Mirah - (A)Spera - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Mirah - Cold Cold Water [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/19/2002

When Mirah makes a plan, she involves everybody. She makes a cafe in her living room, and everybody is invited. Mirah has recorded three albums of her lovely song self, always directing the writing, production and arrangements. Now she is in a year hiatus from performing, but she wanted to play again, just for fun and not so serious, plus some serious as well as fun. So Mirah made a plan She generously offered up her songs themselves and asked for the participation of the people around her. In this hot air balloon ride of remixes, Mirah lifts off with old friends and new ones, taking off without quite knowing where the landing might be. With so many music-smart friends at the controls, Joyride Remixes is an experiment for Mirah in not being the only one in charge. The remix chewing up and spitting out is accomplished by folks close up and far away, including Khaela Maricich (the Blow), Phil Everum (Mt. Eerie), Guy Singsworth (has remixed Madonna, Bjork and etc.), Cindy Wonderful (Scream Club), Jona Bechtolt (Yacht) and Melanie Valera (Tender Forever 0. For the vinyl loving, it fits nicely on a double album. The music is hot, sweet and teeming with rhythmic divinity. Turn it up and dance it off.

?The Ukrainian word mrijaInch means dream. It's very sound is soft and singing. They are dreams that give us wings, as it were, and lift us out of everyday life - they give us hope and bring us joy and happiness. We experience it as painful when an intimate dream is destroyed by violence from outside. I like to dream and I don't want to see the dreams of Ukrainians destroyed either. Since 24 February 2022, no Ukrainian can dream of anything but the end of a brutal, senseless war. Russia has bombed rows and rows of Ukrainian towns and villages and destroyed the largest aircraft in the world in the very first month of the war - this too bore the name InchMrijaInch. In contrast, the Ukrainians only grew stronger in their dreams of freedom, peace and victory - for which they have been fighting at the front ever since. It is a struggle for the preservation of an independent national history and language, a culture that is reflected in the poetry and paintings of master artists as well as in the work of Ukrainian composers of various epochs - a struggle that has become particularly sadly topical since Russia claimed that Ukraine did not exist as a state and will not exist as such. The music on this CD energetically counters this with a centuries-old, independent musical culture. This album brings together unique works of classical Ukrainian piano music. Many of them find their first recording here and it is an honour for me to introduce the listener to such interesting pieces, which - unfortunately - are largely unknown in Europe so far. I have been dealing with the music of my homeland for years. This time I am inviting my listeners to Central and Eastern Ukraine, the part of the country where I was born. The programme includes works by Lysenko, Jedlicka, Stepowyj and Rewuzkyj. All four are in the Romantic tradition and yet - each in their own way - were pioneers who broke