User:Bors4ev/Port Mone

The name "Port Mone" is believed to be a creative amalgamation of words. "Port" is used in the sense of a harbor or port, while "Mone" is a nod to the pioneer of Impressionism, Claude Monet. The phonetic resemblance to "portmone" adds a layer of interpretation, suggesting a connection to a wallet or purse.

Future members of the trio met in Minsk around 2003 year. All of them were taking active role in music improvisers community formed around Alexey Vorsoba, one of the pioneer of the avant-garde and improvising music scene in Minsk that times. As a result of improvising sessions firstly there was formed "Paparis" band. Two of three future Port Mone trio members played in "Paparis". The full lineup of the techno band by the end of 2005 included: Alexey Vorsoba (keyboards), Sergey Kravchenko (bongos), Pavel Kudrin (rhythm machine), Alexander Bogdanovich (percussion), and Ivan Borzenko (guitars).

Music
Critics note that Port Mone Trio represents a phenomenon that is challenging to categorize within the confines of any particular stylistic forms. This is because the trio's music is a blend of contemporary classical, experimental, jazz, folk, and noise.

The music of the ensemble is intended for those who appreciate and can listen to composers such as Chopin, Moondog, or Pärt. Despite its complexity, the music is accessible to a broad audience, and the trio's concerts are successful both in Belarus and internationally. The British newspaper The Guardian notes that the trio's music is "popular among music lovers both in the East and the West." .

The musicians themselves, in interviews, express that Port Mone Trio's audience is characterized by an enduring ability to perceive the beauty and the pain of the surrounding world. They appreciate a connectedness with it, understanding that each individual is a part of a continuous whole, much like air or water, the substance of life.

Debut album
In 2009, Port Mone's debut album, "Dip," was released on the label "Geometriya". The album received warm acclaim from music critics as well as the collective's fan base. The debut record earned several Belarusian and international awards.

Refusal to work in the studio
In 2014, the trio released their next work, the album "Thou." The disc was published by the major European label Hevhetia (Slovakia), specializing in jazz, neoclassical, and avant-garde music releases. The official release date of the album was September 8, 2014.

The recording of the album became a field for experimenting with sound. The members of the group opted out of the controlled conditions of a studio, preferring the natural acoustic space. The studio equipment was transported to the woods, where the recording of all compositions took place. According to the musicians themselves, this recording technique was dictated not only by acoustic preferences but also by the ideology of the material. The goal was to express the main creative mission of Port Mone Trio — an exploration of something natural, pure, and primal in the hu

The album became the group's most successful recording to date. In addition to winning the "Album of the Year" award according to the portal Experty.by, the work received warm acclaim from both domestic and international music critics. Reviews of the album were published by many music publications in Europe and the USA. Artemy Troitsky, in turn, posted a video review of Port Mone Trio's music on YouTube, coinciding with the album's presentation in Minsk.

Collaboration with DakhaBrakha
In 2011, thanks in large part to the efforts of the Ukrainian agency "Artpole," Port Mone Trio began collaborating with the Ukrainian group DakhaBrakha. The musicians stayed in the Ukrainian village of Khmeleva for several weeks, where they composed a joint program. The collaboration continued with several joint tours and performances at numerous festivals in Europe, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. In 2012, the musicians recorded a joint album titled "The Khmeleva Project" at the Polish Toya Studios, which was released in Poland and Ukraine.

Silent movies music
In 2013, upon the commission of the National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre, Port Mone Trio created musical accompaniment for the silent film "Bread" (dir. Nikolai Shpikovsky, 1929). In addition to live musical performances accompanying the film at festivals, this work by the ensemble was released on DVD by the National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Centre and is available on Vimeo.

Music for the theater
For the first time, Port Mone Trio's music was used in the theatrical production "Pyasotny zamak" at the Belarusian State Puppet Theatre, directed by Alexey Lelyavsky. The musical arrangement was specifically composed by the musicians for the play and performed live on stage. The premiere took place in Minsk at the Puppet Theatre in 2008, and the international premiere was in Tehran, Iran, at the "Mobarak" International Puppet Theater Festival.

In 2012, Port Mone Trio participated in the project Nostalgia — 2012, led by British actor, director, and performer Che Kevlin. The music, composed for a mono-performance, was also performed live.

In 2013, Port Mone Trio's music was used in the play "Bilingual, or Kuranya with a Heart" (written and directed by Andrey Savchenko). In 2015, the performance's showing at the "Golden Mask" festival in Moscow, as part of the non-competitive program, sparked a wide discussion and controversy within the theatrical community.

In late 2013, the choreographic performance "Sekunda" (directed by Olga Skvortsova) premiered. It was created in collaboration with the Minsk-based SKVO's Dance Company. Following tradition, the members of Port Mone Trio actively participated in the performance and were on stage during the music's execution.

International contracts
Port Mone Trio has been successfully touring and releasing albums in European countries. In early 2014, the musicians signed a contract with the Slovak label Hevhetia, specializing in jazz and neoclassical music with album distribution worldwide.

At the end of 2014, Port Mone Trio signed a contract with the major international concert agency Charmenko, known for collaborating with artists such as Goran Bregović (Serbia), Manu Chao (Spain), Alina Orlova (Lithuania), Salif Keita (Mali), and many other artists from around the world.

Collaboration with Jacaszek
В 2016 году Port Mone trio приступили к работе над совместным проектом с польским электронным музыкантом Michał Jacaszek. Концертная презентация электронно-акустического музыкального проекта «Миниатюры» на тексты беларуского писателя Сократа Яновича состоялась на фестивале Триалог в Крынках (Польша) в августе 2016 года. Также проект был презентован в Белоруссии в рамках Unsound Dislocation X Mental Force Festival.

Discography

 * 2007 PORT MONE - Promo Album | CD, DIY
 * 2009 Dip - Album | CD, Geometriya, Russia
 * 2012 Khmeleva Project (with DakhaBrakha) - Album | CD, Artpole / Nash Format, Ukraine
 * 2014 Хліб (Bread) - Silent Art Film. Remastering with musical accompaniment by Port Mone trio | DVD, National Center of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Ukraine
 * 2014 Thou - Album | CD, Hevhetia, Slovakia

Awards

 * "Album of the Year" according to foreign experts on the portal Experty.by (2009, Belarus, Dip)
 * "Best Foreign Album of 2009" according to Terapija.net (2009, Croatia, Dip)
 * Nominations for the "Stepny Volk" award by Artemy Troitsky in the categories "Music," "Album" (2009, Russia, Dip)
 * "Album of the Year" according to foreign experts on the portal Experty.by (2012, Belarus, The Khmeleva project)
 * "Best Instrumental Album" according to the portal Experty.by (2014, Belarus, Thou)
 * "People's Experts Prize" according to the portal Experty.by (2014, Belarus, Thou)
 * "Grand Jury Prize" according to the portal Experty.by (2014, Belarus, Thou)
 * "Album of the Year" according to the portal Experty.by (2014, Belarus, Thou)
 * "Best Recording" Rock Profi award (2014, Belarus, Thou)

Reviews
"This is a group that could easily represent Belarus and Slavic music at competitions and festivals in various countries — and I am sure that there, too, they would make a very good impression." - Artemy Troitsky

"It's such a dark-minor mix of post-rock and folk. Very lovely accordion music. The authorial and compositional thought of this collective seems to me to be of the highest quality, unlike a large number of contemporary accordion improvisational music (including jazz and avant-garde), where the instrumentalist eloquently and irresponsibly pumps out their rolls from the bellows." - Artemy Troitsky

"Despite the absence of folk motifs, this music can easily be called root: atonal accordion flows can evoke a sense of primordial fear, and shamanic percussion rhythms and booming bass lines can easily plunge into a trance." - Ilya Zinin «Rolling Stone»

"Port Mone, seriously appealing to the philosophy of post-structuralists, play something between minimal techno, background jazz, and new age; fluid, wordless, slowly developing compositions, in which, however, a degree of tension is constantly maintained, not allowing the mind to fall completely into a dream. Very deep, thoughtful, and unhurried music..." - «Afisha» magazine

"Port Mone are an instrumental trio who have forged their own voice from a mix of influences, including jazz, minimalism and ambient music. They are still developing in this new direction and are popular among music lovers from both the east and west..." - The Guardian (UK)