TARAS was specially comissioned by MuHa to the Artist  and Director Zeng Tu  from  Babel 7 studio, Sichuan Fine Art Institute, Chongqing, China. Back in 2010 Zeng Tu  was a resident artist in Derby Quad. Louise Clements -MuHa bass player and the director of FORMAT festival-  brought Tu around to MuHa gig in Nottingham.  Tu truly appreciated MuHa music and suggested he and his team could make the animation movie  for one of our soundtracks.

Since we released the album Taras in 2010, I always wanted to make a video for the song that gave the name to the album. The Cossack warriors  theme is Ukrainian historic epos, Tarars Bulba is a big figure embedded into cultural consciousness of Ukrainian  people. The song as well, came out really strong – I think my native roots gave an extra bit of power to it. To make a video for Taras song was an impossible task for us as it involved having Cossack battle on horses on a battlefield – the production cost  was just not affordable for the self label. Having Tu’s  offer I could not believe our luck! During my  college years I became a fan of animation and can appreciate how tedious and time consuming the animation is.

Sixteen months later  the team of four animators  of Babel 7, directed by Zeng Tu presented us with this awesome 3D movie that reflected everything I ever imagined for Taras and beyond. They made a good research on Ukrainian and Russian traditional designs and juxtaposed it to the distinctive Asian style visuals.  The result is a breathtaking timeless journey that takes the viewer through the centuries of wars, telling the story of what it means for the families. The song has gained a new powerful dimension.

I would really love to come to China to meet these incredibly talented people and see the production drafts and developments. Would be awesome to create  collaborative audio- visual programme with Zen Tu team and make more friends from around the globe.

We have already mentioned earlier in this blog our collaboratiove project TARAS with ZengTu  animation director from Sichuan Fine Art Institute Chongqing, China. As we are getting closer to completion of the project we thought we tell you more about TARAS.

Taras song was inspired by Ukrainian story of Taras Bulba. The lyrics unfold as a young Cossack awaits for a battle in the early foggy morning over the Dnieper 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 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 at 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 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.

We hope to have the finished piece in time for WOMEX film submissions for this year and hopefully we get selected for screening at this world music fair.

The dates for the official launch of the animation are to be confirmed

The  female figure in this painting  is based on Brian’s  Ukrainian wife Svitlana and the painting itself was ‘…inspired by the musical feel of [MuHa song]  Kaby Vedala’.

This is  the best compliment we could have received for our music and we would like to thank Brian for  sharing his beautiful vision of Kaby Vedala  with us.

Brian Barclay's vision of Kaby Vedala

I was humbled and overjoyed with the storyboard we just received, it looks epic. It’s distinctive Asian style adds yet another dimension to the meaning of our music.

Thanks to Louise Clements- the bass player in MuHa, a great  woman  who have friends from all over the world- we have this amazing opportunity to create a Chinese animation on Ukrainian famous epic theme Taras Bulba,  which is expected to be released early in 2012. Best xmas ever!

This year was challenging for MuHa percussion section. Richard Grindon decided to take his drumming career on a higher level and enrolled to the Guilford Academy of Music leaving Nottingham in September 2011. We wish him all the best luck and future great achievements in music as he has all the talent to make it to the biggest stages in the country and indeed, the world.

You may have noticed that our percussionist Richard Kensington is no longer playing with us on a regular basis as the time pressures from his involvement with Mas Y Mas and the other musical projects he is working on make it difficult for him to commit to a growing gig schedule with MuHa. It has been mutually agreed that it is better to have consistency in the band for the sake of band cohesion and audience expectation so Colm O’Hanlon has stepped in and will now be playing percussion with MuHa as the regular percussionist.

Colm already played many gigs with MuHa and, I must say, it is very enjoyable to work with him. In his music Colm is always giving very careful attention to what he is doing and keeps the time really well. As an additional bonus to the group- Colm is a problem solver- before I even think there is a problem- Colm has already sorted it- a very helpful skill for everything that goes on behind the stage before the performance!

We continue to collaborate with various musicians and keep our mind open to new possible opportunities and developments. Looking forward to see what 2012 brings to us, wishing you all the wellness and happy holidays!

It was a painful project for me personally on physical and emotional levels from the first freezing shooting day and ending with September 11 concert.  I have chosen to speak up about my 9/11 American experience to the MuHa audience, media and friends.  Though 10 years later in England this topic did generate some interest and we managed to get a bit of media coverage of our project, I felt it was not something English people were too passionate to commemorate. Understandingly, 10 years after-  9/11 events  are  not more than a history that affected the world of today in various, mostly non positive ways. Besides, America with its foreign policies is not a very popular country here in the UK among free thinking educated people.

Nevertheless, ’ 9/11 UK community ‘  commemorated the anniversary with a usual passion. Through this project I was lucky to meet    Rob Halligan – musician, broadcaster fro Coventry who, like myself,  lost his father in 9/11. He and his family welcomed me in his house and we talked about 9/11 and music in his radio show.

September 11 Concert at Nottingham contemporary Caffe Bar happened to be more of MuHa’s family and friends community support event rather than a big scale commemoration event I initially hoped for. Looking back at it however , I am happy it happened this way. It was great to see close friends and friends of a friends supporting the event. I am very happy to say special thanks to Manushi Dance Company lead by a beautiful woman Vina Ladwa; Ling Peng with her amazing Erhu playing; Abel Chaude on clarinet;  Richard Kensington on percussion; Emma Mario organizing fundraising;  Ste Alan for booking us such a beautiful venue; Steve Barnet for a great sound; photographer Robert Balmer and all the people who came and helped us to raise money for the War Child charity.

It was an amazing experience to work with all the people who were involved in one way or another, but to be completely honest, I am happy the project is over and we can concentrate on our future collaborations,  including animation project with Chinese studio…. oops… not to spoil the surprise- will leave it to 2012!

I was very happy to travel to my native town with the gig for the first time. As our audience is the west, I was eager to find out how our music is be perceived by the people I draw my inspiration from. The other idea was to recreate MuHa songs with Ukrainian based musicians. From the UK band we had Richard Kensington on percussion and myself on lead guitar/vocals; from Ukraine we had Constantin Bushinsky on solo guitar and Natasha Kasyanchyk
on dombra- the house of Sun instrument.

The schedule was very tight. In 4 days we had to rehearse all the material, cover 700 kilometres ( about 500 miles) in a dusty falling apart van and play two gigs. What I can not stop admiring about Ukraine is that there is not much planning ahead or planning altogether going on. Nevertheless, things seem to fall in place and happen on their own at the last minute.

It was an unusual experience to sing the audience that does actually understands the lyrics. As a writer I have to say the truth in my songs, otherwise they will not be true songs. But to write and perform yourself inside out to the audience, opening up the vulnerable sides- its a sort of a bravery. It has been always easy for me in England and I try express the emotions and the energy with my performance, the details are left unknown, therefore I safe The Ukrainian audience did understand the lyrics, and you know what- I loved it. The songs appeared to have another dimension to them.

Playing with Constantin and Natasha was such a privilege. I feel very lucky to know such good musicians, but most importantly such amazing people!

2011 MuHa UA project was born.

It is easy to spot these people as they stand out from the crowd shouting or talking to themselves, crying then laughing the next moment or just standing or wandering with an absent face.

During the week preceding to the 10th anniversary of 9/11 I was listening to the monologue of a woman in a subway. She was on her own, but she talked very expressively to someone appearing to be on her left hand side as she was continually looking there as if she had a companion at that spot.

Interestingly, what she was saying was not all nonsense , it was a normal conversation… except she was having it to herself. She was talking about various things jumping from one topic to another. At one point she discussed the Freedom Tower- the fortress-like skyscraper that they are building on the WTC site and that will be the tallest building in the United States and one of the tallest in the world.

The woman said ‘ Why are they building this Freedom tower? What America wants to prove to the world?’ – Wow, I thought- she says exactly what I think about this! Then she continued with ‘ America doesn’t need to prove anything to the world- we ARE the best’ …

But there was nothing strange about this sentence either – it is a very popular view in America – this is how most Americans perceive themselves and their country in a global context. It was however strange and ironic to hear it from this poor woman talking to herself in a subway carriage.

The look of a Freedom Tower ( or WTC 1) when it is finished in 2013

I thought I will put a link to this sarcastic image as well – as to my opinion America hasn’t learnt to be humble.

HELP US RAISE THE MONEY FOR THE WAR CHILD

Confirmed Artists so far:

MuHa
Ling Peng- Erhu player from China
Olya Shafikova- pianist from Moscow
Manushi Dance Company – Classical Indian Kathak dance
Abel Chaudé ( France)
Richard Kensington- Cuban percussionist from Nottingham

BRING A CANDLE

Our Charity is the War Child – they help children affected by war and terrorism. Emma Mario is an organiser of the fundraising. Please donate online to the War Child