Parus – Zara

Parus – Zara // Shatkavalka – SHTKVLK001

Zara is the debut album of Parus, an ethno-ambient project from Belarus. It combines pagan songs performed by ethnographer and folk singer Hanna Silivonchyk, in various dialects of the Belarusian language, with synthesizers and field recordings created in Belarusian national parks by electroacoustic music producer Anton Anishchanka.

The songs were collected during ethnographic expeditions to remote regions of the country at different times by Belarusian ethnographers.

From the large body of authentic material, these songs were not chosen by chance. Hanna Silivonchyk explains: “I choose the songs that somehow feel like mine for all sorts of reasons, that I love to be in.” They are at the same time about her and about many other people who lived before and continue to live, becoming close through something very intimate.

Soniejka is a summer harvest song from the Dnieper river region, about readiness to meet life in all its forms, with acceptance and love. Zara comes from the same region and tells the Indo-European mythological story of heavenly love between the Moon and the Evening Dawn and their parting. Ružovyja ćviaty is a lyrical song from the Dzvina river region, romantic and delicate, about the beginning of love between two people. Oj łuhom idu is a spring song from Podlasie (today’s Poland), telling of the life of a married woman, her possible fate, and how she may live through it.

All of them speak of individual feelings in the present, of personal experience, while at the same time reflecting universal human meanings that exist beyond time.

credits:
Produced by Anton Anishchanka
Vocals by Hanna Silivonchyk
Engineered by Tenzor
Mastered by Alex Quitefish mastering
Artwork by Sasha Zeliankevich

A4 – bagpipes by Sergey Chubrik
B1 – dulcimer by Sergey Chubrik

Shatkavalka 2024

Tracklist

A1. Parus – Zara (6:36)
A2. Parus – Pałučča (3:26)
A3. Parus – Soniejka (2:47)
A4. Parus – Młyn (4:52)
A5. Parus – Ružovyja ćviaty (4:33)
B1. Parus – Mazurka (5:51)
B2. Parus – Oj łuhom idu (5:15)
B3. Parus – Zara (Live version) (6:27)