From time to time I receive a demo from an unknown band that will really spark my interest. This demo from the Serbian band Kinovia struck me by the sad beauty of the music it contains.
Kinovia use acoustic guitars, flutes, violins and piano to create a melancholic neofolk/neoclassic music that draws largely from traditional Serbian folk music. Amongst the traditional elements are the long male vocal complaints, similar in sound to the Corsican polyphonies, inspired by the wordless Ison singing of ancient Byzantine tradition. These songs may be wordless, but these timeless vocal melodies express more heartrending sadness and melancholy than any words could ever convey...
This singing technique, which represented the absolute of god, is particularly in phase with the religious inspiration of songs such as 'Otkrivenije arhangelovo' ('Revelation of the Archangel'), 'Znamenija' ('Omens') and 'Dorotea' with its chaotic frenzy finale representing man's inner struggle against oblivion... This demo also includes superbly rearranged versions of a traditional song 'Lelej' and a traditional religious chant from the 12th century "Vaskliknite Bogovi".
This is a live recording so expect to hear a gritty unpolished sound that, far from disserving the music, gives it a sense of urgency and fragility that somehow adds an extra dimension to the music...
It also shows the range of Kinovia's talent and I'm impatient to listen to their first release, the soon to come 'Snenia' mini cd.