmony. Martin Luther sets the stage: "My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary."
Other pearls of wisdom, translated into Russian, imply that the music composed by these young Slavs offers a fine alternative to dull and/or dangerous reality. It plots a safer, superior trajectory: "Music takes us out of the actual and whispers to us dim secrets. They startle our wonder as to who we are, and for what, whence, and whereto" (Ralph Waldo Emerson). Throwing both caution and calendars to the wind, Muc J (below) then cites Herbie Hancock: "One thing I like about jazz is that it emphasizes doing things differently."
The promise of individual freedom, found in freewheeling compositions, deserves a smile. Once again, saxophones and purple filters do not imply an impending revolution. Three cheers instead for escapism.
Over time, as we see, the associative chains drawn by these young musicians offer not only an alternative to sociopolitical norms; they also transform homespun escapism into bolder forms of fantasy. The act of cutting and splicing antique recordings allows for private soundtracks to the most unique kinds of reverie. Take, by way of illustration, the new single by a St Petersburg neighbor of Muc J - A.B.S.T.R.A. Not only is this artist unwilling to offer his real name; in some places, he even extends the fantasy of his moniker by appending the term "UFO." We're leaving ostensible reality with great speed...
Ritmo Sportivo, who've released this single, refer to A.B.S.T.R.A as "our love- and space-researcher." And there's more: "You will lose all sense of gravity [listening to this material]. You'll erase all thoughts, and your pulse will be separated from your mind. You won’t want to stop these sound waves, though... as they leave your head and sooth your soul."
You will lose all sense of gravity...
If it seems, in rather stereotypical fashion, that these Russian and Belarusian beatmakers are responding to political issues alone, we need only consider the new recordings from Saratov's Locky-Stocky. We first discovered his work last November, when some debut recordings appeared through Shufflebrain Records. At that time, this musician (known to family members as Egor) had a rather grounded view of experience: although sentimental, it involved no UFOS. The heart and head remained connected.
"Egor holds to the ancient philosophical belief that body and soul are unified. For this reason he is currently training to be a boxer whilst writing music and improving his photography skills, too. After all, music and photography complement one another... There's probably a kind of groove that operates between them."
For the new release, "Elementum," that text is now replaced by the following Russian prose. We start with a reference to cyclical patterns within Buddhism and Hinduism of life, birth, death, and reincarnation. "'Enthralled by a multitude of physical sensations, humans wander eternally through the fateful cycles of Samsara.' The main thing to remember is life's transience..." Civic woes appear to be replaced by their physical equivalents.
Given the inevitability of that physical transience, we're not - however - invited to seek spiritual transcendence so much as cultivate gratitude for past experiences. "Memories are as fleeting as a summer breeze. They pass by like multicolored bursts of flame - only to die out, leaving a pleasant sense of satisfaction. They show us that our lives are not lived in vain. Ahead lies the road home - so close and so appealing. Once more we 'stand upon the shore and feel the salty taste of the wind. It blows from the sea; you feel free... as if life has begun anew.'"
Memories are as fleeting as a summer breeze
Those final lines come from the screenplay of a 1997 German film that enjoys great popularity in Russia - and tanked in the US. It tells of two terminally ill cancer patients, who steal a car - in order both to reach the seashore and nurture the consoling outlook voiced by Locky-Stocky. As the protagonists finally arrive at the sea's edge, one of them falls dead. The other sits silently beside him and contemplates the waves.
It would seem that even if civic strife can be avoided, the rigors of everyday experience - if not human existence - give good reason for these consoling tunes to endure. Especially when a Slavic worldview expects more misfortune than US audiences are willing to watch.
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