1) Could you please introduce to our readers the participating members of MOON FAR AWAY, and tell us a bit about their musical past and their role in the band?

"MOON FAR AWAY" is the union of three people: Anea, Heleg and me. We started our project at the end of 1994; we had known each other before that time and then decided to get together to create jointly as a band. As for roles played by every one of us in the MFA: Anea and myself deal with music as such, but Heleg almost doesn't do that - his domain is to shape our releases visually. But as we are bound together by spiritual closeness, the MFA is definitely three people.

2). As you speak of a spiritual closeness, is there a special attitude of mind you want to express through your album Lado World ? I think sometimes the music gets a certain kind of "NewAge"-touch or sounds at least religious.

What we put into this album was the idea of general bond of all existing joining of cultures of diverse times and peoples together, because in reality they are all bound by their origin; essentially it is playing music on the level of universal archetypes - but based on what it is called now the "gothic music". It seems to me that this trend revives now the understanding of primal nature of music as such - i.e. its esoteric and ritual nature. This spiritual beginning is the most important in music, but in point of fact it is a reflection of the higher harmony and order. Lado is the Slavonic deity exactly symbolizing this harmony, integrity of the world; this deity, by the way, is the only one in the Slavonic pantheon which is abstract and non-anthropoid.

As for "New Age" music, it seems to me that in the most of it this music is a skillfully made "decorative" background for life, it is neutral and almost always empty. But-MFA's music requires certain participation, skills of perception comparable to art of "Beads Players" by H. Hesse.

3). You are also joining our final part of the "Dark Ages''-Compilation. Can you tell us a bit about your contributed song? How does it fit in the concept of the sampler?

Well, it's hard to "retell" music... To put it in a quite simple way, "A Scorpion Domain", our song is the reminiscence of one excerpt from "Metamorphoses" by Ovid (Book II, Verse 180-215) and partly a tribute to my zodiacal sign. On the whole, the Scorpion Domain is an image of danger inevitable for any spiritual practice... As for fitting this track in the "Dark Ages" concept, if Thomas has included it into the compilation, so it is. By the way, we dedicated this track to our friends from Hybryds.

4). How would you judge the current social and political situation in Russia? I have only my newspaper as an information source, but it often seemed to me recently, that in his main time, Jelzin is dismissing the members of his government? Furthermore, how is your situation as creative artist and for culture itself in Russia?

Culture of Russia is so great and significant that periodical political games cannot touch it in any way. I don't know what the state of these things is in the rest of the world - but in Russia power and culture (authentic culture) always existed in totally different dimensions. As for impact that the new Prime Minister can have on the art of Moon Far Away, to be honest you have made me laugh a little.

5). You are using texts by Nietzsche, Cicero, Steiner and others. Which texts did you choose, and why did you choose especially these ones?

Well, I just considered combination of excerpts from these people's works with MFA's music the most optimal for creation of the image needed, that's it.

6). One of my favourite track is "Der Tanz des Trubsalendes". I guess, you sampled Dead Can dance at the beginning? What are your main music influences?

Future Sound... Delerium - Moon Far Away?! No, we don't sample DCD, they are possibly the greatest musical project of the present but it's much more interesting for us to create something of our own. Though DCD influenced us at some extent, especially at the early stage of writing of "Lado World", mostly ethnical music and music with their prevailing spiritual origin attract us, we like Vidna Obmana, The Legendary Pink Dots, Sol Invictus, Freiburger Spielleyt a lot.

7). Your recordings are from 1995 till 1996. Do you have further new recordings and is a new CD planned?

We are not in a hurry to write our music, it requires incorporation of the Time factor into the creative process, just like good wine. So, I cannot tell you for sure when the new Moon Far Away full length album will be released - we have lots of plans.

8). Your artwork and some of the songs remind me of a lonesome desert and dry heat and winds... is that an imagination you also had or wanted to create?

The place where we live is the White Sea coast, Northern Russia; the surrounding world is endless forests, rivers, lakes, stone labyrinths and islands - apparently the very cliche which is evoked in a European's mind every time the word "Russia" is spoken. In the artwork of "Lado World" we used photos of stones that I'd brought from various journeys. There's one from the bottom of the White Sea too - so-called "sea acorn" (lat. balanus). So your words about a desert, heat etc. somehow have never come to our minds. That's interesting! Any subjective association is correct in its own way.

9). I also love "Noch Einmal" and "Septem Nomina". Could you tell us more about these songs?

Martian Capella, Roman Poet's (beginning of A.D. era) esoteric poems are used in "Septem Nomina" song. These words is the verbal expression of the "Lado World" idea. And "Noch Einmal" is the culmination of the album, total deliverance from fetters of darkness, a morning ritual of Eternal Return. Here one of the most important poems of Nietzshe's "Zaratustra" and an excerpt from Steiner's works are used. The final of the song and the album is "the harmonious chaos" of eternal life.

10). Could you tell us more about your label EXOTICA? Do you have your own studio?

"Exotica" label is a small independent Moscow company which is headed by Andrei Borisov. I would say it's the best if not the only organization in Russia which is not afraid of releasing music like ours. There are a lot of artists in the Exotica catalog, completely different from Moon Far Away, ranging from ethno- psychedelic to vanguard techno.


Jan Hangemann, (c) BLACK 'zine, 1998.