Olexa Kabanov. Ambrelyre. Polyphonic wheel lyre.

I recommend listening to this disc – to everyone. Because the hurdy-gurdy lyre today remains a unique instrument with a specific sounding – its voice is a wonderful guide to imaginary and internal worlds. In the end, history of the hurdy-gurdy lyre goes back to about a thousand years ago – and it means that in this music there live medieval castles, and wandering musicians, and that clear air that our cities lack so much now... Far not every musician is able to breathe in real life into age-old instruments, to let them sound brightly, deeply – not with glass strasses, but with jewels. Olexa Kabanov, no doubt, is. In his performance traditional melodies sound as if they did not have hundreds of years behind their back – to that extent they are live, close, and warm. The feeling is that both the melodies, and you go beyond the limits of time – and nobody gets older, nothing disappears, while the music sounds... It is nice, by the way, that the few author's compositions only deepen this feeling. Actually, if one did not know where they were – one would not guess, that is how everything fits to each other. And another remarque. The ambrelyre that you hear here is Olexa Kabanov's author polyphonic hurdy-gurdy lyre. Due to certain upgrades, it has become a versatile orchestra of an instrument – it has been enriched indeed. I think that you will deservedly evaluate the depth of its voice, refinement of the shades – and will want to know more...

Anton Jozhik Leyba (Hedgehog)