Hello everyone, it is your host Oliver from DULAXI, and today I am delighted to be joined by Pavel Ishanov, a Finland-based artist from Hämeenlinna whose work brings together contemporary pop, electronic influences, personal storytelling, and philosophical ideas. His latest release, “We Dance through Joy and Pain,” is a remix single released on 16 October 2026, revisiting a song originally created three years ago. Rooted in a personal memory of dancing on an old street, the track explores the connection between movement, love, and the experiences that shape our lives. Before we begin our conversation with Pavel, here is what you need to know about today’s featured project.
About Pavel Ishanov
Pavel Ishanov is an artist based in Hämeenlinna, Kanta-Häme, Finland, whose journey into music has followed an unusual path. Before dedicating the past four years to his artistic career, he worked as a scientific researcher with a PhD in neurophysiology, ran a recruitment company, and later entered the IT business. Despite these professional commitments, songwriting remained a long-standing ambition, one that began during his childhood and gradually developed into a central part of his life.
His early relationship with music was closely connected to singing and writing his own lyrics. Today, his approach brings together contemporary pop, electronic influences, and a strong interest in the relationship between words, music, and human experience. Hämeenlinna, the birthplace of composer Jean Sibelius, also holds musical significance for his family. Although Pavel spent much of his earlier life in other cities, including Tashkent and Moscow, his Finnish home has become an important part of his current creative environment.
Music is also a family affair for Pavel, who works alongside his wife, Tanya, a pianist and composer, and his son Konstantin, an experienced musician who developed his musical career in Moscow. Pavel and Konstantin contribute lyrics, musical ideas, and vocals, while Tanya develops those ideas through composition and instrumental performance. Konstantin and Pavel’s friend Vladimir also contribute to the arrangements. This collaborative process brings together different experiences and musical perspectives, allowing each contributor to play a distinct role in shaping the finished work.
Released on 16 October 2026, “We Dance through Joy and Pain” revisits a song first created three years earlier. Its inspiration comes from a personal memory of dancing on an old street, an experience that Pavel connects with both difficult periods and moments of happiness. The song also reflects his interest in dance as a form of expression and his belief that music can communicate experiences that ordinary language cannot fully capture. Although the track did not initially receive the response he had hoped for, renewed audience interest encouraged him to return to the material and present it in a new form. The release also arrives during a period of continued creative activity, with “Love and Happiness” representing another performance built around philosophical ideas and a more dynamic musical direction. Through these works, Pavel continues to explore the many sides of human experience while holding firmly to his personal motto: songs about everything and for everybody.
Having this introduction to Pavel’s background and the ideas behind “We Dance through Joy and Pain,” we can now explore his relationship with songwriting, the people who shape his music, and the experiences that continue to influence his artistic direction. So, without further ado, let’s begin today’s interview.
INTERVIEW SESSION
Oliver:
You have described your songs as being more than simply music because, for you, the verses are important in narrowing and giving direction to what the music expresses. Where did that way of thinking about songwriting come from, and how has it shaped the way you communicate your ideas through your songs?
Pavel Ishanov:
Oliver, thank you for the interest to my exercises in poetry and music -)! In my childhood I had 2 favorite books “Water Supply to the Garden” and International Song book. Both books were really actual. The city I was born was surrounded with a big desert. Singing of songs was my main hobby and I began to sing in the bathroom. Then I started to write songs with my own verses. I was just 6 years old, and the songs impressed only my parents and granny.
Oliver:
You come from Hämeenlinna, a city strongly connected with the musical heritage of Jean Sibelius, while your own work moves into electronic and contemporary pop territory. How has living in a place with such a strong musical history influenced the way you hear, think about, or approach your own songwriting?
Pavel Ishanov:
Oliver, before Hämeenlinna I used to live in Tashkent, Moscow and only last 16 years of my life passed on Hämeenlinna. Frankly I am less a musician than any member of my family. My career developed in a very specific way – Scientific researcher PhD in neurophysiology, then I was running a recruitment company, upon this IT business and last 4 years as an Artist! Of course, the music of Sibelius had a big impact on my family. Yaroslav and Marjana both played violin. I was busy with my work but still dreaming on songwriting.
Oliver:
Music appears to be a genuinely family-based creative experience for you, with Tanya bringing her classical composition background and your son Konstantin contributing his experience as a musician and band member. What is it like when family relationships and creative relationships overlap, and how does each of them influence the person you become when you are working on a song?
Pavel Ishanov:
Konstantin is my son from the previous marriage and he developed as a musician all the time in Moscow. Roles are the following
Pavel and Konstantin – verses and musical idea, Tanya – developing the idea, playing the music (piano, guitar, drums), Vladimir (my friend) and Konstantin the arrangement of the song. Me and Konstantin – singing.
Oliver:
The image of dancing on an old street is at the heart of the story behind “We Dance through Joy and Pain.” What do you remember most clearly about that moment, and what was it about the experience that stayed with you strongly enough to become the foundation of a song?
Pavel Ishanov:
This was very personal. May be later I will uncover this. We indeed had some dark periods of life. And we had a joy!!!
Oliver:
The title brings two very different experiences together: joy and pain. When you wrote those words, were you thinking about them as opposing emotions, or as two experiences that are naturally connected within the same human life?
Pavel Ishanov:
I usually write lyrics in Russian language and then translate verses into English and Finnish languages. In Russian version there are such words – “We breathe not only with our lungs but also with our blood — and it seems the two of us share the same blood.” Still missing the image, Oliver?
Oliver:
This song was originally created around three years ago but only recently began receiving stronger recognition from audiences. How did it feel to see a song that had been sitting quietly for some time suddenly connect with people, and what made you decide that this was the right moment to revisit it through a remix?
Pavel Ishanov:
During those three years I have made around one thousand songs. I had a lot to say, but now I want to read my lyrics and rethink many ideas.
Oliver:
When you returned to a song that had already existed for several years, what did you want to preserve from the original version, and what did you feel needed to change so that the remix could reflect where you are creatively today?
Pavel Ishanov:
Sometimes I change nothing in lyrics and music, I change the performance and accents in the song. But sometimes I change many like in the other my song “Spring’s Snow”. I must admit my relations with song are like quite intimate. Some of the songs I rebuild constantly “Let skies aflame” I created more than forty years ago”. Still working on it.
Oliver:
You have described the song as a combination of production, lyrics, music and singing working together perfectly. When you listen to the finished version now, which part of that relationship between words, vocal performance and production do you feel is most important to the song’s identity?
Pavel Ishanov:
Well, let us imagine we cook a soup together. Not a Miso soup, not a Musosoup, just some soup. One is in charge of meat, another for vegetables and somebody for spices. In a real teamwork soup will be tasty. Without the teamwork all stay hungry.
Oliver:
You recorded the song in a small Italian town and described the atmosphere of the session as so unusual that everyone involved almost forgot where they were. What was happening around you during that recording day, and how did that environment affect the way the song was performed or created?
Pavel Ishanov:
Really, I said this??? Actually I recorded in Hämeenlinna under supervision of Janne, owner of Sound Supreme studio.
Oliver:
Your music is built through collaboration, with your own creative direction meeting Tanya’s classical composition knowledge, Konstantin’s experience as a musician and additional input from Vladimir. How do you handle different musical ideas within that process, and how do you know when everyone’s contributions have found the right balance?
Pavel Ishanov:
We all are altruistic, funny and strange people, I prefer having content driven people in my team.
Oliver:
Dancing is clearly more than a passing idea in your work, because you have spoken about your love of dancing and the way movement informs your music. What does dancing allow you to express emotionally that you might not be able to communicate through words alone?
Pavel Ishanov:
I believe that love is a touch. The touch narrows the words and the words navigate the music.
Oliver:
“We Dance through Joy and Pain” carries a philosophical idea while still being designed to connect through performance and movement. How do you approach that balance between giving a song something meaningful to say and making sure the listener can simply feel it, sing along with it or move to it?
Pavel Ishanov:
The body understands more than our heads. As former neuroscientist I would say the brain receives very little as subordinate structures minimise the quantity of info for the brain to process.
Oliver:
You have mentioned “Love and Happiness” as a newer and more dynamic performance that continues the same philosophical approach. What has that newer song allowed you to explore that you had not explored as fully in “We Dance through Joy and Pain,” and how do you see the two songs connecting within your wider artistic identity?
Pavel Ishanov:
My tutor in singing and acting singer Heidi Kyro asked me what is behind Ana-na-na ? This convinced me to replace NA NA NA with text. But before I record the new version I do not want to disclose full text. As for my identity. I have a motto “Songs about everything and for everybody”.
Oliver:
Your work brings together experiences from different generations through your collaboration with Tanya and Konstantin. How has working creatively across generations changed your understanding of what makes a song timeless or capable of speaking to people with very different musical backgrounds?
Pavel Ishanov:
It is nightmare sometimes, but meanwhile we enrich each other.
Oliver:
The audience response to “We Dance through Joy and Pain” has helped bring renewed attention to a song that was originally created several years ago. When you saw people responding enthusiastically to the song and the performance, what did that reaction mean to you personally as an artist?
Pavel Ishanov:
We reread the books, relisten music, rewatch movies. I live in a very old and very small town. People enjoy my songs I can see this.
Oliver:
Looking back at the three-year period between creating the original song and bringing this new remix to listeners, what has changed most in your own artistic vision, and what have you learned about yourself as a songwriter during that time?
Pavel Ishanov:
Poets are Oracles. Somebody said. True.
Oliver:
You have built your music around personal experiences, family, philosophical ideas and a strong connection with movement and emotion. As you continue creating new songs, what parts of your life and relationships do you feel are still waiting to become stories that you can express through music?
Pavel Ishanov:
Listen to this my song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgLc_kqG0g4&list=RDGgLc_kqG0g4&start_radio=1
Oliver:
When listeners finish “We Dance through Joy and Pain,” what would you most like them to carry with them from the song, whether that is a particular feeling, thought, memory or understanding of their own experiences?
Pavel Ishanov:
All these you mentioned.
Oliver:
As you look beyond this remix and toward the next stage of your work, what kind of artist do you want to become, and what do you hope the songs you create in the future will reveal about your life, your family and the way you see the world?
Pavel Ishanov,
I still want to make songs about everything and for everybody. About my life and family … Rathe not. May be some moments only. Next to my room Sebastian my 1 month old grandson is crying, my daughter prepares for breast-feeding. I am calling to Kevin my Son-in-law from Texas. We are trying to avoid the situation when meet on the old staircase. Our total weight is almost 300 kg
“We Dance through Joy and Pain” invites us to consider how music can hold the experiences we struggle to explain. Pavel Ishanov’s approach to songwriting brings personal memories, philosophical questions, and the freedom of movement into the same creative space, reminding us that some feelings are best understood when we allow ourselves to experience them rather than simply describe them.
~ Oliver (DULAXI Team)
EDITORIAL PERSPECTIVE
What stands out about Pavel Ishanov’s creative approach is his interest in the relationship between language, movement, and feeling. His background in neurophysiology offers an interesting perspective on how people experience music, while his family collaborations give his songwriting a distinctly shared character. “We Dance through Joy and Pain” also demonstrates his willingness to revisit earlier work and reconsider its possibilities. Rather than treating a song as something permanently finished, Pavel approaches it as an idea that can continue developing alongside the person who created it.
~ Oliver (DULAXI Team)
CLOSING
A sincere thank you to Pavel Ishanov for joining us at DULAXI and sharing the experiences, relationships, and ideas that shape his music. Our conversation has offered a closer look at a songwriter whose creative life spans scientific research, family collaboration, personal reflection, and a lasting desire to communicate through music.
“We Dance through Joy and Pain” is an invitation to reflect on the experiences that connect happiness with hardship and the ways music can give expression to both. We encourage readers to discover the remix and explore Pavel’s wider body of work, including his developing musical ideas in “Love and Happiness.”
Thank you for spending your time with DULAXI. We look forward to bringing you more conversations with artists from different backgrounds and musical traditions, exploring not only the releases they share with the world but also the people and experiences behind them. Until our next interview, keep listening and discovering.