Tvangeste is a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

symphonic black metal duo composed of husband and wife Mikhail "Miron" Chirva and Naturelle Chirva. The band's name comes from ''Twangste'' (also spelled as ''Tuwangste'', ''Tvankste'' or ''Twankste''), an

Old Prussian Old Prussian was a Western Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European languages, which was once spoken by the Old Prussians, the Baltic peoples of the Prussian region. The language is called Old Prussian to avoid con ...

word meaning "Dam". Twangste was also the name of a small

village roughly located at what is now the city of

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

(known as

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

until 1946) that was seized in 1255 by the

Teutonic Knights The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians o ...

. In the site of the settlement, the now-demolished

Königsberg Castle The Königsberg Castle (german: Königsberger Schloss, russian: Кёнигсбергский замок, Konigsbergskiy zamok) was a castle in Königsberg, Germany (since 1946 Kaliningrad, Russia), and was one of the landmarks of the East Prussi ...

was built. (The House of Soviets now stands on the former site of the castle.)

Biography

Tvangeste was formed in 1996 in Kaliningrad, Russia, and its line-up at the time consisted of Miron Chirva, Edgar, Nikolay "Kok" Kazmin and Klaus. However, in the following year, Edgar and Klaus left the band and were replaced by Asmodey and Julia. In 1998 they released two demo singles, ''Thinking...'' (that would be later re-recorded and included in their debut album) and ''Blood Dreams''. Asmodey and Julia would leave shortly after, being replaced by Viktoria Kulbachnaya (from

Romowe Rikoito Romowe Rikoito is a neofolk band based in Nida, Lithuania. It was formed by Glabbis Niktorius at 1995 and named after ancient Prussian spiritual center Romowe (also known as Rikoyto). The group has published 5 albums – first two albums ''Narciss ...

) and Vano Mayarov (also known as Vanoe Mayoroff or Mayorov). With this line-up, Tvangeste released their debut full-length in 2000, '' Damnation of Regiomontum'', via now-defunct Norwegian record label Valgarder. In 2001, Miron's then-girlfriend Naturelle joined the band, and in 2003 their second studio album, ''

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'', was released, via also now-defunct Japanese label Worldchaos Production. Polish musician Cezary Mielko worked as a session drummer on it. Also in 2003, Max Naumov joined the band, and Tvangeste became a quintet. In 2005, Miron and Naturelle married and moved to

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, Canada, while the three remaining members decided to stay in Russia. Around the same time Miron also provided vocals for Israeli black metal band Arafel's second studio album, ''Second Strike: Through the Flame of the Ages''. Since 2006 Miron and Naturelle are working on Tvangeste's third studio album. Tentatively titled ''Satori'' (Japanese for "Illumination"), it was scheduled to be released via their own independent record label, Regiomontum Productions. Norwegian musician Jørn Øyhus served as a session drummer, and the orchestral instrumentation was provided by the

City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech: ''Filharmonici města Prahy'') is a classical orchestra, predominantly composed of Czech classical, jazz and guest musicians. The history of the orchestra goes back to the Film Symphony Orchestr ...

, according to Miron. Having a long and convoluted production history, it currently has no set release date. The band's song "Birth of the Hero" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2009 video game ''

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''. In February 2013, Miron was interviewed for ''Attention! Black Metal!'', a Hungarian documentary that focuses on symphonic black metal bands. On 7 September 2016 the band announced on their official

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page the death of their former bassist/guitarist, Vano Mayarov.

Discography

Demo tapes

* ''Blood Dreams'' (1997) * ''Thinking...'' (1998)

Studio albums

* '' Damnation of Regiomontum'' (2000) * ''

'' (2003)

Band members

Current members

* Mikhail "Miron" Chirva (Михаил "Мирон" Чирва) – vocals, guitars, orchestral arrangements (1996–) * Naturelle Chirva (Натюрель Чирва) – keyboards, vocals, orchestral arrangements (2001–)

Former members

* Edgar (Эдгар) – guitars (1996–1998) * Klaus (Клаус) – guitars (1996–1997) * Nikolay "Kok" Kazmin (Николай "Кок" Казьмин) – guitars (1996–2005) * Asmodey (Асмодей) – drums (1997–1998) * Julia (Юлия) – keyboards (1997–1998) * Viktoria Kulbachnaya (Виктория Кульбачная) – keyboards (1998–2005) * Ivan "Vano" Mayorov (Иван Майоров) – bass, guitar (1998–2005; died 2016) * Max Naumov (Макс Наумов) – bass (2003–2005)

Session members

* Cezary Mielko – drums (2003) * Jørn Øyhus – drums (2014)

References

External links

*
Regiomontum Productions' official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tvangeste 1996 establishments in Russia Canadian black metal musical groups Canadian musical duos Kaliningrad Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups from Niagara Falls, Ontario Russian black metal musical groups Russian musical duos Symphonic black metal musical groups