Qorror

Sometimes with the sparse accompaniment of a mournful fiddle or a lonely flute, sometimes a cappella polyphonic chant, this recording brings to light yet another micro-genre of traditional folk of which I was completely unaware. In many ways this is very Russian, with the singsong poetic chanting propped up by an all-male deep-voice chorus, and in other ways it strangely reminds me of Irish music, with the nonsense refrains that form an underpinning the vocals can always return to, much like the "lay the bent to the bonny broom" of English folk. There are even festive moments where the percussion rolls and it feels like a bit of a party. No, a march. It's men marching, maybe on their way to a party. Maybe on their way to war.