Hala Strana - Fanfare [mp3]
Hala Strana are all of Steven R. Smith and his glockenspieled interest in Eastern European women and cars. It is there where you’ll likely find him wandering the streets with a flowerpot full of flowers, offering blessings and good tidings to those of us who are fortunate enough to hear him coming. The identificory key is layers upon layers of carefully prepared sounds and noise, laid on top of each other and another in obscene numbers, the B notes all inserted deeply into the C notes, an engorged guitar pregnant and sweating from overabuse and underproperuse. I inherently identify it, because of my Eastern European roots and because of my Eastern European ears. You too could be from Croatia too, if you tried.
Instructions for making yourself from Croatia
- Procure the following musical instruments in alphabetical order: hurdy gurdy, bouzouki, harmonium, spike fiddles, bul bul tarang, the optigan keyboard, xaphoon, field recordings. I did not alphabatize the instruments because making yourself Croatian also requires that you know the order of the alphabet without prompt.
- Carry with you at all times the hippest notepad you can find. Write Croatian observations in it whenever possible. I recommend Field Notes for this particular endeavour.
- Be born of parents with Croatian ancestry.
As always, the most important step is the first. It is the first step that separates babies from toddlers. It is the first step that leaves you lying in a pool of blood or gently urinating in a toilet. It is the first step that life is always supposedly sometimes maybe asking you to take or life sucks. In other words, be careful.
After you’re finally from Croatia, you’ll notice your ears atickle at atonal registers conveyed and constructed of a multiplicity of musical multitudes and mushups. This is Steven R. Smith talking with his clay flowerpot. This is what I was talking about initially. Treasure these moments when you can, because eventually, they will be gone.
Hala Strana is a rhythm and blues band also known as Steven R. Smith. The featured song is from the album Gold Leaf Branches, Volume 1. Purchase the music at Amazon | Insound | eMusic.
