Izvođač: Dordeduh
Izdavač: Lupus Lounge / Prophecy Productions
Izdano: year
Trajanje: 77:50
Ocjena: 4.7/5
Dok pišem ovaj tekst, osjećam se doista zastrašeno. Kakav je to izazov kad se upustimo u pisanje o nečemu, odnosno kad pokušamo staviti u riječi nešto što je tako bezgranično, što je tako očito transcendentno. Pomislite samo – nije li apsurdno da ljudi pokušavaju opisati glazbu? Pa ipak, svi to radimo, i to na vrlo različite načine – ali kako? Tako da naučimo teoriju, da raščlanjujemo harmoniju, poliritme, boju glasa itd. Da opisujemo svoju reakciju na određene dijelove, da ljudima kažemo neka očekuju slične osjećaje. A što kad su ti osjećaji preapstraktni da bi ih se moglo opisati? Neki bi odustali od pokušaja artikulacije i posljedično se sklonili u pridjeve poput »emotivna«, »duhovna«, »neizreciva« (glazba). Svima je poznat kliše da je glazba univerzalni jezik, ali često nije tako: puno ljudi ne »kuži« npr. free jazz/noise glazbu/death metal, a većina uopće ne zna opisati doživljaj slušanja glazbe. Zastrašujuće? Zasigurno. Ali zato još neću prestati pisati.
Dar De Duh je rumunjska fraza koju je gotovo nemoguće potpuno prevesti na hrvatski, no znači otprilike »dar duha«. Dordeduh pak je fraza koja otprilike znači »čežnja za duhom«. Duh? Što to uopće znači? Što duh ima veze s glazbom? Je li povezan s duhom glazbe? Ima li veze s našim svakodnevnim osjećajima? Ili ih nadilazi?
Dordeduh je zasigurno izrazito opskuran bend i većina vas koji ovo upravo čitate vjerojatno ste ili fanovi benda ili fanovi prijašnjeg benda njegovih čelnika, Negura Bunget, ili ste slučajno došli na ovu stranicu i nemate pojma o čemu je riječ. Zato prvo nekoliko riječi o samom nastanku benda. Dordeduh je nastao prije nekoliko godina nakon djelomičnog raspada puno poznatijeg black metal benda Negura Bunget. Iz njega su otišla dva glavna autora glazbe i osnovala Dordeduh. Uskoro je nastao prvi EP – Valea Omului. Negura Bunget je inače vjerojatno najpoznatiji po albumu OM, koji za scenu predstavlja veliki orijentir, a mnogim slušateljima najbolji atmosferični metal album svih vremena. OM je bio i posljednji album s oba člana koja su sada Dordeduh. Upravo zato su mnogi nestrpljivo čekali Dar De Duh, prvi album ovog benda, jer je trebao biti legitimni nasljednik OM-a. Mnogi su imali ogromna očekivanja, koja su sezala do neba i još više… i bila su još i nadmašena.
Neću se upuštati u detalje pojedinih skladbi. Zvuk na ploči nije reciklirani zvuk Negure; album nije »OM verzija 2.0«. Ali zvuči vrlo poznato, podsjeća na Neguru. Ipak, Dar De Duh nije tako heavy kao albumi Negure, pa ni kao recimo OM. Predstavlja čak manju evoluciju u odnosu na njega; tu ću ujedno i završiti usporedbe između albuma. Riječ je o dva vrlo različita entiteta, zato ih nikad nisam htio stavljati u kontrast. Zato vam neću ni povjeriti koji mi se album više sviđa.
Ako je dakle Dar De Duh »dar duha«, što to točno izaziva u samom slušatelju? Kakav se emotivni odgovor može očekivati ako sama glazba nije o tome, nego o samoj duši? Budući da nažalost ne razumijem rumunjski, a tekstovi nigdje nisu prevedeni, nemam pojma o čemu pjevaju. Zato teško mogu reći bilo što u tom smjeru.
Ipak, ipak doživim određeni emotivni odgovor dok slušam Dar De Duh. I to mogu, na vlastito veliko iznenađenje, i opisati. Sam album je vrlo teleološki. Ima vrlo jasnu svrhu. Dar De Duh te tjera na spoznaju da se osvijestiš kao dio svemira. Nakon mjeseci slušanja albuma i istraživanja pozadine benda (intervjui, biografije) shvatio sam da je svih 8 komada u savršenom skladu koji opisuje svojevrstan ideal za život svakog čovjeka. Da je Dar De Duh živo biće, gledali bismo duboko duhovno biće koje se bavi misticizmom.
Dok slušam, imam osjećaj da album gleda na nas, ljude, i pritom izražava svoje razočaranje. Ne želi da potrošimo milijune godina u nihilizmu, da budemo neproduktivni, da ne dosežemo svoj potencijal, da ignoriramo mogućnost evolucije ljudskog uma. Dar De Duh je zato veliki humanist.
Ako vam dakle sada kažem »ignorirajte me i jednostavno poslušajte album«, priznat ću da nisam uspio u opisu Dar De Duha. I mislim da zapravo nisam uspio. Žalim što priznajem svoj poraz, a možda i poraz jezika kao takvog u izražavanju ideja albuma. Doduše, riječ je o glazbi koja se do neke mjere može izraziti, ali čini mi se da je ovdje glazba tek sekundarna u izražavanju nekog dubljeg i apstraktnijeg poruke. Album naime djeluje vrlo pedagoški, kao da nas pokušava učiti, voditi i prosvijetliti.
Sada možda zvuči kao da promoviram ovaj album kao neki lijek za cjelokupno grozno stanje čovječanstva, da će slušanje albuma spasiti od depresije i ukloniti nihilizam te time posijati mir na Zemlji. No album ima i nekoliko mana. Ponajprije u nekoliko dijelova gdje je jednostavno riječ o lošoj produkciji – o lošoj zvučnoj dinamici. Rifovi su uglavnom odlični, ali ih je nekoliko u najboljem slučaju solidnih. Teško govorim o više loših strana albuma, ali sigurno ih ima.
Vjerujem da cijela recenzija zvuči izrazito besmisleno. Vjerujem i da se neki ljudi neće moći poistovjetiti ni s jednom rečenicom u članku. Dar De Duh će nekima predstavljati jednostavno posve drugačije iskustvo. Ako se tekstovi ikad prevedu (iako službeno nikad neće, barem sudeći prema intervjuima članova benda), velika je vjerojatnost da neće imati veze s onim što sam zaključio da je svrha albuma. I to lako priznajem. Da postoji mogućnost da je sve napisano potpuno pogrešno. Ali i to je potpuno u redu. Jer umjetnost živi na znanju da uvijek stvara nove ideje u onima koji dođu u kontakt s njom, da rađa nove zamisli i koncepte, iako ih sam umjetnik prvotno nije namjeravao dati. Osjećam pak da ako neki album u piscu izaziva tako apstraktne osjećaje kao što je Dar De Duh u meni, možda bi i sam članak o tom albumu trebao biti do neke mjere apstraktan.
Dar De Duh je izrazito terapeutsko djelo; takvo je za svakoga tko od umjetnosti želi neku živuću formu koja pokušava zauzeti važnije mjesto u svemiru, koja u čovječanstvu traži neko konkretnije značenje i koja onima što još uvijek čeznu za duhom ispunjava takve želje.
Pripremio, preveo i uredio: Tine Kolenik
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Intimidation is all I should use to describe myself as I write this. It is an illuminating challenge when one is tasked with putting into words, or verbally expressing, something that is so intrinsically immaterial, something which so effortlessly transcends human intuition and thought. Think about it for just a moment: is it not absolutely absurd in how people try to describe music? Everyone does it, arguably in a variety of different ways but, how do we do it? By learning theory and detailing the various harmonies, polyrhythms, timbres, etc.? By expressing the reaction we receive from it and telling people to expect something similar? What happens when we try to describe music that is motivated by a more abstract, intangible longing? Some of us would give up on articulating it, and resort to expressing it with words such as “it’s emotional; it’s soulful; it’s inexpressible”. The cliché goes that music is an international language, but this often gets proven false: many people do not “understand” free jazz/noise music/death metal and most people fail to properly express the experience of listening to music. Intimidating? Oh, absolutely it is. But I do not give up yet.
Dar De Duh is a Romanian phrase which is probably impossible to perfectly translate into English, though commonly it is called “Gift of the Spirit” as a reference. Dordeduh is a phrase which loosely means “Longing for the Spirit”. Spirit? What does this mean? What does “spirit” have to do with music? Could it be related to the soul of music, the emotive expression of anger, loss, sadness, bliss that we often feel and connect with during our favorite songs? Or, is it beyond this? Is it less tangible than our daily emotional concepts?
Dordeduh is admittedly an extremely obscure group, and because nearly everyone who reads this is either a long time fan of the group and the leaders’ former group Negura Bunget, or people who have randomly stumbled upon this page and have no clue what they are or what to expect, I feel obligated to include some brief history: Dordeduh was formed a couple of years ago after the much less obscure, though definitely not Emperor/Burzum status black metal titans Negura Bunget suffered from internal strife, resulting with the departure of the two main song writers, who soon after formed Dordeduh, and released a 2 track EP titled Valea Omului. Negura Bunget is mostly known for their landmark album OM, considered by many of its fans to be perhaps the greatest atmospheric metal album ever made, and was the final release by Negura to include these 2 main leaders who now reside in Dordeduh. Many people have been foreshadowing Dar De Duh, their first LP, as the true sequel or “legitimate heir” to OM. The standards for this release for the few who have waited years for it are immoderately sky high…and they were succeeded.
I do not wish to waste any time whatsoever specifying or detailing any of the songs from this record. The sound is not a complete rehash of old Negura; this is not “OM Version 2.0”. It is very familiar sounding though, as the lush orchestral synthesizers, unorthodox ethnic percussion involving hammers, woods and cultural bells, and ritualistic, spiritual chanting all seem like the typical characteristics reminiscent of Negura. Including, of course, the fluctuation of these clean elements flowing next to the spiraling of metal that takes up approximately half of the album (longtime Negura fans should know that Dar De Duh is less heavy than OM). To put it briefly, Dar De Duh is a slight evolution from OM on a musical sense. I will not compare the two records any longer. They were not meant to be contrasted with, as they are two very different entities, especially on an intuitive level. I am not even going to tell you whether I prefer OM or Dar De Duh.
If Dar De Duh is the gift of the spirit, what does it inspire or instigate within the listener? What kind of emotional response can be deduced from something that is not innately about sadness or happiness of the soul, but instead is about the soul itself? What is this record trying to tell its listeners? On a literal level, I cannot tell you because I simply do not speak Romanian and translated lyrics have yet to appear. Lyrically, this review is completely in the dark.
But the response that I personally receive when I play Dar De Duh is surprisingly not indescribable, not entirely intangible or immaterial beyond the capacity of words and syntax. This album is very teleological, as in it has a very specific purpose. Dar De Duh wants you to realize your full potential for meaning in life, as an individual on this planet, and as a part of the universe. Listening to this album and having spent many months researching interviews of the band, it is evident to me that all 8 songs are very much in tune with an ideal for an authentic living condition for the human race. This is an album that is very much in tune with nature, with the cosmos, with all other life. If Dar De Duh was a living, breathing creature, it would have a deep sense of spirituality and would perhaps even abide by Mysticism.
Dar De Duh feels as if it looks at all human beings, as individuals and as a collective race and is dissatisfied with our current state. It does not want us to waste our millions of years of collective consciousness in depression, in a nihilistic predicament, nor does it want us to be unproductive beings who are simply obsessed with mundane hobbies, prioritizing jobs we do not feel passionate about, ignoring the potential to evolve our minds into (and this is where I realize perhaps I have been inarticulate this entire time) a greater sense of enlightenment. Dar De Duh is both very humanitarian and humanist.
Once I tell you “Ignore me and listen to the album for yourself”, this is simply euphemistic of “My words have failed”. And I think they have. I do not feel comfortable admitting defeat, to admit my, and perhaps language’s in general, incompetence to fully articulate and relay the quintessential ideas that are formed within and by Dar De Duh. It is music, but perhaps the music is secondary as a medium that sends a deeper message, a more abstract form of communication. The album is pedagogic and heuristic, as in it wishes to teach you a better frame of mind in order to ease into an acceptance of your meaning, your relation to all other life, and your acceptance as a small unit of the universe.
It might sound like I’m saying this album is a cure to the current state of humanity, that listening to it will cure depression and eliminate existential nihilism and instigate world peace, but it isn’t a perfect creation. It has practical flaws, relating to a lack of dynamic push in certain transitions that could have been fixed by better audio mastering. The album has excellent pacing, and despite 3 songs that are over a dozen minutes long, it never seems to drag on or appear redundant. Most of the riffs are simply great, and only few are decent. I have little to say on the faults of this record.
Note that I am fully conscious of the possibility this entire review may not make sense. I expect people to read this article and not relate to anything in which I have just described. You may very well love the album at face value, you may find its musical atmosphere something worth being overwhelmed in, and yet not quite see any humanist value/meaning in Dar De Duh. Once the lyrics are translated, it’s possible (though unlikely, based off of previous Negura Bunget lyrics/Dordeduh interviews) that they will have no relevance to anything I have discussed here. I admit that I may be completely wrong. But that is ok, because art is always improved when it inspires new ideas in audiences that the artists did not intend. I simply felt that with an album that inspires more abstract feelings and ideas and intuitions, the relevant article pertaining to such a kind of music should be appropriately abstract in meaning as well.
Dar De Duh is therapeutic; for anyone who wishes to experience art that is more self conscious of its condition as an insignificant part of the universe, for anyone who wants a greater sense of meaning for humanity, for someone who is longing for their spirit, will likely consider this record a gift to their soul.
Sastav
Edmond Karban aka “Hupogrammos” – vokal, gitare, klavijature, dulcimer, mandola
Cristian Popescu aka “Sol Faur” – gitare, klavijature, dulcimer, toaca
Ovidiu Mihăiţă – bubnjevi, udaraljke
Flavius Misarăş – bas gitara, prateći vokal
Popis skladbi
- Jind de Tronuri
- Flăcărarii
- E-an-na
- Calea Roţilor de Foc
- Pândarul
- Zuh
- Cumpăt
- Dojană
