post-dukes "Удмурт рейв" ("Udmurt Rave")

post-dukes is an entry point to Udmurt music. Carefully treated folk material in combination with mellow electronic music attract diverse audience, from ravers to the Head of the Republic. The founder of the project Chudya Zheni manufactures himself the almost forgotten folk instrument called kubyz, which is used in all post-dukes tracks.

bobolenin "Вирнунал" ("Virnunal")

The band’s founder is referred to as the Udmurt Kurt Cobain for adrenaline-charged guitar riffs and overstrained Udmurt-language vocals. But I like that at the same time he works in a kindergarten and makes kids fall in love with music. With bobolenin, Udmurt-language music came out of the narrow circle to a wider audience and attracted the attention of teenagers.

Silent Woo Goore "Toleze"

Now this one is the foundation of the renaissance of Udmurt music of 2010s. Do you remember the first Afisha picnics? Izhevsk’s answer of the time were Open City and Indie Love festivals. At that time, Silent Woo Goore caused a sensation and performed at the "Eurovision for regional and minority languages" - Liet International, and took second place there.

Everyone prophesied a brilliant future and worldwide fame for them, but unfortunately the project remained local. Vocalist Sveti Ruchkina launched a solo project and recently participated in the Yandex Music podcast "Tours to Cultures" performing a traditional Udmurt lullaby (which I also recommend, by the way).

Птица Тылобурдо "Пух и Перья" (Ptitsa Tyloburdo "Pukh i Per’ya")

The album doesn’t fit into the time frame of recent years, but still I can not help but mention this band. It is a phenomenon after all. In their homeland, in Udmurtia, the band gathers full venues of people aged 40+ for Christmas concerts, and in Moscow they perform at Mutabor for younger listeners. This is the first time I see such a stark contrast between the local and outsider audience, which does not belittling the quality of the music of this experienced band.

"отхода" "Холодно и страшно" ("otkhoda" "Kholodno i strashno")

Sasha, who moved from Uzbekistan to a small town in the north of Udmurtia, this autumn released a track full of reflections on xenophobia in Russia. A dark, somewhat aggressive recording with the use of the sounds of an Izhevsk factory and Mohammedan prayers from a mosque across the street from the musician’s window. Ethnically отхода is not Udmurt, but many different ethnic groups populate Udmurtia, and the vibe perfectly matches the area. An important topic of racism and an overwhelming amount of imperialism resulted in an industrial darkway single with elements of ethno stylization.