In this house, we listen to this and all our Revels recordings throughout the Christmas season, from around Solstice Night all the way to Candlemas, and here is, I think, the most mysterious and unusual of the Revels recordings. Recorded live at two Houston Revels shows, one focusing on Russia and America, the other on Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. The music is all at once dark, lovely, and boisterous, brimming with the energy of cold people keeping warm with hot dance, rich harmony, and the pleasure of each other’s company. Featuring the the seminal Russian folkloric group, the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble, as well as the Karelian Folk Music Ensemble, preeminent exponents of the haunting music of Karelia, which overlaps modern Finland and Russia. Pokrovsky also contributes a fascinating liner-note essay on how Russian holiday traditions connect to our American Christmas. You've never heard anything quite like this before.

This is a compact disc, not a download. Here at Convivio Bookworks, we still enjoy popping a disc into a proper stereo and we especially love reading the accompanying liner notes in the analog booklet that comes with the CD. I know. Very old school and not nearly as cool as vinyl... but then again, perhaps we are on the cutting edge of an upcoming renewed interest in CDs. Stranger things have happened.

Full song list for this CD:

1. Epic Song
2. The Peacock
3. Down by the Volga River
4. Sun Room
5. Kind Evening
6. The Young Convert
7. Go Tell It on the Mountain
8. Evening Star
9. Porushka
10. Alleluia
11. The Great Rostov Bells
12. King David’s Psalm 116
13. Birch Tree on the Shore
14. Sunset
15. Mary Had a Baby
16. Ho, ho, ho, Goat!
17. Proso
18. We Traveled Through Holy Russia
19. Golden Yarn
20. The Great Mountain Horns
21. Nu ar det Jul Igen
22. Vandring I Varlden
23. Riski Ritaan Polkka
24. Now Falls the Snow
25. Brurmarsj fra Gudbrandsdal
26. Pappani Talo
27. Talonpojan Tanssi
28. Lift Up your Hearts
29. Sukkeret er Sottsann
30. Vid Stormyren
31. Kukku
32. Olafur Liljuros
33. Byssan Lull
34. Den Bergtagna Julafton
35. Karelian Tune
36. Kahden Nuoren Rakkaus
37. Telespringar
38. Mariy-El Tune