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CD
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EBM 014CD
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2009 release. Founded in St. Petersburg in 2000, La Minor invites you to a glass of wine as well as to dance. The bayan (the Russian button-accordion) pumps, the saxophone flutters and singer Slava Shalygin tells his lyrical gangster stories: backyard songs about bad boys, love, passion, alcohol and prison. La Minor comes from St. Petersburg, but do have a partiality for Odessa. Indeed, the alleys and bars of these two cities are similar with their European charm. La Minor plays so-called street chanson, Russian folk, jazz and klezmer (Odessa style). They resurrect part of the atmosphere of the Odessa of the '20s to '40s, and their songs sound like musical detective stories about little rascals and tragic loves -- joyful and melancholic at the same time. Thieves and policemen, whores and undercover agents crowd the urban underworld of La Minor's songs. The gentle/tender maternal nature of the Russian language makes the tough stories touching and timeless. Slava's hero is the Soviet underground singer Arkadi Severny, whose style, not quite appropriately named Russian chanson, stems from the Soviet subculture of the '70s. La Minor now develops Severny's ideas further into their own repertoire with sophisticated arrangements and deadpan delivery. Russki Chanson has become an annoying genre in Russia and pounds out of every taxi there these days. Refusing to wear golden chains and add corniness to their music, La Minor are the black and thus likeable sheep of the Russian prison and camp chanson. Therefore, the band performs rather in rock clubs and doesn't get aired on Radio Chanson in Moscow. They call their music "underground chanson with a human face." Folk music rarely ever sounded so tight and cool. Includes a bonus video.
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