''Medieval Classic Rock'' is the thirteenth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

of the

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian band

Stary Olsa Stary Olsa () is a Belarusian medieval folk rock band, that plays medieval Ruthenian music of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The band has also released classical rock cover works in their Medieval Classic Rock where classical rock songs performe ...

playing

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

. The album contains cover versions of rock hits of the second half of the 20th century played on medieval instruments. The album was released on August 15, 2016 through the American label Cool Hat Records. It was created under the influence of

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

users’ feedback who admitted that the band's cover version video of "

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

" by

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

was a success. The band Stary Olsa plays

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an medieval songs, mostly of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

time. This is the only album of the band where they perform songs of the 20th century.

Background

The leader of

band, Zmicier Sasnoŭski, said in one of his interviews that modern music and music of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

are surprisingly good combined. Reefs of guitar

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

can be easily and successfully played on ancient medieval instruments. Sasnoŭski also said that they play modern songs on old instruments at the rehearsals from time to time but just for entertainment and treat this more like a joke and never play these songs at the concerts. In October 2014 the band Stary Olsa took part in the show "Legends.Live" ("Легенды.Live") on ONT channel, that was dedicated to Metallica band performance, where they sang the song "

". The video of this performance aroused interest among

viewers. Notes about this video appeared on American metal sites. Then the band recorded several more cover versions for the same show. At first it was "

Child in Time "Child in Time" is a song by English rock band Deep Purple, released on their fourth studio album, '' Deep Purple in Rock'' in 1970. It is the longest track on the album, running over ten minutes. The song's lyrics are loosely inspired by the ...

" song by

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

, later "

Californication Californication may refer to: *Californication (word), an expression that refers to the influx of Californians into various western states in the U.S. *Californication (album), ''Californication'' (album), a 1999 album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers ...

" by

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

. Then they played the songs "

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Following t ...

" and " Yellow Submarine" at the festival dedicated to

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Kickstarter campaign

According to the band members all this time they were written by people from all over the world who admitted the new and fresh sound of the famous hits and also asked about the possibility to buy the album. The group also began to receive invitations to come with tours to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. At the end of February 2016 the musicians went to the

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

website trying to raise money for the recording of a full-length album, which would include cover versions of rock hits played on medieval instruments. The initial amount of $7,000 was collected within a week and the musicians slightly increased it to record some more tracks. New tracks could be chosen by the Kickstarter backers themselves from the proposed ones through voting. As there was much more money collected to record the album than it was needed the band members started to plan tours in to the USA. The required sum was increased once again and this time to cover the costs of visas, flights across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and the rental of a minibus. In total $29,890 was collected.

Release and US tour

The album ''Medieval Classic Rock'' was recorded in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

and released in a small edition in the USA through the label Cool Hat Records in mid-August. The presentation took place on August 19 in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. From this moment and until early October Stary Olsa traveled with tours around the USA. The musicians visited 21 states and played 58 concerts in total. In Minsk the presentation of the album took place on November 20. According to the band members, their concerts were visited mostly by Americans and most

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

attended only the concerts in San Francisco and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The musicians noted that

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

festivals are held in America as well, no matter that they had no Middle Ages, however Americans have their own idea of these times. You can meet

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

musketeer A musketeer ( ) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifl ...

s as well as soldiers of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

at their festivals. Zmicier Sasnoŭski also told about the event that happened while performing in a Lutheran church in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

when a local pastor himself asked them to play "

Highway to Hell ''Highway to Hell'' is the sixth studio album by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, released on 27 July 1979, by Albert Productions and Atlantic Records. It is the first of three albums produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and is the last albu ...

", that would be completely impossible in Belarus.

Critical reception

On the Belarusian site Experty.by devoted to music the average expert rating of the album is 6.5 out of 10. Nikolai Yankoyt noted that this record is very qualitative and competent, but it's only a cover album and nothing more. In his opinion there are not enough of crossovers like the last song. Yegor Tsyvilko also noted that the band’s problems with originality are seen in this album: "Still, Stary Olsa is more exciting in playing medieval music with rock drive than in inscribing the modern rock in antiquity." According to Conrad Erofeev: "The jokes taken out of the context stop being funny, the material hasn’t received any new musical dimension and as a result here we have at best a

fan service , fanservice or Example: A frame (numbered "25") from the English opening sequence of '' New Cutie Honey'', in which character Danbei Hayami fires a Rocket Punch as main character Honey Kisaragi lies topless and prone in the background, i ...

, at worst - a banal

kitsch ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

Track listing

* Instrumental composition "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was mixed with

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

folk song "Ai Vis Lo Lop" (English: I saw the wolf).

Personnel

Credits for ''Medieval Classic Rock'' adapted from

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. * Illia Kublicki –

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

, * Alieś Čumakoŭ – vocal,

gusli The ''gusli'' (, , , ''husla'') is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in the Novgorodian Republic. ...

, cister,

rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origins ...

, shawms,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

tromba marina A tromba marina, marine trumpet or nuns' fiddle, ( Fr. ''trompette marine''; Ger. ''Marientrompete, Trompetengeige, Nonnengeige'' or ''Trumscheit'', Pol. ''tubmaryna'') is a triangular bowed string instrument used in medieval and Renaissanc ...

* Maryja Šaryj –

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s, shawms * Zmicier Sasnoŭski –

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...

* Siarhiej Tapčeŭski – drums, percussion, tromba marina, back vocals * Aliaksiej Vojciech – drums, percussion * Back vocals: Andrej Apanovič, Vitaĺ Kulieŭski * Recording: Sunflowers studio, Vitaĺ Kulieŭski * Mixing and mastering: Juryj Haračka * Cover design: Dzianis Likhalap * Photography: Nikolay Maminov (Nikolodion), Vitali Frozen, Zaryna Kandraćjeva

References

External links

*
''Medieval Classic Rock''
on

''Medieval Classic Rock''
on

* {{Authority control 2016 albums Stary Olsa albums Folk metal albums Medieval folk rock albums