RavenzCraft Arts
Artist Update Interview 2020
1.So first thing, please, for those of us who dont already know, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about where you are from, and when you first started becoming interested in creating music?
Hello, I’m Anatoly “Shaman”, frontman of dark shamanic / nordic folk project “NYTT LAND” from western Siberia.
So, the band was founded in 2013 in the city of Kalachinsk. Originally it was a studio project, in which 2 people worked - me and my wife Natalia. We did not plan to develop it to a full-fledged musical band, rather it was an experiment in which we created and recorded our first album, called "Nytt Land". The album was released in the winter of 2014 on the Moscow label "Sulfur Flowers". Quite unexpectedly for us, our music immediately found a large audience of listeners who wanted to continue "Nytt Land" and then we assembled the band and began work on a new album and concert material. Our first performance took place in April 2014 in the Omsk Regional Library. And since then we constantly live with this music.
At the moment, the band released 4 LP albums and the single "The Last War" (2016).
The albums "Nytt Land" (2014) and "Sköpun" (2016) are released by the Russian label “Sulfur Flowers”.
The album "Hávamál" (2015) is released by the French label “Crush the Desert”.
In the beginning of work on the previous album "Fimbulvinter", which was released in February 2017, a band was signed with a major British label "Cold Spring Records".
2.Can you tell us about the name and band "Nytt Land" , this translates to new land correct? can you share with us the story or vibe you want to express with your band?
Yes, it’s New Land. This project was new bank for us in 2013, after the years of folk rock music. In previous band we played Russian songs about Cossacks, different ballads, on guitars and flutes. And one day we heard Scandinavian songs, real music of the North, and it really got us hooked. We began to experiment, first using the same guitars and flutes, and then removed them to the side and started everything from the very beginning, from scratch, stepped onto the new land…
This is real magic that lives around us and inside us in sounds and music. We began to notice this. In fact, to create such music, it is not the musical instruments that are important, but the state of the soul. And everything comes with experience. Now we are always engaged in music "Nytt Land".
I do not know how to convey this in words.
3.I have to say you guys have a really amazing unique sound, it is similar to others in the genre, but the way you add your original rhythm and energy and traditional instruments to the beat, this is what really stands out, can you tell us about some of the unique or favorite instruments you use?
and different ways you create the sound for your music?
Do you record music outdoors for natural effects?
Thank you!
Yes, we are making many of our music in the woods and mountains, on the banks of lakes, rivers. I think you can hear it in our songs. We are recording some things outdoors, of course, we like live sound, natural sound.
The musical instruments that we use are quite numerous. This is a different percussion, drums, a lot of different flutes, bagpipes, frame-drum, jew-harps. I really like playing on different percussion. And of course – my favorite instrument – tagelharpa! It’s kind of bowed lyre. You can hear this instrument in most of our songs. It was made by my wife as a gift to me. And it sounds just great! I write many songs when I just play this instrument.
So, my wife is very cool, she has a fantastic and unique voice, she is constantly engaged, studying new vocal techniques, trying to find something special, extraordinary. We are not bored with her. She writes half the music to our songs. The other half I write. We combine our ideas and create new compositions for the band.
4.I also notice this is a band made of many talented artists, including your wife Natalya Pahalenko, if you dont mind can you share with us a bit about how you met?
And a bit about how you came to meet the other members in the band?
About my wife I already told a little earlier. In general, we write together all the songs for the band together. We record all the songs, too, we are together with Natalia. The remaining members of the group do not take part in the process of making and recording songs, as I myself fully possess all the musical instruments that we use in our work. They are concert musicians.
Our drummer is Sergey Silitsky, this is our family friend. When we gathered “Nytt Land”, we immediately decided to invite Sergei, as we are sure of him. This is very important when you are confident of the person with whom you work together. We in the “Nytt Land” have a strong discipline and good friendly relations between all musicians.
And our fourth musician – my student by flutes – Vladimir Titkov. We needed someone who plays flutes and has a good sense of rhythm, so I'll ask my student to play with us. So two years ago Vladimir came to band.
5.So I notice you have a wide range of variety of different sounding songs, can you tell us some of the things or other artists who have inspired you along your path to becoming a musician?
Of course – first band, who inspired us to make this music was “Garmarna”. It was something when we first heard their songs. We immediately became fans of this group. Later, when we started, we heard the band "Wardruna". I will not say that they fundamentally influenced us. Rather, it was only technical impact, we heard how we can combine the sound of our instruments in the overall mix.
It is important for us that our muse remains unique, and, using folk instruments, we try to create our own, special material. Now I listen to a lot of different music and basically I listen to how a band creates their own sound. In general, first of all, nature inspires us now. It's simple. You need to learn how to listen to the world around you. And then you realize that real magic is in sound, in silence. This is natural magic, the magic of nature, magic, which is born and lives according to its laws and we can learn from nature to understand it.
I really liked the new album "Marilyn Manson".
6.I notice your lyrics and topics in your songs are strongly based on nordic traditions and verses from the eddas and havamal, can you share with us a little about your spiritual following or specific path or traditions you follow?
and if so do you believe that having these beliefs helps you be more confident and creative with your music?
Yes, we are performing the Old Norse epic "The Elder Edda". This is an ancient wisdom, which reached us almost in its original form. This should be appreciated, because with the help of this literary monument we can touch the ancient epochs and the knowledge that people transmitted in generations more than a thousand years ago. These songs are wrotes in a very melodic and beautiful language, that's why we perform the original text-works without using translations. Of course, therefore, to listeners who are not familiar with Old Norse or some Scandinavian language - it is very difficult to understand what we are singing about in our songs. But we want to transmit not only the text, but also the energy that it stores in itself. Original wisdom.
7.So lets go back to when you first started all this, can you share with us one of your first performances?
How you felt about your career compared to how you feel now? and did you think you would ever get this big and well known?
So, you know - we never set ourselves the goal of becoming famous band. We work, we work a lot and constantly work on studying texts and musical traditions. Constantly we experiment and try to discover something new for ourselves. So it is more interesting to live!
Of course, I remember our first performances, they were not so long ago, only 4 years ago. Everything was very modest, we focused on the rituality of sounding and did not think about any elements of the show at all. So, we did not bother about costumes and technical equipment - it was very simple. Probably many music bands start this way. Then began the search for sound, images, so that performances were more harmonious and qualitative.
In my opinion, it is very important to work on quality. Of course - we perform ancient songs, but at the same time we need to take into account the fact that we live in the 21st century.
8.So other than your current new releases and projects do you have anything exciting planned for the future?
Any special events or concerts you are signed up for in the future that you are excited for?
Now we are working on a new album “ODAL”, it is planned that it will be released in the beginning of spring on a British label “Cold Spring”. And in December of this year there will be a single from the new album. The following year, several festivals have been announced, including the largest Nordic music fest “MidgardsBlot” in Norway. It’s very cool, and for “MidgardsBlot” we will make special program in 2 parts. There will be several big festivals in Russia, where we are preparing a presentation of our new album. Also scheduled performance in Poland, on “Castle Party” festival.
The remaining performances are still under development and I hope that soon we will be able to present the full announcement for the next season.
Follow the news on our Facebook page, we constantly inform about all the events that are planned.
9.So for all the other creators and musicians and friends that may be reading this interview, Is their anyone you would like to mention, credit or thank for helping or inspiring you?
Also would you be open to collaborating with another artist out there that may fit your style and genre?
Of course, our special thanks to Alexander Ushakov and Sergey Demensky - their participation is priceless. We can say that they also stand at the origins of the creation of our band!
As I said earlier, first of all, I am inspired by the surrounding nature, the world in which we live. It is multifaceted, and I am constantly learning to see and hear it. Of the musicians, yes, we are very grateful for the friendship and fellowship of the children from the Russian band "Arkona". They are very cool, I am very proud of our friendship. We cooperate with them on various issues, I constantly learn from them different things, because they have a lot of experience in concert activity and they are real professionals.
Of course, we are very grateful to Einar Selvik and the guys from the “Wardruna” for support and very good relations.
I want to express my respect and gratitude to the guys from the Ondes Noires for real professionalism in concerts organization work.
Big respect our label “Cold Spring”, we are very comfortable working with him.
Maybe someone I forgot or did not mention, do not be offended, they all know that we are very grateful for their support.
About collaborations - we like interesting experiments, that's why we are always open for cooperation with interesting people and projects. There are a lot of music and media projects where we took part, I'm not going to list everything now, but probably the most interesting for the past year – my throat singing guest vocal for new album of pagan-metal band “Arkona” and composing music for a main Russian TV-channel’s movie about conquering Everest.
10.I know we have a good friend Antonio Fjørngorn Jankových in common, and i see he is part of your management team, I know he has plans to do a few big things in the future, are you planning to be a part of future events with him?
Yes, now we are working with Antonio and I very much hope that this cooperation will bring big results.
11.I see you have done quite a few live performances, do you have any favorite places you have performed so far? any places you really wish to perform in one day?
Each performance is unique and unrepeatable, each remembered something special, magic, emotion.
12.Besides creating music is their anything else you enjoy to do, hiking ,hunting, researching, or any other hobbies or things you do for enjoyment?
In summer we try to often go to the forest. We are like fishing, hiking. When I was a student I traveled a lot with a hitchhiking, I traveled all over Russia. In general, I love traveling, discover new places, new impressions.
13.ok so this last question is open for you to add or say anything to the fans and followers out there,,
-any good advice for upcoming artists or musicians lie yourself looking to succeed?
-any good closing words you may have to end the interview or final statement..
In life there should not be room for laziness. You know - take risks, do not be afraid to take risks, experiment, create. And most importantly - appreciate those who are close to you and always be honest with yourself!
This concludes the interview talk, Special thank you to Anatoly and all the members that help make Nytt Land the amazing musical group we love today!
-Tim Raven Rotar
-RavenzCraft Arts
