Through its whole history Russian folk music has been an object for different kinds of experiments, mostly made by so to say intellectuals. Their numerous albums were fully stuffed with electronic sounds and the songs - up to 20 minutes long! - comprised at least four different themes with variations. A common lullaby which our grandmothers used to sing could turn into a pompous oratory backgrounded by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. From time to time such experiments aroused some kind of momentary interest in forgotten songs, but mostly folklore remained on the backyards of show business.
    
NACHALO VEKA is a collective of people who perceive traditional music in a different way. Several years the musicians of this band from Volgograd (Russia) playing modern rock oriented songs made their mind to turn to folk music which from that moment has been the basis of their work. Their philosophy on music is simple - they take traditional music and lyrics and spice it with guitars, keyboards, drums, and transparent voice of the band's lead vocalist Lena Sergiyevskaya. An old and well-known song acquires new qualities and sounds as if it were new-born.
    
The first CD of NACHALO VEKA was issued in 2004 at Nikitin record label located in Moscow, and was called Na Grani Folka. The second CD was issued in 2007 at Soyuz Music record label (Moscow) and was called Ethnogram. Some songs from this album were on rotation of several Russian major FM-stations. Now the band is working on its next record (expected in March 2010), filming a promo video and playing gigs all over the country, including big open-air festivals, like Nashestviye (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009) and others.
    
NACHALO VEKA is a band playing popular folk music. This music was not made popular by journalists or constant MTV rotations. It is in the hearts of Russian people. - Translated from www.zvuki.ru
    
A wonderful hybrid of what we call brit-pop, rock and folk music! To a certain extent it is unique. NACHALO VEKA is without any doubt a brand new and exciting band. Some fans of pure ethno might be a little disappointed with the arrangements, but those who listen to mainstream will definitely discover a new scope of music. It gets you with the first track you listen. - Translated from Russian Press.
    
In recent ten years Russian rock-music has undergone substantial changes. In late 80's - mid 90's it used to be a field for experimenting. Now if you take a look around you'll see that there are a few main trends and people who position themselves as musicians stick to them. Many bands sound just the same way, and often look like twins. I don't think it's a good idea to copy someone. We'd better take something from different styles and mix them in reasonable proportions. You know, it's like alcohol: there's little interest of inventing a new sort of vodka, just try making a new cocktail! - Alexey Ityuzhov, the band's sound-producer.

     NACHALO VEKA is:
    
     Alyona Sergiyevskaya (lead vocalist)
     Mihail Sanok (guitars)
     Elena Guseva (keyboards)
     Alexey Ityuzhov (acoustic guitar)
     Roman Sheletov (bass)
     Vladimir Busel (drums, percussion)
    
     Contact us:
     www.nachaloveka.ru
     e_guseva@nachaloveka.ru
     e_guseva@yahoo.com
     +7 906 644 99 00
     +7 916 441 57 66
     Elena Guseva (manager)