Biography
Hala Strana was the name of a recording project of American musician Steven R. Smith begun in 2002 as an outlet which allowed him to explore the traditional music of Eastern Europe more fully than possible with his solo work. By incorporating the melodies, scales, and instrumentation of the village music from areas such as Croatia, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland, and while working with numerous musicians who have contributed to the project (including Glenn Donaldson, Loren Chasse, and Darren Ankenman), most Hala Strana recordings were solo productions. The recordings included such diverse instruments as hurdy-gurdy, bouzouki, harmonium, spike fiddles, bul bul tarang, the optigan keyboard, xaphoon, and field recordings. Hala Strana’s releases featured arrangements of traditional music from Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Albania, Ukraine and Bulgaria as well as original music influenced by the music of these areas. As with his solo work, there are richly layered sounds that 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.
There have been no Hala Strana new releases (only compilations) after the album "Heave the Gambrel Roof" in 2007.
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