Diva Ruzha

Acoustic ensemble Kings & Beggars are also Ukrainian (from Lviv) and specialize in early music. This much I know. As for Viter, this is where Yulian blows out his last goodbye to the more customary folk forays, prior to diving into the urban/electronic-whatever fusion and pissing-off the remnants of his old Крода fans.

Truth be told, this mini-album sounds more Western European than specifically Ukrainian (we can refer to the concept at hand as Pan-European then, right?), save for the last track "Chychery", which isn't that interesting anyway. Yulian might as well have left it for someone like Воплі Відоплясова or Гайдамаки to do something fun with. Otherwise, traditional Swedish ballad "Vänner och Fränder" serves as a centerpiece and the main point of inspiration. Elsewhere, there is a rendition of the now popular (thanks to the lads from Skyforger) Baltic tune "Migla, Migla, Rasa, Rasa", whose presence is a bit confounding, if not totally unwelcome. But we'll write it off on the account of Pan-Europeanism.

Debt to folk-metal is paid on the title track, via a peculiar attempt to "ukrainianize" [the above mentioned] medieval Nordic folk piece. It stands as quite enjoyable (in spite of questionable groove riffing in the background), thanks to the expressive strength of the source folk harmonies, wistfully delivered by an interplay of a male-female vocal tandem and punctuated by some pleasant hutsul pipes. If anything, the Ukrainian version sounds more legit than In Extremo's butchered take. A more authentic, unplugged incarnation of "Vänner och Fränder" appears later on. It sounds fairly nice, but that would be the extent of my lionizing, considering that in the past the song in question has been adequately covered by groups such as Folk & Rackare and Garmarna. In this context, Kings & Beggars' autonomous interpretation of the XIV century Provence folk piece "Ai Vis Lo Lop" fits in well, especially as something that could possibly try to unify the somewhat muddled overall conception.

Problem with the whole package (other than its disjointed nature) is the usual: it's nice if hardly revelatory, outstanding, necessary etc. among the genre brethren. But let's not totally blame the artists and take surrounding environment into account as well. Music's a tough business, man!