Two Siberians is a Russian music duo composed of Artyom Yakushenko (electric violin) and Yuriy Matveyev (electric guitar). In Russia, their music has been produced under the name White Fort (, ''Belyi Ostrog''). Matveyev and Yakushenko are, as their Western ''nom de plume'' suggests, residents of Siberia. They met in 1986 while studying at the Irkutsk Art Academy. At their debut concert in Novosibirsk, they won the festival's award for Best Original Artists, an honor which nearly got them expelled from school (for sullying their stern classical training by performing

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and

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). As White Fort, the duo released nine studio albums in their native country between 1995 and 2006, including the score for a ballet, and soundtracks for Russian television and film. They toured extensively in Russia and were featured at many major festivals. In 1997, playing for vodka shots at the opening of an exclusive photography exhibit in Moscow, White Fort captured the attention of an American music producer, who casually suggested he'd like to see them make a recording back in the United States. The noncommittal nature of this chitchat was apparently lost in translation, as the next time this producer saw the duo, they had just arrived at

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, "ready to pursue their version of the American dream." Despite enthusiastic public reaction to their performances, it proved impossible to sign them with a major recording label. Studio executives refused to believe that two ragamuffins from "out of nowhere" could possibly sell 125 demo CDs in a single performance at New York City's

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. After a series of adventures involving a whirlwind national club tour, expiring

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s, lonely musicians missing their wives and children back in the Old Country, and meteorites, Two Siberians financed and produced their first Western LP, ''Out of Nowhere''. A number of well-known jazz musicians contributed to individual songs on the album, including

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in ...

(tenor sax),

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(clarinet), and

Richard Bona Richard Bona (born 28 October 1967) is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer. Early life Bona Penda Nya Yuma Elolo was born in Minta, Cameroon, into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a ...

(bass). The duo split up in 2009 and pursued various solo projects for several years. In April 2012, they reunited on stage in Moscow. Within days of that concert, their song "6/8" was awarded First Place in the "Instrumental" category of the 2011

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. Spurred by the prize and the warm reception at their reunion performance, White Fort began performing on stage together again in May and June 2012. They returned to the United States the following autumn and toured the west coast.lifeinLA.com
concert review It is virtually impossible to find any of their original recordings outside of Russia, other than the ''Out of Nowhere'' LP. However, White Fort re-released Anglicized versions of their albums ''Two Kings'' and ''6/8'' in the US market. While in Seattle, Washington, the duo performed a recording session at Electrokitty, though a new release has not yet been announced.

Discography

*1995: ''Peculiar Reality'' (White Fort), En Face Records, Novouralsk, Russia. *1996: ''Ancient Cave'' (Белый Острог), En Face Records, Novouralsk, Russia. *1997: ''Forgotten Name'' (Белый Острог), En Face Records, Novouralsk, Russia. *2000: ''Out of the Woods'' (Two Siberians), Demo CD, Soundbyte Studios, USA. *2001: ''My Love, the Color Green'' (Белый Острог), ballet score. *2002: ''Two Siberians'' (Белый Острог). *2002: ''Next 2'' (Белый Острог), TV series soundtrack. *2003: ''Next 3'' (Белый Острог), TV series soundtrack. *2004: ''Two Kings'' (Белый Острог). *2005: ''Out of Nowhere'' (Two Siberians), Heads Up International, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. *2005: ''6/8'' (Белый Острог). *2006: ''Duke of Montenegro'' (Белый Острог), Film soundtrack. *2011: ''Two Kings'' (White Fort), Cool Hat Records, Salem, Oregon. *2012: ''6/8'' (White Fort), Cool Hat Records, Salem, Oregon.

References

Liner notes, ''Out of Nowhere'' LP, released by Heads Up International, 2005.

Discography

References

Other external links