Zaur Nagoy + Jrpjej
Hosted by: Ored Recordings and Yugofuturism
Ored Recordings and Yugofuturism present Zaur Nagoy and Jrpjej, two intriguing acts that perform post-traditional Circassian music from the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia.
This fall Jrpjej and Zaur Nagoev perform at Le Guess Who? in Utrecht, accompanied by a small and intimate Dutch tour. The Grey Space is proud to host Jrpjej and Zaur Nagoev on this evening.
19.15-19.45 Zaur Nagoy
20.00-20.45 Jrpjej
Jrpjej is a band from Nalchik, Russia, performing post-traditional Circassian music. Jrpjej perform traditional music and try to find their own sound within the limits of canon. They use only acoustic instruments – shichepshin, apapshin, percussion, accordion – but their original approach to melodies and songs makes the sound dense which is more typical for metal or experimental electronic music. Their sound feels both ancient and novel.
Zaur Nagoy is a musician and a folk teller from Adygeyam, Russia. Zaur was a participant of the first staff of Zhyu – the key group of Circassian and Caucassian traditional music. Known for his dark and beguiling song stories and spoken word-ballads, he sings and tells epic Nart sagas, heroic ballads and late Circassian joke folklore. His style is authentic, he doesn’t insert any elements from outside and he is devoted to the canon of local tradition. At the same time Zaur is one of the main improvisers in Circassian music. Zaur is not just a folk reconstructor, but a great musician without patterns and borders.
Producer Bulat Khalilov’s Ored Recordings is an ethnographic label known for collecting and documenting field recordings of authentic traditional music from Caucasus and Russia. The platform ensures this music organically fits into the playlists of NTS radio, the agenda of The Wire magazine and lineups of Fields, Mawaheb, Unsound, Le Guess Who? and Moscow Music Week.
The platform travels to towns, villages and mountain settlements in the regions of Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygea, Southern Dagestan and Azerbaijan in search of folk musicians. The guiding principle is articulated around field recordings and avoids studio recordings of traditional and local music. Celebrating the artistic potential of traditional music, the label strives to discover sounds which capture specific moments, their atmosphere and potential imperfections. In this context, Ored’s research includes Circassian epic sagas, Cossack songs, and the Sufi rituals of Chechnya, collected during dinner parties, services of worship and festivals.