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Joined: August 04 2009
Location: Estonia
Status: Offline
Points: 70
Posted: August 16 2009 at 08:05
I see Gulliman already posted a bit about Estonian prog.
(Tere kaasmaalane, muide! )
But we have such a rich history of it actually, that I feel like adding a bit.
Estonian rock in general follows quite an unique tale, because it was largely discouraged (sometimes to say lightly) by the soviet authorities. Anything western was bad. And creativity was strongly restricted because of censorship. So it's actually quite surprising that the first Estonian prog band already started it's 1971 - pretty much only some 2 years behind from the rest of the world? Proves that SOME things leaked through the iron curtain. Also - getting the instruments was a problem. Since much of the innovative technology that prog was built on, wasn't available here. The band that is considered The Beatles and Rolling Stones AND Pink Floyd of Estonia is definitely Ruja. They paved the way for Estonian rock and prog rock. With the classically trained virtuoso pianist Rein Rannap as the leading force they started off with Beatle'esque, yet surpirising technical and intellectual rock music. Their career later took them to more pure prog rock, when Rannap dispatched for a short while and the guitarist Nõgisto took over.
- Some examples of the early Ruja. Very patriotic music. It's actually quite surprising that they werent completely banned, as the lyrics were often quite blatantly againgst the soviet occupation. It's hard to find the prog rock Ruja, as it wasn't so popular. Heres one of the only examples from the Nõgisto era Ruja I could find -
Later When Rannap came back, he took the band over again... and they moved straight to pop under his leading. They composed punk rock, rockabillies - even. And became a classic act of immense popularity in Estonia.
About the same time the other legendary composer - Sven Grünberg - started his band Mess, which was the first purely progressive band in Estonia. Pure symphonic prog. They came together for a brief performance on a TV show recently.
Some other bands that worked during the 70s in Estonia were Noor Eesti (also led by Rein Rannap), Meie and others. Then ofc came punk and by the end of the 70s prog was in a bit of a decline. But it didn't die here. In fact, I have been able to find more prog rock in Estonia from the 80s than from the 70s. In the 80s came In Spe. The prog band led by the now famous classical composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. They did "chamber-rock" music heavy with synths and flutes. Brilliant compositions. My favorite prog rock pieces at the moment.
Then there was fusion, the likes of Radar.
And Kaseke.
Pantokraator has already been mentioned.
But there were many, many others. Synopsis, Psycho, Data, Linnu Tee and others.
A great site for reading more is this - http://home.uninet.ee/~mel/estprog/ A lot of text on the bands and of Estonian prog history in general.
Joined: May 03 2009
Location: Montréal
Status: Offline
Points: 8321
Posted: August 20 2009 at 18:40
I replied some months ago to this post; I named a few Québecois bands but I forgot Rouge Ciel (I haven't discovered it yet). It is a fantastic RIO band.
Great post, really interesting!
Les mains, les pieds balancés
Sur tant de mers, tant de planchers,
Un marin mort,
Il dormira
Joined: August 11 2009
Location: Argentina
Status: Offline
Points: 6
Posted: August 21 2009 at 00:37
Argentina: We had some great progressive rock bands. La Maquina De Hacer Pajaros (The birds making machine). Great one. Sadly, the Argentinian public wasn't prepared for that sound and the band didn't have much success despite having very known members. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXPfOeTY7P8
Sui Generis: It was a folk rock band. However, in their last studio album their went for a much progressive sound. It's the previous band of the founder of La Maquina De Hacer Pajaros, and it had huge success. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUs--h1xDK8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0XkQz1G4LE
Crucis: I don't know much about this band, except that it's awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV9SzppFO6Q
Israel: I know of two awesome progressive metal bands. Both of them combining oriental music with metal. Orphaned Land: Progressive Death Metal. Their last album is Mabool, and they spent 7 years working on it. Over 20 studio musicians as far as I know. Very nice one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBqTUmyAZcw
Amaseffer: Not only new (one year old), but they are the most innovative that I've heard in the last years. Their only album "Slaves For Life" is the outcome of years of work. A concept album about the Exodus book in the bible telling the story of Moses and the Jewish slaves in Egypt. What's so special about the album is the usage of orchestra along with the ancient Egypt music combination. They make metal by using violins instead of guitars many times. Moreover, the whole album sounds like a movie soundtrack. For sure worth a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KwC60HEp3g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVDuKmVLW8E
If you want to know more about Orphaned Land and Amaseffer, PM me .
Joined: April 26 2005
Location: Belgium
Status: Offline
Points: 10616
Posted: October 10 2009 at 09:57
Being from The Netherlands and living in Belgium, well, it has all been said by others, about both countries.
I appreciate the time that I lived in The Netherlands and I could see so many prog bands, also native ones, and sometimes I could even walk to concerts from my home (Vangelis with Jon Anderson in Rotterdam) or go by bike (Yes, IQ, Pendragon and Peter Hammill in Utrecht).
In Belgium there is less for me: Spirit of 66 is at the other side of the country for me, the Dutch concerts still being closer for me. Still, I once could follow a prog concert (a Belgian Dream Theater clone) while lying in bed, because they were playing at the town square at the end of my street.
Being a Canuck, I could marvel at all the big names native to Canada. But I prefer the more obscure ones like Capharnaum, Mystery, Vecteur K, and the list goes on...
Et je ferme les yeux
Puis je croise les doigts
Pour empêcher
Les souvenirs de fuir.
(KERMESS - Atome d'existence)
Joined: December 13 2009
Location: reykjavík
Status: Offline
Points: 51
Posted: December 29 2009 at 11:06
Iceland has got some prog artist
Eik - a fantastic symphonic prog band specially their second album Thursaflokkurinn really good prog psych folk band among other influence. i recommend their first two albums. Mánar or The Moons is a prog psych band released one album i think which pretty good. Trúbrot is the most famous 70's rock band in Iceland they were the Icelandic Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin. they can be classified as heavy prog. Náttúra or just simply Nature is a good prog psych band. Caterpillarman which is a new band specializing in 70's prog bands like KC ELP GG and other bands, they add some stoner influence to the mix. pretty good band considering their young age. the are not really inventing anything but i will have my eye on them in the future. Pelican a great prog psych band really classic Icecross really classic cult band despite only releasing one album which people pay fortunes for. in my opinion Eik and Thursaflokkurinn rapes all of those bands brutally in their asses(not literally of course).
Anyone willing to hear about great Czech bands like Progres, Blue Effect, Prazsky Vyber, Synkopy and Framus, just contact me. There are also good ones (but not as much) bands - other from list of Czech bands (you know where to find it, don't you ?). And I also have strong feelings for Slovakian scene.
just ask me
There's a point where "avant-garde" and "experimental" becomes "terrible" and "pointless,"
Joined: August 11 2009
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 8676
Posted: January 28 2010 at 21:46
Birdman wrote:
Being a Canuck, I could marvel at all the big names native to Canada. But I prefer the more obscure ones like Capharnaum, Mystery, Vecteur K, and the list goes on...
Being a Canuck, I am pretty clueless about the Canadian prog scene beyond Rush, and a vague knowledge that there's some sort of Quebec scene.
Joined: July 01 2004
Location: CA
Status: Online
Points: 17156
Posted: January 29 2010 at 03:44
Isn't Pangee from Quebec? I'm not sure if they're still together, but Hymnemonde is a great instrumental CD. Too bad it looks to be their one and only album.
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