In this interview, the Siberian metal artist "Olya Manevskaya" delves into the inspiration behind her latest song, "In Altai Land," exploring the legends of Biya and Katun' and the cultural richness of Siberia. She discusses her creative process, the challenges of merging folklore with metal, and her hopes for connecting global audiences with the myths of her homeland. The artist also shares upcoming plans, hinting at an album dedicated to Siberian myths and legends, and reflects on the unique blend of metal and Siberian folklore that defines her identity as a musician.
1. Can you share the inspiration
behind your latest metal song, "In Altai Land"? How did the
legend of Biya and Katun' influence
the creation of this powerful piece of music?
This is a very interesting question,
thank you very much for it. The most unusual thing is that the
inspiration to write about the myths
and legends of Siberia came from a small creative crisis. Once I
started thinking about what I wanted
to write about in my songs. I wanted to find myself. And
suddenly I realized that the topic
of Siberia interests many people, that there is not much known
about Siberia, especially for those
living far away, in other countries. And even I, a person who was
born and has lived her whole life in
Siberia, do not know everything about it. And the topic of
myths and legends has always
fascinated me since childhood. There are many myths and legends in
Siberia, both from indigenous
peoples and the modern history is shrouded in a multitude of secrets
and legends. I started studying this
topic and got really engrossed in it. And that's how the idea to
talk about the myths and legends of
Siberia came about.
The first "trial" music
video we made was for the song "Siberia". I had long dreamed of
visiting
Lake Baikal, seeing the unique
Baikal ice. And in March of this year, my dream came true, I was
able to go to Baikal and see that
same ice. Baikal is unbelievably beautiful in winter, I recommend
everyone to go there. It was there
that we filmed the music video for the song "Siberia", in which
the guys who filmed the video and I
tried to talk about the culture of Eastern Siberia. The same
story happened with the song
"In Altai land". I really wanted to go to the Altai Mountains, see
the
Altai mountains, glaciers in Kurai.
And then I learned about one of the most famous legends of the
Altai Mountains - the legend of Biya
and Katun - two lovers who turned into rivers and merged into
the Ob River, as a symbol of eternal
love. And that's how the idea to tell this legend and visualize it
came about. We traveled almost the
entire Altai Mountains. During 5 shooting days, we saw 4
seasons (from hot weather at +20
degrees to snowfall). The atmosphere of the Altai Mountains
conquered everyone who participated
in the filming of the music video, and we tried to convey this
atmosphere in the video and combine
it with the atmosphere of the legend. I hope we succeeded :)
2. Your music is deeply rooted in
the myths and legends of Siberia. What draws you to these
stories, and how do you incorporate
them into your songwriting process?
What attracts me to myths and
legends is the mystery: you don't know if it actually was in real life
or not, because often myths and
legends are hundreds of years old, they originate in the cultures of
indigenous peoples, in their
everyday life. It's great that through myths and legends, you can feel the
culture of the peoples who tell
them. When you read a legend, images are born in your head (images
of heroes, images of places where
the action takes place in the legend). And when you come to the
places where the legend originated
and see them with your own eyes, the legend comes alive. And
it's a great feeling when you become
as a character in the story. The most important thing for me is
not just to tell myths and legends,
but through music and videos, try to convey this atmosphere to
others, so that people also become
heroes of legends and feel the full power of legends through
music. It's also great if, after
listening to the song, people have a desire to visit the places I talk
about, or have a desire to learn
more about the places they live, as well as learn about the myths and
legends of their homeland. After
all, in our world, there are so many amazing places that hide many
secrets and stories.
3. "In Altai Land"
specifically references the transformation of lovers into the Siberian river
Ob'. What aspects of this legend
resonated with you, and how did you translate these themes
into musical elements?
Probably what I see every day the Ob
River, it is located in the city in which I live (Novosibirsk),
and before I didn't think much about
the history and greatness of this river. It was ordinary. But after
the legend, the perception becomes
different. Now, when I come to the waterfront and look at the
Ob, I imagine the Biya and Katun and
their confluence into a single river. And it also helped me
learn more information from a
historical point of view: where Biya and Katun' rivers originate,
where the Biya and Katun' rivers
merge into the Ob, etc.
And this happens with many things.
When you, for example, visit a city as a tourist, knowing its
history, you begin to look at things
differently, searching for fragments of this history in every
detail. The same goes for legends,
when you know myths and legends, you start looking for
fragments of legends in every
detail. This things are resonatung in my songs. The fact that myths
and legends, essentially, surround
us in every detail. Sometimes we don't think about the secrets that
everyday things, places that we see
every day can hold. And I want to talk about this in songs, so
that we pay more attention to all
the beauty that surrounds us.
4. The combination of powerful
vocals and heavy guitar riffs is a hallmark of your musical
style. How do you balance these
elements to create a sound that effectively conveys the
emotion and narrative of your songs?
Thank you so much, it's very nice!
Probably, the desire to experiment, create something new, and
simply do what I like helps me the
most in creating songs. To some extent, I am afraid of becoming
a «hostage» to a specific style, I
want to develop and add something new from song to song, tell
something new. That's why sometimes,
in search of experiments, I try to combine the incompatible.
And I don't think about how the song
should sound, but rather think about the idea, what I want to
talk about in the song. It is
important for me that the song has a specific story that will be
understood by listeners. As for the
stylistics of the song, as I mentioned earlier, sometimes I try to
combine the incompatible, and
guitarist Oleg Izotov, with whom we have been working together for
a long time, helps me a lot in
literally bringing all my crazy ideas to life :) Therefore, teamwork and
love for what I do help create songs
as they are.
5. Siberian storytelling is not a
common theme in metal music. What motivated you to explore
and share the myths of your homeland
through this genre?
As I mentioned earlier, to some
extent, a small creative crisis prompted me to start thinking about
what I would like to tell in my
songs. At the same time, people who listen to my music, became
interested in Siberia, asked about
my hometown, interesting places, local culture, etc. And after it I
realized, that it would be great to
tell more about my homeland... Because often people imagine
Siberia as something distant,
unknown, where it always snows and bears walk the streets, ahaha :)
And myths and legends will help to
learn something new about Siberia, because we have a multi-
ethnic region with an interesting
history: there is Eastern Siberia, there is Western Siberia, they differ and
have their own cultural features, and it's great if people all over the world
will know
something new about Siberia.
6. Can you take us through your
creative process when working on a new song? How do you
approach blending metal with the
rich cultural narratives of Siberia?
In fact, this is a quite difficult
question because each time everything happens spontaneously. Most
often, it all starts with the words:
"Oh, what a cool place, I want to visit it", and that's where the process
begins. For example, before writing the song "In Altai land," I had
long desired to visit the
Altai Mountains, which are
relatively close to Novosibirsk (my hometown), but for some reason, I
couldn't manage to go there before.
Then I discovered the Altai legend of Biya and Katun, and
immediately knew that it would be
great to tell this legend and, at the same time, shoot a video in
the Altai Mountains to visually
showcase the legend. So I started studying the legend. Then, images
began to form in my mind (images of
the heroes, images of the places where they lived according to
the legend, where the events
described in the legend took place). I started finding locations and
planning the route. After that, the
structure of the song began to take shape in my mind. For
example, I wanted the choruses to be
quite melodic, and in the video I wanted to show scenes with
nature, running, and create a sense
of flight that captures the viewer's breath. The legend also
contains a chase scene. I realized
that it would be great to use this moment in a part with a
breakdown. To make the breakdown
dynamic, gradually building in intensity, and ending on a
beautiful note to show the moment of
the merging of two rivers.
This is how i'm working on a songs:
first I collecting all ideas for the structure, searching for the
examples, then gather all the ideas
together and pass them to the guitarist. And he helps to complete
the structure, finish all the
missing parts, and record the song. It's a team effort, and I am grateful to
Oleg that he is always listening to
my ideas and helping to implement them. Writing songs for me is
a complex but very interesting
process, and I am very happy that the songs resonate with people and
that the stories I want to convey
are understood by the listeners.
7. Your music has the potential to
introduce Siberian legends to a global audience. How do you
hope your audience, especially those
outside of Siberia, will connect with and appreciate the
cultural stories you convey in your
songs?
Honestly, I don't have a specific
goal, I just want to talk about my homeland because I love Siberia
very much. It would be great if more
people could come and visit Siberia. Siberia is awesome :)
Hope it'll become possible in a
future again
8. What challenges did you face in
merging traditional Siberian folklore with the intensity of
metal, and how did you overcome them
during the production of "In Altai Land"?
My main difficulty in songwriting is
that I start to worry that I won't be able to convey what I want
to say, that something might go
wrong, or that something won't be liked. At certain stages, I stop
liking my vocals, I stop liking what
I've recorded, it seems like everything is bad. Essentially, it's
just perfectionism and
self-criticism, which are my biggest enemies during songwriting :) Another
difficulty is that myths and legends
of Siberia are not widely known, so it's hard to find primary
sources. Because of this, you start
worrying that you might not tell the legend correctly, that the
meaning might be distorted – it's a
huge responsibility. These are the main difficulties in
songwriting that I encounter and try
to overcome.
9. Do you have any upcoming projects
or plans to continue exploring Siberian myths through
your music? Can you give us a sneak
peek into what we can expect from your future releases?
Yes, of course! In the nearest
plans, I will finish an album that will consist of two parts (2 EP
albums combined into one). The album
will be dedicated to the myths and legends of Siberia. I also
plan to shoot several music videos
and, if everything goes well, maybe in the future, I will expand
the theme and add myths and legends
not only from Siberia but also from the Far East and possibly
from my country as a whole. As for
the Far East, some cities were part of Siberia in the past, so they are
directly related to the history of Siberia and its myths and legends. And the
places in the East are
amazing. I would really like to talk
about Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and to visit them. These are my
plans for now :)
10. As a musician from Siberia, how
do you think your cultural background has shaped your
identity as an artist, and what
message do you hope to convey to your listeners through your unique blend of
metal and Siberian folklore?
It is difficult to say exactly how
the combination of myths, legends, and metal music shaped me as
an artist. Because i've just started
my way. I think I have understood the direction to move in, and it
is great to receive feedback from
people regarding my own style in music. While before I tried to
focus only on thrash metal, now I
would describe my style as "Siberian metal". It is great if I
managed to mix different styles
(folklore and metal music) and create a unique style (Siberian
metal).
And the most important message I
want to convey is that there are so many amazing and cool places
around that hold secrets and
fragments of history. So, travel more, discover new places, rediscover
the places where you live or were
born. There is so much beauty and the unknown around us, and it
is great if each person can discover
something new for themselves, learn and explore our world
again.
Thank you so much for such
interesting questions. I hope I was able to answer everything and I
apologize if there are mistakes in
my English responses. I hope I was able to convey the essence
correctly
:)
(116) Olya Manevskaya - YouTube
Olya Manevskaya (@manevskayaolya) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
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