Karelian Neo-Folk - Russian Federation
Theodor Bastard take listeners to unexplored and other worlds. From the cold and twilight realms of the marshy swamps of taiga and mossy tundra, to unexplored places where the earthly plane and the spiritual world are separated only by a thin ghostly veil. For over twenty years Theodor Bastard have been known for their amazingly serious attitude to the world beyond that very frontier.
Theodor Bastard is one of Russia’s most unusual bands representing the electronic Karelian neofolk genre. Also elements of dark wave and trip hop are present in the band’s music. The message doesn’t carry out everyday problems and is mainly focused on mythology and shamanism. The hallmarks of the band are the unique and bewitching lead vocals of multi-talent Yana Veva and the impeccable sound producing skills of Fedor Svolotch, founder of the band who created the band 20 years ago.
From album to album, Theodor Bastard carefully and masterly combine many different exotic and traditional instruments. The special northern atmosphere of their albums is created with Nordic nyckelharpa and jouhikko, primeval flutes created from tree roots and shamanic percussion.
“We live in the north of Russia in Karelia, which has a difficult fate” states band leader Fedor Svolotch. He continues: “This is a harsh northern region with unpredictable nature, with spruce and pine forests. Bears are found here. Moose and hare come straight to my house. In Karelia there are beautiful cliffs and clear lakes with fresh water. These are our personal places of power, the places where stones and winds are talking to us. Singing for us a songs of the northern harsh nature”.
Theodor Bastard consists of seven musicians, turning their performances into a dark magic act that sends the audience back to Northern musical traditions, to the Karelian and the Russian folk. The musicians use a lot of electronic devices, ethnic instruments and hand-made instruments from stones, human bone and the roots of Karelian birch.
In addition to their eight studio albums, Theodor Bastard have composed soundtracks for the dark horror video game “Pathologic 2” and “Life is Feudal: MMO”. They have performed at Castlefest, Dark Bombastic Evening and other major European festivals and have received two prestigious Russian music awards: The Golden Gargoyle, as the best Russian band in the World Music genre, and the Russian World Music Award for their contribution to the development of ethno-music.
Their latest single, “Nebo”, appeared in a key scene during the third season of the Russian crime drama The Method. It will also appear on the band’s upcoming ninth album.
For three decades, Theodor Bastard have bridged the traditions of the old world with the new. Now, five years removed from their last full-length journey, the Karelian pioneers of electro-folk are beginning a new venture that reconnects with their earliest roots.
THEODOR BASTARD have been polishing up their impressive record collection. Over the past year, they’ve reissued two of their most-acclaimed albums, starting with ‘Vetvi’, followed by ‘Oikoumene’, which arrived earlier this month and included three unreleased songs and a re-imagined tracklist.
Russian Karelian Neofolk outfit THEODOR BASTARD are now announcing the re-issue of their 2012 masterpiece ‘Oikoumene’. The album will be re-released via Season of Mist on June 16, 2023 in various formats.
Russian Karelian Neofolk outfit THEODOR BASTARD are proud to release ‘Zveroboi’, a brand new track which is specially written for the (horror) TV series of the same name! The song is now available on all digital platform at THIS LOCATION.
Russian Karelian Neofolk outfit THEODOR BASTARD are now proud to release their emotional cover version of QUEEN’s 1991 hit ‘The Show Must Go On’. The new offering comes in the form of a stunning music video which can now be viewed via their official YouTube channel HERE!
