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Volga:
Anzhelika Manukyan - Vocal
Roman Lebedev - Guitar, Electronics
Uri Balashov - Zvukosuk, Tibet Cup

Guests musicians:
Sergei Klevensky - Jaleika, Bag-Pipe (track 2)
Alexey Ostashev - Bass Guitar (track 1)

Volga is an unparalleled project rooted in the Moscow music scene. It successfully combines experimental electronics, contemporary dance rhythms and Russian folklore. Pagan psychedelia, shamanism, melodies and lyrics from ancient times mixed with urban aesthetics and video art are the essential components of Volga's performances.

Angela Manukyan, the versatile singer of Volga, has collected ancient texts dating back as far as 1100 A.D. in Russian villages of different regions, all of them written in various dialects. Each dialect requires an unique vocal technique and stands for a singular sound, carefully studied and mastered by the singer. Some might say Volga is the sound of the Middle Ages erupting in our times. Others might object by saying that this is the third millennium speaking to us in the language of the Russian Middle Ages.

Just as the central Russian river of the same name unites 200 streams, this band merges together so many musical currents and tides that it magically develops into a new kind of life-giving riverbed. One stream, born of the spirit of mystery, pours ancient Russian texts into this magical mixture, another releases electronic rhythms of trip hop to meet them. Caught by their resilient wave, and foreshortened at once by the beats of the bases (originating either in dub or in house music), the ritual ethnic motifs no longer recognise the familiar shores but seek to overflow them and forge other, henceforth unknown boundaries.

Volga's current line-up includes: vocalist and researcher Angela Manukyan (joint projects with Richard Norvila aka Benzo and Species Of Fishes duo); electronics specialist and multi-instrumentalist Roman Lebedev (Metal Corrosion, Alien Pat Holman, Idioritmik); artist and Grammy winner Uri Balashov. The performances of Volga are usually accompanied by video projections created in realtime by Moscow video artist Roman Anikushin and Parisian Oleg Kornev.