20 Years

‘As you know, we play music of various countries and peoples,’ says vocalist Mitia Khramtsov in Russian on the live track that opens this collection. ‘But we don't forget our own traditions like techno.’ And it's the insistent drum of Evgenii Lizin that drives opener ‘Miljonochek’. The joke being that the Russian band Dobranotch (Goodnight) are a completely acoustic band and don't play techno at all, but they do consistently give their audiences a head-banging good time.

Dobranotch come from St Petersburg, but they started in France in 1998 and are now based back in Russia. Their speciality is Odessa-style Russian, Jewish and Balkan tunes played with gusto on violin, clarinet, accordion, banjo and various horns, highlighted over 16 tracks from their 20-year career, plus a couple of previously unreleased pieces. Guest artists like Russian vocalist Psoy Korolenko and Klezmatics' trumpeter Frank London show the classy company these guys keep. While the opening ‘techno’ track is very much in the style of the seven-piece Dobranotch of today, the closing ‘7.40 AM’ – from their first album (Musique Russe & Yiddish) in 1999 as a quartet – shows how far they've come in 20 years while keeping the soul essentially the same.