СОЮЗ (SOYUZ) is a creative collective originally from Minsk, Belarus that was founded by Alex Chumak, the band’s main composer and arranger, and Mikita Arlou, both musicians are multi-instrumentalists. After moving to Warsaw, Poland in 2022, they were joined by Albert Karch and Igor Wiśniewski. The name of the band is translated as “union”, which reflects the creative nature of the relationship between its members and their collaborators.
SOYUZ’s previous albums explored and reimagined the legacy of jazz-oriented, mostly non-English-language pop music of the 20th century with a crave for musical freedom. For their third album, released by the UK-based label Mr Bongo, there is a stronger focus influenced by Música popular Brasileira, building bridges from it to present-day Belarus. Alex notes that from the moment he first encountered Brazilian music, he found in it a kind of concentrated emotion that felt as if it were familiar to him from his childhood. This non-verbal emotion and connection between the listener and musician echoes in the music, regardless of understanding of the language the album is recorded in.
The latest album has been presented at various international festivals such as Primavera Sound in Spain, XJAZZ and Überjazz in Germany, OFF Festival in Poland, ESNS and Wilde Weide in the Netherlands, Bad Bonn Kilbi in Switzerland, as well as solo concerts throughout Europe.
“Force of the Wind” was selected as one of the best albums of 2022 by Bandcamp and received airplay on BBC Radio 6, Worldwide FM, FIP, NTS Radio.
SOYUZ offered two new releases in 2024, the first being a lush orchestral theme entitled “Spring has sprung”, the fruit of a collaboration with iconic Indian singer Asha Puthli and renowned Swedish composer Sven Wunder, recorded exclusively for the “Mr Bongo Record Club Vol.7” compilation. The second release, a brand new single “Калі ты запытаеш (If You Ask)”, is a dreamy, blissed-out pop production with a ‘70s AOR touch. It’s a first song of a band in Belarusian language and it features Biel Basile (O Terno, Sessa) on drums & Anthony Ferraro (Toro Y Moi, Astronauts, etc.) on synths and is accompanied by a music video shot by a Brazilian visual artist Gabriel Rolim.
All artists involved are vocally anti-war. SOYUZ say “We do not in any way support the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. We have been associated with the Ukrainian label Masterskaya for many years, and one of the members of the band lived in Kyiv when the war started. We condemn all forms of violence, especially when it comes to the deaths of civilians. What is happening there disturbs us to the core.”