The future of music is globalization – and it has begun. While the radio airwaves were dominated by American and Western European voices for much of history, it’s become clear that the mainstream has expanded their horizons to balance in more Latin hip-hop, J-pop, and Arabic rap in recent years.
Similarly, the Minsk-based Belle Morte has become a vessel for all reaches of world music for their Belarusian symphonic metal. New record Pearl Hunting stays heavy, while also looping in Celtic, Ukrainian, Japanese, and Mongolian music, straight from the source with each region’s local musicians.
On “Exorcism,” Mongolian throat singer and morin khuur performer Ulziisaikhan Khoroldamba is featured. With a music video giving quite the obvious nod to the 1973 horror flick The Exorcist, the vocalist clarifies “while the song itself isn’t directly inspired by the movie since it deals with a more metaphorical form of exorcism, focusing on confronting and overcoming personal obsessions, we intentionally leaned into that association.” Shout out to the possessed girl actress Lucia Bianchi in the Riccardo Ceppari-directed and Martina Picci-edited video. “A Lucia Bianchi, Riccardo Ceppari, and Martina Picci Film” – say that three times fast without embarrassing yourself.
Ok, we’ve discussed Pearl Hunting, throat singing, and The Exorcist associating… now what?
Vampires.
Belle notes that the name Belle Morte, “comes from a book series focused on vampires; we’ve always had a fascination with vampiric mythology.” The band summons their fandom for the romantic, macabre Bella Higgin book series on the track “Willow” with lyrics “Slender branches swaying low, when I kiss you soft and slow” and features by French lutist Emma Spinelli and Portuguese hurdy-gurdy player Ruben Monteiro.
“We strive to move beyond the usual clichés and craft stories that feel like they could be part of ancient folklore, even if they’re entirely original. With ‘Willow,’ we wanted to create a narrative that has the haunting quality of traditional myths while adding our own unique twist.”
Oh, and a Spider Demon?
“‘Jorōgumo’ draws from Japanese folklore, inspired by the legend of a spider demon who lures her victims with beauty and charm. Musically, it’s one of the most unconventional tracks on the album, blending traditional Japanese instruments like koto, shamisen, and shakuhachi with gothic and industrial metal.”
In totality, Pearl Hunting has eighteen guest features from 12 different countries:
Ada Rusinkiewicz (Poland; vocals), Alex Pilkevych (Ukraine; vocals), Carlos Carty (Brazil; pipes, flutes), Caterina Castiglioni (Italy; lyre), Ella Zlotos (Germany; pipes), Emma Spinelli (France; lute), Hisashi (Japan; koto), Khachatrian Lernik (Ukraine; duduk), Marta Masciola (Italy; harp), Maulana Malik Ibrahim (Indonesia; gamelan, suling, vocals); Max Kerner (Ukraine; bouzouki), Reigen Fujii (Japan; shamisen), Ruben Monteiro (Portugal; hurdy-gurdy, oud, saz), Souzan Kato (Japan; shakuhachi), Tero Kalliomäki (Finland; harp), Ulziisaikhan Khoroldamba (Mongolia; vocals, khuur), Yanina Yakshevich (Belarus; duda, sopilka), Yaroslav Dzhus (Ukraine; bandura)
Of course with such a feat came challenges – “since the musicians we involved were spread across different countries, we couldn’t simply meet in the same studio to experiment together. There were times we really wished we could be in one room, adjusting arrangements on the fly, but that’s the reality of working on a project with such a global scope…
…Each track required deep immersion into its respective culture. We studied the tuning, range, and nuances of each instrument before creating demo parts… to capture the right atmosphere, we listened to countless folk tracks from each region, aiming to make the songs as authentic as possible, at least within the limits of our own cultural perspective.”
From Armenian jazz to Indonesian fusion, Belle Morte succeeds in birthing a diverse array on Pearl Hunting. And the hunt has just begun… Belle confirms more music videos are in production and the live show process is in progress.
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