Druyd

Musicians with a genuine approach, completely dedicated to their art
(Glasbeniki z iskrenim odnosom, popolno predanostjo glasbi) - DolenjskiList.si

SHORT QUOTES:
>> Druyd performs an amazing and unusually consistent and harmonious sound combination, which sounds very rich and unpredictable. The band is very well rehearsed and their live acoustic performance is so strong in expression and sensual at the same time. A great concert by Druyd in Kulturni dom Krsko! <<

>> Du, definitely one of the most prolific and amazing didgeridoo players in the world, creates an acoustic environment of different music instruments just by playing his didgeridoo. <<

FULL REVIEW:
Druyd, a very unusual and interesting music group from Zagreb, Croatia, performed in the Kulturni dom Krsko (Slovenia) on the 18th of October. The music of Druyd can be quite simply called world music. On one hand, there are several elements in the didgeridoo-guitar-melodica-vocals combination that can be found in different world music styles. However, on the other hand, we can find some parallels even with the funky groove in the rhythm and the sound effects of Du's didgeridoo. Du, definitely one of the most prolific and amazing didgeridoo players in the world, creates an acoustic environment of different music instruments just by playing his didgeridoo. He gives the rhythm and bass line to Druyd, which from time to time sounds very groovy. And at other times creates an ultra subtle connection to the guitar and vocals. The wide expression of the didgeridoo's sound is upgraded by great acoustic guitar playing (Yr), occasionally accompanied by melodica. All these elements complement the clear and opened vocals (BlackMary). Druyd performs an amazing and unusually consistent and harmonious sound combination, which - in spite of a trio performing - sounds very rich and unpredictable. The band is very well rehearsed – which is why their live acoustic performance is so strong in expression and sensual at the same time. A great concert by Druyd in Kulturni dom Krsko! - Katja Ceglar, director of Kulturni dom Krsko

SHORT QUOTES:
>> BlackMary's interpretation is very similar to Lisa Gerrard's early work from the Dead Can Dance opus. <<

>> For the duration of the half hour concert, a crammed Sax could be convinced of what the "new sound" really is and will most probably remember this performance for a long time to come as it was throughout quite a rarity in a sea of pop, kitsch and outright copy/paste imitations. <<

>> Lapaine is a wizard who crams sounds of wind into three long, wooden wind instruments and modifies them at his will, forming them into subtle sound sculptures. It often reminds one of electronic effects, beats and diabolical samplers... <<


FULL REVIEW:
Druyd of Zagreb are Dubravko Lapaine – Du (didgeridoo), Igor Ratkovic – Yr (acoustic guitar) and Mary Crnkovic-Pilas or BlackMary (vocals), and on this occasion they brought a stand with a large branch attached to it whose leaves had withered so as to, for a moment at least, draw the audience's attention to nature and ambience.

Lapaine held a very pleasant introductory speech at the onset stressing how the new sound is stretched widely in the sea of sounds and is sometimes difficult to find, but when one enters the expanse of space, a lot of material can be found within it and without further ado, performed the acclaimed "Misao iz daleka" or "Thought from Faraway", which was among the 10 best world music compositions at this year's World of Music Awards organized by We Are Listening. They performed the piece in quite a convincing manner which did not steer far from the version recently released on the "Kosmopterix" album, and interestingly enough, during this time, BlackMary sat besides them on the stage and crocheted! This reminded me of a concert by the Czech experimental free-noise weirdos Zabloudil in Mocvara held about 10 years ago whose female members knitted before the performance...
I hope you have all heard the didgeridoo, and that there is no need to explain its specific hollow, brittle and rough sound, but for the moment there are few who have seen Lapaine in action. But, the way things have been going, there's still time.

He is a wizard who crams sounds of wind into three long, wooden wind instruments and modifies them at his will, forming them into subtle sound sculptures. It often reminds one of electronic effects, beats and diabolical samplers, but one can also feel how he improvises associative percussive sounds – tom, djembe, conga drums... On many instances, I almost disbelievingly searched the stage to see whether there was perhaps a sampler, but to no avail. The master is a master, the kind of which you will not find with much ease in this part of Europe...
Anyway, in the composition "Desert's thing", which began with a bombastic tribal rhythm in a very loud dance format, BlackMary stood up and showed the whole range of her vocals. She sings in an archaic way combining vox-extended technique with mute improvised arias which evoke the enormous desert expanse calling to the spirits of the past. She is always careful to be at least a foot away from the microphone, and her interpretation is very similar to Lisa Gerrard's early work from the Dead Can Dance opus. In their third piece "Magic Wood", Lapaine asked the audience for at least 7 minutes of concentration because, as is often the case, the deaf public near the bar were entertaining themselves by chatting. The combination of the didgeridoo and melodica sounded chamber-ish, almost like a bassoon, and the band performed a very complex and demanding composition in which Lisa (a Croatian Australian) sung the English text very well.
For their last piece, they performed "Unwinding the wind", once again in an archaic way with vox-extended arias by BlackMary, who seems to have a trained voice (at least that's how it sounds), and throughout the entire performance, Igor Ratkovic was constantly based on his subtle acoustic guitar whose sound often had the timbre and expression of the oud or shargija (Bosnian traditional instrument). To compare them to the folk gothic ambient band Tamerlan from Belgrade would not be out of place and they are very similar in terms of interpreting a fusion of neoclassical, folk and world music.

For the duration of the half hour concert, a crammed Sax could be convinced of what the "new sound" really is and will most probably remember this performance for a long time to come as it was throughout quite a rarity in a sea of pop, kitsch and outright copy/paste imitations.

by Horvi - Vladimir Horvat - GLAS.BA - Internet Music Magazine

Sometimes a band comes along that offers something so new, so refreshing, and so unique that missing out on their music would be a crime. Many cool alternative bands get lost in the shuffle of average joe bands. This next band will certainly need not worry about this as they are making music that makes them instantly stand out above the masses. Who is this band? Meet DRUYD [...]

by: Isaac Davis Jr., BGS, MBA - Junior's Cave Online Magazine

Krško / Kulturni dom
29. 1. 2010

If you have a fear of space travel and its expanse, you just ain’t ready for it. The Club of the Cultural Centre Krsko for a moment became the Black Hole, or concentrated light that engulfed everything into itself. Druyd, the “Heavy Wood” band from Zagreb as they like to call themselves, played. With Dubravko Lapaine on the didgeridoo, Mary Crnkovic on vocals and Igor Ratkovic on guitar. With a complete production, a relaxed and unpretentious approach, and above all an understanding that music, in Dubravko’s, words belongs to no one, they opened a world of vibrations to us. Dubravko performs so many sounds on his didgeridoo that he covers a whole rhythm section, which for most bands needs three members.

His unbelievable abilities on the didgeridoo surpasses every preconceived idea – his beats and rhythms pull in the “other side” while at the same time bring us down to earth, the ethereal voice of the singer touches the heart, while Igor binds everything together melodically. They all play together – and each on his own. Dubravko has transformed the traditional sound of the didgeridoo, which is no longer just a “tribal instrument”, and yet creates “tribal” worlds. Don’t quite comprehend? I suggest a visit to one of their web sites and watching Desert Stinkyroom to get a clearer picture. An explanation of their musical creative process from a reasonable point of view is no easy task, and in a way it’s something that I don’t even want to do. Which is why I recommend you turn off reasoning, press play and then tell me whether I’m right or not. In between their compositions, we listened to Dubravko’s stories from outer space, which made us laugh while at the same time created jumps in thought, which lead us on Druyd’s journey. This is not music that you merely listen to, but rather feel, you cannot define it mentally. At first glance chaotic, incomprehensible, even with a shock effect, but if you let yourself go at the end as a “listener” you find yourself smiling, somewhere out there, hanging in space. Bon voyage!

by Breda Špacapan

[original text in Slovenian]
Ce vas navdaja strah pred potovanjem v vesolje in njegove prostranosti, "you just ain' ready for it". Klub Kulturnega doma Krško je za trenutek postal crna luknja, oz. skoncentrirana svetloba, ki posrka vase. Koncertirali so Druyd, zagrebška "heavy wood" zasedba, kot se imenujejo. Z Dubravkom Lapainetom na didgeridoo-ju, Mary Crnkovic na vokalu in Igorjem Ratkovicem na kitari. Z dovršeno produkcijo, sprošcenim in skromnim pristopom, predvsem pa dojemanjem glasbe, ki po besedah Dubravka ni last nikogar, so nam odstrli svet vibracij. Dubravko na didgeridooju izvaja toliko zvokov, da pokriva celotno ritem sekcijo, za katero so v obicajnem bendu potrebni vsaj trije.

Njegove neverjetne sposobnosti na didgeridooju presegajo vsakršno domišljijo - s poudarki in ritmiko vlece v onstranstvo in hkrati prizemljuje, pevkin vilinski glas boža po srcu, Igor pa vse skupaj melodicno povezuje. Vsi igrajo skupaj - a vsak zase. Dubravko je preobrazil tradicionalni zvok didgeridooja, ki ni vec zgolj "tribal instrument", ustvarja pa "tribal" svetove. Ne razumete? Predlagam obisk njihove strani in ogled videa Desert Stinkyroom za jasnejšo sliko. Obrazložiti njihovo glasbeno ustvarjanje z razumskega gledišca res ni macji kašelj, po eni strani tega niti ne želim, zato pa priporocam, da izklopite razum, kliknete play in potem povejte, ce nimam prav.

Med skladbami smo prisluhnili vesoljskim zgodbicam Dubravka, ki so nasmejale, a hkrati ustvarjale miselne preskoke, s katerim nas je povlekel v potovanje Druyda. To ni glasba ki jo zgolj poslušaš, temvec jo doživljaš, mentalno pa je ne moreš definirati. Na prvi pogled kaoticno, nerazumljivo, tudi v efektu šoka, ce se prepustiš, pa na koncu kot "poslušalec" obsediš za nasmehom, nekje tam, visec v vesolju. Srecno!

Tekst: Breda Špacapan - ROCKonNET - Spletni casopis za glasbofile