Sonans - "Live '77" {Russia} [1977] (chamber prog)

This is quite an obscure piece of music from the 70s. Sonans emerged in 1976 as a semi-formal student music studio at Sverdlov University of Architecture. The purpose of the formation was finding - through experimentation - the 'right' musical formula which would bring together the contemporary developments in instrumental rock music with the heritage of the classical composition. Material performed by the band at that time accurately reflected the group's ideology, and could be described as predominantly instrumental chamber progressive. This rather poor quality bootleg recording of a '77 live performance by Sonans seems to be the only account of the band's early efforts. The core of the record are three long and quite elaborated chamber prog pieces similar to what Gatto Marte have been doing recently. In addition, there are two short songs in a rather commonplace acoustic songwriting style which appear to be manifestedly out of place in the generally neoclassic framework. Apparently, that was indicative of the band's further development. By the end of 70s, Sonans eventually drifted towards a simpler, more song-oriented format and by 1981 effectively disbanded becasue of growing tension between the band members.

This bootleg appears @PNF thanks to the people behind the currently non-working goldenunder.sakhaworld.org website.

Line-up (to the best of my knowledge):

Alexander Pantykin - keyboards
Igor Skripkar - bass, vocals
Michael Perov - guitar
Andrey Balashov - violin
Ivan Savitsky - drums

Track list:

1. Part I
2. Part II
3. The Name
4. Cats' Newspaper
5. Part IV

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