Interview: | PATRIARKH |
Title: | Opulent orthodoxy |
In recent years, these Poles have filled the music media with just as much enthusiastic praise for their fascinating songs as there have been reports of ongoing line-up squabbles and band strife, including various recriminations - at some point, there were suddenly two Batushka bands.
The rumors kept swirling, and they didn't stop until at some point nobody could really see through them anymore, so band leader and vocalist Bartłomiej „Варфоломей“ Krysiuk left everything behind and sought a new beginning.
The latter was also found this year with Patriarkh - and the grandiose concept „debut album”, titled „Prorok Ilja”, does so much more than comfort the listener. In its darkly festive and conspiratorial sublimity, this is almost unbelievably sacred, religious-folkloristic, fully melodic and therefore beguilingly spiritual Black Doom Metal, the likes of which has never been heard before in such a colossal, monumental, multi-faceted and metaphysically inspired form.
As Варфоломей puts it in a contemplative voice in the audience, the current days represent the culmination of the busiest time in the band's history for him.
„Primarily a bit of excitement and waiting to see how this album will be received. Upcoming live confrontations and concerts are what I like most about what we do. So I'm just as excited about how the whole album, because we want to play it from start to finish as it is, will work live. That's what I'm looking forward to the most.“
So you can expect an appropriately celebrated Black Metal fair of superlative content.
When asked about the new band name, the man's expression softens.
„The first thing you need to know is this: a Patriarkh is a priest with a higher rank than an ordinary Batushka. So it's a bit like a 'Batushka ordination' to a 'Batushka upgreat', where everything is supposed to be better afterwards.“
For his return, Master Krysiuk has not only „taken himself into prayer” musically, but the persistent Polish spiritualist has also dedicated himself to a timeless theme with his new band: the becoming, being and passing of a legendary cult leader - as happened in his home region of Podlasie!
Thematically, everything revolves around the captivating story of the eponymous „prophet” Eliasz „Ilja” Klimowicz, who became an Eastern Orthodox sect leader in Krysiuk's home region in the 1930s and 40s.
Thus „Prorok Ilja”, Patriarkh's enormously profound concept debut album, takes a spiritual look back to the 1930s, when the illiterate farmer Eliasz „Ilja” Klimowicz succeeded in winning over many - generous - believers, pilgrims etc. with prophetically staged soul magnetism.
When first asked about the direct comparison between the 2019 Batushka album „Hospodi“ and „Prorok Ilja“, Варфоломей clarifies: „It's a completely different album, ‚Hospodi‘ is an album more composed of hits, a more hit album, while ‚Prorok Ilja‘ is a more closed, conceptual album where everything works together and this magic works when you listen to this album continuously as one whole. It is a much more difficult album to listen to, more complicated, but that was the intention, you have to devote time to this music, you have to get involved and that's what we wanted in the era of listening to music very selectively and fragmentarily, we serve quite a large bar to be eaten only whole.“
Pastoral theatricality
With the new band, the comfort zone, as the mainman calls it, was consciously left behind.
„We left the closed, perhaps somewhat monastic concept that characterized Batushka. Patriarkh gave us new opportunities to develop and evolve into natural musical regions that are connected with Orthodoxy, i.e. folk, ethno, but we also added our own elements, symphonic and classical music, as well as elements of radio play and theater. It's very diverse music.“
The lion's share of the songwriting for the new material was done by him with guitarist Архангел Михаил, but according to Варфоломей it was ultimately a team effort.
„Everyone was responsible for something and in the end we have a very coherent work.“
Sounds as if the line-up has now fully „found” itself, doesn't it?
„Yes Sir! We are connected in perfect symbiosis, both in the studio and during concerts, we are one organism.“
Concept albums such as „Prorok Ilja”, which deal with historically real events from the spiritual and religious realm in such an interested and serious manner, have rarely been realized in such a sophisticated and authentic way.
„You know, I always impose plans for implementation during the entire process, and here I must say that for the first time I managed to implement 99 % of the plans, which I am damn happy and proud of. Earlier, I must admit that I was satisfied when 70 % of the assumed goals were achieved during the entire stage, but this time it was completely different. As for the story contained in the album, the concept matured for several years, I collected materials for several years, visited places related to Eliasz Klimowicz, read, analyzed until finally everything took a real shape and here it is. Everything was close and natural to me, I grew up in the countryside and I love this atmosphere.“
The story from the cult village of Grzybowszczyzna, which is currently set to music, is even known throughout Poland, according to reports. „Yes, this story is known not only in Podlasie, maybe especially in Podlasie where I was born, but also throughout Poland. Once, as a teenager, I watched the ‚Prophet Ilja‘ theater on TV with famous Polish actors. Since then, this story has lived in me and I once had the idea that it would be nice to visualize it musically. It took several years before I perfected the entire concept and this is the final image in the form of a disc.“
Excitingly, the singer also based his research on in-depth information from people who knew members of the sect. „And I also relied on the works of Włodzimierz Pawluczuk, who in the 1970s and 1980s described the sect and the socio-sociological conditions of that period at length, which in a sense ‚gave birth‘ to Ilja. The music was also based on a theater play by Tadeusz Słobodzianek. I know the places associated with the prophet, Wierszalin itself, by heart, there is some kind of magic in them, even fairy-tale-like. You know, I was born here in Podlasie, which is quite a specific and even peripheral region of Poland, and it was easier for me to understand it all and then transfer it into a musical vision, it's a bit like the music of the end of the world, but ours, idyllic …“
The whole thing becomes even more fascinating when you learn that no one - not even the internet - can actually say exactly how all the disciples from near and far lost their Lord and Master back then.
„Well, there are several versions of how the Prophet's story ended, no one can so far confirm what really happened, reports say that after the Bolsheviks entered Poland in 1939, he was simply shot, others say that he was sent to Siberia and committed crimes there. However, in my version I do not kill him, he is taken to heaven on a burning chariot, just like the biblical prophet Elijah, to whom he was compared.“
At least as exciting is the list of folk instruments used specifically for the album, such as tagelharpa, mandolin, mandocello, hurdy-gurdy and hammered dulcimer - it must have been exciting and inspiring to obtain, learn and then incorporate them.
Варфоломей nods with humble eyes: „We already used some instruments on the previous release ‚Carju Niebiesnyj‘. Here we are simply developing these instruments, but they were also necessary to present this story in an appropriate way. We enlisted the help of my friend Marek with whom I played in the Dominium band in the 1990s, and he is fascinated by folk and medieval instruments, has a huge arsenal of them and plays them all very well. Recently, when we were on tour, I decided to take him to play a few shows with us, and it worked out fantastically live. You can also see him in the music video for the song ‚Wierszalin III‘. You will definitely be able to see him with us in the future.“
The fact that this time even a symphony orchestra and extensive choirs were used gives the release the final sacred touch. „You know, it's also a messed up story. Even 5 years ago, if someone had told me, what would happen if we added an orchestra to Batushka's music? I would have ridiculed this idea mercilessly, but the time came when we were recording ‚Carju Niebiesnyj‘ and we decided to experiment and add an orchestra to one song, the effect amazed us in the studio, it turned out great. So when planning new songs, I had in mind an arrangement for an orchestra, and here I also have a tandem of colleagues who deal with such things on a daily basis and it went very smoothly, both in terms of arrangement and the recordings in the studio themselves were a pleasure. The effect is very good, but I think that in the future we will achieve a sensational effect, he, he.“
The PR mentions „Orthodox sacrality“ in the record label info ... which makes one wonder - what does the bearded one think that really brings to people today ... more than ever, in these times of constant multiple global crisis? Or less than ever? Because God doesn't seem to care much about all the misery on the planet ... which sanctification is best for people?
„Let's face it, there is no God, he is either lazy, or he died a long time ago ... He is here and now, do everything according to your will, try to be good and those around you will reward you for it, be good to yourself, make your dreams come true, achieve your goals, In a few decades, even your family won't remember you, so live for yourself.“
Highly inspiring also, to read in the new info sheet about the usage of Byzantine monody, liturgical chant and Russian polyphony, in order to neatly adapting folk and liturgical melodies to their own style … one may be curiously about the done research and the immersion in these extremely complex and fascinatingly ancient realms!
„You know, it's a rather natural path if you explore the world of Orthodoxy and its musical side, it's simply my fascination and desire to extract from the individual trends of Orthodoxy the elements that I personally like the most and combine them. I must admit that I am satisfied with the effect achieved on the album, because none of them is the dominant element and together they constitute an amazing palette of musical colors.“
The eight songs probably describe the „self-discovery” and the rise and further work of Ilja up to his end as a flowing story … somehow one immediately thinks of Rasputin - did our besung prophet also have (envious etc.) adversaries or even murderous opponents?
„But of course, Ilja is called our ‚Rasputin of Podlasie‘, there is a very marked female thread in this story, hence the female vocals on the album, and in the story of Ilja in Wierszalin, i.e. the new Jerusalem that Ilja built, in Podlasie there was a house of the Virgin Mary in which they lived Elijah's admirers, and copulation and the generation of a new messiah took place there. There are a lot of very interesting threads that are identical with Rasputin, healings, jealousy of the local community who did not really believe in his mission, which later turned into a desire to test him, since he was announced as the chosen one, God and Jesus in one person, it was decided to put him to the test of the cross and crucify him, when the crusaders come to crucify Ilja, he runs away and hides in the forest for another 2 weeks, after this event the cult weakens, but it was at the very end of his story.“
Bartłomiej is responsible for the production, that must been an unimaginably diverse, fabulous process … or?
„Yes, it was an amazing adventure, a lot of work, I admit, when we finished the mixes stage it was 5 months of constant work, moving from studio to studio, I was terribly tired, even overwhelmed, and when I sent the boys one version of the mixes, I said that it was over, I was falling into paranoia and don't even send corrections because I won't make them anymore. In the end, we corrected it anyway, and after a short rest, I realized that I couldn't improve anything, and that's still the case.“
The mastermind describes the album as „pastoral, lyrical, epic, multidimensional and just as diverse as Podlasie is diverse“ - what connects him most deeply, most intimately and most engagingly throughout his life - religiously? - with your home region, the people, their mentality, their folklore, etc.?
„You know, it's rather natural, I was born here, this climate, life, people, superstitions, insularity, mentality are in my genes and I think that's why it came naturally on the album, I feel it and hear it and I know it's not posturing, it's the spirit of my region, my land, is a thoroughly Podlasie album and I am glad that I can show it to the world.“
© Markus Eck, 20.11.2024
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