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CD
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EBM 018CD
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Markscheider Kunst is a Russian band with a German name that plays tropically hot music. Rather odd. Or maybe not. Translated as "Mine Surveyor," as most band members were studying surveying when they met in the early '90s, they are one of the most prominent bands in Russia today. Their concerts often run for up to three hours, and they're on the road with at least eight, often 13 musicians all at one time. By touring and playing festivals all over Europe from Finland to Austria for the last 10 years, they have made a name for themselves and gathered a faithful following. BBC's very own world music guru Charlie Gillet as well as Berlin's Russendisko team around Wladimir Kaminer have been fans from the very beginning. Brothers in mind like Manu Chao and The Skatalites have asked Markscheider Kunst to open up for them. Their melodic, infectious, and most of all irresistibly danceable music effortlessly crosses borders and charms smiles onto everybody's faces. On Utopia, their fifth album since 1997, they get everything right and capture all the sunniness of their live performances. Positive vibrations -- that's the key to Markscheider's work. This is fuelled by Latin ska, cumbia jazz, reggae, rumba or Afrobeat as well as Russian folk melodies and Russian vocals. The brass section pumps while the Hawaii guitar opens the Buena Vista Russian Club. As Boris Grebenshchikov, Russia's uber-musician and poet put it: Markscheider Kunst is the only band in Russia that plays happy music. As an ensemble they play in a virtuoso manner, but luckily this doesn't come across as academic or stiff, but as passionate, humorous and almost punk. There is also the odd drop of Russian melancholy and longing in some songs, mixed in with diverse experiments: there is meringue, bossa nova, and even some gypsy jazz. This is timeless music that has transformed St. Petersburg into a land of surf and sun.
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