I had no idea what this was when I bought it at a thrift store in south Vancouver. The quality of the vinyl itself is poor (probably all the good vinyl went into building tanks) but it’s no worse than the awful Dynaflex vinyl produced en masse in the 1970s. All I knew was that it was from 1982 (Brezhnev-era vinyl –sweet!) and that it sounded like Christmas music. The weird Pink Floyd-esque album cover didn't help clarify things either. Eventually I learnt the album is called Dudarik, and there are no religious themes whatsoever.
I enlisted the help of DJ Alibi, a Moscow-born, Toronto based hip-hop producer. After reading the back of the album sleeve, Alibi told me the choir was made up of children from across the Soviet Union, brought together in a Communist summer camp (one word: FUN) The sleeve listed the group’s musicial influences ranged from “Negro Spirituals, Ukrainian folk and European classical music.” The album’s write-up puts a lot of stress on love for the Motherland as the driving force behind this group. Song titles like “Eternal Revolutionary” leave no doubt.
I asked Alibi to summarize Soviet records in general. He stated Soviet music overall has a rigid and unimaginative style. The production values on many popular Soviet hits are usually “over the top and bloated --string and horn sections backing up rock bands” (think symphonic KISS, but all the time). Due to the rigid control of the music industry back then, genuine improvisation/experimentation was non-existent. Oddly enough, Alibi usually finds the actual song writing and melodies of Soviet songs to be top-notch.
DJ Alibi prefers Soviet records as source of sampling since most LP markets have been heavily mined, sometimes to death (think the “Amen Break “by the Winstons –or everything by James Brown). In contrast, Soviet material is virtually unknown by North American producers, hence providing a vast, untapped source for original sampling. -L.M.Harrison
Below is DJ Alibi’s “Let’s Ride” off his 2007 album One Day, which uses a Polish sample:
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