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Added 2019-04-29 03:52:13 +0000 UTCI loooove that middle panel. Puppy begging Big Dog to share its bone, all the Jet Boys singing an obscene and stupid song, Duane placidly slicing bread for his lads, teenage Darid (one of the Plats) too cool for all these idiots and reading in the wagon, Captain Claggart brooding in the shadows, Jon trying to play a duet with Will who is just whacking knitting needles blithely against a drum.
Comments
That was VERY interesting - thank you for writing it up and providing such excellent first-hand knowledge! I certainly did not intend to imply any overt Russianness with the instrument choice. Alderode is a purely fictional country. The guitar is as you said: an Easter Egg. I appreciate the comic's Russian audience so much and I guess I like to occasionally show that I'm thinking about you :) Thanks again, Duke~
Ashley
2019-05-02 22:22:48 +0000 UTCBalalaika started as a purely folk instrument and was modified into something more exact and specific by actual musicians much later (as the folk instrument it didn't have any exact tune and every performer would play it keyed however they like). It's a relatively simple instrument and associated with simple folk playing it. However, it wouldn't be a simple honest farmer, who played it. It would be shepards and... how do you say that in english... traveling minstrels. Because shepards would have a lot of spare time to get accustomed with playing it. Comparing to the farmer who has to go plow the field, no time for this silliness. There are a bunch of proverbs involving balalaika that basically use the act of playing it as saying "to waste time". It was a very cheap and accessible and heard from every back yard in the village. The farmer, however, would like to be entertained listening to it in the recreational time. The instrument has very deep roots in russian recreational time, in particular with chastushka's (short folk verse on topical or lyrical theme sung with or without accompaniment). The soldiers, though... I tried to find information on would the soldiers/sailors be playing it recreationally and found some references, though not very convincing. Unfortunately, searching brings up much more stuff abount Great Patriotic War (aka WW2) and there while some balalaikas and guitars were present, the dominant musical instrument would be the accordion (it was also distributed in masse by the gov to raise the soldiers spirits). Since the accordion dates to about the same century (end of XVIII - XIX), i guess, it would also be present and maybe more used than balalaika. In the end of XIX's, when the musician (as i wrote in the beginning) was trying to force [s]the meme[/s] the modified version of balalaika, it was given to new army recruits and they were to take it home after their service β this was to spread it's usage (i read it on the website specifically dedicated to balalaikas, no outside confirmation, might not be true, but there's that). BTW, the modified version is how it looks now (and in the comic), the previous folk version looked very differently. Also I found information that in XVII century the instrument called gudok <a href="https://b1.culture.ru/c/266650.800xp.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://b1.culture.ru/c/266650.800xp.jpg</a> was popular amongs soldiers/sailors. That's before balalaika, but not its predecessor, different thing. Gudok was also widely used by traveling minstrels mentioned before. Back to them for a while. Skomorokhs. Because they are the kind of people you would associate with playing balalaikas too. They are the performers who would, well, travel and perform music-based entertainment for money. A large group of them (50+) would just prance into the rich man's courtyard uninvited, play the show and then demand money. Anyway. This started as me trying to explain why Jon playing the instrument here feels weird and ended in deep dives researching references. But I don't think this is in any way a cultural aprop-tion case here, since nothing about the russian-ness is implied in any way. Just a nice easter egg. I hope I entertained you with this knowledge.
Duke BG
2019-05-02 20:03:03 +0000 UTCHaha, when you're putting out three colour pages a week, sometimes you just pick the first instrument Google shows you when you type "slavic guitar" ;)
Ashley
2019-05-02 19:43:08 +0000 UTCSorry for taking two hours to reply. I watched that exact video myself before posting the comment, wanted to check what a person googling what I wrote would see. He's playing fine, but not perfect and just a bit wrong sounding in some places β by which i mean something that would jump out as wrong for someone who knows russian, [the words and] the rhytm of the folk song by heart. This is a more genuine though less bespoke performance <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPvFg4kuss0" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPvFg4kuss0</a> Either way, I just cannot connect it in my mind with the situation and the comic. As an instrument it has some baggage and nuances in russian culture that are hard to apply here. I'll try to explain.
Duke BG
2019-05-02 19:06:29 +0000 UTCTotally, they sound amazing! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5znHQ9QRY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH5znHQ9QRY</a>
Ashley
2019-05-02 17:13:35 +0000 UTCI meant to ask... is that musical instrument supposed to be a nod to russian balalaika? trying to imagine Jon playing Kalinka here feels super weird.
Duke BG
2019-05-02 17:10:07 +0000 UTCWe don't really know yet!
Ashley
2019-05-02 05:06:43 +0000 UTCWhy is that an 'ooooh"? Who is Will Argenti? Can't find this in a browse backwards.
czytanie
2019-05-01 16:14:19 +0000 UTC
