White Owl

Artist Information

Biography

White (or Snowy) owl — on one hand, a bird of about 2.5 kg weight, on the other hand, a result of brutal musical experiences directed on creating a monster which will destroy the world. The monster appears to be viable and omnivorous, has received a name of Folk Core, lives in a hollow and wishes happiness to everyone.
This owl eats everything. She drags into her cozy warm hollow folk hamsters, rats from a punk dustbin, funk lemurs, thoughtful animals from reggae jungle that have already forgotten their names, metal bats, rigid but refined art-rock snails and alternative duck-bills. There is hardly a skeleton you will not find in her closet. Separate food supporters reproach the owl that it all together is too harmful for her stomach, too harmful to live - but all in vain. She eats and has never yet choked which is surprising…
Cheerful product of gene engineering, white rubbish with human eyes, sharp-clawed phantom mischievously dancing a plain bird's dance on a sinking drakkar mast - where have you come from at all?
No answer. How can she know where she came from? How can she know what will happen to her tomorrow? She lives because she loves living.

Instrumentation

Hagnir - vocals
Artem Ryabov - bass
Vova Korzhev - guitars, back vocals
Natasha Scherbakova - drums
Anatoly Velichkin - violin

Discography

2000 - Away From The Shore LP
2006 - Pepper LP

Audio

• Fifteen Men On A Dead Man's Chest
  Listen   Download
• Cunla
  Listen   Download
• Miksi Ne Neijot
  Listen   Download
• Personal Jah
  Listen   Download
• Just Chains
  Listen   Download
• La Rotta
  Listen   Download

Lyrics

• Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
• Cunla
• Miksi Ne Neijot
• Personal Jah
• Just Chains

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Pepper - Folkcore rocks!! [+ Show ]
  

  The ways some folk standards such as "Lord of the Dance" or "Cunla" are presented can be taken for a...The ways some folk standards such as "Lord of the Dance" or "Cunla" are presented can be taken for a joke. And this is true - it was a joke at first but then the WO found that the idea was well enough for taking it seriously.
  
  Not all song at the new album, ‘Pepper’ are so funny such as "Lord of the Dance" or "Cunla". Everybody who read "The Treasure Island" can guess that "Fifteen men on a dead man's chest" is a harsh pirate song arranged as a nowadays bandit song. A manner the musicians chose for "Personal Jah" is alike. It is not strictly a bandit song even on the contrary: it conveys how a new world can be created. All you need is not to be afraid of letting your crazy imagination free.
  
  The album also contains a number of songs that don't belong to Celtic tradition - Finnish songs. It is a new brunch in a varicolored passage of folk-music life in Moscow. "Kannunkaataija" ("The Tippler") - a cheerful song about a funny drunkard; "Miksi Ne Neijot" (karelian song) can be translated as "Why do the maidens...?" One can try to guess what they do or why or attempt to study Finnish. And another song - "Korppi" ("The Raven") is a very beautiful and emotional song, as you understand about a raven.
  
  "La Rotta" is an Italian instrumental composition that goes back to times before Renaissance. Rotta is a dance that one can find in cultures of different nations (French, Italian and even Moldavian). WO never follows the traditional performance, thus only a tune of an old original "La Rotta" is used and developed into a new dancing composition.
  
  A little number of WO's own songs are plaid now. One can find only three of them at the album -"Just Chains", "Good Old Spider" and "Personal Jah" - that survived in a stream of traditional music and could stand the test of time.

• Fun folk-rock [+ Show ]
  

  White Owl do a great job marrying Folk and Rock music. The Pepper album really didn't get rolling un...White Owl do a great job marrying Folk and Rock music. The Pepper album really didn't get rolling until Cunla (though Miksi is good as well). They have a great mix of style, from the speed of Cunla, to the much more traditional folk La Rotta, to the hard groove of Personal Jah. Overall they are great musicians.
  
  Another pleasant surprise about the album is the quality of the recording. It isn't strange for bands who try to fuse different styles to have a terrible time with their early attempts at getting their ideas recorded properly. Here the violin, guitar, drums and vocals are all clear and easy to differentiate, while at the same time being mixed together to form a complete whole.
  
  I have very few complaints about the album. Sometimes the vocalists style does not appeal to me, and there are a few moments I really don't believe it fits well - his tone goes better with the harder numbers, in my opinion. This is a pretty small complaint, and after I got used to the overall feel of the album, I've enjoyed it tremendously.

• Pepper: In one word - brilliant! [+ Show ]
  

  This album is as enjoyable as a real Italian pizza with double cheese. The funked up versions of ...This album is as enjoyable as a real Italian pizza with double cheese.
  
  The funked up versions of classic folk songs are well executed. The fiddler is in a category all his own. Absolutely top notch musicianship and production values.
  
  The album has a live, energetic feel from beginning to end. Yet the musicianship all the way around is perfectly executed at full speed ahead.
  
  "The Rising of the Moon" with non-Celtic phrasing is more fun than a crate of yo-yos.
  
  I loved it all the way around!

Setlist

1 Just Chains
2 Lord Of The Dance
3 Miksi Ne Neijot
4 Cunla
5 La Rotta
6 Korppi
7 Fifteen Men On Dead Man's Chest
8 Good Old Spider
9 Personal Jah
10 Kannunkaataja
11 Rising Of The Moon
12 Friggin' In The Riggin'
13 As I Roved Out
14 Marechal de France
15 Uncle Matthew
16 Lullaby
17 Path Of The Sun
18 Lighthouse
19 Soul Ghetto
20 Lucid

set is about 90 minutes
original songs and some traditional tunes

Basic Requirements

Calendar