Dali little rock: Boris Grebenshchikov as a mirror of world culture

Without any (or almost) irony, they call him a guru, a prophet, founding father Russian Rock; moreover, as it is said more than 30 years ago in the film "Assa", he is "a god, a radiation that emanates from him". It comes out with anything: praise to the current state leader (a crime unthinkable to the standards of the Liberal Party's office) to concerts in Ukraine (this is not the best place in terms of ultra patriots). He is listened to, people of all kinds listen to him and know him – from Brian Eno to David Byrne to the inhabitants of the corridors of the Russian government.

Each album – under its own name or under the company of its legendary band – becomes an event. And today, on November 27, he is 65 years old.

On the occasion of Boris Grebenshchikov's birthday, Izvestia spoke of its importance for our culture – and not only Rock & # 39; n & # 39; roll.

The phrase "BG translates rock and roll in Russian "put into circulation by someone critics, it seems to have become a commonplace. The observation, however, is not entirely accurate: they were engaged in translations – literally, in clue – even before Grebenshchikov arrived on the big stage ("big" in the sense of its cultural significance for this time and the next one), even though it was actually an apartment of the St. Petersburg hippans and provincial DEPs). Grebenshchikov did something more and more important: he replaced the subindex with a subtle and sincere translation, integrating the often foreign and difficult meanings into the fabric of Russian culture – just as Darouzes, Pasternak, Marshak and Zakhoder managed to transplant a great English literature on our soil, from Shakespeare to Milne.

For many years, the favorite occupation of detractors and admirers of BG is to look for borrowing in his texts: here are Dylan and Bowie, and here Patti Smith (Apollinaire is noticed by a few, which of course reflects the level of criticism).

According to critics, this is secondary evidence; for admirers, it is a sign of supreme talent and incomparable erudition.

Bad, most likely, those and others. Yes, all Russian rock is secondary by definition, "a pale, thin pbaderby in the eyes of the euro," if you borrow Yuri Shevchuk's definition on another occasion.

But just as the Northern Capital, conceived as a copy of the unreachable Western originals, has grown rapidly beyond its secondary nature and has become a unique cultural phenomenon. rock music and BG itself first left the time when, to express itself, it was necessary to make tracing paper from a foreign language and from a foreign language. foreign music. "Aquarium" and BG in the general series of rockers of the 1980s stand out nevertheless by their ability to quote and make allusions rather than directly to "reorder aglitsky" (here you can also recall the "Theater" of Shadows "of Alice, derived from Kyoto Song by The Cure, and Kormiltsev's Screen View, intrigue and text – the translation of the song Robert De Niro Waiting (Trio Bananarama).

Indeed, BG is a scholar, an intellectual, a boy from an educated family who grew up in the cultural capital.

It seems to be one of the few (if not the only) Russian rockers whose texts can be badyzed in rather serious philological articles.

But at the same time, he never tried to show his "education": all these quotations and allusions appear in his poems (and Grebenshchikov's texts are, of course, poems) naturally and naturally, as a fauna of the world. afternoon (another favorite image of GD – and still borrowed). ). However, the group itself has never particularly hidden or hesitated: in 1980, in the famous letter samizdat Artemy Troitsky, he drew up a detailed list of all those who had influenced the Aquarium and personally. "Ambbadador rock n roll in a non-rhythmic country "he represented another culture with naive aborigines, as well as brilliant tzatskamis and pearls, transmitting to them divine wisdom.

Without any irony or exaggeration, the number of biblical quotations and references in BG's songs is comparable only to the number of citations of Buddhist texts that they contain.

The ironic commentator on the sidelines of world culture inadvertently turned out to be almost an educator, gradually acquainting his listeners – not always so sophisticated – with what is usually called the boring "treasures of world culture." . The listeners do not remain in debt – since those moments when the young BG, after packing "his machine with an unknown number of ropes", caught a taxi to cross the Leningrad snowstorm in another apartment, where they waited to see his songs (and himself). Three years ago, when Grebenshchikov announced that he was raising funds to record a new album (released in 2018, Time N), he expected the necessary 3 million rubles to be "sold out". In 110 days. In fact, the crowdfunding process took a little more than a day.

"Aquarium" has never tried to integrate it into reality: "sitting on a beautiful hill", BG remained outside of the official Soviet culture; it also stands out from the current demarcation lines and does not touch the camps. To Boris Borisovich's credit, he has never shared scary memories of the persecution by the KGB (unlike some of his friends and colleagues who, according to them, endured in the Soviet times, even though 39, they were officially in official status in Mosconcert). After playing a lot of shocking teenager, so shocked the Komsomol ideologues during the representation of the Russian language group at the Spring Rhythms Festival in Tbilisi (1980), BG suddenly became a domestic symbiosis of Dylan , Bowie and Jerry Garcia – one of the most beautiful and bohemian years wise and already reached an understanding of almost everything. About so, it already appears in "Ivanovo", a short film of 1981 – by the way, it legally takes over the academic work of students of VGIK Alexander Ilkhovsky and Alexander Nekhoroshev.

And, of course, there has never been an "anti-Soviet" BG creativity.

Few people remember, but the first time that songs "Aquarium" appeared to the general public, before any restructuring and before the decisive breakthrough, "Assy" plays in the recorder of the radio "L & rsquo; Heroine of Sweet, darling, beloved, only ", (1984) Dinara Asanova, and perhaps Grebenshchikov's most famous song (ironically, not written by him) resonates behind the scenes of A very strange context of the film on the daily life of the Soviet police – "No stranger works here" (1985). For all this (and with the disc on "Melodies" as early as 1987, with the annotation of Andrei Voznesensky himself).

"Aquarium" was perceived as an almost real, "firm" rock with a Western accent – and, more importantly, it was perceived as such on the other side of the ruined Iron Curtain.

Compared to BG and the team, he could only "Sounds of Mu", completely fascinated by Brian Eno, who had already managed to know Grebenshchikov at that time. Thanks to the new connections established with the best Western musicians – including David Bowie, who sent BG as a gift for an expensive guitar, and David Stewart from Eurythmics. Stewart, from elsewhere, also produced the English solo album BG Radio Silence, released, unlike many other candidates for recognition abroad, by CBS, rather than small size. independent label The album did not have much success, but Grebenshchikov has since joined the ranks of the professional world elite rock – in the sense that it is known (personally, not by hearsay), almost everyone who Something means in the rock world. This is why he is not content to record in London – he is performed by legendary musicians, members of compositions such as King Crimson and Fairport Convention.

And so far, Grebenshchikov has always remained true to Russian culture – "to stay upright, I have to stay true to his roots," he sang in one of his first songs.

With "The Russian Album" (1992), the music group may be embarking on perhaps the most successful musical experience: western transplantation. rock and roll he managed to plant strong branches of Russian tradition on the fragile young tree, sending Nikita Ryazan in a long and glorious journey through the sands of St. Petersburg to the distant Hyperborea, "back to Arkhangelsk". In this iteration, there is an inseparable group of BG / "Aquarium" (at least "Aquarium" and the original idea of ​​BG and the energy system he feeds on), but not his solo. Some vibrations are created in BG concerts, with which he "feeds in part on himself and on the listener", as explained by the hero of the time in 1980. And, Surprisingly, BG reacted more sensitively and clearly to the "current agenda", from 1993 events to the current situation. "A seismic activity measuring device" successfully called sometimes The Aquarium is a known critic Andrei Bukharin. BG continues to compile and comment, connecting the eternal with the wrath of the day, romance with protest and funny with tragic.

Maybe only love remains unchanged for him.

Because all the creativity of BG convinces us that the apostolic words "now respect these three principles: faith, hope, love; but their love is greater "(1 Corinthians 13:13) means even more than anything that was borrowed in the twentieth century. "The space and time we have been taken away", complained sometimes Anna Akhmatova. BG became one of those who gave them back to us.