Med pisanjem tega teksta se počutim resnično ustrahovanega. Kakšen izziv je namreč, ko se spravimo pisati o oz. poskušati spraviti v besede nekaj, kar je tako brezsnovno, kar je tako očitno transcendentno. Pomislite namreč – ali ni absurdno, da ljudje poskušajo opisati glasbo? Pa vendar vsi to počnemo in to na zelo različne načine – ampak kako? Da se naučimo teorijo, da razčlenjujejo harmonijo, poliritme, barvo glasu itd. Da opisujemo svojo reakcijo na določene dele, da ljudem povemo, naj pričakujejo podobne občutke. Kaj pa, ko so ti občutki preveč abstraktni, da bi jih lahko opisali? Nekateri bi obupali nad poskusi artikulacije in bi se posledično zatekli k pridevnikom, kot so »čustvena«, »duhovna«, »neizrekljiva« (glasba). Vsem je poznan kliše, ki pravi, da je glasba univerzalni jezik, ampak velikokrat ni tako: veliko ljudi ne »dojame« npr. free jazza/noise glasbe/death metala in večina sploh ne zna opisati doživetja ob poslušanju glasbe. Ustrahujoče? Zagotovo. Ampak zato še ne bom zaključil s pisanjem.
Dar De Duh je romunska fraza, ki jo je skorajda nemogoče popolnoma prevesti v slovenščino, vendar pomeni nekaj takega kot »dar duha«. Dordeduh pa je fraza, ki približno pomeni »hrepenenje po duhu«. Duh? Kaj to sploh pomeni? Kaj ima duh veze z glasbo? Je povezan z duhom glasbe? Ima veze z našimi vsakdanjimi občutki? Ali le-to presega?
Dordeduh je zagotovo izredno obskuren bend in večina tistih, ki zdajle tole berete, ste verjetno ali fani benda ali feni prejšnjega benda vodij Negura Bunget ali pa ste naključno prišli na to stran in nimate pojma, o čem teče beseda. Zato najprej nekaj besed o samem nastanku benda. Dordeduh je nastal nekaj let nazaj po delnem razpadu veliko bolj znanega black metal benda Negura Bunget. Iz le-tega sta odšla dva glavna pisca glasbe in ustvarila Dordeduh. Kmalu je nastal prvi EP – Valea Omului. Negura Bunget je sicer verjetno najbolj znana po njihovem albumu OM, ki predstavlja za sceno velik mejnik, veliko poslušalcem pa najboljši atmosferični metal album vseh časov. OM je bil tudi zadnji album z obema članoma, ki sta zdaj Dordeduh. Prav zato je veliko ljudi težko čakalo na Dar De Duh, prvi album tega benda, saj naj bi bil album legitimni naslednik OM-u. Veliko ljudi je imelo ogromna pričakovanja, ki so segala do neba in še višje… in bila še presežena.
Ne bom se spuščal v podrobnosti posameznih skladb. Zvok na plati ni recikliran zvok Negure; album ni »OM verzija 2.0«. Vendar zveni zelo znano, zadeva reminiscira na Neguro. Vendar pa Dar De Duh ni tako heavy kot albumi Negure, tudi ne tako kot recimo OM. Predstavlja celo manjšo evolucijo od le-tega; tukaj pa bom tudi zaključil primerjave med albumoma. Gre za dve zelo različni entiteti, zato ju nikoli nisem želel postaviti v kontrast. Zato vam tudi ne bom zaupal, kateri album mi je bolj všeč.
Če je torej Dar De Duh »dar duha«, kaj to točno povzroči v samem poslušalci? Kakšen čustven odziv se lahko pričakuje, če sama glasba ni o le-tem, ampak o duši sami? Ker žal ne razumem romunsko, besedil pa nikjer ni najti prevedenih, nimam pojma, o čem pojejo. Zato težko povem karkoli v tej smeri.
Vendar pa vseeno doživim določen čustven odziv pri poslušanju Dar De Duh. In tega lahko tudi, na svoje veliko presenečenje, opišem. Sam album je zelo teleološki. Ima zelo jasen namen. Dar De Duh te sili k spoznanju, da se zaveš samega sebe kot del vesolja. Po mesecih poslušanja albuma in raziskovanja ozadij benda (intervjuji, biografije) sem spoznal, da je vseh 8 komadov v popolnem skladju, ki opisuje nekakšen ideal za življenje slehernega človeka. Če bi bil Dar De Duh živo bitje, bi gledali globoko duhovno bitje, ki se ubada z misticizmom.
Ob poslušanju dobim občutek, da album gleda na nas, ljudi, in ob tem izraža svoje razočaranje. Ne želi, da porabimo milijone let v nihilizmu, da smo neproduktivni, da ne dosegamo svojega potenciala, da ignoriramo zmožnost evolucije človeškega uma. Dar De Duh je zato velik humanist.
Če vam torej zdaj rečem »ignorirajte me in preprosto prisluhnite albumu«, bom priznal, da nisem uspel pri opisu Dar De Duha. In mislim, da dejansko nisem uspel. Obžalujem, da priznavam svoj poraz in morda poraz jezika kot takega pri izražanju idej albuma. Resda gre za glasbo, ki se jo do neke mere da izraziti, vendar se mi zdi, da je tukaj glasba šele sekundarna pri izražanju nekega globljega in bolj abstraktnega sporočila. Album deluje namreč zelo pedagoško, kot da nas poskuša učiti, voditi in razsvetliti.
Zdaj morda zveni, kot da propagiram ta album kot neko zdravilo za celotno grozljivo stane človeštva, da bo poslušanje albuma rešilo depresijo in eliminiralo nihilizem ter s tem posejalo mir na Zemlji. Vendar ima album tudi nekaj napak. Predvsem v nekaj delih, kjer gre preprosto za slabo produkcijo – za slabo zvočno dinamiko. Riffi so povečini odlični, vendar jih je nekaj največ solidnih. Težko govorim o več slabih straneh albuma, vendar zagotovo so.
Verjamem, da se celotna recenzija sliši izredno nesmiselno. Verjamem tudi, da se nekateri ljudje ne bodo mogli poistovetiti z nobenim stavkom v članku. Dar De Duh bo nekaterim predstavljal preprosto čisto drugačno izkušnjo. Če bodo besedila kdaj prevedena (čeprav uradno nikoli ne bodo, vsaj glede na intervjuje članov benda), je veliko možnosti, da ne bodo imele veze s tem, kar sem sklepal, da je namen albuma. In to zlahka priznam. Da je možnost, da je vse napisano popolnoma napačno. Ampak tudi to je popolnoma v redu. Ker umetnost živi na vednosti, da vedno ustvarja nove ideje v tistih, ki pridejo v kontakt z njo, da rojevajo nove zamisli in koncepte, čeprav le-teh sam umetnik ni sprva nameraval podati. Čutim pa, da če nek album v piscu sproža tako abstraktne občutke, kot jih je Dar De Duh v meni, morda biti tudi sam članek o tem albumu do neke mere abstrakten.
Dar De Duh je izredno terapevtska stvaritev; takšna je za vsakogar, ki želi od umetnosti neko živečo formo, ki poskuša zasesti pomembnejšo mesto v vesolju, ki išče v človeštvu nek konkretnejši pomen in ki tistim, ki še vedno hrepenijo po duhu, izpolnjuje tovrstne želje.
Pripravil, prevedel in uredil: 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.
na vrh