[.ca] Hadra

From Amazon.com:
The San Francisco Bay Area is a magnet for world music players, and Lumin is another bubble floating up from that global stew. The group is born from another band, called Stellamara, with Jeffrey Stott and Michael Emenau. In Lumin, they are joined by singer Irina Mikhailova. Born in Kazakhstan, Mikhailova is an enchantress who wails in a voice that fuses her Kazakh and Russian roots, with eastern European vocal styles and Middle Eastern effects. Sometimes singing in Bulgarian, her native Kazakh, or her own hybrid dialect, she creates the sound of ecstasy and lament, often simultaneously. Mikhailova is surrounded by a kinetic mix of grooves from Emenau, free-wheeling through a rhythmic landscape of electronic sounds and acoustic percussion samples. Stott weaves it all together, playing Middle Eastern oud, hammered dulcimer, and a bowed string & drone instrument called the yali-tambur. While rooted in folk music, it's a hallucinatory blend, laced to trance grooves and melodies that reach across the heavens and into the soul. --John Diliberto

The most amazing thing I have ever heard!:
I bought this CD at \olocal store\cwhen it first came out. I've always loved Middle Eastern style music and Lumin brings out a gorgeous combination of Arabic and western tones. This is a must-have for anyone interested in international music.

I'm still in awe!:
I still remember putting on the headphones at the local B & N, by chance. From the first five seconds of track one, Stiga, I was entranced. Irina has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. The music is very good. A good mix of Balkan/Middle Eastern/Slavic percussion and other instruments with modern down-tempo and drum-n-bass. That aside, this album would be worth buying just to hear that beautiful voice. I almost find myself despising the few tracks(6 and 8) that don't have her voice. Stojnele' Stokole(#9) is probably the most stunning track. The dronning sound(I don't know what kind of instrument it is) in the background paired with Irina's lamenting voice strikes a very ancient cord in my heart. I feel something in my blood stir. I could listen over and over again. If you want to by one good world music album. Don't bother with all those trumped up Six Degrees type albums. Get this one you won't be disappointed.

Haunting & Hypnotic Cross of Traditional & Techno::
Discovered this CD by chance: I was captivated by the ethereal, soulful voice of Irina Mikhailova, singing in her Slavic voice, with a musical melange created by traditional instruments, yali tambur, darbuka, bendir, accompanied by a strong and rhythmic drumming. I am still puzzled that each track listed has a credit, "from Bulgaria", "from Macedona/Bulgaria", "from Croatia", or from "Greek/Macedonia" but the liner notes say, "all songs written by Jeffrey Stott, Michael Emenau and Irina Mikhailova" except for two which exclude Irina's name & credit the first two persons. I am guessing the music itself and rhythms are of traditional origin which is why only the lyrics ("songs")are credited to the artists themselves. The liner notes are very sparse, I would like to know what the lyrics are trying to convey which requires a full translation, not just the one line summary provided by each track (such a disappointment). Despite this short-coming, the whole CD is valuable: filled with trance-like rhythms, other-worldy, spiritual, soulful music ... the signature tune, "Hadra", same as title of the CD, lasts about 9 minutes and worth every second of playing time. Another favorite is "Vchera Minah" (I can always recognize tunes & lyrics of Macedonian origin, some of the best traditional music arising from the Balkans) which includes some extraordinairy violin playing, plus, the oud, tar, and rhythmic drumming. "Iz Pod Duba" is worth hearing. It is given a one sentence translation as: "under the creek the cold water flows (the virtues of nature)": sounds like a Zen poem or koan. Indeed, I am vastly disappointed, that no translations exist - I want to go deeper into understanding the origins of the lyrics and music. "Stojnele' Stokole" is a greatly enhanced tune which also has a hammered dulcimer in its musical montage ... the one sentence translation, has me totally intrigued, "my little bird, you did not drink the wine, did you?" An enticing offer indeed, but did she sip his wine? The best description of what this CD has to offer is to be found in the amazon.com introduction which tells me the most I have ever learned about the band, its origins, and the instruments played. This is a unique blend of exciting, haunting, meditative, trance-inducing music. I highly recommend this CD for anyone fascinated by Balkan music: the enhanced sounds created by remastering, stretches the music into another pleasurable realm, a mesmerizing, nearly disorienting experience ... worth having!!!

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