ARKONA: St. Petersburg Concert Shut Down By Police

Moscow, Russia-based "Slavic pagan metal" band ARKONA had its February 6, 2009 concert in St. Petersburg shut down after 30 minutes by the Russian special-tasks police unit/riot police (OMON). One of the policemen came up on stage and announced, "The concert is over; everybody against the wall!" All the fans and musicians were then individually searched their ID information was collected. The police then took fingerprints and had photos taken of each person who was at the club that night.

The band has since issued the following statement on the matter:

"We deeply regret to announce that our performance at Arctic club was stopped by law-enforcement authorities of St. Petersburg. We would like to point out that this wasn't the first incident of canceling rock (or nonconformist subculture) gigs in this city, and it's not connected with ARKONA's creative work. It emerged that it was police plan operation in the field of fighting with some parts of nonconformist subculture in St. Petersburg which harmed all our fans and the band. The operation took place not only in Arctica club, but also in other rock clubs of the city.

"ARKONA has stated many times in the past and will do it again: we do not support any political trend and revile against any from of extremism. Our art is associated only with history, tradition and native religious believes of Russian people. ARKONA is not responsible for behavior or any actions done by some individuals which, probably, lead to the shutting down of the performance.
"We invite all our fans who were at the gig to our Moscow presentation. If you have the opportunity to visit Moscow on 11th of February, you may visit our show at Tochka club using the old (i.e. Arctic's) ticket. We warranty that such an incident won't happen again! Please contact us using [email protected] e-mail. We'll meet with you and change your old ticket to the new one. And we would like to thank all of you for the great support you showed under shocking circumstances at Arctica club."

ARKONA recently entered the studio to begin recording its fifth album, titled "Goi, Rode, Goi!" The CD will include 12 tracks with a running time of more than 70 minutes. Musically, the album will pick up where the last two efforts left off, but with the addition of a string orchestra and a live choir. All ethnic instruments will one again be performed by Vladimir Cherepovskiy, a specialist in old instruments and music. The accordion will be played by Alexander "Olen" Oleinikov of the KALEVALA band. According to a press release, "the band plans to widen the list of instruments never being used before. Shaman drums are already ordered from a famous master Dmitriy Ravich, [along with a] line of jaw harps and some other ethnic percussion."

"Goi, Rode, Goi!" will contain a 15-minute song called "Na Moey Zemle" ("In my land"),which is being described as "a kind of pagan metal opera about the travelling of Slav around countries of Europe." Guest vocalists on the CD will include members of SKYFORGER (Latvia),OBTEST (Lithuania),MÅNEGARM (Sweden),MENHIR (Germany) and HEIDEVOLK (Holland). The CD artwork is being by created by Kris Verwimp (THYRFING, MÅNEGARM). A late spring release via Napalm Records is expected.

ARKONA's latest album, "Ot Serdca K Nebu" ("From the Heart to the Sky"),was released on July 4, 2008 via Napalm.

According to a press release, ARKONA's "leader is the charismatic frontlady Masha Scream, who also writes all the music and lyrics, as well as delivering her fierce vocals. The band plays Slavic pagan metal and embellishes their versatile compositions with the use of folk instrumentation."

ARKONA is:

Masha "Scream" - Vocals
Sergei "Lazar" - Guitar
Ruslan "Kniaz" - Bass
Vlad "Artist" – Drums

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/arkonarussia.

(Thanks: Ilya Gnatiuk / Hellcome.ru)