DARIA KULESH & MARINA OSMAN – Firebirds (own label)

FirebirdsFirebirds was recorded by Daria and Marina for sale at gigs – although you can also buy it from their website. The fifteen tracks were recorded in single takes to get as close to their live sound as possible and they left the occasional giggle in.

Most of the tracks are traditional – or nearly traditional – Russian songs and I should explain that Daria and Marina are very popular with London’s Russian community for whom they mostly perform. The record in sequenced as a live set as far as I can judge. The opener, ‘Oy Moroz, Moroz’, is a drinking song about frost and it would be rude to suggest that these are popular Russian concerns. It’s followed by ‘I Watch The Snow’, one of Daria’s own songs, and ‘Shchdryk’, a New Year’s Eve song – think of the Mari Lwyd without the horse but with similar results for the ungenerous. That’s winter neatly dealt with.

Next up is their multi-lingual version of ‘Those Were The Days’, which was traditional once and is performed with all the fire and passion that Daria and Marina are capable of as well as much enjoyment. Is it wrong to suggest that Daria’s singing sounds more natural in Russian? I don’t know but I do feel that the words flow more comfortably. Marina is a classically trained pianist with the whole weight of Russian music behind her. Her biography is a fascinating read and I believe that if she played Tchaikovsky he’d probably lose.

My other favourites among the Russian songs are ‘Korobeiniki’ and ‘Dunya’s Ferry’, both up-tempo pieces well-suited to dramatic performance. There are three songs from Daria’s first solo album, Eternal Child: ‘The Hairdresser’ – it really is a true story – ‘Fake Wonderland’ and the lovely ‘Fata Morgana’ and the album closes with ‘Kalinka’ which seems to have been removed from its origins over the years but Daria and Marina have tried to restore it. The packaging of Firebirds is minimal but you can download notes on the Russian songs from the website and sound as knowledgeable as I pretend to be.

Dai Jeffries

Artists’ website: http://www.daria-kulesh.co.uk

‘Those Were The Day’ – in the studio:


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