Sergei Arkhipovsky balalaika. Russian balalaika Alexei Arkhipovsky: creativity, biography

Was born on May 15, 1967 in Tuapse Krasnodar Territory. Passion for music was inherited from his father, who played the harmonica as a child and the accordion in the 50s. So there was often music in the house.

At the age of 9, he entered a music school in the balalaika class. During his studies, he repeatedly participated and was a prize-winner of city and regional competitions. At the end of the music school gave the first solo concert from two departments.

In 1982 he entered the State Medical University. Gnesins to the department of folk instruments, specializing in balalaika in the class of Zazhigin Valery Evgenievich. In 1985 he received the title of Laureate at the 3rd All-Russian competition of performers on folk instruments.

After graduating from college, since 1989 he worked as a soloist in the Smolensk Russian folk orchestra under the direction of V.P. Dubrovsky. It was there that the first experiments in the field of new expressive possibilities of the solo balalaika began.

In 1998 he was invited to the State Academic Russian folk ensemble"Russia" under the leadership of L.G. Zykina. Together with the ensemble, he toured the vast expanses of our homeland and "foreign countries".

In 2002-3 he began to cooperate with SNC (Stas Namin Center). Participated as a soloist in festivals Russian Culture held in the USA, China, South Korea, Germany, France, Spain, Bulgaria. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Ethnosphere movement (www.etno-center.ru), the Mamakabo festival (www.mamakabo.ru), presenting contemporary Russian music that has not been included in the traditional format.

In 2007-2008 he participated in Dmitry Malikov's project "Pianomania", played at the final Gala concert of the festival " Slavic Marketplace”, at the opening of the First Andrei Tarkovsky Film Festival in Ivanovo, etc. Played on various jazz festivals in Russia and abroad, radio and TV programs, government concerts and Summits.

All concerts of Alexei Arkhipovsky are accompanied by invariable enthusiasm: “Alexey Arkhipovsky is the Paganini of the Russian balalaika!” “How did Aleksey Arkhipovsky manage to fit all the world music into this seemingly primitive instrument, which most people associate with unpretentious Russian folk melodies ?!” “In the hands of Alexei Arkhipovsky, the balalaika sounds either like a harp, or like a harpsichord, or like a banjo, or, in the end, like everything stringed instruments of all times and peoples"

“Balalaika Alexei Arkhipovsky became a sensation immediately after the first appearance by the general public. He literally disrupted the guitar (!) festival in the Central House of Artists, where he gave a 10-minute solo number, demonstrating amazing musical and acting skills. It was a real theater - a virtuoso game and dizzying performing tricks, facial expressions and gestures. Many listeners compared Arkhipovsky neither more nor less - with Hendrix himself! However, the public (even wider) could see Arkhipovsky before, because he is a member of the Rossiya ensemble by Lyudmila Zykina. Without exaggeration, Aleksey is rehabilitating the Russian balalaika, which among young people is considered outdated and, moreover, a “lubok” instrument.”

“At the sixtieth anniversary of the Fender guitar company, a balalaika player expressed a desire to perform with an instrument that is more than a century old. And Alexei Arkhipovsky, greeted with somewhat bewildered applause, spoke in such a way that the evening's program should have been closed. A world-class virtuoso, who owns the balalaika not even perfectly, but beyond comprehension, with his ten-minute etude he tightly "closed" all the technical tricks shown before him, and in music he was an order of magnitude more inventive. The introduction, meditatively stingy and unexpectedly philosophical, opened the balalaika to the audience with an absolutely unexpected side. In itself, the sound of the instrument, repeatedly vulgarized by folk orchestras on a salary, turned out to be in capable hands comparable to an Arab lute, harp, violin, God knows what else - with some unusually high-quality and inaccessible common man tool. Not with a guitar, because everyone has had a guitar in their hands and they know it doesn't sound like that. And not with the balalaika, because everyone has heard "the Volga river flows for a long time from afar" and they know that the balalaika does not sound like that either. It is almost impossible to describe his performance: one can only say that in ten minutes "Flight of the Bumblebee", and the whole Russian popular print, and blues washed down, and flamenco, and abstract, balanced reflections in the spirit of modern European jazz are packed. (Magazine "Audio Video")

There is such a Russian folk instrument balalaika - only three strings, a relative of the guitar, lute, mandolin. The first information about the balalaika, which has come down to us, refers only to 1715. It turns out that she was born in Peter's Russia ...

That's just love for folk strings plucked instruments It was formed much earlier, thanks to the art of buffoons, who wandered around Rus' since the 14th century and amused the people with their art.

The three strings that are available on the balalaika willy-nilly limit its melodic possibilities - and it seems that what new can be played on such a familiar and studied instrument.

Alexey Arkhipovsky destroys stereotypes.
He is the best balalaika player in the country, and probably in the world,
the only solo virtuoso balalaika player.

Alexey Arkhipovsky - Music by Mikael Tariverdiev

There is an opinion that Arkhipovsky is doing exactly the same thing with the classic three-string balalaika as in the sixties, with electric guitars that were already classic by that time, Jimi Hendrix. And they compare Alexei with Nicolo Paganini - the sorcerer of the violin.

Without uttering a single word during the concert, Alexey creates without much effort a magical, fairy world. There is only music. And even when the music subsides, it continues to sound inside us, echoes and images of a miracle. This is the real, Russian, close to us. Brilliant simplicity.

Alexey Arkhipovsky "Cinderella"

The game of Alexei Arkhipovsky cannot be repeated, just as it is impossible to learn synthesis musical styles. Virtuosity is not taught at the conservatory, you can learn the technique, inspiration and gift are given from above.

Alexey Arkhipovsky was born on May 15, 1967 in Tuapse, Krasnodar Territory. Passion for music was inherited from his father, who played the harmonica as a child and the accordion in the 50s. At the age of 9, the future virtuoso entered a music school in the balalaika class. During his studies, he repeatedly participated and was a prize-winner of city and regional competitions.

At the end of the music school, he gave the first solo concert of two parts. In 1982 he entered the State Medical University. Gnesins to the department of folk instruments, specializing in balalaika in the class of Zazhigin Valery Evgenievich.

In 1985 he received the title of Laureate at the Third All-Russian Competition of Performers on Folk Instruments. After graduating from college, since 1989 he worked as a soloist in the Smolensk Russian Folk Orchestra conducted by V.P. Dubrovsky.

Alexey Arkhipovsky "Eastern"

Then the first experiments in the field of new
expressive possibilities of the balalaika solo.

In 1998, Alexei was invited as a soloist to the State Academic Russian Folk Ensemble "Russia" under the direction of L.G. Zykina.

Together with the ensemble he toured extensively in Russia and abroad.
From 2002-2003 starts his solo career, which
continues to this day.

March 18, 2011 Alexey Arkhipovsky got into Russian book records in the nomination "the best balalaika player in the world". Played in various radio and television programs. Now he is touring a lot in Russia. Yes, and foreign countries are happy to listen to our "Genius of the Balalaika"

At concerts, Alexei uses an "electrified", "sounded" balalaika with one iron and two nylon strings, adding an echo effect to the sound. Plays with a standard pick and the back of the hand, the pads of the fingers, the outside of the hand, and the knuckles. The latter circumstance allows, in addition, to change the timbre.

Sometimes, simultaneously with the game, the sounds of tambourine, tom-tom and snare drum are extracted from the body of the balalaika. His sound palette is unusually diverse. The balalaika sounds either “like a harp, or like a harpsichord, or like a banjo, or, in the end, like all stringed instruments of all times and peoples”

This is the kind of music...

And I really want the balalaika not to be perceived as
brand and national-ideological symbol, but simply sounded.
Just like a guitar. Or a violin.

Big concert of Alexei Arkhipovsky - "Paganini of the Russian balalaika"

Alexey Arkhipovsky considers his triangular instrument to be a storehouse of secrets and mysteries, similar to the mysterious pyramid of Cheops. He does not get tired of solving them, which means that he surprises his grateful audience with new finds and discoveries.

“I don’t consider myself a balalaika player in the conventional sense… And I treat the balalaika not as a Russian folk instrument, but as an instrument on which you can do anything you want”

It's amazing how deeply music can penetrate, how it can touch the strings of your soul and stir it up, make you follow the music, experience with it, want to fly, run and be glad that you found it and be afraid to lose it, afraid that it will end. And when it does end, just be a happy person.

Good, bright, clean.
It is always in our heart and in our soul!

Balalaika - not the most fashionable and popular musical instrument, even in Russia, which is why virtuosos like Alexei Arkhipovsky attract a lot of attention. How was the path of the musician? What is he famous for? What is worth listening to?

How it all began

Alexey Arkhipovsky was born in the south of Russia - in the city of Tuapse, on May 15, 1967. Music often sounded in the house, as my father played the harmonica and the accordion. He was able to instill the same love for creativity and son. Already with early age Alexey knew all the variety of Russian music. Arkhipovsky recalls his childhood with pleasure: the sea, the sun, the balalaika - what else is needed for happiness ?! At the age of nine, the boy comes to a music school to master the traditional Russian instrument - the balalaika. His first teacher, Kulishova Evgenia Nikolaevna, says that the student was distinguished by unusual perseverance and diligence. During the first six months, he had to painfully "rearrange" his hand through long exercises, but Lesha overcame all this. And by the end of school, he was the winner of many music competitions, and by the end of his studies he gave his first full solo concert of two parts.

Later, Alexey Arkhipovsky enters the department in music teacher was a professor National artist Russia, the famous balalaika player Valery Evgenievich Zazhigin. The study was given to the student quite easily, he participated in various creative tests and even became a laureate All-Russian competition performers on folk instruments.

years of labor

A graduate of the college, Arkhipovsky found a job in the Russian folk orchestra under the direction of V.P. Dubrovsky in Smolensk. Here began his musical experiments. Arkhipovsky was not enough to play traditional music in the usual way, he was looking for opportunities to extract more diverse sounds from his favorite instrument. He polished his technique, found new expressive forms for the balalaika.

After 9 years of work as a soloist of the orchestra, fate gives Alexei a chance to reach the next level - he is invited to the well-known group led by Lyudmila Zykina, to the Rossiya ensemble. At one of the concerts, he is instructed to hold the hall for 5 minutes while the next number is being prepared. He got the audience so excited that they didn't let him go for 20 minutes. So Arkhipovsky got the right to solo in the orchestra. With "Russia" he traveled to many countries and cities, gained acquaintances, but felt that it was time to go solo swimming. The center provided him with such an opportunity, and since 2002 Arkhipovsky began to work alone. He participated in a huge number of festivals, gained strength in a new style for himself. contemporary music, combining fatal and ethnic motifs.

well deserved glory

Since 2003, the musician has been joining the Ethnosphere movement, his popularity is growing - his performances are gathering halls. Since 2007, the artist's fame has been increasing, he has been participating in major projects: the Tarkovsky Film Festival, the opening of Eurovision 2009, the opening ceremony Olympic Games in Vancouver (at the Russian House), international festivals jazz, blues, ethnic and contemporary music. The musician collaborated with famous musicians, for example, with Dmitry Malikov.

The possibilities of the balalaika turned out to be limitless, and this was proved by Alexei Arkhipovsky. The best of his legacy are improvisations on the theme of various musical material: folk, modern, classical. In 2011, Arkhipovsky was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's best balalaika player.

Alexey Arkhipovsky: balalaika is the best instrument

The musician lovingly talks about his instrument. He claims that his possibilities are inexhaustible, and every concert successfully proves this. Arkhipovsky says that the balalaika is an extension of himself, it helps him to think and feel. The musician's works cannot be attributed to any one genre, they organically combine jazz, classical and modern styles, and also a fatal and pop beginning is read in them. In addition, various national traditions, and not only Russian ones, are reflected in the compositions of the balalaika player. Alexei is called a virtuoso, often deservedly compared with Paganini and Jimi Hendrix. He proves with his work that Great love three strings are enough to touch the soul of the listener.

Creative achievements

Arkhipovsky calls his main success the acquisition of "his own instrument" and the love of the audience. Many works for the balalaika become real hits, the audience discovers the possibilities of this instrument, falls in love with it, and this is achieved by Alexei Arkhipovsky. "The Road Home", "Lullaby", "Cinderella", "Charm" - these compositions enchant the listener, immerse them in a special world of instrumental music. Today Arkhipovsky is a very popular artist, his solo concerts gather full houses in many countries of the world. His program "Insomnia" consists of his own works, created as a new reading of a huge number of different musical compositions.

I'm not trying to please, although sometimes there is some motive that people pick up. It's not to please, to stop chewing.

Once the balalaika was considered a symbol of Russia. Now this symbol is forgotten and we rarely hear the balalaika, except perhaps at performances. folklore ensembles. But the balalaika player Alexei Arkhipovsky proves with his performances that this instrument is still relevant today. former member Ensemble "Russia" Lyudmila Zykina music critics compared to Jimi Hendrix. Polina Potapova, a correspondent for The Week, talked to Arkhipovsky about balalaikas, stereotypes, and love.

Why is the balalaika so unpopular now?

She has a difficult history. At the beginning of the 20th century, the balalaika was a very popular instrument, which was produced several times more than the guitar. Often people tell me that someone's grandfather, grandmother, aunt played the balalaika. Balalaika has become a brand, some kind of national ideological symbol. At one point, along with the ideology, the balalaika was thrown out of life. But it has not yet been possible to return it to the mainstream of popular music. Our academic school basically proved that the balalaika is no worse than the violin. The repertoire consisted of arrangements of piano and violin music, so there was little original music. All this led to the fact that mainly the balalaika players themselves came to the concerts of the balalaika players.

You are constantly compared to great musicians. Mostly with guitarists, still nice?

Yes, they are evaluated. It is clear why they compare with the guitar - it is much more popular. Of course, the balalaika and the guitar have something in common. Let's take at least the strings, which are also stretched on a tree. The guitar was originally a Spanish instrument that has become international. The balalaika also has a chance to become an international instrument. But it's harder for guitarists now. First, there are a lot of them. Secondly, they have a lot of templates. There are already a lot of great guitarists, it's hard to get rid of stereotypes. There are stereotypes associated with the balalaika, but it's easy to get away from them.

How are you received abroad? You have already traveled the whole world with tours.

Warmly welcomed everywhere. International differences are not so sharp when playing instrumental music. And then, the stereotypes are tired not only to us, but also abroad. As a result, listeners still find something unexpected and, judging by the reaction, they like it. Americans, for example, are a visual nation. They rejoice when I show them all sorts of tricks and tricks. Recently I played in Holland, where people are closer to ours, they paid more attention to music.

Who comes to your concerts?

Very different listeners - lovers of jazz and classical, ethno and rock, a lot of connoisseurs guitar art. I think it's about the versatility of my music. By the way, just recently I received an invitation to join the American Guitarists Association. On the one hand, this is nonsense, on the other hand, this means that the balalaika is starting to take positions on the world stage.

Do you often play at corporate parties?

IN Lately less and less, because the opportunities to play concert halls in front of the public more and more, both here and abroad. And this is what I have always striven for - only the concert atmosphere allows me and my balalaika to open up. But if the corporate party is close to the concert atmosphere, I do not refuse.

Are you reviewing your program for corporate parties?

Slightly. I'm not trying to please, although sometimes there is some motive that people pick up. It's not to please, to stop chewing.

Do people dance at your concerts?

I like it when they sit and listen. It seems that he has not switched to disco yet, although he could try (laughs).

How did you get into Eurovision?

Konstantin Ernst found out about me from somewhere and offered to open the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow with his performance.

How did everything go?

I did not aspire to go there, I even resisted. It was necessary to play something on a tune from Eurovision. And such melodies fly in one ear, fly out the other. In the end, I took part anyway, it seemed to me important that the balalaika should identify itself. I didn't like the way I performed. After even there were two days of depression. But then my friends said: relax, everything is fine, he showed himself and okay. Well, I also came to the same conclusion.

Do you keep in touch with Ernst?

You can't say that. But after the competition, thanks to him, I starred in the program "So far, everyone is at home", which, I think, is also important for popularizing the instrument. I don't aspire to fame. I want to play.

Do they recognize you on the streets?

Sometimes. Glad I don't have to drive with tinted windows.

How did your relationship develop with Lyudmila Zykina?

Great singer and great woman. I didn’t know anything technical, but I just always felt how to set up the music, did everything on a whim, and in the end it turned out well. She was such a mother, she led the ensemble very jealously and reluctantly let her go to solo projects. But she let me go, it was a kind of recognition. There were even talks to do a joint project with me, she sings, and I play. But didn't have time.

Do you know those who were inspired by your example and also took up the balalaika?

There were some people who changed their lives. Sometimes funny letters come: here I was a guitarist, but I got tired of the guitar and now I am learning to play the balalaika.

Has your son followed in your footsteps?

He does not play the balalaika. He studies at the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Physics and has little interest in music. But he likes my work, which is very nice.

How did you meet your wife?

We met when I was studying at the Gnessin School. I lived in a dormitory where students of the circus department, pop-jazz department, and, in addition, students of the Shchukin school, still lived. It was in him that my future wife, at the acting department. She saw me, by the way, with a guitar when she sang something. And then I saw her and immediately realized that this was fate. She gave up her career for us. Traveled with me on tour. We've been through together hard times. The child was born when we had nothing to eat. But despite everything, it was a very happy time. My wife and I have been together for twenty years. After all, love is the most important thing in life.

"Talking" balalaika by Alexei Arkhipovsky

“Vodka, bears, Siberia, caviar, ballet, satellite, balalaika - these stereotypes inseparable from Russia are broken by the virtuoso Alexei Arkhipovsky, who grew up in Tuapse: “a mixture of guitar gods Steve Vai and Jeff Beck, and this is on a traditional three-string Russian folk instrument.”

Entered in the Russian Book of Records as “the best balalaika player in the world”, at concerts (the musician gave one of them this fall in the capital of Kuban) he throws her behind her back, makes her “talk” and ironically “answers” ​​her, the king over the stage without an orchestra and single word."

At the age of nine, if I'm not mistaken, Alyosha entered the piano department, but there were no vacancies, and the director suggested that his parents send their son to the department of folk instruments for a year, - says Evgenia Kuleshova, Arkhipovsky's first teacher at the Tuapse Music School. - Alexey somehow surprisingly easily got involved, got carried away - and began to play: our favorite exercise was to play a given image - a summer morning, a sea in a storm, spring rain, etc., of course, not everything worked out right away, and then I told him: “No not like that, not like that!”

Evgenia Nikolaevna recalls that the musician's father Vitaly Arkhipovsky was an amateur bayanist and accordionist: he played as a child - in the Great Patriotic War, and he inherited his passion for the harmonica from his father.

And he tried to teach his son the basics of handling the accordion, but he turned out to be too heavy and cumbersome for the slender Alexei. But Arkhipovsky Jr. quickly mastered the balalaika technique: he performed the “Dance of Death” by C. Saint-Saens, and W. A. ​​Mozart, and J. S. Bach - and improvised, surprising his mentor.

Aleksey outplayed me already in the third grade, and in the fifth grade he played compositions that students music schools pass the exams in the third and fourth years. And then Alyosha nevertheless ended up in the piano department: he was transferred there to in-depth solfeggio lessons, - continues Evgenia Kuleshova. - He constantly traveled to Krasnodar: at our city competitions he collected all the prizes already in the second grade and every month he participated in regional competitions ...

When Arkhipovsky finished his studies, he played a solo concert in two parts with an orchestra, the posters of which covered the whole of Tuapse - this is how the tradition of the school appeared: big programs the best graduates.

Add color to Eurovision

I don’t know how my fate would have turned out if it weren’t for Evgenia Nikolaevna: it was she who captivated me with the possibilities of the instrument, gave me the basics of mastery and made me think about what is on the balalaika - a Russian folk instrument, which, as is commonly believed, has very limited capabilities , - you can do anything, - says Alexey Arkhipovsky. - The second teacher who did a lot for my formation after the Gnesinka was the conductor of the Smolensk orchestra Viktor Pavlovich Dubrovsky, a student of Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Sergei Svetlanov.

It was in the Dubrovsky Orchestra that Alexei Arkhipovsky was noticed by Lyudmila Zykina, who in 1998 invited him to the big tour of the Rossiya ensemble along the Volga and on tour in the USA.

On the other side of the ocean, Alexei Vitalievich got a chance.

There was a pause in the concert program after his solo number - and the artist played not for the traditional five minutes, but for about half an hour, immersed in improvisation: Russian folk motifs "poured out" into jazz standards and songs from Scorsese and Coppola's films, the audience roared with delight, and the musician took the first step towards a solo career.

For some reason, the balalaika is remembered when it comes to Russian flavor: this was the case with the Eurovision Song Contest held in Moscow in 2009.

The head of Channel One, Konstantin Ernst, allegedly heard me on the radio and suggested to the producer of the show, Yuri Aksyuta: in the end, they considered that my number would make the opening of Eurovision more authentic and at the same time modern, devoid of tourist folklore, - recalls Alexey Vitalyevich. - In fact, I prefer to perform in the company of artists of a slightly different type: vocalists Andrey Kozlovsky and Irina Bogushevskaya, jazzman Mikhail Chekasin, guitarist Enver Izmailov.

Stradivari on three strings

... In the summer of 1883, the St. Petersburg nobleman and amateur musician Vasily Andreev saw a balalaika in the hands of his courtyard Antip Vasiliev and became interested in it, so that later, together with famous masters F. Paserbsky and S. Nalimov to build instruments of the design that is familiar to everyone today (previously, the three-string numbered about fourteen tunings, in different regions of Russia). Alexey Arkhipovsky adopted Andreev's idea of ​​the timbre contrast of one metal and two gut (nylon) strings per fret of the balalaika.

In general, the balalaika is the only instrument where, with a limited number of strings, even the fact that they are made of different materials, creates a myriad of opportunities, - explains Alexey Vitalievich. - Not to mention the fact that folk playing techniques mixed with guitar techniques give an original sound.

I was probably one of the first "revolutionaries" who "electrified" this Russian folk instrument: my sound comes through wires from a pickup directly connected to the balalaika.

In the collection of Alexei Arkhipovsky there are about a dozen balalaikas: “Each has its own destiny, karma, voice. playing with different people, they feed on their emotions and gain experience and a deep sound.”

Aleksey Vitalievich prefers to give concerts with old instruments (“Probably didn’t find renovators to his liking”), two copies: a 1928 balalaika “built” by master Iosif Ignatievich Galinis and an instrument born in 1902, the work of that very “Russian Stradivarius Strings” Semyon Ivanovich Nalimov, that once designed Andreev's first balalaikas...