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Hala Strana

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quoting an essay about Steven R. Smith by ‘Emperor Jones’:

Hala Strana is a summation of Steven R. Smith’s interest in the traditional folk musics of Central and Eastern Europe. By incorporating the melodies, scales, and instrumentation of the village music from areas such as Croatia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland, Steven has pushed his music into yet another new territory. This is not ethnological preservation, but a starting point. In the same manner from which The Band transformed the sounds of early Americana into their own brand of timeless music, Hala Strana has abstracted these melodies and turned them into something uniquely their own.

Like his previous solo work, Hala Strana’s richly layered sounds are carefully placed but have a spontaneous feel. Instruments like gourd guitar, clay flowerpots, glockenspiel, violin and even bottles find their way into the mix.

Tagged as:

folk, drone, psychedelic folk, experimental, new weird america
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Hala Strana
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These Villages
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Top Tracks

1	Cinnamon Shops full track	36
2	Stouthrief full track	33
3	Streets of Raised Platforms full track	31
4	Stria full track	27
5	Spiring Plume full track	21
5	Quarter Mesto full track	21
7	Leaves full track	20
8	Brickwork and Scoria full track	17
8	Black Dust full track	17
10	Herding Slip full track	15
10	Villages full track	15
10	returning	15
10	Alate full track	15
14	terrene full track	14
14	The Strictness of Beauty full track	14

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Niewiadomaa wrote:
last month

Beautiful.

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Tea-Bee wrote:
last month

I totally love Hala Strana

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necrorgasmique wrote:
June 2008

Instrumental PH < 7

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TNTF wrote:
May 2008

Freak-FOlk

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TNTF wrote:
May 2008

ITS NOT ELECTRONIC SO DO NOT RATE IT ELECTRONIC

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Degarmo wrote:
May 2008

Joni Mitchell and shitty work well together in a sentence

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ookunoki wrote:
March 2008

also, i can't understand why his most recent album, heave the gambrel roof, is the one people are listening to the least. so far it's my favorite - it has more atmosphere, it's darker, more subtle.

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ookunoki wrote:
March 2008

whoa. alastair galbraith should be listed as a similar artist.

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The_Anti_Scene wrote:
June 2007

Shitty and Joni Mitchell do not belong in the same sentence.

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armedrighteous wrote:
May 2007

i think the shitty was referring to joni mitchell, not the Indian raga- which is indeed not shitty. i'm not saying that joni mitchell is though. but i will say that Hala Strana is amazing.. i also heard these villages first, and instantly fell in love.. it's such a great take on eastern european folk. i'm a huge fan of traditional drone-based music.. but i also love how it's being reworked!!

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KuljinKauas wrote:
February 2007

that's a pretty strong stance to take there future wave, and while Hala Strana is great, the Indian Raga-inspired shit as you so called isn't very shitty ;)

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goodnightdear wrote:
January 2007

I can fully appreciate bands like Hala Strana; but no bullshit about Joni Mitchell, she created an amazing degree of accessibility and curiosity about folk music in the mainstream world.

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baraquel wrote:
August 2006

Agreed. The first music of Hala Strana's I heard was 'These Villages', and I was reasonably impressed. But the self-titled release completely blew me away. May Steven R. Smith long continue this incarnation of his music.

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future_wave wrote:
March 2006

Hala Strana is not appreciated enough. This is some of the most accessible (bona-fide) space folk, without watering it down. The spaciness is often quite subtle, and the folk is not your shitty Joni Mitchell or Indian Raga-inspired stuff. The artist draws from less-ordinary folk musics (various Eastern Eurpoean).

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