Firyuza. 1979 Turkmenistan

Way back in the mid 1990s I used to joke that if the album was from Turkmenistan, it had to be good! Of course I was talking about the Gunesh Ensemble. At the time, most of the planet was not aware that another progressive oriented group existed from the same place and era. Turkmenistan, to this day, is pretty much isolated from music such as this.

Now that we have proper reissues, the band's history comes to the fore. And sure enough, band leader Dmitry Sablin was once a member of Gunesh going back as far as the late 1960s! And the backstory of the foundations of Gunesh and Firyuza is fascinating. We forget now that Iran was once a staunch ally of the United States. So it was for most of the 1970s that the American military had bases throughout the country. And... Iran borders Turkmenistan. It was via the American Military radio coming from Iran that many in Turkmenistan heard the sounds of jazz and rock for the first time. They would record these shows and pass reels to each other - a great secret. Subversive youth exists everywhere! Governments never want to admit this fact of human nature. Firyuza, by the way, is a small picturesque village in Turkmenistan.

The album itself is unique, but not overtly so. There are moments that recall the high energy of Gunesh. But there's also long flights of spaced out fusion. The compositions are unique in the way they develop - seemingly without purpose - but this is where the allure lies. It's all a bit foreign to Western ears, but wonderfully so. And with a full 7 piece band, the palette is multi-dimensional. A must listen.

Ownership: LP: 2019 Soviet Grail. Single sleeve. Comes with a multi page insert with a full history.

CD: 2019 Soviet Grail. Jewel case. Same as above.

Firyuza is the rarest progressive rock album from the former USSR. I had wondered why for years, since Gunesh's second album (not first - it too is rare) was available in the West (perhaps not legally, but relatively easy to get). Now we know why. Unlike Gunesh's second album, which was pressed throughout the empire, Firyuza was strictly pressed and released to the local market. How many copies is anyone's guess, but certainly not too many. And who knows how many still exist. Record collecting in the 1970s was not likely a thing in Turkmenistan.

When Boheme Music (Russia) reissued the USSR progressive rock classics in the late 90s and early 00's, Firyuza seemed to be a glaring miss. But it's very possible that the master tapes did not (or do not) reside at the main Melodiya offices in Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

Enter 2019, and the superbly named Soviet Grail. Apparently the label spent a number of years cobbling this reissue together. And it required "real detective work". I can imagine. Both the CD and LP reissues feature an excellent essay/history of the band, with a couple of rare photos. There are no bonus tracks. Which makes sense when you realize how difficult it was for the band to even record this - basically on their own dime. A dime they did not have. Were it not for charitable volunteers, it's likely the recording would never have happened.

9//08; 8/11/10 (CDRWL); 12/1/19 (new entry)