Customer Reviews

Eta Pravda

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Here is a band from Petroskoi Karelia that deserves the fame that is sure to come their way if they continue their excellence in music. The nice thing about their music is the variety of tempo and instrumentation which ranges from the guitar and base guitar to accordion, shamans drum, Estonian bag-pipes, flute - about 14 different instruments in all. I first got an album from a friend in Petroskoi (the Finnish term for Petrozavodsk) in the summer of 2001 while I was up near the Yukon border. I have listened to it at least a hundred times and still love it.

This is the latest compact disc still found the legendary group of Karelia, a region on the border between Finland and Russia.

I have had less luck Myllarit other celebrated local group, the Varttina, but they have in their music the same expressive power, the same vivacity, the same harmonic beauty. The traditional dances and songs of Karelia are interpreted with a single explosive energy, which makes it sound very contemporary. This compact disc will not be reprinted because the leader of the group died recently, so it will be considered a collector's item, like the rest of the compact disc Myllarit unavailable.

A must buy!

I saw this group at the Scandanavian festival in Stanhope NJ, the violinist is excellent (as are all of the musicians) and a real nice lady as well, if you like Finno-Ugric music dont miss this CD!

A new sound for a new Millenium! I was first introduced to Myllarit during their tour through New England in early summer, 1999. Their first CD, "Eta Prava" captures much of the high-spirit, excitement, humor, and multi-textured magic of their live sound, and even comes with English words (which are quite different than the ones my imagination had supplied listening to them live!).

The band combines traditional tunes from the Karelia region of Russia/Finland with contemporary arrangements and instrumentation from around the world. I hear similarities to much music in the Celtic tradition - Myllarit's sound somehow manages to be haunting, sad, and yet high-spirited all at the same time - another example of music that has to be heard to be fully appreciated. The songs on the CD reflect a broad range of topics and concerns, from stark ballads to the rollicking title track Eta Pravda ("It Was All True"), which must be the first song about cooking cats to ever make it to CD!

With a worldwind global touring schedule, and increasing buzz among the contemporary folk and world music circles, expect to hear a lot more from Myllarit over the next year!