Setonic Langenu in 13 pictures

On 21 June, a historic event will take place – Langenu, the heavy horse of the Setonic direction of the Tarbathian scene, will perform for the first time in Setomaa. The concert will take place in the Uusvada Village House as part of the program of the Finno-Ugric Film Festival FUFF. To celebrate the occasion, Langenu delved into memories and wrote down, one by one, all the connections of the band and its members with this peculiar land. We do this by Setomaa’s traditional village groups, or “nulks”, plus the town of Petseri as a bonus.

I

IRBOSKA NULK: Of the five members of Langenu, three have direct roots in Irboska nulk in the eastern part of Setomaa. It was in these villages around Mõla that they absorbed the essence of their ancestral land in the summers of the late last century (but sporadically even later) and formulated the basic ideas of the mythos of Poku, the grumpy twin brother of the Seto fertility deity Peko. The first sentences and lines of poetry were inscribed on the stone fences made of Devon limestone and dolomite that emerge from the Irboska hills. The 1695 guitar effects set still bears the name ‘Sultans of Saltanova’.

II

KOOLINA NULK: It is here, in the blue village house of Uusvada in Koolina nulk, that Langenu’s first performance on Setomaa sacred soil will take place. We promise a full length Seto-language programme with songs from the EP ‘Setooniq’ as well as older and newer stuff. And obviously streams of sweat.

By the way, 4/5 of the members of Langenu performed at drummer Koljat’s wedding in Kalatsova in 2018 under the name Super Hot Koolina Band.

III

LUHAMAA NULK: Luhamaa, the southernmost state of Setomaa, offers Langenu members activities when they’re not hatching up something sinister between the yellow walls of the Pergerus rehearsal room. Here they have done science, participated in the Seto Kingdom Days, sometimes crossed the Control Line, and explored all kinds of land and waterways. According to the memoirs of the drummer Koljat, it was in the woods near Leimani on the Pskov-Riga road that he may have invented the words to one of Langenu’s songs – probably “Kolloid” – in the summer of 2010.

IV

MOKORNULK: Did you know that Langenu’s first Setomaa concert ‘Maa kõik müräs’ (named after the epic poem “Peko” by a famous Seto folk singer Anne Vabarna) was originally supposed to take place in 2020 in Obinitsa, the capital of Mokornulk, in the gallery ‘Hal´as kunn’? Unfortunately, the world tour of the coronavirus got into full swing right before then, and all public life was put on lockdown. There was not much we could do against the microbiological forces at that point. But who knows – maybe in the future we will still be here.

As far as Obinitsa is concerned, Langenu’s guitarist 1695 wears a Seto shirt made by the local master Margit Mehilane. The sandstone outcrop of Mokornulk looms behind 1695 and Koljat in their interview with Warhorn Records about the EP “Setooniq”.

V

POLODA NULK: Poloda, the biggest nulk ruling the northern part of Setomaa, has played a special role in the development of Langenu in the Setonian direction. In the spring of 2008 – 17 years ago by now – the guitarist-vocalist 1695 rode his bicycle to the village of Õrsava near Värska, sat down under a pine tree and wrote his first Seto-language lyrics in his notebook. The title of the song was ‘Süäme man’ (‘By The Heart’), which later opened the debut album ‘Need, kes näevad imesid’ (‘Those Who See Miracles’). Seto black metal came into existence. Of course, this song will also be played at the Finno-Ugric Film Festival FUFF on 21 June.

VI

RAAKVA NULK: The month of May 1996 proved to be a milestone in the development of Langenu, even though it would take at least another five years for the band itself to germinate. At a concert of Tartu music students at Matsuri school, the musician who later took the stage name Arhitekt – and whom we still know today for his keyboard playing – performed with the accordion. The genie was out of the bottle, the legend was born, and the world was once again shocked. And all of this in a Raakva nulk.

The nearby Koidula-Kunichina Gora checkpoint has been a vexing bottleneck for many who have tried to maintain links with their ancestral lands on the other side. Elsewhere, the cutting wire is an obstacle ahead. It is perhaps from there that Langenu’s 21 June concert programme includes the song ‘Neelates lõiketraati’ (‘Swallowing the cutting wire’).

VII

SAATSERINNA NULK: In ancient times, the Saatse collection centre of agricultural goods was once the golden place where the grandparents of 3/5 of the members of the Langenu worked. Ages later, about 15 years ago, 1695 toyed with the idea of opening a dark alternative music club in the warehouse of the old collection centre. Alongside a comprehensive programme, the club even had a name: ‘Saaste’ (‘Pollution’).

The plan is still in the air today…

VIII

SAUROVA NULK: The village of Puravitsa in this nulk, which is now completely behind the Control Line, is the ancestral home of the great-great-grandmother of some Langenu members, whose healing powers are still told in vivid folk tales. Whether these abilities have somehow been passed on to someone else remains to be seen.

It is also still an unanswered mystery as to whether Arhitekt was once bitten by a snake while mushrooming in the Sabelina forest or whether it was the other way round.

IX

SEERIDSÄ NULK: More than a decade ago, Langenu performed at an American car gathering in the shady borderlands of Tartu, hosted by our good friend Mr. I., whose grandfather was from the village of Jaaska in Seeridsä nulk in the part of Setomaa which remains on the other side of the Control Line. Mr. I. himself kept in touch with this nulk as long as he could. Langenu wrote a song called ‘Must tank’ (‘Black Tank’) especially for the occasion but we have also performed it a few times more.

X

TSÄTSKI NULK: Langenu has quite a few things in common with Tsätski. Fen, who is better known in metal circles for his work with Swarn, Pedigree, Howl and others, played guitar in Langenu in 2018-2019. His great-grandmother, the famous folk singer Veera Pähnapuu, was from the village of Põrstõ behind the barbed wire. Both the ancestor’s and descendant’s sounds have been recorded on vinyl and cassette tape, so the generational links are clear here.

From Määsovitsa, on this side of Tsätski nulk, came Rebane, the vocalist of the band Tapper, which played an active role in the Tarbathian scene and who has organised several concerts with the participation of Langenu.

XI

VAAKSAARÕ NULK: The hilly southern part of Setomaa has been famous for its sacred stones since ancient times. The most famous of them is the Jaanikivi stone in Miikse, but also the Pelsi Annõkivi was worshipped with various sheep products, such as wool or rams’ heads, on the 26th of July / 7th of August. In this connection, we have unearthed from the archives an ancient image (probably from Jakob Hurt’s expedition) of the Langenu drummer Koljat, still with long curls at the time, looking at the Pelsi Annõ Andidekivi stone. Langenu’s first EP, ‘Silmitu ilmutis’, was still two long years away…

XII

ÜLE-PELSKA NULK: The twelfth of Setomaa’s nulks, Üle-Pelska has entered Langenu’s oeuvre through the EP ‘Setooniq’. This nulk is separated from Võromaa by the Setomaa Mother River Piusa, the cold currents of which inspired our main lyricist Koljat to write the lyrics of the song ‘Jälle/elläj’ (‘Fowl/Beast’) a few years ago. The densely vegetated banks of the river hide traces of all kinds of ancient inhabitants – you just have to tune your senses and let yourself get lost.

XIII

TOWN OF PETSERI: One cannot underestimate the influence of the capital of Setomaa, now under foreign rule, on the development of Langenu and its members. In the Estonian School of Petseri, Arhitekt once acquired his first year of wisdom, the bicycles of the future black metal prophets were constantly whizzing around its streets, and in fact the band’s entire Setonic oeuvre bears the spirit of the city.

The old towers of the Petseri Monastery have guided Koljat’s thinking when writing the song ‘Tornide tipus’ (‘At the Top of the Towers’), which was released on the 2016 album ‘Need, kes näevad imesid’ (‘Those Who See Wonders’).