Chorea Kozacky. Rytser smilostju upojennyy. (Knight Inspired with Courage)

(item from the "Rare Discs" section)
I had a chance to hear "Chorea Kozacky" for the first time during the festival Kraina Mriy – and, I should admit, this was a very peculiar impression. It is not only about that the ensemble performs medieval Ukrainian music investing considerable efforts in order to at least find the music notations and texts – to say nothing about the toilsome labor related to putting on sound, "reincarnating" these works. I'd like to tell you about the atmosphere that "Chorea Kozacky" creates both on stage, and in this album (which, in the end, is a recording of a concert performance). And this atmosphere could hardly be referred to otherwise than meditative one. While the texts of the pieces performed could by no means be called quiet or estranged, for they often relate about historic events – heroic, tragic, saturated with confusion of the soul. And the music as it is appears far not always such that is normally associated by us with the state of meditation. Nevertheless – there is an original magic, immersion into feelings of those times, about which the band sings. And it is this immersion, in which the contemporary easily dissolves – pleasantly surprises, and even strikes. Post factum. Because when it is sounding, one does not think about it. You only perceive. And even the fact that this is a concert recording, in which one can sporadically hear additional noises from the audience – does not undermine the atmosphere. The other way round – that creates additional overtones..