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Enjoy A Night With Zulya And The Children Of The Underground

The Café Concert Series prides itself on presenting quality live musicianship from a diverse range of musical styles.

By Latrobe City - 24th April 2007 - Back to News

Like an artist lovingly working a canvas, it slowly paints an acoustic picture of the melting pot of cultures that form the luscious smorgasbord on offer in Australia. In the true Aussie country tradition of ‘bring a plate’ each new act contributes their own speciality for everyone to sample and for the next concert the act is more of a banquet than a plate.

‘Zulya and The Children of the Underground’ offer a musical dish that audiences in the region can have the pleasure of tasting at the Tyers Hall on Sunday 6 May from 7.30pm.

Latrobe City’s performing arts and venues coordinator, Kathleen Roberts said that if there is any one thing that strikes you about this band it would have to be Zulya’s sublime singing.

"Zulya Kamalova grew up in the Russian town of Sarapul with Tartar parents, the Tartars being culturally and linguistically distinct from Russians. After studying English and French she moved to Hobart in 1991 to work as a translator. She rediscovered her love of folk music whilst living in Tasmania. A short sojourn dabbling in music from a variety of cultures and styles heightened her awareness of her own cultural roots. Zuyla then very successfully began writing, performing and recording her own compositions. Ever since, Zuyla’s outstanding talents have been officially recognised in a series of awards and her career has been going from strength to strength," Ms Roberts explained.

Zulya’s singing voice is but one jewel amongst the many treasures on offer here. The members of ‘The Children of the Underground’ exercise astonishing empathy for her compositions. This diverse and talented collection of established musicians is based in Melbourne and comprise Anthony Schulz on piano accordion, Lucas Michailidis on guitar, Justin Marshall on drums, and Andrew Tanner on double bass. The delicacy of their arrangements sparkles like crystals in the morning sunlight. Zulya sings in Russian, Tartar and English with most of the repertoire sung in either Russian or Tartar.

The pure emotion of Zulya’s voice combined with the feel of the music seems to transcend the need for lyrics. Just hearing that live, earthy, honest and pure quality of the human voice is enough. In fact at times, it’s almost better than knowing exactly what the lyrics are word for word, because it leaves you with the opportunity to interpret the music through your own emotional experiences and imagination. It’s almost like a scat singer using her voice to become part of the musical landscape that the instrumentation alone could never achieve; only it’s not restricted to jazz. The mood of the music varies. In the one night the band can drift comfortably from moody folk love songs to tragicomic circus to lullabies and tangos and around to funky ska or ballads.

Ms Roberts said that the Victorian regional tour coincides with the release of their new CD entitled ‘3 Nights’.

"On this CD each of the band members has contributed to the compositions. The experience of being a new mother has influenced some of the new material penned by Zulya notably the two lullabies as well as a song about a bird who forgets to sing. Zulya has also for the first time written lyrics to music composed by other band members. Andrew Tanner has provided three pieces, Anthony Schulz contributes a tango, Justin Marshall creates a circus type piece whilst Lucas Michaildis offers a ballad," Ms Roberts added.

"The band has played throughout Australia over the past two years and last year toured Europe to promote their CDs. They have performed in many countries including Austria, Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Russia, Serbia and Switzerland. We are delighted to welcome them to Latrobe City, as part of the Café Concert Series," Ms Roberts concluded.

Zulya and the Children of the Underground will perform on Sunday 6 May at Tyers Hall from 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the Latrobe City Box Office on 5176 3559.

The Victorian regional tour is managed by ‘Just Shows To Go’ and is supported by the Victorian Government through Arts Victoria and the Community Support Fund.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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