Biography of Sergei Manukyan: how a visually impaired boy from Grozny became a great contemporary jazzman. Sergey Manukyan, jazz vocalist, pianist Sergey Manukyan now

Sergey Manukyan is a legend of Russian jazz. His performances are a special magic that controls the emotions and feelings of the audience. Each concert of a pianist/vocalist is a new reality. He is applauded by jazz connoisseurs in all countries of the world. Sergey Manukyan has been awarded many prestigious awards, the title of "Best Jazz Musician". The development of jazz art is an integral part of the life of a pianist and vocalist. Sergey Manukyan implements this task through his own Foundation, founded in 2005.

At the origins

Witty and sensual - this is how Sergey Manukyan appears every time at concerts and festivals. He is always full of creative ideas that convey to the viewer at the limit of emotions. Music has been his passion since childhood. Sergei was born on March 15, 1955 in Grozny. His musical career began at the age of 12. Then Manukyan performed with city jazz orchestras, played drums in the orchestra of the State Radio and Television of the Chechen Republic. Then there was a study at the Grozny Music College in the class of percussion. After graduating in 1975, Sergei performed for a long time with the Shishkin trio in the city of Gorky (today Nizhny Novgorod). At that time, a certified drummer had not yet thought about a solo career. But fate decreed otherwise.

Solo debut

In the early 80s, Sergei Manukyan moved to Tallinn, where he performed in the jazz rock band Avicenna. The team participated in all-Union jazz music reviews, was a great success. During this period, Manukyan's solo debut took place. For the first time as a vocalist, Sergei appeared before the public at the Riga Jazz Festival in 1981. His performance amazed everyone. Music critics unanimously declared him jazz singer No. 1. All further creative biography of the maestro only confirms this high title. After the first recognition, Sergei's life changed. Busy tour schedule, international festivals, honorary awards and fame. With the Avicenna team, Manukyan performed on the most prestigious stages of the world.

Hollywood

The 80s became a "golden period" for Sergei, marked by collaboration with leading Western jazz musicians. In his creative baggage, he worked with Richard Eliot at Warner Brothers, recorded an album at the Capitol studio, and collaborated with jazz legend Frank Zappa. He performed on the same stage with Michael Bolton, Cindy Lauper, Quincy Jones, George Benson, Herbie Hancock and other world-class stars.

Moscow

Sergey Manukyan has been working in Moscow since 1991. His appearance was literally a musical breakthrough. He, the soloist of the jazz orchestra Anatoly Kroll, managed to bring the team to a new level, significantly raise the bar. It was a serious step in Sergey Manukyan's great jazz career, a step towards recognition and popularity.

Unique Talent

Thirty years have passed since the triumph of vocalist Manukyan in Riga. But even today, his inimitable performance captivates the most sophisticated audience. His timbre of voice is characteristic and recognizable: it is not for nothing that Sergei Manukyan is often compared to Ray Charles. In his interviews, Sergey Manukyan says that the talent of the legendary Ray has always inspired him. Back in his native Grozny, the novice drummer listened admiringly to the blues performed by the legend. It is possible that new facets of Sergei Manukyan's talent were revealed thanks to Ray's music. But Sergey has his own style. Each new composition is harmony, a deep understanding of real jazz, and high professionalism. The entire creative biography of Sergei Manukyan is a colossal work and a great love for music. Actually, it cannot be otherwise. After all, only outstanding personalities are able to create a legend.

It is difficult to find a more reckless and unpretentious vocalist in our jazz firmament than Sergey Manukyan - he was always ready to fearlessly participate in the most non-standard musical events. Therefore, it is not surprising that, being already a well-known musician, Sergey decided to appear in the Voice 60+ show. As a result, Sergey Manukyan conquered the mentors and listeners with his performance of the song Can't Buy Me Love and turned all the chairs around. He chose Valery Meladze as a mentor.

Many were interested in the biography of Sergei Manukyan, who was born on March 15, 1955 in Grozny. Although the success story of one of the brightest and most memorable participants in the project has long been well known to jazz fans.

INCREDIBLE LOVE FOR MUSIC

The qualifying stage for the show "Voice" is called blind auditions. In a situation with a jazzman, this phrase takes on a special meaning - Sergey Manukyan is blind in one eye, and has a strong minus in the other. Having deprived the artist of sight, nature rewarded him with absolute pitch. From an early age, the boy memorized any sounds and music, he could sit at the radio for hours, and from the age of four he began to ask his mother or father to put on a record. Parents sang along with the baby with pleasure - not being professional singers (the head of the family worked as a prosecutor, his wife was a doctor), they were very talented people. Mom played the guitar, dad played the mandolin.

Genes played their role - Sergey went even further than his older brothers, who were also involved in music. He could forget the name of the composition and the name of the performer, but he accurately reproduced the melody heard even just once on the piano that was at home.

Whether you like it or not, you’ll come up and start playing something, ”recalls Sergey. - I was looking for programs on the radio where beat music, rock and roll sounded. I liked these directions for their rhythm and dynamism, I tried to select all this, then I began to imitate instruments with my voice.

At the music school, they refused to work with the boy, they said: “He sees poorly, it’s better not to occupy him with music.”

MANUKYAN, GET UP, IT'S TIME TO SING!

Sergey's parents realized that burying such talent in the ground is simply a crime, they took their son to a local recreation center and explained the situation: he loves music, but sees very poorly, teach him to play whatever you want, even drums. The team received the boy well. He greedily absorbed any knowledge, while he could calmly maintain a conversation with adults, instantly became the soul of the company.

At the age of 13, I got a ticket to Artek, - the musician shares. - I knew many popular songs, including the Beatles. Therefore, after lights out, the counselors quietly woke me up: "Manukyan, let's go sing songs!" I got up and walked, sat with them until the morning.

A few years later, a new important stage began in Sergei's life - after a brilliant interview, he was taken to the Grozny Music College.

The professor asked: "I'll play a melody now, repeat?" I repeated. He played something more difficult, I repeated it again. "Then I'll play this!" I performed again. "Okay, then go home." I was shocked - how to go home, why go home? "Come to school in September." So I didn’t even pass any entrance exams, - says Sergey.

Here a talented guy began to make his first arrangements, began to get acquainted with the music of the peoples of the world. After graduating from college, he was willingly accepted into the city philharmonic society.

Five years later, Sergei said goodbye to his native Grozny. No matter how warmly he treated this place, he received an offer that he could not refuse - to play VIA "Labyrinth". Further, the biography of Sergei Manukyan continued in Gorky (modern Nizhny Novgorod).

I am proud that I was born and raised in Grozny. I have the most pleasant memories associated with this wonderful place: my parents' house, my friends, first love, first tape recordings, fruits and homemade wine, which you will not find anywhere else, - Sergey says with nostalgia. - But I understood that in Gorky I could do what I always dreamed of - jazz.

"WE BREATHE IN UNISON"

A year later, the artist became a laureate of the All-Union Jazz Festival in Riga. Then he was invited to work in the Estonian jazz-rock group Avicenna. Later he moved from Tallinn to Moscow. In the late 80s, Sergei Manukyan began collaborating with famous Western performers, for example, with Richard Eliot at the Warner Brothers studio, and the Capitol studio offered him to record an album.

We can say that since 1988, fame began to come to me. I became one of the participants in the Music Speaks Louder Than Words project (a CD for which all compositions were written by American and Soviet musicians and composers - Ed.) along with Cyndi Lauper, Michael Bolton, Earth, Wind & Fire. My name was included in the musical encyclopedia, - lists the jazzman.

Creativity brought Sergey Manukyan not only fame, but also true love.

My wife Marina is also a musician, she graduated from the Leningrad Rimsky-Korsakov School. We met at one of the rehearsals and no longer parted, in 1977 we got married. We have common interests, we breathe in unison. She is a very kind and caring person, a true keeper of the hearth.

The Manukyans have four children. The eldest son Valery is professionally involved in sports, one daughter Dean moved to Scotland to study English philology at the University of Edinburgh, the second - Ariadne - graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University, the youngest son Severian is finishing school.

BY THE WAY

"Manuk" is translated as "baby". Sergey Manukyan really reflects his surname - his childish immediacy immediately captivates and disposes to himself. And yes, he is small. But with a big heart. Blind people attend his concerts for free.

Tickets are expensive in our times. Few people with disabilities can afford to go to a particular performance. And for blind people, music is the only window to a full life, which they cannot perceive visually, - the jazzman explains his position.

Here is what Sergey Manukyan answered these questions after his speech.

I've never had a bad attitude towards good pop music. All good music is music, that's all. What do I plan to sing next? As a jazz performer, I cannot answer this question. Let's think of something. You can perform both in Russian and in English, I don’t think that this will be any problem. Did I get nervous before going out? Well, how worried ... I have already gone on stage so many times that there is no such excitement that I will now forget something or do something differently than I would like - of course, there is no such thing. But I am always very sensitive to what happens on stage and behind it. The general state is when you go into music. And music is a different space, so sometimes it's a bit like excitement. I chose Valery Meladze because the pop music he performs is very interesting, unusual in arrangement, and has a well-formed style. All members of the jury are amazing masters, you can’t confuse them with anyone. But Meladze, even in this vast sea of ​​all sorts of things, found his interesting niche in terms of not only music, but also texts. What he sings about is interesting to me.

Sergey Manukyan's performance at the knockout stage in the Voice. 60+".

He is really very funny - either he looks like Danny DeVito, or he looks like Giuseppe the Gray Nose performed by Yuri Katin-Yartsev from the Soviet film "The Adventures of Pinocchio". Because of the piano, only a bald head and tufts of hair on the sides are visible. But all this amusing image dissipates as soon as he starts playing and singing: either blues, or jazz, or funk - genre boundaries are out of place here, because Sergey Manukyan makes his magic with his heart. He has practically no vision left, so the 63-year-old musician plays by touch - the way his soul leads. "Won't turn back? So deaf.” “Will it hurt if no one turns around?” - asked the host of the project, Dmitry Nagiyev, a short, bald man sitting at the piano in the waiting room. “So they are deaf,” he answered, and burst out laughing. No, it was not bragging. Fact. more on the topic “Voice 60+”: Lev Leshchenko’s ward presented Agutin with a portrait of Sergey Manukyan, a recognized master in the field of unpopular music that we are not used to hearing on TV. In restaurants, cramped clubs or, conversely, in well-lit pompous halls, there is a special world where jazz, bebop, swing, scat, blues, soul, funk are played - everything that makes an unprepared listener recall the comedy "We're from Jazz". Thanks to the show "Voice. 60+" now every viewer can enjoy the work of the master. So in 1987, Manukyan established a dialogue with the United States. He performed in a Soviet-American concert with singer Diana Reeves. photo: Nikolay MALYSHEV / TASS He started a long time ago. The son of a prosecutor and a doctor, Manukyan graduated from the Grozny Musical College in percussion class back in 1975, it's scary to think. Although he began to perform long before that - he played drums in the orchestra of the State Radio and Television of the Chechen-Ingush SSR at the age of 12. Manukyan fell in love with jazz at a time when few people in the USSR had heard of it, let alone understood it. He soloed in various ensembles in Grozny, then moved to Gorky, where he was enrolled in the VIA "Labyrinth". Then Manukyan became interested in the music of Ray Charles and decided to try a solo career. Having flashed at several major music festivals - in Pori, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Riga, Leningrad, Novosibirsk - Manukyan decided to move to Estonia and ended up there in the Avicenna group, which loudly declared itself at all-Union jazz music reviews. But the main beacon for the musician remained Ray Charles, with whom, by the way, Manukyan is often compared. Not only because of the manner of performance, but also because of the peculiarities of vision. Manukyan is blind in one eye and minus eight myopia in the other. Sergei believes that vision problems helped him master several musical instruments simply by ear and without musical notation. Jazz for the sake of peace He first came to Moscow in 1983 and began playing blues and jazz in the Golden Hall of Intourist. The audience slowly began to get used to American music. Sergey performed more and more often, and Soviet stars began to try fashionable jazz moves in their songs. The peak of his career came in the 80s - Manukyan was invited to the USA to work with Richard Eliot at the Warner Вros studio. and with jazz legend Frank Zappa. He performed on the same stage with Michael Bolton, Cindy Lauper, Quincy Jones, George Benson and other world-class stars. more on the topic Sergei Shnurov will break the rules of the show "Voice"Returning to the Union, Manukyan became the soloist of the famous jazz big band Anatoly Kroll. In 1989, the artist received the Grand Prix at the First Television Music Competition "Steps to Parnassus", and in 1994 Manukyan was awarded the title of "Best Jazz Musician of the Year" and the Ovation Award. In 1990, he took part in the recording of the compilation Music Speaks Louder Than Words (“Music speaks louder than words”) - a Soviet-American jazz record, on which US music stars and our famous artists and composers worked: Oleg Gazmanov, Igor Krutoy, David Tukhmanov , Igor Nikolaev, Vladimir Matetsky. The project was supposed to help establish cool ties between the US and the USSR. “Music is divine and lives somewhere far away” Until now, Manukyan writes music, performs. Lives in Moscow. He has four adult children. He also founded the Foundation for the Development of Jazz Art, which helps novice musicians, including the blind. - Jazz is not elite music, - emphasizes Sergey Manukyan. - Music generally eschews idle judgments. She is divine and lives somewhere far away, she does not care if she is popular or not, whether many people listen to her or not. The main thing is that the music is in tune with you. Everything in life is interconnected. We need good music filled with melody and human sounds. Melody, harmony, correct, true rhythm. Music should be good.

"On Channel One, I decided to expand my television role and give way not only to young talents, but also to singers whose age has confidently approached the 60+ mark. Considering that three of the four judges are much younger than the performers, it seems that the exchange of experience will take place in two directions.

The beginning of the next decade is devoted to solo programs with a rare involvement of performers - Daniil Kramer, Vyacheslav Gorsky, Andrey Kondakov and others. At this time, he was awarded the highest title in his musical direction and the Ovation Award. In 1991, he collaborated with Igor Boyko.

The jazzman's discography includes 9 albums: 5 solo and 4 festival.

Personal life

Sergey Manukyan in his personal life, as well as in his profession, chose one thing once and for all. As the “little giant of big jazz” himself jokes, “the marriage is the first and, I hope, the last.” Wife Marina, who gave her beloved husband four children - Valery and Severyan, Dina and Ariadne - is a historian by education, and part-time - best friend. In one interview, the maestro called himself a free artist, deprived of the right to create when he pleases. First, because abilities require it. Secondly, a large family that needs to be taken care of and fed.

The heirs did not follow in the footsteps of their father, but each succeeded in his field: the eldest son is an athlete, the eldest daughter studied philology at the University of Edinburgh, the youngest graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University.

By the way, the head of the family loves to pamper his family not only with exquisite works, but also with dishes of his own preparation. Creates them, however, infrequently, but by inspiration. As a true oriental man, he gives special preference to Armenian-style meat, appreciates wine, does not mind warming up the vocal cords and only within reasonable limits before a concert.

Sergey Manukyan is a passionate and devoted fan of football and boxing. He devotes rare free minutes to reading historical books.

Sergey Manukyan now

Festivals and tours - such is the work of the unsurpassed master of instrumental vocals and soul jazz. It seems that they are waiting for him everywhere and always. Perhaps, in addition to the talent that conquered the globe, the secret is still in the endless charm and sense of humor, for which he was nicknamed Russian and second. And in relation to life - despite poor eyesight (the composer is blind in one eye), he glows with love and radiates optimism, charging those around him with them.

Manukyan does not divide music into genres, recognizing only "good" and "bad", and considers it "a manifestation of divine kindness" and "a way to come to God." And those who play it are storytellers, "giving the truth of another level."

At the end of 2017, the “domestic”, together with Evgeny Borets, presented the “Phone Book” program to the Moscow audience.

Sergey Manukyan performs the song "Can't Buy Me Love"

After the release of the first release of the Voice 60+ vocal program, the Internet exploded with enthusiastic comments and responses. And the mentors themselves could not watch the performance while sitting. The only representative of the fair sex on the jury, a folk singer, summarized the thoughts of the audience in a succinct way:

"We're all lucky that you're here."

Sergey Vladimirovich has a page in

Sergey Manukyan was born in Grozny (then - the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic) on March 15, 1955. He made his debut in the orchestra of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Institute of the Chechen ASSR as a drummer as a teenager. The debut on the big jazz stage as a vocalist took place at the jazz festival in Riga in 1981. Criticism then called Manukyan "the master of scat and the number one jazz singer."
Having started his musical activity at the age of 12, playing in the jazz orchestras of his native city, Sergey did not dream of a solo career, but fate decreed otherwise. The musician worked a lot and successfully as a drummer in the trio of A. Shishkin in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). After the first recognition, a big touring life began, festivals brought laureates and fame. Soon Sergey began to master singing and keyboard instruments. The first international vocal competition in Poland brought him an award and fame abroad.
In the 80s, Manukyan moved to Estonia and worked successfully in Tallinn for a long time as part of the Avicenna jazz-rock group.
Already in the late 80s, Sergei Manukyan began to collaborate with well-known names in the West: at the Warner Brothers studio - with Richard Eliot, from the Capitol studio he received an offer to record an album; at the same time, Frank Zappa used Manukyan's music in his project. Collaboration with world celebrities in the Soviet-American project "Music Speaks Louder Than Words", including Cindy Lauper, Michael Bolton, Earth Wind & Fire and others, brought Sergey an acquaintance with Hollywood.
In 1989, Sergei Manukyan received the Grand Prix at the first All-Union television music competition "Step to Parnassus", as well as the "Audience Award". Since 1991 he has been living and working in Moscow. In 1994 he was awarded the high title of "Best Jazz Musician of the Year" and the "Ovation" award. In 2005 he founded his own Foundation for the Development of Jazz Art.

Anna Vardugina
Sergey Manukyan: "I will teach you to fly"
(interview about Sergey's participation in the Izhevsk Jazz Festival)

- As an established musician, is it probably more interesting for you to give solo concerts than to be one of the many participants in the festival?

- It will be very funny if one of us says that he is an accomplished musician. A musician, as long as he lives, improves so much. Any festival is a gift to the city, and we should go to festivals if only to play in this city, be it St. Petersburg or Izhevsk. This is our job. If it were my will, I would have the musicians make an annual round in all cities. Not only for the sake of earning money, but so that there is no city that is not covered by jazz. So that jazz music can be heard everywhere, so that the whole country is aware of the inner life of jazz. And now the situation is such that it is simply economically unrealistic to get to some cities.

- Tell me, are there any young musicians who are certainly interesting to you?

Yes, sure. There are quite a few very gifted musicians who play well and have an artistic gift. But besides technique, there is another component of music… What is missing for a young musician? The musical content often lacks the experience. As a result, the music sounds either cold or, on the contrary, too hot. The point is that all music is a product of experience. Of course, there are young musicians who have already experienced a lot in their youth, but ... These are usually not the experiences that give birth to music. A mature musician is able to transform experiences, paint his feelings with musical pictures.

- Can you name the moment when you yourself realized that you started playing differently?

Certainly yes. At the same time, I cannot say that I began to play better - categories do not work better or worse here. This is the moment when you realized something, suddenly heard something, and without this heard and felt you can no longer play. From now on, this knowledge is always with you. In fact, this acquisition of knowledge, enrichment, happens all the time. But for every insight it is necessary that some kind of insight happens, so that the channels of divine energy open. This may be a consequence of the spiritual work that you yourself are doing, it may be the influence of the lifestyle that you lead ... The Lord said: Do good, and you will be rewarded.

- So for you music is a divine revelation? What then is the role of the profession?

Professionalism, technique exist only to get out if there is no divine manifestation. When I am sick, I know for sure that on stage I will need to get out professionally, because when the body hurts, there is no influx from above. And then I play at the expense of professionalism, as if through myself. But there is no illumination. But it happens that you are flying ( laughs), you fly...

- Can an insensitive audience stop this flight?

In fact, the role of the audience is secondary. First you have to fly yourself. The relationship between a musician and the audience is like that of a parent and child. This child depends on me, it is I who direct him, and not he me, I ask him, I educate him. It's the same with the audience. I can't follow them, but they follow me. And that's how sincere I am with them, how much they believe me and are ready to follow me. I must always be in such a state that they do not turn away from me.

- What then should be the dissonance when you are flying in a state of insight, and in the hall - a random audience ...

I'll still make her fly. If I play sincerely, with love… What kind of person do you have to be in order not to respond to sincere love? And, you know, reaching out to these random listeners is the greatest happiness.

- How does the professional jazz community treat those who, at the beginning of their journey, promised to be very good jazz musicians, but went into the commercial sphere, became people of show business?

You know, my example is Larisa Dolina. It seems to me that Lara went to the stage, towards commercial music, not only because she had to earn money. She always liked to sing good songs, no matter what genre they belong to. But she graced the stage. She didn't spoil it!

Still, it's better than if these same songs were sung by people who are completely devoid of talent. Lara, she can sing great, and she is talented even in this repertoire. Of course, when she returns to jazz, she realizes that a lot of time has been lost, but that's another story. In general, it seems to me that if people like Larisa Dolina perform commercial music, our stage will be a little better.

- Is it possible to remain within the framework of serious jazz, and at the same time be commercially successful?

In fact, as you understand, commercial success does not indicate a performance level. Indeed, financial well-being often accompanies projects that were started not for the sake of music, but as commercial enterprises, for example, the Star Factory. Unfortunately, lack of culture and disrespect for something fundamental and real is a matter of many centuries. And this is not only a problem of our century or our country. I can say that Britney Spears or the Spice Girls live much better than Western jazzmen. Because hucksters rule the world, and it's more profitable to sell pop culture. She sells better.

- A jazz is not for sale? The kind of music that makes both musicians and the audience fly?

Well, what now... And you can generally come to church for free and hear there something that cannot be heard anywhere else and never. Spiritual chants are an incomparable, amazing state. More than flying at a social concert. And it's free. What's worth the money? Most often - nothing, things are transient. I myself would like to play music that cannot be fashionable or unfashionable, that you can always listen to, because it speaks of eternal things. You know, I have always respected the work of Vysotsky, and the only thing that I did not like was the topicality of the moment inherent in his songs. You can listen to any of his songs and understand when it was written. And I want music to have no reference to time.

Are there things you haven't done yet?

Oh yeah. I really wanted to play with the Beatles laughs). Well, I didn’t play, and it’s okay.

- I'm asking about real possibilities.

And everything is real. Everything that a person can fantasize for himself, one way or another can happen.

- How are your joint projects with certain musicians born now? You play with a new team almost every year.

You know, I belong to the category of people whose projects never end. They start once - and forever. It doesn't happen for me that I gather a group, play a series of concerts, and then dismiss the musicians. This is how a movie is made: the scenes were filmed, and everyone left; music is not done that way. There are not so many of us, and one way or another we meet each other. And even if there were ten times more of us, we would still strive for those with whom we are more familiar, more comfortable. We can't change friends all the time. In music, it's the same. Once having coincided in the understanding of music, we develop together, invent together, in a new way based on what we had in common before, and this makes a lot of sense. Therefore, in each new project there is a place for those with whom we played before.

- Still, in the jazz environment there are very few bands that remain basically unchanged for ten, fifteen or more years. There are many more such examples in rock music. Why?

Because rock music itself is quite primitive, and when people converge in this primitive, it's forever. And the peculiarity of rock music is that it lives only in the performance of one group. I played Led Zeppelin, The Beatles myself in my youth, but I doubt very much that in fifty years anyone will play Deep Purple or the Rolling Stones. However, I'm not saying that the Stones are bad, they are an amazing, fantastic team.

- The Beatles will play.

Yes, they will be played, but because the basis of their music is not a claim, but a song. But the Doors will not play, because their work does not belong to music in general, but to one particular artist. This, unfortunately, is the primitiveness of rock. But music must live, this is its main task. To live in different incarnations, in different musicians. It cannot be associated with people, because music is more than people.

2005, website "All TV channels" (Izhevsk)