XXIII International Festival of Sergey Kuryokhin SKIF. Reviews « magazine of inhuman music "results-online" New names of talented musicians

SKIF annually opens new names in modern progressive music for the Russian public different countries, from year to year remains one of the most interesting musical events in St. Petersburg.

This year, for the first time in Russia, the legendary Italian prog-rock band GOBLIN will perform at the XXIII SKIF under the leadership of the founder and keyboardist of the group Claudio Simonetti. In the 1980s, he became one of the pioneers of Italo disco, collaborated with director Dario Argento and composed soundtracks for such iconic Italian horror films as Suspiria (1977), Blood Red (1975), and " Dawn of the Dead (1978) by another master of the genre, George Romero. Films and music have become hits, and the films of Dario Argento are now unimaginable without the stylish, mesmerizing music of the Goblin band and especially the composer Claudio Simonetti.

Also coming for the first time will be British cult artist, poet, musician and puppeteer Ted Milton and his band BLURT. The Blurt group is an exceptional phenomenon in British music. Blurt formed in 1979 and became one of the first Factory Records bands to play side by side with Joy Division and A Certain Ratio. They have been in service for forty years now. The leader of the band, Ted Milton, is a real living legend, his performances are even more charged today than those of many performers half a century younger than him.

The German duo CEEYS is announced in the SKIf program - the project of the brothers Sebastian and Daniel Selke from Germany. The band's albums are released on the Berlin label Neue Meister. The Zelke brothers create works in the spirit of minimalism, where composition and improvisation are equally combined, echoes of ambient and modern classics. "Delightful music," said Mary Ann Hobbs of BBC Radio 6 Music.

Once a Dutch synth-pop artist Thomas Azir left his village in the north of the Netherlands and went to Berlin and then to Paris to find his place in music world. And he found. His albums Hylas (2014) and Rouge (2017) earned wide recognition in his homeland and won the prestigious Edison Award. The latest album, Stray (2018), was composed and recorded by Thomas on the go, somewhere between Kyoto, Abidjan, Paris, New York, Berlin and the Netherlands. Constant traveling changed the entire creative process of creating works by the musician: the album was recorded not in the studio, but in hotels and rented apartments using a laptop and a usb microphone.

The Nordic countries at SKIF are represented by LAU NAU, aka Laura Naukkarinen, one of the most interesting singers on the contemporary Finnish scene. Her creative arsenal includes both acoustics and electronics - from field recordings to analog synthesizers, from vocals and folk instruments to musique concrete, noises and "found objects". Laura also composes, produces and performs music for films, silent films, theater and dance productions, sound installations. She has been repeatedly nominated for various music awards.

WHITE WINE- a group from the German city of Leipzig. Playing art rock, they've developed their own signature sound, fusing punchy guitars and minimalist drums with song-driven ballads, electronic beats and general theatricality. Fans of projects that confidently erase the boundaries of genres will appreciate this musical eclecticism.

Lithuania's "Best Young Group of 2017" will perform at SKIF, "Best New Group of the Baltic Region" following the results music competition NOVUS and just extreme-experimental-psychedelic-jazz-protopunk-stoner-rock-multicolor-black-metal - the Lithuanian trio TIMID KOOKY.

In 2010 the Minsk accordionist Egor Zabelov with his duet "Gurzuf. Gurzuf" received the honorary award of Sergei Kuryokhin in the field of contemporary art. Now Egor comes with a solo performance. Yegor Zabelov is one of the most original bayan players in modern Belarusian music, composer, author of music for a number of performances and films. Played over 400 concerts at European club and festival venues. His music can be described as an experimental fusion of accordion rock, avant-garde jazz and neo-classics.

Miyeon & Park Je Chun

The duo Miyeon & Park Je Chun perform improvisational music based on traditional Korean rhythms, jazz and contemporary classical music. Pianist Miyeon has a great sense of composition and a sophisticated playing style, while Park Che Chun complements her melodies with the sounds of traditional percussion. One of their recordings, Dreams From The Ancestor (2008), was critically acclaimed national award Korean Music Award in two categories: Best Instrumental Album and Best Crossover Album. For two decades now they have been performing all over the world, and playing with outstanding musicians among them Otomo Yoshihide, Sainho Namtchylak and many others.

The Russian scene will be represented by young, but already quite prominent avant-garde bands that create bold, experimental music. The Moscow duo MARZAHN combines elements of post-punk, abstract hip-hop and industrial in their work. Most of the songs are performed in a non-existent dialect German language. The duet "CHAPTER II" plays in the style of dark pop. The SEVEN KNIVES quartet creates their own sound, in which the audacity of glam rock, the fury of punk and the romance of post-rock would begin to sound like disco, to which psychedelic trance harmonies and acid basses of acid and electro dance. The LOW KICK COLLECTIVE quintet is an experiment that has absorbed the ideas of minimalism, free improvisation and electronic music.

Tickets have already been released for sale at a price of 1000 rubles. Price entrance tickets on the day of the event will be 1800 rubles.

About the SKIF Festival:

International festivals SKIF (Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival) is held by the Sergey Kuryokhin Charitable Foundation. The first two festivals SKIF-1 and SKIF-2 were held in New York in 1997 and 1998. In October 1998, the third SKIF-3 festival was held in St. Petersburg and has been held annually in the city since then.

The concept of the festival is based on the ideas of Sergei Kuryokhin, an outstanding Russian composer of the late 20th century, which he used in the Pop Mechanics project. The festival program traditionally includes not only music, but also performances, multimedia, art actions and video art. Over the years, the festival has become one of the main events contemporary music in Russia and gained fame beyond its borders.

The festival opens up new names in modern and progressive music from different countries for the St. Petersburg and Russian public. Most of the musicians perform in Russia for the first time. Also, by tradition, young and talented Russian musicians take part in the festival.

The Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival is held with the support of the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg, the British Embassy in Moscow as part of Music Year Russia - Great Britain, the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg, the Goethe Institute in St. Petersburg, the Finnish Institute in St. Petersburg.

April 23-25, 2004, St. Petersburg, Baltic House Theatre.
Sergey Kuryokhin would have turned 50 this year.
http://www.kuryokhin.com/skif8.htm

This year I decided to go to SKIF. And without a special special purpose or desire to listen to any particular group. I just suddenly wanted to leave Arkhangelsk and hang out at some cultural-mass-musical event stretched over several days. And after I studied the poster of the festival and noticed that Magma, Jozef Skrzek, Henry Kaiser are coming this year, I didn’t really think about it anymore. By and large, only one Magma would be enough.

Real short story complete with photos that I took myself, shot by hand, without flash, so do not be surprised by the fuzziness of the pictures. On the other hand, it turned out conceptually! In addition, in the text of the article, I used fragments of the festival booklet, all of them are in italics.

For starters, look who was officially announced to perform in the Great Hall. I do not give schedules of concerts at the other venues of the festival, because. I was not there, and I didn’t hear or see anyone, and I didn’t actually intend to. This year, the organizers of the festival have surpassed themselves in the meticulousness of the organization, so the schedule below was strictly followed in its sequence. It was a complete disaster with the beginning of the performances, but that's another story.

SCHEDULE OF PERFORMANCES IN THE GRAND HALL

April 23
20.00 – 21.00 Absolut Null Punkt (Japan)
21.30 – 22.30 Catherine Jaunauix/ Ned Rothenberg (Belgium/USA)
23.00 – 00.00 Moritz Eggert (Germany)
00.30 – 01.30 Sainkho Namchylak / William Parker / Hamid Drake (Tuva / USA)

April 24
20.00 – 21.00 Jozef Skrzek Group (Poland/Russia)
21.30 – 22.30 Henry Kaiser/John Oswald/ Lukas Ligeti (USA/Canada/Austria)
23.00 – 00.00 The Remin` Circus (Sweden)

25th of April
20.00 – 21.00 Magma (France)
21.00 – 22.30 Lokomotiv Konkret (Sweden)
22.30 – 23.30 Gary Lucas (USA)
23.30 – 00.30 Fuul Guitar Orchestra (Russia/USA/Austria)

This year, the building of the Baltic House, known to me from the movie “Ticket to the Red Theater or Death of a Gravedigger,” was involved in the festival, so I knew where to look for it and how to get there. A couple of minutes walk from the metro station "Gorkovskaya" on Petrogradka - and here it is, the Baltic House. If anyone does not know, there is also a Planetarium and Music Hall nearby, and a little further - the Zoo. All pleasures in one place. LDM, of course, was more spacious, but because of its very immensity, it was more difficult to keep track of the performances taking place at different venues (this is a minus of course), but there is a lot of free space inside the building (and this is a plus), but far from the metro (another minus ). Thinking in this way, I approached the entrance. There were no problems with tickets: 250 rubles - and go to your health. For the three days of the festival, by the way, much more people came than the organizers expected, so even last year's tickets went on sale, in what a way! It was this abundance of the public that was another disadvantage of the eighth SKIF, at least specifically for me. It was simply unpleasant to watch all these crowds of stoned (and obviously not Belomor) youth, lying right on the floor, not to mention that with a lack of ventilation, the smoke in the foyer stood like a rocker, even hang an ax, so an unprepared person began to headache and felt slightly nauseous. Such an unpleasant condition was simply treated with Nevsky draft beer (which was sold unlimitedly in the foyer), but personally, my eyes were watering from the smoke and sneezing in my nose. It was forbidden to smoke only in the Great Hall, which was another good reason why I missed all the performances at other venues, at least it was cool and not smoky here, only in between performances of different bands, everyone was kicked out of the hall anyway in the foyer.

Since the tickets indicated the start time of the event at 19-00, on the posters - 20-00, and in the Dosug magazine even 21-00, I decided not to tempt fate and come early in order to at least look around the place and understand what is potentially possible further. As expected, at half past seven yesterday in the Great Hall the sound check was still in full swing - the trio consisting of Sainkho Namtchylak / William Parker / Hamid Drake was tuning up. In a few seconds, it became clear that William Parker and Hamid Drake really were the same guys, and that it was not for nothing that their organizers declared them to be “the strongest rhythm section of world jazz today” - they sounded just fantastic! Some English punks rattled deafeningly in the lobby, and I immediately thought that I would definitely not stay here until morning.

Drinking Nevskoye and leisurely looking at the compacts sold in the lobby, I waited for the event to begin. Again, to the credit of the organizers, already at the beginning of the ninth (I looked at the time of the pictures on the digital camera), representatives of the organizing committee appeared on the stage: Anastasia Kuryokhin, Alexei Plyusnin and Alexander Kan. They looked somewhat sad for some reason.

But no, everything is fine, after a brief introductory remarks it became clear that everything would go according to the previously approved plan, and that the first performing team at the festival would be the Japanese comrades who had arrived, whom Kuryokhin himself listened to and loved.

ANP (AbsolutNullPunkt) (Japan) – LeaderK.K.Null is the leader of one of Kuryokhin's favorite last years life of japanese bandsZeniGeva. Music - avant-noise

I myself had never heard these guys, so I was instantly struck by the energy of their performance: the drummer (as I later found out from the booklet, his name was Seihiro Murayama) accurately and even seemed to leisurely indicate rhythmic structures, against which his shaved bald colleague (just the very same K.K. Null) extracted various kinds of electronic sounds from devices invisible from the hall.

K.K.Null was crawling around the table with something very similar to a computer mouse, and I thought it was a mouse connected to a laptop, but when Mr. roar, then I immediately realized that no, probably, this is not a mouse at all. And after the Japanese began to yell at this mouse and it began to work as a microphone, it became clear that this is a special Japanese sensor that is able to respond to any manipulations in space, shocks and acoustic vibrations. He did a great job of it, to be honest!

In general, the very idea of ​​using classical drums and percussion in a duet with electronics came to mind at this festival not only to the Japanese. Periodically going up to the incredibly smoky Small Hall, I saw and heard something similar several times: a drummer thoughtfully (or vice versa energetically) drumming and his colleague, his shaved (or uncombed) head bent low over a laptop. Survive over long time in the atmosphere of the Small Hall was impossible, so these musical projects remained unidentified for me. In general, it was possible to get into this very Small Hall (a maximum audience of 50 seats) only during a break, but then it would have been impossible to get out of there. So I made the courageous decision not to bother with trying to get to this site at all and preferred to drink beer in the lobby.

CatherineJaunauix/NedRothenberg (Belgium/USA) – Saxophonist and clarinetist Ned Rothenberg is one of the most interesting musicians New York downtown - will perform a duet with the Belgian singer and actress Catherine Janot, who has been performing in the most different compositions avant-garde experimental rock

After a short break, Ned Rotenberg (whom I was familiar with from our festivals by V.P. Rezitsky) and Catherine Janot appeared on the stage. And the festival technicians began to fit a large poster of Katrin with her image, apparently, about 30 years ago, to the right of the stage. For what? However, it doesn't matter. Katrin turned out to be at the height expected: she either chirped like a bird, then switched to a maniacal whistling whisper, then she voiced like a Jericho trumpet. And why so much strength in a fragile Belgian lady? Ned Rothenberg Once again surprised me with his magnificent technique, allowing him to simultaneously inhale air and continuously extract sound from wind instrument. I was once explained that yes - there is, they say, such a special technique, but it is one thing to understand it, and quite another to see how a person does it and hear the continuous sound of his saxophone. Super! There is nothing to add.

The first day of the festival went according to plan. And even no backlog from the declared schedule of performances was observed. During the break, no one was kicked out of the hall again, but I, nevertheless, decided to go out and see what was happening there at the festival, so to speak. On the floor in the foyer, stoned young bodies had already begun to unfold, some people in national Yakut clothes were noisily walking on the podium, beer was flowing like a river everywhere, as if at some kind of biker rally, some local St. In the small hall, someone drum-computer avant-noisil. It was not possible to get to the very top, the so-called “Visual Projects Site”, at all, for some reason everything was still closed there. In general, everything is as it should be at a festival of such a direction. Unless there are too many people, and increased smokyness of the premises, caused by the process of combustion of the products of the expansion of consciousness.

MoritzEggert (Germany) is one of the leading modern German composers, a brilliant pianist.

Y-yes .. Something this "brilliant pianist" made some kind of mixed impression on me. The festival booklet about him says that he managed to write six full-length operas, several ballets, and composed music for theatrical productions. It may very well be, I will not argue. His solo performance showed that he was haunted by the laurels of Jerry Lee Lewis (by no means Glen Gould), because during the performance of his compositions he actively beat the piano keyboard with his feet, his head, and besides, he used the instrument as a bass drum, vigorously pounding on the piano with his hands. Personally, I'm conservative here, if you consider yourself a "pianist", then show how you know how to use the instrument just like a piano; Show me your piano technique, and don't hit him like a beer case. In short, Moritz Eggert did not demonstrate any special composer's uniqueness to the public, nor any special energy either. Ordinary repitative-rhythmic pieces and nothing more. Was it worth giving him the stage of the Great Hall for this? I do not know...

Sainkho Namchylak/HamidDrake/WilliamParker (Tuva/USA) - the strongest rhythm section of the world jazz today - bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. New York musicians will accompany the Tuvan-Russian-Austrian star Sainkho Namchylak

Despite the fact that after Moritz Eggert there was a significant pause between performances in the Great Hall, I still decided to wait for Sainkho Namtchylak along with this “the strongest rhythm section of world jazz”, because after the sound check I realized that it would actually be . Drummer Hamid Drake was sitting with some kind of national tambourine at the beginning of the performance, and bassist William Parker was with an incredible two-stringed bass instrument. Together they sounded simply amazing, I have never heard such rhythmic teamwork at concert performances. It was already half past two in the morning, I was brutally sleepy, especially considering that the night before that I was on the train, plus I drank beer all evening, plus the foyer was completely smoky ..

But I immediately woke up from such music, tried to take pictures, it’s a pity the pictures turned out to be blurry anyway, fatigue made itself felt. Sainkho, by the way, did not surprise me with anything new. It seems that, having left for the West, she completely stopped in her musical development. Of course, there was an opportunity to perform and record with different musicians, travel to festivals and all that. Well, what's next? Personally, it seems to me that the proximity to the roots of such singers should be the most direct, only then something authentic will be obtained. On the other hand, this trio performed absolutely wonderfully, but the lion's share of the merit in this certainly belongs to Hamid Drake and William Parker. Oh, where can I get their records?!

They finished their performance at almost two in the morning. In the foyer, the people perked up, they began to expect English punks, who thundered their guitars in the back rooms, but I firmly decided to go home. On this, in fact, the first day of the festival ended for me.

On the second day, approaching the Baltic House, I remembered yesterday's meeting at the festival with Alexei Plyusnin. We said hello, and he asked me: “Well, how did it go, is everything okay?” I was surprised and said: “Yes, how, it’s normal - I bought a ticket and that’s all!”. And he replies: “In vain, after all, you are on the lists at the entrance, you could go through like that!” Here are the times who knew! Although I informed Aleksey about my arrival to the festival by e-mail in advance, I did not think that I could count on such a generous reception. So, on the second day (and on the third too), you will need to go through the service entrance. Okay, I walk over, casually throwing "I'm on the lists!" and I see that the girls hastily begin to rummage through a huge pile of papers, which are precisely those very lists. So how many people here go through these same lists? Clarifications begin: “And you are from which group, from which city, from which organization?”. But I have no idea under what guise Alexei recorded me. The passwords "Results", "Arkhangelsk", "Press", etc. did not work. But the girls treated me very much with maximum attention, and after a while, after my comments “Alexey definitely said that I was on the list!”, we still found this paper. To my great amazement, I was included in the list of representatives from the Union of Composers, and on top of that, this list was still printed in red letters. That's cool! So I haven't gone to a single concert yet!

The first on the second day in the Great Hall were Jozef Skrzek Group. It made sense to listen. Just recently, I borrowed from a friend all the SBB albums on vinyl records in order to rewrite them on cidiars. Therefore, the memories of past years were fresher than ever. Among the compacts laid out for sale in the lobby, I suddenly saw SBB discs. It's a pity there are only two, and both live albums, one from 1978 in Sopot, and the second from 2001 (already without Jerzy Piotrovsky). A early albums, for which SBB is loved and appreciated, was not there at all. The 1978 concert album was immediately purchased.

Meanwhile, some fuss began in the foyer, the audience began to trample and get excited, and I drew attention to the figure of a man who had come out on stage with a bass guitar. His face seemed familiar, coming closer, I was convinced that it was really Vyacheslav Butusov in person, and the other two, apparently, are the same group "Yu-Piter". Well, well .. This is only for SKIF and invite! Although, I must honestly say that Slava didn’t drive me down, he sang quite decently, the people danced, sang along and rejoiced, so everything is fine? And if I didn’t like it, I moved away so that it wouldn’t clog my ears and that’s all. By nine in the evening, they stopped singing songs, and people began to be let into the Great Hall. Again on schedule, as it was not surprising.

JosephSkrzekGroup (Poland/Russia) – the project of the leader of the legendary Polish art-rock band of the 70sSBB and our musicians. The project involves Mikhail Ogorodov - keyboards, Alexander Ragazanov - drums

It seems that this is a purely SKIF invention - to invite one of the well-known Western musicians in the past and recruit local St. Petersburg musicians as accompanists for him. At the fifth SKIF, Pierre Moerlen, announced without too much modesty as GONG, performed in this way. But in fact, of course, there was no Gong, but simply the necessary number of local musicians were completed for Pierre and that was all. It sounded, frankly, rather mediocre, and if it were not for Alexei Zubarev on the guitar, then it would have been a complete failure. SBB in its classic line-up (Józef Skrzek / Apostolis Anthimos / Jerzy Piotrowski) has not existed for a long time. They came to the seventh SKIF last year with another drummer. This year the organizers invited only one Jozef Skshek as a leader, organizer and ideological inspirer of the team. I have just mentioned that recently I very carefully listened to all the numbered SBB albums and therefore (although, of course, not only for this reason) I really wanted to listen to the concert performance of Pan Skshek.

Of course, there was already little in common with the early SBB, and it was stupid to expect this. The expression and pressure of youth was replaced by wisdom and confidence. All pieces began to be long meditative piano ballads based on Slavic melodies. In principle, such music, performed only on the piano, would have sounded even better, especially since Jozef Skszek perfectly complemented it with his voice, which has not changed at all over the past years. Mikhail Ogorodov and Alexander Ragazanov, it seemed to me, only spoiled the whole thing. Ogorodov, by the way, I remember from that very performance with Pierre Morlin’s Gong, it’s hard to forget his minimoog filings and swinging the hair. So here he was just as proudly waving his hair, sawing at the minimoog, only everything was somehow stupid. All the same, after all, he will never become a manfredmann, but, nevertheless, he has a full carriage of show-offs! Drummer Ragazanov also looked a bit pale, especially compared (involuntarily and incorrectly of course) with yesterday's night performance of the Sainkho Namtchylak / Hamid Drake / William Parker trio. He will be far from Hamid Drake, oh far .. However, many will be far from such a level, although this is not an argument, of course. It’s just that you always need to strive for perfection, but here (as well as with Ogorodov too), no striving and development has long been noticeable. It would be better if Pan Skshek really performed solo, it would be much more correct. And I also note that one of the plays was dedicated to the blessed memory of Cheslav Nemen. Jozef said that he always expressed his desire to come to SKIF, especially after his (Skshek, that is) stories about last year's festival. But fate, alas, as we know, decreed otherwise.

HenryKaiser/JohnOswald/LucasLigeti (USA/Canada/Austria) - Thanks to the support of the CEC, this year we will see and hear the famous guitarist Henry Kaiser, colleague and friend of Sergey Kuryokhin, with whom they performed together more than once and even recorded an album “PopularScience". Kaiser will perform in a trio with Canadian electronics engineer John Oswald and drummer Lukas Ligeti, son of the great Hungarian composer György Ligeti.

The desire to listen to Henry Kaiser was another of the reasons I was eager for the second day of the festival. Again, somewhere before I read about John Oswald and his plunderphonics (I don't remember exactly where, when, but this name stuck in my memory), so I also wanted to listen to him. I didn't expect anything special, but I was curious.

John Oswald was famously called "Canadian electronics" in the festival booklet, although English version was written correctly - "Canadian composer, saxophonist and sound collage artist”, why, couldn’t they translate adequately or what? He did not take any plunderphonics with him to the stage, but appeared with only one saxophone. And so, Henry Kaiser growled on the guitar (by the way, during the performance he used three of them), Lucas Ligeti rustled the drums, and John Oswald began to slowly and very sparingly place accents on this sound palette with his saxophone. It seemed to me that his restrained, minimalist style of playing was the cornerstone on which the trio was built. She permeated the entire improvisation without letting go of her natural movement. Despite the general simplicity, it turned out to be more than convincing and very strong.

At the end of the performance for one play, Gary Lukas appeared on stage, known for work with Captain Beefheart on his last two albums. From the first chords it immediately became clear that this is a musician of the old blues school, they gloriously saw through several guitar dialogues with Henry Kaiser. It all ended there, there were no encores, which is a pity - because it was good. In any case, Lucas could definitely play more.

There was still quite a bit of time, i.e. it didn't even pass midnight (this, by the way, indicated that the organizers continued to keep the festival well on schedule), but I made a courageous decision to leave the Baltic House and go home. The name of the next speaker in the Great Hall of the collective Remin'Circus I didn’t say anything, and my tired body demanded immediate rest. All in all, "Let's go, let's go, to hell with it!"

The third day of the festival is, of course, MAGMA! I arrived early, what if I catch a sound check? I went through the list of the Union of Composers again, at the entrance they already greeted me like an old acquaintance! In the foyer and in the rest of the premises of the Baltic House, it was unexpectedly rather deserted, although it was already about eight in the evening. It seems that in this scenario, Magma is unlikely to start his performance at 20-00 according to the schedule. That, alas, is exactly what happened. The people wandered dejectedly through the back streets of the premises - nothing happened anywhere, although, realizing that while there was nothing in the Great Hall, the organizers could let at least someone play in the foyer. But no - there was silence everywhere, only some nuggets were tediously strumming guitars at the locker rooms. More serious faces already prevailed among the audience in the foyer that day, especially in comparison with the first two days of the festival. There were people who came from Moscow, in any case, I met Andrei Borisov (Exotic), who confirmed that he had come specifically to Magma. I also saw Seva Gakkel, the Sologubs from Strange Games and other well-known Petersburg musical audience. Everyone had to hang out in the foyer. the doors to the Great Hall were closed, and in the Small Hall nothing was happening at all, the “Visual Projects Site” was somehow completely turned off, in short, there was absolutely nothing to do. Even the tables in the foyer with the compacts laid out on them tried to organize, or rather arrange in accordance with his desire, some bald, mustachioed uncle with army ensign habits. He got me with his obscene cries and commands. This is probably the director or administrator of the Baltic House putting things in order with those who did not pay the rent, I thought. As it turned out later, it turned out to be .. well, you’ll never guess who! .. in general, it was the “second husband” of Anastasia Kuryokhin. What a misfortune happened to the festival if such people take part in its organization!

In such a stupid and boring way, all those gathered were marinated for at least an hour and a half, and only the desire to hear the legendary band after all kept me from leaving. But, nevertheless, at ten o'clock the doors to the Great Hall were opened, and the public quickly rushed to take their places in the front rows. Christian Vander was still sitting at the drum set, apparently he didn’t have time to leave after the sound check, but he left, and Alexey Plyusnin appeared on the stage, who informed the audience, languishing with impatience, that the musicians had gone to drink coffee. And I, he says, while I tell you jokes. Fun, right? You wait here for almost two hours, then it turns out that the musicians have not yet drunk coffee, and in addition, Jewish jokes are told to you instead of music. Just a disgrace! The people in the hall began to whistle.

Magma (France) - For many years considered the leading ensemble of the French underground, an international groupMagma was formed in 1969 by drummer Christian Vander, the son of a gypsy violinist, born on the Polish Baltic coast. A former jazz musician, a Coltrane fan who is equally passionate about modern classical music (Stockhausen, Stravinsky, Bartok) and modern jazz (John Coltrane, Sun Ra), Vander saw his band's mission as "playing the way Coltrane did: live your life on stage. Managed by himMagma became the only French band playing in a rare style of art-rock modern. The first disk of Magma represented a walk in the vast expanses of space, and the next one told about the rivalry of the Earth with the fictional planet Kobaya. On this album, to exotic music, Vander added the artificial language of the planet Kobaya, synthesized by him from Slavic and Germanic roots. And, starting from the second album, all compositions are performed in the Kobai language, and the musicians freely explain themselves in it to each other in everyday life.

But now, (oh, miracle!) Magma still appeared on the stage! Stella Wander greeted everyone and asked the illuminators to make the stage lighting darker, but her request was completely ignored, because. the light did not change during the entire performance. Nothing was said about the composition of Magma in the SKIF booklet, therefore, in the process of writing this article, I rummaged through the Internet for some time in order to find out this very composition. Found only this:

Formation importante, neuf musiciens dont deux claviéristes face à face (l`expérimenté Emmanuel Borghi et le petit nouveau Fred D`Oelsnitz), le bassiste barbu Philippe Bussonnet, le guitariste James Mac Gaw, Stella et Isabelle Feuillebois sur le coté droit de la scène , Antoine et Himiko Paganotti sur le coté gauche et Christian Vander au centre. C`est la disposition classique de Magma depuis la tournée des 30 ans.

Or speaking in Russian: Christian Vander - drums, Emmanuel Borghi - keyboards (left), Fred D`Oelsnitz - keyboards (right), Philippe Bussonnet - bass guitar, James Mac Gaw - electric guitar, Stella Vander - vocals (right), Isabelle Feuillebois - vocals (right), Antoine Paganotti - vocals (left), Himiko Paganotti - vocals (left).

It was said in one of the most recent (January 2004) interviews with Christian Wander, the location of the musicians indicated by him (i.e., left or right) corresponds to what he sees himself, being behind drum set on the stage, therefore, from the audience it looks the other way around. In any case, I understood this, because. Stella Wander was definitely on the right, not on the left, as it is written in French. While I was looking for the composition of Magma for 2004, I found another interesting interview with Vander, for those who read in English, I recommend that you look at this link. >>>>

In general, Magma began her performance. A whole bunch of people armed with video cameras and cameras were brought in near the stage. To be honest, this fuss of TV people, who had just not climbed onto the stage, began to irritate me greatly. But the most "interesting" was yet to come, because the same mustachioed "ensign Kuryokhin" appeared in the hall and began to vigorously disperse these videographers, though not alone, but with the help of guards. Just a complete dump began, the “ensign” grabbed people by the lenses of video cameras, pulled them into the aisle and almost kicked them out of the hall! At the same time, he waved his arms, giving gestures to the guards in which part of the hall they needed to run in order to turn off someone's camera. The mess is complete, even a fight almost happened! We must pay tribute to the professionalism of the musicians - all this fuss in front of the stage had no effect on them, they both played and sang, and continued to do so. But personally, it bothered me very well, it’s good that it didn’t last for a relatively long time, 10-15 minutes, no more. Taking pictures, by the way, was not forbidden, even with the use of a flash.

Their music is simple and complex at the same time. From jazz - complex harmonic improvisations, from European folklore - transparent and pure intonations of folk melodies, spiritualized asceticism of instrumental developments, here are the techniques and style of operas. Many believe that their skill in processing folklore is borrowed from Bartók. But the heavy, pronounced rhythm, moving from emphasized monotony to impulsive dynamism, symbolizing the pace of the Universe towards the "naked soul", comes from rock and resembles the classics of the underground -doors,Gratefuldead,PinkFloyd.

This is how Magma's music was written in the festival booklet. The view, of course, is not so subjective as canonical - this is how it is customary to characterize the work of this difficult team in various kinds encyclopedias and review articles. And I was most afraid that this new composition of Magma would also perform some new music. But no, literally from the first chords it became clear that everything remained in the best traditions of the classic first albums. A choir of four vocalists sang something completely incomprehensible in their Kobayan language. Both keyboardists did nothing of the kind of synthesizer, because their instruments were vintage Fender pianos. Guitarist with a sticker Fuckbmg on the guitar, as he was supposed to, he did not climb forward in terms of subordination. The bassist, with a deep-fussed guitar, played in the same key that Jannik Top set on Magma's first albums. Well, Christian Vander was, as always, just gorgeous! Of course, for the sake of such a concert, it was worth coming to SKIF! It is unlikely that Magma will ever come to Russia again. It is quite possible that Alexander Cheparukhin will drag them out to Moscow (he was at SKIF and took everything carefully), but even if he pulls them out, the prices for such a concert in Moscow will simply be an order of magnitude higher.

Magma's performance at the SKIF was built in such a way that during his time all the facets of this group were presented: choral chants, opera arias, as well as purely instrumental pieces, during which all musicians were given the opportunity to solo. Oddly enough, bassist Philippe Bussonnet gave out the longest solo solo - he practiced on his instrument Probably almost 10 minutes and it did not tire! A magnificent solo on drums was given by Christian Vander, he is already many years old, but many other musicians can envy his energy, and most importantly, the intellectual refinement of Magma's music. One word - power! Plus, the performance lasted almost two hours! At the concert, I could hardly figure it out, long compositions followed one after another, it was not possible for me to determine what exactly was performed personally, because I know Magma's repertoire very poorly, and I heard mostly only albums from the early 70s. I could determine the chronology only from digital photographs. The time of the first frame is 21:39, and the last one, when the audience stood up and applauded, was 23:25.

Being in a slightly stunned state, I realized that today I can’t adequately perceive anyone anymore, and I don’t want to. No need to spoil the feeling. Especially since Dror Feiler's well-known Lokomotiv Konkret, who performed Gary Lucas yesterday (albeit only on one play) and an obscure combined festival formation called the Fuul Guitar Orchestra, followed the schedule. Agree, it was not the same.

And so the eighth SKIF ended for me, ended with this magnificent performance of Magma, for which, in my opinion, it was just worth going to St. Petersburg. Will I go to SKIF next year? I don't know, I don't know... I won't go that far.

And in conclusion, I want to express my deep gratitude to Alexei Plyusnin for giving me the opportunity to feel closer to the Union of Composers, even if only on paper.

AT (May 2004)

But at this address today (May 25) I found more full story about the eighth SKIF, read it, it also talks about performances in the Small Hall and other things, i.e. something that I just deliberately missed.

The legendary music festival of Sergey Kuryokhin - SKIF - will again be held in St. Petersburg on November 25 on the New Stage of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. The Sergey Kuryokhin Foundation annually holds this major cultural event, which presents extraordinary art projects. Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival strives to expand its geography and is constantly looking for new venues in different cities for the festival.

In St. Petersburg, the festival traditionally takes place in the building of the Kuryokhin Center. However, now it is under reconstruction, so the event has an updated location with great interactive features.

The idea of ​​the festival is built on the conceptual foundations of Sergey Kuryokhin's creativity, which he involved in his project "Pop Mechanics". The originality of the festival defined by the inclusion of not only musical performances, but also theatrical performances, multimedia projects, art exhibitions, film and video art.

Sergey Kuryokhin Festival SKIF – innovations

In 2016, a lengthy telethon will be held in all kinds of art, just as it was once organized on Leningrad television. For 6 hours, changing each other, the participants of the telethon - musicians, artists, theorists and practitioners of art - will discuss in six thematic sections: "Pop Mechanics" by Sergey Kuryokhin, "Music", "Contemporary Art", "Theater", "Fashion" and " club life».

New names of talented musicians

It has become a tradition for the festival every year to acquaint the public with young performers, whose non-standard work certainly deserves the attention of the organizers of the modern avant-garde festival. The list can include both domestic soloists and ensembles, as well as foreign ones.

Members of the music program:

• Franco-Lebanese team led by Bachar Mar-Khalifé,
• Group A (Japan),
• Daniel O'Sullivan (Manchester) - keyboardist and composer of Æthenor,
• trio Splashgirl (Oslo),
• a group of soloists "Pop-Mechanics" conducted by Vladimir Volkov, Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky and Sergey Letov,
• group-choir Phurpa,
• Sewage Sour,
• Fanny Kaplan,
• "Theme of the Cross"
• "Flint",
• Glintshake,
• Jacket of Turtle.

SKIF fashion show

The fashion part of the festival will be led by the winner of the Kuryokhin Prize 2015 Andrey Bartenev. In the show program:

• trash-futurist Sergey Chernov - legendary costume designer of "Pop-Mechanics" Kuryokhin,
• team from Ethnographic Museum Petersburg "Paraskeva"
• fashion designers from the St. Petersburg branch of the French Institute Mod'Art, Art and Industry Academy. A. L. Stieglitz and the University of Technology and Design.

Theatrical performances

• Alexander Artemov,
• Alexander Savchuk,
• musical by Kirill Shamanov with the participation of composer Igor Starshinov,
• group "Barto",
• and a few more names that the organizers keep secret until the opening date of the festival.

About the festival

November 7-11 at the Center for Contemporary Art. Sergei Kuryokhin, with the support of the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg, the V International Video Art Festival "Videoforma" will be held. This year's theme is "Future Vision". Festival curators Viktoria Ilyushkina and Olesya Turkina have collected works by contemporary media artists from 10 countries who represent the artistic vision of the post-truth era and share their ideas about the future. The festival program includes screenings and an exhibition of video art, a meeting with Now&After curator Marina Fomenko and Transmission curator Nina Adelaide Olchak, artist talk with Björn Melhus and the premiere of his work Moon Over Da Nang, a conversation with artist Sandrine Dumier and a presentation of her new project "Practicable dreams", a lecture by Antonio Geusa "Not everyone will be taken into the future" and a meeting with the artist Maxim Svishchev.

"Videoforma" not only looks into the future, but also revises ideas about it. Criticism of the realized utopia is one of the main themes of the festival. Anton Ginzburg in the new film "Turo" explores constructivist architecture as evidence of a modernist utopia. Björn Melhus, in Moon Over Da Nang, revisits the idea of ​​the future by juxtaposing two simultaneous events - the landing of American astronauts on the moon and the Vietnam War. Dreams of the future, extracted from the past, become unrecognizable, like the statue of an astronaut emerging from marble in Da Nang. The online project AUJIK, which emerged in the mid-2000s, presents the work Spatial Bodies, in which it visualizes the new urbanism of self-generating architecture. Maxim Svishchev in his "Tsvetasis" populates the city with fantastic kinetic creatures. "Plastic Child" Caroline Koss lives in a plastic environment, formed after an environmental disaster. Elena Artemenko in her video "Soft Weapons" works with objects made of soft silicone - an artificial material that, in terms of tactile properties, is as close as possible to the human body. Realizable Dreams by Sandrine Dumier is a surreal dream world of new cyber-bodies of alternative humanity. Ksenia Galkina in her mockumentary "I am a Hologram" talks about people who got rid of their physical form and became completely digital. Julien Prevost in the movie "What shall we do next?" explores the future, which, in the words of William Gibson, "is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." The artist turns gestures patented by corporations into a performance language.

Moscow curator Marina Fomenko presents a retrospective show of works by artists such as Lena Bergendahl, Brit Bankley, Marie-France Giradot, Nick Jordan, Nuno Manuel Pereira, Ana B., Yung Hee Seo, Yael Thoren.

The topic of Polish is “In this we are all together - Roadmap for the art world post-truth” (Warsaw-Kassel-Karlsruhe). Festival curator Nina Adelaida Olchak prepared for the "Futurovision" special program with the works of the winners - Elena Artemenko, Ka-lun Llong, Anuk Shambaza, Yulia Pashkevichute, Susanna Banasinski, Caroline Koss.

Producer, vlogger, video artist and director of digital Gabriel Soucheyer (France) will show the program "In-between!", which includes works contemporary artists from France, Italy and Japan: Pierre-Jean Guilou, Hugo Arcier, Jérôme Bolb, Frédéric Bonpapa, Alessandro Amaducci, Alain Escalle. The works are devoted to urbanism, the life of digital images, the interaction between the body and technology, as well as the synergy of music and image.