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EARTHBEAT by the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble and the Paul Winter Consort
Other artists who have recorded with Living Music
About the Paul Winter Consort
SOLSTICE GEMS also features music by the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble
SOLSTICE
LIVE! also features live recordings by the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble
FACES OF RUSSIA by the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble is available from Amazon.com
WILD FIELD by the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble is available from Amazon.com
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Founded in 1973 in Moscow by Dmitri Pokrovsky (1944-1996), the great musician and ethnomusicologist, the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble's repertoire encompasses more than 2000 songs, including medieval Russian village music, music of the country's old and new faiths, and modern works of Russian composers.
The Russian nation has many different ethnic groups separated by geographical regions. Each small group has its own customs, traditions and lifestile. This is reflected in their songs, which are in an oral improvisational tradition handed down from generation to generation. Dmitri Pokrovsky was the one of the first musicians in Russia who felt the need to bridge the gap between the old and new musical vocabulary. He formed the Ensemble as a 'living laboratory' with the aim of keeping folk music alive. To learn the essence of the village music, members of the Ensemble became a part of the village, experiencing the relationships, rituals, life, nature and music of the villagers. The Ensemble has gathered a wealth of information, which it now shares in live performances.
Wearing traditional Russian village costumes and performing on ancient instruments, the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble brings the authentic folklore of Russia back to life. Some of their lively recreations of village songs, dances and pagan rituals are more than 2000 years old.
Since its founding, the Ensemble has been featured on the Paul Winter Consort's Earthbeat tour (USA) and has given performances at various festivals including the 'Making Music Together Festival' in Boston (1988), Tokyo Summer Festival (2001) and WOMAD,SFINKS. It has has performed at both the Russian and American White Houses, BAM, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera, on American television and radio etc. The Pokrovsky Ensemble has toured in the United States, Germany, Austria, England, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Israel, Finland, Japan and the former USSR. The group has been featured in more than two dozen films, participated in many Russian theatrical pieces and appears regularly on Russian television.
The Paul Winter Consort and the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble
Paul Winter made the first of his 15 trips to the former Soviet Union in 1984, where he performed together with the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble at Moscow State University.
Their collaboration resulted in the creation of the first Russian-American recording of original music, EARTHBEAT, a unique combination of Western harmony and Afro-Brazilian rhythms with traditional Slavic singing, and a ground-breaking album in 1987 when 'world music' had still to be 'invented'. In 1988 the Paul Winter Consort and the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble toured EARTHBEAT across the United States to more than 25 cities, and the Ensemble returned on several occasions to perform as guest artists at Paul Winter's renowned Summer and Winter Solstice Celebrations.
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Dmitri PokrovskyDmitri Pokrovsky lectured at America's Smithsonian Institute, Princeton University and the Omega Institute, and was a Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College, USA. Directing his Ensemble, Pokrovsky wrote numerous scores for films and was an active musical director in Russian theatre. In 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev honoured Pokrovsky with the Government Award, the Soviet Union's highest recognition for artistic excellence, a testament to the scholarship, musicianship and vitality with which he and the Ensemble had preserved Russian tradition, culture and customs. "We began as collectors of folk songs. We traveled all over Russia , principally to the small villages and rural farming areas where songs and customs have remained the same for many, many years. We were to form a living library as well as a cultural laboratory. The great Russian composer of the 19th century Mikhail Glinka said, "songs are the soul of the nation". We would like to share these songs with you as a window into the Russian soul." Dmitri Pokrovsky |
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