Evelina Petrova

 

 Evelina Petrova was born in an industrial city close to St. Petersburg. Her grand mother forced Evelina to study music in a local music school where she took up accordion at the age of twelve. She now blends Russian folk music, classical and quite avant-garde improvised music in her playing. There are also elements of Jewish Kletzmer tradition and East-European brass music in it. The accordion in her hands is sometimes a percussion instrument and sometime one can hear pure, technically excellent accordion music. Her voice is her second instrument.

 She collaborates with other musicians as Iva Bittova, Phil Milton, Alexander Balanescu and his String Quartet, and many others and with the film directors Alexander Sokurov and Svetlana Proskurina.

 

 

 

 

I strongly recommend  the 2007's album with Alexander Balanescu titled "Upside down". 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"... in Romanian violinist Alexander Balanescu she has proved that wait was worthwhile: his contributions to her music are at once subtle and powerful, his swooping, earnest, occasionally almost ethereal violin providing a highly effective contrast to the more ‘human’ sounds of her instrument, in either its rhythm-section role or in solo flights..." in The Vortex

"The album title intimates a musical approach that defies the norm. In effect, they effortlessly merge Russian-folk with jazz improvisation and the classical element, while venturing into a rather opaque, avant-garde realm. The duo also treks into the free jazz vicinity, yet occasionally tempers the variable flows with lighthearted jazz and chamber-esque motifs. Simply stated, hearing is believing." Glenn Astarita for “All about jazz”

"Taming of a Buterfly"

 

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