MUHA

… On Valentine’s day in the Rupununi , the red haired Iryna Muha stole the show. The petit Ukrainian artiste, who sings in the style of Eastern European folk singers, seemingly made everyone fall in love with her. Her style, personality and talent crossed language carries to introduce something new to everyone and make them like it. Ukrainian music, or Iryna’s version of it at least, is fun and of sort that you would likely skip to when no one’s looking. But it is also varied, sometime mournful and melancholy, with similarities of native American music. It was a learning experience too as Iryna gave bits of background about her country. - Sunday Stabroek, Feb 14th 2014

Taras
Melodic Eastern European folklore, North Indian Kathak rhythms, Cuban Grooves, Russian and Ukrainian lyrics, All thrown in together in one melting pot of a CD! As my idol(!) Cheryl Cole would say, “That’s right up my street!” There’s even a bódhran nestling amongst the roll call of congas, djembe, and Indian Kathak bols.
MuHa are a group of musicians from the UK who are influenced by their multicultural surroundings. And never was a mixed mutt so beautiful. Opener Richenka grabs you with its punchy riff. Listen to Taras if you thought the only existence of a Russian & Cuban partnership was old Ilyushins, Ladas, cigars and Castro. The Slavonic lyrics bounce incredibly off the flamenco guitar. It’s definitely my favourite.
Lullaby does exactly what it says on the tin, albeit with rain sticks and sung in Russian (or Ukrainian!). Iryna Muha’s will put you to sleep (in a good way) so no operating heavy machinery while listening to this one.
Closing track The Morning Song is just so upbeat, it’s like the members of MuHa are waving goodbye to you cheerily, exchanging phone numbers & promising Facebook adds, you know after one of those crazy brilliant nights that ends as the sun is coming up, Of course I don’t know what the flip Iryna is singing about, but it all sounds grand to me. I truly love this album. To quote from their album inlay mission statement, they have most definitely “mesmerized” this listener. It’s so bonkers yet beautifully brilliant you simply cannot fault them.
Review by Aoife Kiernan - Music Review Unsigned

WorldMusicVideo.com about TARAS animation music video from MuHa (2012)

Taras – New Trailer for MuHa,from Babel7 Studio, Directed by Zeng Tu.
The music video TARAS was specially comissioned by UK based contemporary Eastern European folk band – MuHa. Created by animators from the Babel 7 studio, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, Chongqing, China. Directed by Artist Zeng Tu. muha.co.uk.

If you can watch this trailer on Full screen, it is just awesome. An incredible partnership between the UK based band MuHa and their friends at Babel7 Studios in China. The Trailer & Film we believe is directed by an artist called Zeng Tu. We are currently trying to gather more information on this great new Film Director and his animators plus other musical works coming out the Sichuan Institute, watch this space.
Also check out Muha’s own home grown Video & Film Work on their own band website www.muha.co.uk . It all has such a special style, just like their music, full of personal touches, quality work, unique and a great Beautiful sound.
Background to this Trailer
Taras song was inspired by Ukrainian story ofTaras Bulba. The lyrics unfold as a young Cossack awaits for a battle in the early foggy morning over theDnieper river in Ukraine.
He thinks about his home and wife, and is ready to accept his fate the battle holds for him- whatever it could be?. The battle starts, people become as fierce as animals, the blood is shed…
….Scattered bids, scared beasts
Mother wolf protects her cubs-
People gathered for a devil feast
Wild butcher swords scatter the blood….
As a female songwriter Iryna also looks at women’s fate when men are killed at war. A woman says goodbye to her dear husband and sons who she loved and cherished all her life, only to loose them to the violence of war. As a result she is left to bring up the children, keep up the household and take all the hardships of the lonely life on her own.
Although the Cossack theme is taking place in about the 16-17 century, the story is relative to today as much as it was 300 years ago. Husbands, fathers and sons are still being killed in wars and women are left behind, having to deal with the consequences of glorified wars.
The international collaborative project TARAS is bringing three cultures together. The song TARAS has an Ukrainian traditional Cossack theme , it has been written and recorded by UK music collective MuHa, and TARAS animation movie is created by Chinese animation studio, making this project a celebration of multi-cultural global creative work.
Below are the latest screenshots from TARAS animation beeing created by Sichuan Fine Art Institute team.
They hope to have the finished piece in time for WOMEX film submissions for this year and hopefully they will get selected for screening at this world music fair.
The dates for the official launch of the animation are to be confirmed - World Music Video

Taras

MuHa class themselves as ‘New Roots from Eastern Europe’. This is a phrase that may turn a lot of people off, but don’t fear, as this isn’t some kind of tie-dyed folk we are dealing with. On Taras, MuHa manage to meaningfully mix the history and sounds of Eastern European folk music with Indian and Western European influences to create an album as refreshing as a dip in the Volga. What does this mean in terms of music?
Both Let’s Talk About The Weather and Taras are all heady flamenco rhythms and passionate Russian vocals, two things that on paper sound like they go together as well as Trotsky and an ice pick, but here they are a marriage of delights. Kaby Vedala (as the liner notes state) is a traditional Russian Folk song made to sound like classic British folk, all lilting guitars and starry-eyed singing, much like Pentangle on a diet of Russian phrase books. Whilst a song like New York Rain feels like it was conceived in a jazz club.
Taras carries on in this manner over its thirteen songs and 45 minutes, gathering up sounds as if they were souvenirs from various continents on the shortest around the world trip ever - the fact that MuHa can make this sound so enjoyable is testament to their dedication and craft.
Paul Klotschkow
Left Lion - Left Lion