Мельница Хелависа | en

Мельница (Melnitsa, meaning "mill") is a folk rock band from Moscow, Russia, formed in 1999 by Natalia "Hellawes" O'Shea and Alexey "Chus" Sapkov around the remnants of a local folk band called Till Eulenspiegel. The band fuses Russian, Irish and other North European folk influences with pop/rock sounds. Natalia "Hellawes" O'Shea, the lead singer and primary songwriter, is an academic and a specialist in medieval European languages and cultures by day. Her expertise lends the typically complex fantasy-laden lyrics a degree of authenticity. For the first several years the band had worked the club and festival circuit, earned a good...

Natalia "Hellawes" O'Shea (née Nikolayeva) (born 3 September 1976) is a linguist, songwriter, musician (Irish harp, guitar), vocalist and leader of the bands "Мельница" (folk rock), "Clann Lir" (traditional Celtic folk) and "Romanesque" (folk). Earlier she took part in the "Тиль Уленшпигель" project (folk), for which she was a vocalist and co-author of many songs. Natalia O’Shea (Hellawes) is an iconic figure in the Russian folk-rock sphere, which has been rapidly developing for the past ten years. Her strong and sweet voice, together with a talent for songwriting, made her a lead singer and main author in the group “Melnitsa”...