Since the beginning of its foundation, Sub Rosa has been interested in ethnographic recordings - among the milestones: the Inuit anthology, the Bhutan recordings by John Levy... More recently, the works of David Toop (Yamomami shamanism) and Ragnar Johnson (Yemen, Ethiopia, recorded in the early 1970s). The time in which the recording is done, it matters a lot because it also captures the air of that Time. On the other hand, the label can only feel it from where they are. It is in this state of mind that they start again a cycle of recordings where the ancient past connects current times.
Kalmyks (Oirats) are part of the Western Mongolian ethnos, living on the territory of modern Russia. Tatiana Dordzhieva and Maria Beltsykova were deported to Siberia. The two energetic and charismatic grand mammas present here traditional Kalmyks songs (songs about the deportation of Kalmyks in 1943-1944) and Soviet Folklore. This is the first collaboration between Ored Recordings and Sub Rosa. "In early November 2014 we went to Kalmykia. Our goal was the local 'Dzhangar' epic. The epic genre, as one of the most archaic, can be called a basis for Kalmyk music culture. We met up with Maria Beltsikova and Tatiana Dordzhieva in this village. On the day of our meeting we were able to record more than twenty songs. In the repertoire of Maria and Tatiana there have been religious Buddhist songs, droning laments, ceremonial wedding songs, heroic ballads about Kalmyks in the Patriotic War 1812, and, of course, Soviet folklore. The songs of the 'red' period was presented with a variety of songs: praising the Communist Party and workers of the collective farms and songs about the deportation of Kalmyks in 1943-1944." - Bulat Khalilov (Ored Recordings)