VYDRAGA+ (Lithuania)
The participation of Vydraga in the country music festival for many may seem unexpected, however the history of the group testifies this move to be natural and regular. At present Vydraga plays Lithuanian folk music as well as that of other countries’ of the world adding peculiar interpretations and enjoying joint experiments with representatives of other music genres. There has been a number of well known and successful joint music projects and published CDs cooperating with Roger Watson (England), Tatsuya Okabayashi (Japan), jazz musicians Vladimiras Čekasinas, Skirmantas Sasnauskas, Arūnas Šlaustas and others who have brought the group to the essentials of country music. In order to reflect all the instrumentality of this type of music, the members of Vydraga have mastered playing the non-Lithuanian instruments in a short period of time. A virtuoso banjo player Alius Sirgėtas has been asked to join the group. Also a singer Aurelija Venskutė has been “borrowed” from the group “Vixva” (Klaipėda). Finally, a fire theater “Two Marias” has joined the group to help imitating street plays typical for that period. The program has been prepared specifically for the festival “Visaginas Country 2010”.
The performers of the project
„Vydraga“: Algirdas Klova (violin, mouthorgan, Irish flute, kazoo, voice),
Artūras Kurtinys (guitar, washboard, voice),
Robertas Laniauskas (mandolin, bass, voice),
Vytautas Linkevičius (bagpipe, bass),
Regimantas Vitkauskas (cembalo, zither, bandonion).
Guests: Aurelija Venskutė (voice); Alius Sirgėtas (banjo); „Dvi Marijos“ (fire show).
