White Island by Kola Beldy

Ebalunga!! and Everland Music presents another lost pearl of music Kola Beldy - White Island. The first reissue in a series of planned reissues of Kola Beldy heritage on CD and Vinyl. Carefully remastered songs and original artworks and exclusive postcards with paintings by Olga Beldi, wife of Kola Beldy.

The life of Kola Beldy could be a scenario for a movie and no doubt that one day someone will make a film about his art and life. Unfortunately, we're limited by a text format here and can't tell you a lot, but just several lines.
Kola Beldy was born in 1929 in The Russian Far East and after World War II( where he was 15-16(!)) years old he started work and studied music and vocal technics. Since 1957 he started a big carrier and for more than 30 years, Kola Beldy toured the country and abroad, performed in 46 countries of the world, which became as recognizable in Europe as in the USSR. From 1972-1973 after his groundbreaking song "I'll Take You to the Tundra" he became one of the most popular and beloved artists in the USSR. He was an Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1985), Honored Artist of the Yakut, Honored Artist of the Buryatia.

But besides the popular side of his art Beldi always carefully worked to preserve the cultural heritage of The Nanai people, their traditions, and songs. These songs are interesting for the more sophisticated listeners are present on the album "White Island".

Kola Belda's voice is sonorous, pleasant timbre, a cross between a tenor and a lyric baritone. Belda's singing carries some of the features of bel canto - singing breathing, timbre evenness in the range, cantilena, but on the other hand, it gives the impression of an amateur, and the artist himself is a nugget. As a Nanai, Kola Beldy spoke as if on behalf of all small peoples of the Far East, Siberia, and the Far North. The theme of the small peoples of the USSR, living practically by subsistence farming, belonged only to K. Beldy. The heroes of his songs are the Chukchi, Nanai, Udege, Nivkh, Orochi, Khanty, Komi, etc., who live their own simple life, simple-minded, good-natured workers - fishermen, sailors, hunters, reindeer herders. Kola Beldy glorified the beauty of the tundra and the Far North, poeticized the lessons of small peoples. He sang about Chukotka,

Naryan-Mar, Sakhalin, about the tundra and taiga. A separate motive in his work is reindeer and everything connected with them; the deer is the main breadwinner for such people.

The album review from Sascha:

"I have never heard before of the Jurchen culture from the Chinese and later East Russian Northlands and as well not of the Nanai People who have risen from the scattered remains of the Jurchen culture wiped out by furiously attacking Mongolian steppe armies some 850 years back. The Great Khans did not leave much variety after sweeping through the taiga towards Western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. So the Nanai people came to exist and had their songs and instruments. Some of them were used by composer Alexander Lavrov and singer Kola Beldy who is of Nanian descent in their music on this, Kola Beldy’s fourth album. Just as all his records from the 1980s, this is extremely rare and originals in good shape can cost a small fortune. Just in case they ever turn up somewhere outside the vast Russian country. Now for the very outstanding music that as mentioned above is based on centuries-old folk tunes of the Nanai and Jurchen cultures which get slightly updated in the sense of 1989 state of the art-pop and rock and that even in a slightly progressive way. Kola Beldy, already 60 years of age by then, was a long-time active folk and pop singer in the Soviet Union who unfortunately passed away only 64 years old in 1993. He owns a full, warm mid-ranged voice and chants the ancient melodies in a mystifying way. The instrumentation behind him shows a good variety of old and modern instruments. While the opening track is based mostly on percussion and drum patterns with an eerie grinding sound and later on a jew’s harp added upon which Beldy lays down a melody with a typical far eastern approach in what seems to be Russian language, further tracks contain synthesizer lines and even an electric guitar. Still the overall atmosphere is mostly mystical, solemn, and spiritual. I definitely have not heard anything alike before. The more rock-oriented tunes could bring back memories of Italian movie soundtracks by GOBLIN, based on progressive rock and jazz to the mind of the listener, just with these awesome vocals. Italian 90s progressive rockers PRESENCE also had a similar approach. The keyboards, organ, very modern singing bass guitar head towards a very progressive direction here. Art pop, if you want to call it that. Based on ancient Nanian tunes but made timeless and even in 2021 fresh-sounding by a very talented band. So, Kola Beldy’s fourth album may not be a mainstream favorite, fans of progressive pop like that of early 80s GOBLIN, PRESENCE from the early 90s, and good ol‘ Peter Gabriel, not for the voice itself but for the songs, will find pleasure in this nifty obscurity which gets reissued now for the first time on vinyl in 32 years." - Sascha

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