CHOLBON

Despite the most unlikely of settings, the tiny Namtsy produced one of the strangest space rock / shamanic tribe freakery of the modern era in the form of CHOLBON which got its start in 1986 and named after the morning star / planet Venus in the Yakut language. While completely isolated for the early years of its existence, the band was discovered by the Moscow based experimental art punk band Zvuki Mu in the late 1980s who was touring in the Sakhan region and invited the band to play outside the isolated regions of Siberia therefore CHOLBON gained a much wider appreciation throughout the former Soviet Union for exhibiting a very strange hybrid of music sounds that mixed the world of progressive space rock with traditional shamanic Sakha music.

The band of which has gone through many lineup changes over the decades started out with brothers Namoly Ilyin (bass guitar) and Grigory Ilyin (guitar, vocals) and emerged as a collective with a rotating cast of participants. The band's debut album Уhуктуу came out in 1989 and featured the bizarre mix of Pink Floyd inspired progressive rock along with the traditional local flavors that encompassed the traditional musical folk styles of the Sakha culture. The band used both rock / jazz instruments which included electric guitars, synthesizers and the saxophone as well as the traditional instrumentation that accompanied Sakha ceremonial music and shamanic excursions into the world beyond.

To say this album is bizarrely weird is an understatement for sure. While in many ways it seems aimless and really drifts through various styles of progressive space rock and shamanic indigenous chanting sessions, it would be more accurate to simply call it alienating as all lyrics are in the Yakut language and the musical motifs on board are just as distant since they gestated in isolation away from pretty much every other musical style in the world however it is interesting that Pink Floyd's music percolated into every tiny village across the globe thus triumphantly showcasing the ultimate success for a rock band! The album and band's music in general has been described as what would happen if Pink Floyd was dropped down into a Siberian indigenous culture to participate in a shamanic journey where all members participated in the musical creativity.

The album features five musicians: Yuri Vasiliev (Dyuur Bakhlai) - Jew's harp, vocals, Grigoriy Iliyn - guitar, vocals, Namoliy Iliyn - bass Aleksandr Ilyin (Aleksandr Mondo) - keyboards, sax and Aleksandr Ivanov - drums and appears to feature only two tracks titled "Уhуктуу ("Пробуждение")" and "Улыбка детства моего" which add up to about 44 minutes. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to how the band delivers the shamanic ceremonial type traditional sounds and the totally Western space rock. At times they fuse together in a bizarre cross-culture mishmash but more often drift from one style to the other. Overall this is a fascinating album from a group that emerged from seemingly the middle of nowhere. While the tripped out value is quite high on this one, the entertainment value isn't the kind of rewarding musical expressions that beckons return visits, at least very often but when the right mood hits then you really couldn't ask for a more "out there" type of musical expression than CHOLBON's 1989 debut. Definitely one for the lovers of totally outsider weirdo music.

3.5 rounded down