4 minute read
Stranga Lumigado. Interview with Maria Subbotina
Interview by Andrew Stanton
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Hello and welcome to Inside the Darkness.
“Hi to all!”
- Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please?
“Stranga Lumigado (a.k.a. Sargatanas) formed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2004 by two sisters - me and Xenia. We have been in music since our childhood, we studied classical music, later we came to Rock and Metal music and started to compose our own music together. In 2004 It was the first official concert with our band. From that day we recorded an album “Greatness Of Rot” in 2011 and “Black Concerto For Viola and Fly Agaric Orchestra” in 2022.”
- Who is in the current line up?
“Our current Line up is: Maria – Vocals / Drums. Xenia – Guitars/ Keyboards/ Cello. Bazhen – Bass. Bazhen is also our band’s sound engineer. On the album “Black Concerto For Viola and Fly Agaric Orchestra” there are also tracks recorded by our ex bassist Alex F. We started this record when she was in line up, but she left the band a few years ago. Although she made a web design for the drawing I made for our album cover art.”
- Why did you change your name from Sargatanas? What does Stranga Lumigado mean?
“Stranga Lumigado is “strange lighting” in Esperanto. It shows the atmosphere of our music. We changed the band’s name from Sargatanas to Stranga Lumigado because first of all – there are too many bands worldwide that are also called Sargatanas, the most popular is Mexican band. And our fans confused our songs because of the same name. Also there are new bloggers who like the name Sargatana sand use It for their channels which are not about music at all. We wanted to have our own name without coincidence with other bands etc. Also It’s problematic to have a demonic name in our country. Some websites, articles, even shows, etc which had any demonic theme became prohibited.”
- Your new single 'Русская' is so different from Greatest of Rot. Are you moving in a new direction? Why have you started singing in Russian now?
“No, It was our idea from long ago to now. We composed It right after “Greatness Of Rot” was released. I think It was 2013. Our Russian and Latin American fans were interested to hear something Russian as Russian Folk and how I sound in Russian language. So we did It. In my solo projects I sing in many languages. Maybe we’ll try Esperanto in the future!”
- Are you afraid you might lose your old fans?
“No. Our fans are the best! First of all, and the important moment is that our first album “Greatness Of Rot” had the songs in many music styles - from Classical Heavy/Power Metal as “Buried Alive” to Black metal as “Spiral (Still Rotten To The War”. It’s our feature - to use different styles in our creation. Also many instrumental compositions.”
- What are your new lyrics about?
“New album’s lyrics are showing different psychological problems: fears, phobias, illusions and at the same time It works for creation.”
- Are you planning a tour?
“We play concerts in our city Saint Petersburg. Maybe we’ll have some tours inside the country in the near future. This is what is possible for the current moment.”
- What can fans expect from your new album?
“We show our creation, our musical vision, that’s what we did and what we do and we share It with our fans.”
- Do you have a message for our readers?
“Listen to our album, enjoy, stay metal! \m/”
