Alkonost
The Alkonost is, according to Russian mythos and folklore, a creature with the body of a bird but the head of a beautiful woman. It makes sounds that are amazingly beautiful, and those who hear these sounds forget everything they know and want nothing more ever again. She lives in the underworld with her counterpart the sirin. The alkonost lays her eggs on a beach and then rolls them into the sea. When the alkonost's eggs hatch, a thunderstorm sets in and the sea becomes so rough that it is untravelable. The name of the alkonost came from a Greek demigoddess whose name was Alcyone. In Greek mythology, Alcyone was transformed by the gods into a kingfisher.
Gallery
Lubok picture
Lubok picture
Postcard, 1908
Postcard, 1908
Viktor Vasnetsov's Sirin (left) and Alkonost (right) Birds of Joy and Sorrow (1896)
Viktor Vasnetsov's Sirin (left) and Alkonost (right) Birds of Joy and Sorrow (1896)
See also
References
Alkonost (band)
Alkonost is a Russian epic folk metal band formed in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russia in 1995. Starting small and gradually building a local Russian fanbase, they are now known to rock fans throughout Eastern and Northern Europe.
Popularity
The band is best known amongst heavy metal fans in their native country of the Russian Federation. However, their music has been discussed and shared on the internet, particularly on Usenet, and they have found new audiences in Nordic Europe and the United Kingdom. Signed to Metalism Records, their albums are available with English titles, although the songs themselves are predominantly sung in Russian. In 2007, for the first time, the band was able to perform outside of Russia, touring Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia and the Czech Republic., where they were warmly received.
Influences
The band's material is based on Russian paganism and mythology, and the melodies are drawn from indigenous Russian folk music, but the arrangements and riffs are drawn from power metal, death metal and symphonic metal, consisting of simplistic power chords under intricate "shredding" lead guitar (characteristic of power metal), male guttural rasping vocals (found in death metal) and soaring female operatic vocals (as found in symphonic metal). This has led them to be categorised in all these genres, as well as doom metal and folk metal.
