Film Concert: Women of Ryazan

It is spring 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I. Russia is still the old Empire, not yet modernized by the war to come and the Bolshevik revolution. Farmer Vasili has two children. He marries his son Ivan off to Anna, but is strongly opposed to his daughter Vasilisa’s love for Nicolai. Vasilisa pays it no mind, and leaves home to start a new life with Nicolai without being formally married. Soon both Ivan and Nicolai are drafted to fight for their Mother Land, leaving their women behind to fight their own struggles.

Women of Ryazan is a masterly crafted tale of old vs new. We see how Russia transforms, as told through Soviet eyes not much more than a decade after the events took place. A tremendous success at the time of its release, the film is both an important historical document on how the Soviets of the late 1920s saw their own recent history, and a groundbreaking achievement of silent cinema in and of itself.

For this film concert, live music will be played by Herborg Rundberg (NO), Marianne Halmrast (NO), Diana Mikheeva (RU) and Lin Valentine (RU). 

Tickets for this screening is on sale now. Buy your ticket here!

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS:

Herborg Rundberg (NO) is both composer and musical director for The Women of Ryazan 2022. She is a versatile musician and composer with an education as both classical and rhythmic pianist from the University of Tromsø. During her career, she has written commissioned works for the Riddu Riððu festival, been a theater musician at the National Stage in Bergen, and composed and performed music for the performance Blue Fields at Hålogaland Theater, for which she was also musical director. She is part of the experimental duo LEAGUS, which has released several critically acclaimed albums. In 2021, LEAGUS was the composer and musical director of the newly started North Norwegian Jazz Ensemble. The work Flora Eallin, which was specially written for the ensemble, has received great acclaim. Rundberg has worked a lot with Sámi music, including the solo release Árbi, and the combination of Sámi, improvisational, classical and rhythmic influences make up her completely unique style. Rundberg also has extensive experience of working with silent film music: she composed music for the silent film Laila by George Schnéevoigt which she performed at the Silent Film Days in Tromsø when it was first arranged by TIFF in 2006.

Marianne Halmrast (NO) is a double bassist and electric bassist trained in Jazz in Trondheim. Since 2008, she has worked as a regional musician in Scene Finnmark, where she toured both domestically and abroad. She has expertise in many rhythmic genres such as jazz, pop, rock, free improv and various types of folk music. Her musical expression is strong and unique. In her work as a regional musician, in addition to playing, she has also composed and produced music for a number of different projects and theater. These are some of the artists and musicians she has played with: Svante Henryson, Bugge Wesseltoft, Marja Mortensson, Askil Holm, Sara Marielle Gaup, Anne Grete Preus, Ivar Thomassen, John Taylor, Tor Haugerud, Jakop Janssønn, Frøydis Grorud, Toomasz Stanko, Frode Nymo, etc. Her latest release "På havets bunn" was nominated for the Spellemannsprisen in the category for best release in 2019 in the children's music category.

Diana Mikheeva (RU) on drums and percussion. She is a young and promising drummer from Murmansk. She has a degree from the College of Arts in Murmansk. She has established herself as a professional freelance musician and collaborates with several bands in Russia both as a studio musician and also at concerts. She is about to release her debut album with her own project, Goreo Tuma. In addition to being an active musician, she is also a teacher. 

Lin Valentine (RU) various wind instruments, harps and vocals. Lin Valentine (Лин Валентин) is a musician, artist and songwriter from Arkhangelsk, Russia. She has a degree in Linguistics from NArFU (Arkhangelsk) and in Circumpolar Studies from Nord University (Bodø), and she uses her music as a means to tell a story about the North and its people. Lin plays multiple instruments, but self identifies as "a musical alchemist". In 2017 she started a project called Music Alchemy, and has both performed and organized dozens of interactive concerts in the Russian North. "Music is the language spoken and understood by everyone. What I want to contribute to this project is to take the sound of authentic Pomor instruments and singing (which, by the way, were traditionally associated with women!) and translate it into the modern day musical narrative."