''Volk'' is the seventh studio album by

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n industrial group

Laibach Laibach () is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with the industrial, martial, and neo-classical genres. Formed in the mining town of Trbovlje (at the time in Yugoslavia) in 1980, Laibach represents the musical wing of the Neue ...

, released in 2006. The word "volk" means "people" or "nation" in German and "wolf" in Slovene. The album is a collection of thirteen songs inspired by

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

or pan-national anthems, plus the anthem of the NSK State, a virtual state to which Laibach belong. The album is a collaboration with another Slovenian band,

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the c ...

. The anthem of the NSK is essentially the same arrangement as "The Great Seal", a song on their 1987 album ''Opus Dei''. Like "The Great Seal", the words are based on

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

's "

We shall fight on the beaches "We shall fight on the beaches" is a common title given to a speech delivered by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 4 June 1940. This was the second of three major sp ...

" speech.

Track listing

# "Germania" – based on "

Das Lied der Deutschen The "" (; "Song of Germany"), officially titled "" (; "The Song of the Germans"), has been the national anthem of Germany either wholly or in part since 1922, except for a seven-year gap following World War II in West Germany. In East German ...

" (Germany) # "America" – based on "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

" (United States) # "Anglia" – based on "

God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...

" (United Kingdom) # "Rossiya" – based on the

State Anthem of the Soviet Union The "State Anthem of the Soviet Union" was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original lyrics were written b ...

, post-2000 "

National Anthem of Russia The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the " State Anthem of the Soviet Union", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated wit ...

" (Russia), and "

The Internationale "The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of t ...

" # "Francia" – based on "

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

" (France) # "Italia" – based on "

Il Canto degli Italiani "" (; "The Song of the Italians") is a canto written by Goffredo Mameli set to music by Michele Novaro in 1847, and is the current national anthem of Italy. It is best known among Italians as the "" (, "Mameli's Hymn"), after the author of the ...

" (Italy) # "España" – based on "

Marcha Real The (; "Royal March") is the national anthem of Spain. It is one of only four national anthems in the world – along with those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Kosovo – that have no official lyrics. Although it had lyrics in the ...

" (music) and " El Himno de Riego" (lyrics) (Spain) # "Yisra’el" – based on "

Hatikvah Hatikvah ( he, הַתִּקְוָה, haTīqvā, ; ) is the national anthem of the State of Israel. Part of 19th-century Jewish poetry, the theme of the Romantic composition reflects the 2,000-year-old desire of the Jewish people to return t ...

" (Israel) and " Fida'i" ( Palestine) # "Türkiye" – based on " İstiklâl Marşı" (

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

) # "Zhonghuá" – based on "

March of the Volunteers The "March of the Volunteers" (), originally titled the "March of the Anti-Manchukuo Counter-Japan Volunteers", has been the official national anthem of the People's Republic of China since 1978. Unlike previous Chinese state anthems, it was ...

" (

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

) # "Nippon" – based on "

Kimi ga Yo is the national anthem of Japan. The lyrics are from a ' poem written by an unnamed author in the Heian period (794–1185), and the current melody was chosen in 1880, replacing an unpopular melody composed by John William Fenton eleven years ...

" (Japan) # "Slovania" – based on "

Hey, Slavs "Hey, Slavs" is a patriotic song dedicated to the Slavs which was used as the national anthem of various countries during the 20th century. Its lyrics were first written in 1834 under the title "Hey, Slovaks" ("Hej, Slováci") by Samo Tomáši ...

" (anthem of the former

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

and unofficial anthem of

Pan-Slavism Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had rule ...

) # "Vaticanae" – based on "

Inno e Marcia Pontificale The "Pontifical Anthem and March" ( it, Inno e Marcia Pontificale; la, Hymnus et modus militaris Pontificalis), also known as the "Papal Anthem", is the anthem played to mark the presence of the Pope or one of his representatives, such as a nun ...

" (

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

) # "NSK" – the anthem of

Neue Slowenische Kunst Neue Slowenische Kunst (; NSK; German: "New Slovenian Art") is a political art collective that formed in Slovenia in 1984, when the Socialist Republic of Slovenia was part of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. NSK's name was chosen to refl ...

, also known as "The Great Seal"

Personnel

Album written and produced by Laibach and

, 2005–2006. * Laibach are: ** Eber ** Saliger ** Dachauer ** Keller * Silence are: ** Boris Benko ** Primož Hladnik * Additional musicians: ** Boris Benko (Silence): vocals on all tracks except 08, 09, 10 and 14 ** Yolanda Grant-Thompson: vocals on tracks 02 and 13 ** Mina Špiler ( Melodrom): vocals on tracks 05 and 07 ** Maria Awa: vocals on track 07 ** Artie Fishel: vocals on track 08 ** Zed Mehmet: vocals on track 09 ** Elvira Hasanagić: vocals on track 09 ** Seaming To: vocals on track 10 ** Nagisa Moritoki: vocals on track 11 ** Brina Vogelnik Saje: vocals on track 12 ** Luka Jamnik:

analogue synthesizer An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...

sounds on tracks 02, 04 and 05 ** Miha Dovžan:

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat ...

on track 06 ** Peter Dekleva: acoustic guitar on track 04 ** Anne Carruthers:

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

on tracks 04 and 11 ** Alojz Zupan: conductor of brass orchestra on track 14: *** Delavska Godba Trbovlje ** Vitalij Osmačko: conductor of children's

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

on track 04: *** Janja Cerar *** Dasha Khotuleva *** Anna Vidovich *** Nastja Yatsko * Technical support: ** Gregor Zemljič ** Iztok Turk ** Uroš Umek * Mixing and mastering: ** Paul PDub Walton ** James Aparcio ** Tom Meyer * Project manager (Mute Records): ** Robert Schilling * Cover painting: ** Laibach * Design and layout: ** Phant & Puntza * Text editing: ** Schrankmeister * Special thanks to: ** Daniel Miller ** Robert Schilling * Label: Mute Records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volk (Album) 2006 albums Covers albums Laibach (band) albums Silence (band) albums Mute Records albums Albums recorded in Slovenia Industrial albums by Slovenian artists