On August 15, 1990, Viktor Tsoi passed away. Much has been written about his death in a car accident. But the most complete and truthful, it seems to me, were two articles written by Oleg Belikov, made on the basis of a journalist's trip to the scene of the tragedy in November 1990. One was published in the newspaper "Live Sound", the second in the magazine "Rolling Stone".
Here are the articles
Rolling Stone "There Will Be No Keane"
The idea to go to the place of Tsoi's death did not occur to me. One of the metropolitan acquaintances, a certain Svetka, told me: “We are going to hitchhike to Tukums, to the place where Choi crashed in November. Will you go with us?” This idea stuck in my head so tightly that I collected all the available cash - about 300 rubles, bought 2 packs of Opal cigarettes and stomped to the editorial office of the local newspaper Znamya Oktyabrya. Having stated to Galina Ivanovna, the editor-in-chief, the proposal to send me on a business trip to "investigate the causes of the death of Viktor Tsoi", I actually had absolutely no idea how I would conduct this investigation. And so I asked to give me some kind of official document. Letter of Credence.
“Of course, we will give you paper, but no money!” said Galina Ivanovna. "I'll go to my own!" - I answered, and we began to think about what kind of "village to grandfather" to address it. The smartest decision seemed to be to choose the prosecutor of the Tukums district as the addressee (since there is a district, then there must be a prosecutor, and he will always be the head of the police). The paper said that a correspondent such and such "is sent to collect material about the last days of Viktor Tsoi's life. Please provide him with all possible assistance."
Stuffing a camera, a flash, about a dozen photographic films and canned food into my bag, I soon stood in front of Svetka and her two friends, who also decided to "see the place." Coming out of the subway, we wandered to the highway. "To Riga". I had very little faith that such and such a truck driver would put such a crowd into his cab after some kind of goblin and drive it "for so" right up to Riga. Therefore, resolutely leaving the girls fifteen meters from the traffic police post, taking out my "protection certificate" and editorial certificate, I went to the post. The policeman, having carefully scanned the papers with his eyes and saw the formidable word "prosecutor", said: "Well, we'll have to wait a bit until we catch the right car. Are these with you too?" He nodded towards the girls. “Yes, correspondents too!” I answered as nonchalantly as possible.
"Necessary car" was found from the fourth time. "That's it, take the correspondents in the direction of Riga," the traffic cop said to the driver. "These?" The driver looked at us incredulously. "Yeah, the documents are in order, I checked." "Well, let them sit down," he answered doomedly. In the cockpit, we immediately take the Elektronika-302 tape recorder from the bag and turn on Tsoi. Somewhere halfway through, the driver drops us off and goes to sleep in some truck stop he knows only. We, invigorating, weave along the highway. To top it all off, it's not quite appropriate snow. Cold. Rare cars don't stop or "go the wrong way".
Only at sunrise do we manage to fit into the brand new UAZ, which takes us all the way to Tukums. I leave the girls at the railway station and go in search of the prosecutor's office. Prosecutor Janis Salons, a man with kind eyes, is carefully studying my papers. He obviously likes them. He picks up a big thick book that looks like a barn and starts flipping through it. Accidents are recorded in this book. The record occupies one line: the brand of the car, license plate number, full name of the owner. The desired entry is found when ten sheets of written paper are flipped back. It seems that accidents happen here almost every hour.
I see the car is registered to Mariana. The case was led by investigator Erika Kazimirovna Ashman. The prosecutor picks up the phone, spins the disk. "Erika Kazimirovna? Now a journalist from Moscow will approach you, please acquaint him with case number 480." I ask: "Are you working today, because the holiday is November 7?". "Well, you have a holiday there, in Moscow, but we don't have any holiday. We are yours
We do not recognize Soviet holidays.” Erika Kazimirovna first greets me “with hostility.” Apparently, the call from the prosecutor's office had no effect on her.
“I don’t have the right to show you materials from this case at all, it has not yet been closed, and, besides, your colleagues have already written in the newspapers what was not there, and then I got hit for allegedly showing them the materials No, no one came here, you are the first one, he only called on the phone from "MK", I read some excerpts to him, and then he mixed everything up. They wrote that Tsoi was not drunk according to the results of an "examination of active brain cells" "But we don't have such an examination at all, we have a small town, it can only be done in Riga, and I don't know. They only did a blood test for alcohol, it wasn't there, that's all. Why didn't they take them to Riga?" So no one knew, they just said that the young guy had crashed. So I'll let you get acquainted with the materials of the case, and then you write, and it will hit me again!
I feel that now they will say "Goodbye" to me, and with fervor I begin to explain that this is why I am here, to learn everything "first hand" and not to allow any "inaccuracies". And that in journalism there are different people, as, in general, in other professions. "And you probably have them too!" The last argument works, and case No. 480 lies before me on the table. I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Erika Kazimirovna: “This? This is about initiating a criminal case against Tsoi Viktor Robertovich. How for what? As the culprit of the accident. But the decision to dismiss the case due to the death of the accused. what do you think, he’s a singer for you, but for us he’s just a delinquent. No, well, they probably wouldn’t have been imprisoned, but they would have been fined for sure. And what you wanted, the damage was done to the auto enterprise - Ikarus was just out of repair, and again got up for two months "But this is money! He didn't go, he didn't carry passengers, the enterprise has losses for several thousand, probably!"
I start to write down all the most interesting things. After a few minutes, I realize that a multi-page volume can take a couple of days of my life from me. I ask permission to copy some pages. "What are you, I shouldn't have shown you the case." Then he surrenders: "Well, just don't tell anyone, otherwise the case is not closed yet." I quickly take out my camera and start shooting one page after another. "The driver of Moskvich - 2141 dark blue (license number Y6832MN) Tsoi Viktor Robertovich lost control of the car on the 35th kilometer of the Sloka-Tulsa highway and drove to the side of the highway, driving 250 meters along it. Then his car hit the fence post of the bridge across Moskvich was thrown into the oncoming lane from the impact, along which the bus Ikarus-250 (license plate 0518VRN, driver Janis Karlovich Fibiks), motor transport company No. 29, Tukums was moving. Collision time - 11 hours 28 minutes. Weather: +28. Visibility - clear.
Erika Kazimirovna explains to me how to find the landlady Birota Luge, from whom Tsoi rented a room: "Are you by car? Write down: the village of Plientsems, the Zeltini house. And there is no numbering of houses, just tell the taxi driver "Ziltini House", he will find it. Or you locals will show you, ask, everyone knows there." Saying goodbye, I photograph the hostess of the office. “Yes, why me, why not!”, - she is suddenly embarrassed.
The girls are waiting at the railway station, near which there are several free taxis. We get to know the driver. "Yanis. Last name? Why do you need it? Ahh, journalists. From Moscow?! About Tsoi material?! Melderis is my last name. I know where the accident happened. And I already took your fans there. You have to travel a lot ? Where?". The girls immediately turn on the cassette with Tsoi. The driver does not mind and even allows you to smoke in the cabin. The car rushes in the direction of the village of Plincems. In about 20 minutes we are already entering the village. Janis, leaning out of the window, asks a passer-by in Latvian about "Zelini".
He waves his hand in the direction of the car, explaining about the yellow sandstone finish. Hence the name. We are approaching. In the sun, the house really shines with gold. At the gate there is a mailbox with the inscription "Zeltini". I enter the yard. The door to the house is closed. I walk around the house. Another door. Also closed. The neighbors who became interested in me explain that Birote is at work, at a fish processing factory. I sit down, let's go. On the edge of the village is a long one-story building. In front of him is a gate with wide open doors, into which we call. I go in and go to look for the boss. Having found it, I explain that his worker, Birota Luga, is needed, for which we actually came from Moscow.
He nods sympathetically and escorts me into the workshop directly to Birote's workplace. She sorts through fresh fish. “Here, journalists have come to you from Moscow. You can go home,” says the boss. She quickly and somehow bashfully wipes her hands, takes off her apron, and we go out into the street. Birota categorically refuses to get into the car, assuring that it will come like that. We are waiting for her at the gate. The house has several rooms. We sit down in the living room. The hostess does not speak Russian well, and the taxi driver Janis, who volunteered to be an interpreter, helps us out a lot.
“I got to know Viktor through his girlfriend Natalya. She has been coming here every summer for ten years, even with her first husband. And for the last three years with Viktor. Sometimes they took Vitya’s son Sasha with them. Usually they came for three months - from June to September How did you rest? Well, the whole family went to the forest for mushrooms. They played badminton. They rode on a skateboard. He still often went fishing, Sasha often took with him. No, he didn’t bring much fish, he was not a fisherman. He said, "she catches for pleasure. And that in noisy Moscow you can't have such a good rest, every time you repeated. I loved the sea very much, there it is - behind the house, behind the pines - it's already a shore. Often went there with Natalya, swam. Ate what? Yes, nothing special, what Yes, I loved tomatoes very much!"
“Yes, I didn’t really communicate with him. Only when he asked where he could get it. He always brought good wine as a gift. the day before, he didn’t touch wine at all. And they sat around the table for something, started talking, and went to bed late. In the morning, at five o’clock, he was going fishing, he wanted to take Sasha with him, but he got tired, he took pity on him One left ... Muscovite loved his very much, he liked him very much, he bought him only three months ago. I ask him what kind of music he has been listening to lately. “I don’t even know. I don’t understand it, he had something spinning on the tape recorder in his room. Sometimes he himself played something on the guitar, hummed. No, I don’t have any photos of him. Will you? Was he a famous musician?
How did it happen...
We say goodbye to Birota and go to the scene of the accident. "It's near the farm Tautopnike, there is only one house there," says Janis. "Fifteen minutes from here if by car." Let's go. Finally, the highway turns sharply to the left. Just around the corner is the bridge over the Taytopu River. Home-made posters and posters with the image of Tsoi, all sorts of ribbons and "baubles" are already hanging on the bridge. In the center, near the fence, there is a three-liter jar of flowers. There are also flowers around, right on the pavement. Thrifty Svetka takes out a bottle of wine. I open it and we take turns taking sips. I ask Janis to signal. He nods knowingly and repeatedly presses the klaxon for a long time.
Natasha and Zhenya's eyes begin to sparkle suspiciously. We finish the bottle, and I go to a lonely house. The hostess comes to my voice. This is Antonina Ivanovna Urbane. She says: “I followed this Ikarus, also on a bus. The driver agreed to give me a ride home. He was ahead of us all the time. that's all - Ikarus stands with its front wheels in the river, and the car is passenger, all mangled, in the middle of the road. The driver of Ikarus had not even managed to get out from behind the wheel yet - he was in shock. Well, I sent my grandson Kolya Zvonnikov, he comes to visit for the summer, " call the ambulance and call the police. The first ambulance arrived, then the police. The doctors took that guy out of the car, he was squeezed there. It was twenty minutes to twelve.
On the right side of the bridge, pieces of concrete knocked out by Ikarus from the protective fences are visible, hanging on the reinforcement. In the river - traces from the wheels of the bus. On the other side of the bridge there is also a column chipped from the side - the one into which the Moskvich crashed. In the middle of the road - a healthy crooked scratch three meters long - crumpled from a terrible blow, it was drawn by the cardan of the Tsoev car. We get into a taxi. "Now where?" Janis asks. “It would be nice to find that bus. This is the automobile enterprise No. 29. Do you know where?” I say.
"I work there, but this bus is in our park, it, in my opinion, has not yet entered the line!" We are going in the middle of the corridor of ship pines. Then the lakes begin to flicker to the left. On one of them, Tsoi threw his fishing rods. In the courtyard of the car park, we drive up to the same Ikarus. There is no driver, he left for lunch, and it is not known when he will come. I take a picture of the bus and get back in the car. “It would be nice to find Tsoi’s car itself!” I say. "Why look for her, she is in the box with our boss, he took her from there!". We're going to the boss.
Konopiev Sergey Alekseevich, having learned about the purpose of the visit, broke into a sly smile: “Wow, I’m hiding from everyone, I don’t tell anyone, but you somehow found out. You were the first who found me. I put her in my box, and then they recognized Okay, let's go - I'll show you. Nobody touched the car. I only took the fishing rods there, here they are in my office, and there were a few fish in the trunk, I threw them away, they'll get spoiled anyway. Take a picture of the car? I don't know, it's you need to ask your relatives for permission!", - he says and calls in Leningrad - Maryana. She is not home. Tsoi's parents, Valentina Vasilievna and Robert Maksimovich, are clearly surprised by the call from Tukums with a request to take pictures of the car. "The car is registered to Maryana, Victor drove by proxy, Maryana and decide, but we cannot decide here."
The head of the automobile enterprise No. 29 Konopiev Sergey Alekseevich opens a garage in which there is a broken Muscovite Viktor Tsoi. The girls are coming. As auto mechanics say, "the car is beyond repair." The front of the car looks like an accordion: the bonnet folded in half, and the roof also reared up. The front seats were pressed into the back seat. Inside the salon, we notice a strand of long black hair. Receptive Zhenya, seeing them, immediately begins to sob. Nika, knowing about the ban on filming, pushes me with his elbow and says in a conspiratorial whisper: "He's turned away and is not looking - let's shoot!" I answer that I can't do that.
Sergei Alekseevich opens the trunk. Behind the car is completely intact, the impact was frontal. In the trunk there is a shabby backpack (probably for fish) and several folded posters from the MK holiday in Luzhniki. On them - the announcement of the gala concert "Soundtrack" and in the center it is written in large size - the group "Kino". The car is dark blue (and not white, as some Moscow publications wrote), and the engine is in place. We are out of boxing. Everyone is depressed
“And here, by the way, is the bus that carried the coffin to Leningrad,” says Sergey Alekseevich, and points to the yellow PAZ-672 with the license plate 2115 LTR. “You can take pictures of him, just don’t write the number. Otherwise, they will meet fans in Moscow, they will still stone the windows. How for what? the bus driver Vladimir Guzanov, he brought it straight from the Tukums morgue to the very Bogoslovsky cemetery.They took Natasha's coffin, she was here, then Maryana arrived, and, in my opinion, Aizenshpis also arrived.
We gave the driver travel allowance for two days. After all, no one wanted to take it, everyone refused. Well, firstly, the road is long to Leningrad, and you won’t drive quickly - after all, the coffin. And Volodya "flew" before that with a booze, so they sent him as a punishment. " Saying goodbye, Kopiev gives me his business card asking me to send the material when he leaves. We drive back to the station. It starts to get dark. Passing by the accident site, Janis is already without our requests gives a long beep.
Please stop at some store, buy cigarettes and sweets. The store is full of both, but a strict saleswoman asks me for a customer's business card. I leave the store with nothing. Seeing my upset face, Janis asks what's the matter. I explain that I wanted to buy a couple of boxes of chocolates, but they don’t sell them. "Wait, there's a familiar driver unloading, give me 25 rubles." I give, and a minute later he comes back with two boxes of chocolates. Finally we arrived at the station. There are 23 rubles with kopecks on the counter. The girls whine that they have very little money left. I take out a twenty-five-rouble note and say that "no change is needed," but let him buzz more when he passes the place of Tsoi's death. He promises
Live sound "Tsoi's death: the way it really is"
Introduction
This year, Viktor Tsoi would have turned 35 years old. The date is round, but did not live up to it. August 15 will soon come, the day on which a new one will begin, already the eighth year of life without Tsoi. Many admirers of "KINO" are still sure that the death of their idol was not accidental. In those days, some media tried to instill in the public the idea that death waited a very long time for the musician and simply chose the right opportunity to attack.
Some moviegoers still believe that Tsoi is alive. The most devoted Vita fans tried to conduct their own investigations into the incident, which is why such a number of rumors, myths and legends arose around a simple accident that it was just right to publish a thick book dedicated to the death of the artist. Journalist Oleg Belikov brought to the editorial office of the newspaper "Live Sound" unique materials on that disaster, including an interview with Vita's mother, Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi, dated February 1991 and never published before. Since there is no doubt about the reliability of the factual information, we decided to publish the most truthful version of the tragedy. And finally put an end to this story.
Holidays
One of the income items of the Latvian Birta Luge, who worked at a fish processing plant, was her house, nicknamed by her neighbors in the fishing village of Pliencems (which is near Riga) “Zeltini”, if in Russian it is “Golden”
Birta met Natalya Razlogova a long time ago - even when she was in her first marriage. So when one day Razlogova arrived in Plienzems with a silent dark-haired guy named Viktor Tsoi, Ms. Luge simply took note of the changes in the personal life of her regular client. The fact that he was a musician, and even a famous one, Birta found out only later.
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “I know what a car accident is, I know that he died. I cannot but believe Natasha’s story. I am a biologist by education, and therefore that act is an indisputable argument for me. I remember, however, that after the first time I tried to read it, I couldn’t approach him for two months. Actually, you need to be ready to read papers describing your child’s injuries. That is, I’m ready for the physiological and anatomical details of anyone’s death, but that’s another matter when this is written about my son! However, there is no getting away from it! Life and death - they always stand side by side. I am not going to be specifically interested in the circumstances of his death, from that act I realized that he had a terrible hole in his chest, and he died instantly. But the guys from the Bogoslovsky cemetery constantly torment me with assumptions that supposedly he is not dead. It is very hard for a mother. "
Natasha came with Victor and his son Sasha every year for the whole summer - from June to September. As a gift to the hostess, the head of the family always brought a bottle of good wine, which they drank right there for the meeting. According to Birta, Vitya always said that nowhere else could he have such a good rest as in Zeltini. And no wonder - behind the house, made of yellow sandstone, there was a small row of pine trees, and right behind them the waves of the bay were already visible. And it was unusually quiet.
Victor and Natasha greatly appreciated the peace that radiated from the fishing village. As a family, they loved going mushroom picking, playing badminton, skateboarding and, of course, fishing. It was hard to believe that Vitya was "one of those hairy ones" who were always yelling something into the microphone on TV. Too much the guy did not correspond to popular ideas about rock music - although he brought a guitar and a tape recorder with him, he did not yell songs in a heart-rending voice. Victor often strummed something, but it happened only in his room and very quietly.
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “We were walking from the cemetery, I see the signs “Vitya is alive” all around. And I say: “Robert, how can you believe that your Vitya is gone ?!” And recently the phone rang. Mom!" I, the only thing I could answer, "Oh, what?!" But it was not Vitka's voice, apparently mixed up. And they hung up. that live on Bogoslovsky. Vitya passed through their fate, and my grief is their grief. And they are trying to prove to me that Vitya is alive. They say: "Valentina Vasilievna, you know, there is such a sign that animals bypass the places where buried dead. You will never see them on the grave. "I answer:" When I was there, ravens flew in, because they are not afraid of anything. First they sat on an umbrella, and then they flew even closer to the grave. "And they:" Another squirrel sat on his grave ... "And, can you imagine, these children, who are always there, next to Vitya, also begin to doubt. One boy from Bogoslovsky, Stas told me: "You know, at night there is some kind of glow on the grave, something completely unearthly rises up ... "In general, they have faith in Vitya's supernatural power"
Sasha - the son of Viktor and Maryana Tsoi (the musician's first wife) - loved to go fishing with his father. The "men" usually returned home tired, but happy, even though there were usually few fish. Apparently, they just liked the process itself: first - fishing fees, packing equipment, loading it into the car, then - driving on a night road and a long vigil by the river.
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “There was a moment when I wanted to leave. I have accumulated a large number of notebooks of Vitya’s fans with dedication poems. There are a lot of poems, and they are so ... deadly! And then, at that time, it was quite easy to go to him Then I kept crying, "sitting" on pills ... I hesitated, but constantly persuaded myself that I had someone to live for: firstly, it is not clear what will happen to Sasha, since Maryana is creating a new family; secondly ", Irina Nikolaevna, Maryanina's mother is a person in need of help. In addition, I have a sister who is somewhat weak - her mother died, her father died, and I was left alone with her. In short, I decided that I have for whom to live! I must live! I even have to live! After all, Robert needs me, and his son Lena ...
Does Robert have a son?
Yes, Lenya, a very good boy. After all, Robert left us, married another, and then returned again. Now his son is already 17 years old, but until 14 the guy did not even know that he had a brother Vitya. His mother immediately gave the child her last name - Kuznetsov, and did not allow Robert to see him. The only thing Lenya knew about was that his father's surname was Choi. But at the end of the cons, she allowed Robert to call Lena, and they began to communicate - they met, went fishing, and immediately everything worked out. The boy was always drawn to us, he understood Vitka. Now Lenya takes our last name, he himself decided so. You see, he also needs to live, and we must help him."
Tragedy
At the beginning of the twelfth morning on August 15, the sun was already beginning to bake, +24. Vitya was returning home from night fishing. This time Sashka did not go with him, because in the evening he fell asleep without waiting for his father. A straight line of asphalt on the Sloka-Tulsa highway between two rows of ship pines flew under the wheels of Tsoi's car at a speed of 150 km / h. In the trunk were a couple of fishing rods and a catch - a few fish. An Ikarus-250 with license plate 0518 BPH was driving towards him, driven by Janis Karlovich Fibiks. He drove an empty bus from repair to his native motor depot No. 29. A lonely one-story house, nicknamed "Teitopnike" in the district, was ahead of the path, both the first and the second.
The owner of "Teitopnike", Antonina Urbane, followed the "Ikarus" on another bus. The "Ikarus" riding ahead was constantly in her field of vision and only for a minute disappeared from sight - when turning behind the house. When Urbane drove up to the house, she saw that the "Ikarus" was already standing in a roadside ditch, its front wheels having driven off the bridge into a small stream. His driver was still in the cab. And in the middle of the road stood a "Moskvich" with a crumpled hood, turned across the highway from a strong blow. The dashboard of the car drove into the front row of seats, pinning the driver to the seat. And the roof of the car, deformed, squeezed his head. The crumpled cardan shaft had drawn a deep scratch about a meter long on the highway.
In Tukums, the roads are not the same as in Russia. They are well paved, so high speed is not uncommon there. Hence the frequent accidents. For local residents, numerous incidents have become commonplace. And for the investigator of the Tukums police department, Erika Ashmane, who was in charge of case No. 480 about the accident on the 35th km of the Sloka-Tulsa highway, the disaster that happened was not something out of the ordinary. In order to fix this case, it took only one paragraph of an official paper in the OVD documentation. And over the course of a year, this police station accumulates dozens of pages with similar entries. Antonina Urbane sent her grandson to call an ambulance. The clock showed 11 hours 40 minutes. The ambulance doctor, who arrived at the scene of the accident earlier than the traffic cops, stated the death of Viktor Robertovich Tsoi. Somewhere in the archives of the Tukums Department of Internal Affairs, a petition is still kept to initiate a criminal case against citizen Tsoi V.R. as the culprit of the accident. The case was dismissed "due to the death of the accused"
Whether Choi fell asleep at the wheel or thought about it, no one will know. But it has been established for sure that the Moskvich crashed into the fence post of the bridge, and it was after this that the car was thrown into the oncoming lane under the wheels of the Ikarus. And before that, the car drove about 250 meters along the side of the road.
Did Vitya fall asleep? Did you leave thinking? Sudden cardiac arrest? Loss of consciousness?
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “Once Yura Kasparyan told me: “Vitya was a great magician, he controlled thousands of people with the help of the power that he possessed. I can't understand how he did it. He must have been a very strong nature ... "And I remembered how once Vitka came home, and I told him:" Listen, you are so ordinary, why are people going crazy about you? "He is silent in response. "You Tell me, how are you at least doing?" - "Mom, I'm very, very good." - "Vit, is it difficult to be like that?" -2 Very difficult.
Funeral
According to the Leningrad program "600 seconds", in the first days after the death of Viktor Tsoi in Leningrad, the number of suicides jumped by 30%. Mostly they were young people and girls who had not yet reached the age of 21.
The bus with the remains of Viktor Tsoi arrived from Tukums to the gates of the Bogoslovsky cemetery (in St. Petersburg) at noon. But his fans said goodbye to Vitya in the morning. First - in a rock club on Rubinstein 13, then - in Kamchatka (in the boiler room where Tsoi worked). There was no civil memorial service. It was replaced by the construction of an improvisational exhibition on the cemetery wall. Photos, drawings, badges, posters, dedication poems are everywhere. In the lattice of the building there are two bowed Russian flags. And a sea of people with mourning tapes, tape recorders and guitars. Tsoi's music is everywhere. The coffin, upholstered in dark blue fabric, is lowered into the grave, a granite slab with the inscription "Tsoi Viktor Robertovich. 1962 - 1990" is installed. Nearby are two large portraits of Tsoi, a wreath with the inscription: "To the singer and citizen Viktor Tsoi. With regret. Korean society." After parting at the grave - a funeral procession along Nevsky Prospekt. Ahead are portraits of Tsoi, they are carried in their arms. Tilt flags. Columns of people are accompanied by militia. Movement is slow, like an honorary escort. The procession occupies one side of the Nevsky. Cars behind them carefully drive around the marchers. On the palace square, under the arches, people begin to chant "Victor is alive!"
Content
On June 21, 1962, a boy was born in the family of Valentina and Robert Tsoi, who later became the idol of Soviet youth and the "torch" of the restructuring of the worldview at the junction of two eras of modern history. Perhaps it was not without reason that the parents named their son Victor, which means the Winner. In the personality of Viktor Tsoi, leadership qualities and the desire for freedom and independence are harmoniously intertwined. A subtle spiritual perception of the world around us, an understanding of the causes and origins of human suffering subsequently resulted in concise and clear texts of Tsoi's author's songs. Perhaps he could have become the spiritual and political leader of a huge number of people, if sudden death had not interrupted the life of Viktor Tsoi at the very take-off.
Path to fame
Victor's childhood and youth were spent in the vicinity of his native house in Leningrad, where he was born. There he formed his interests in music, fine arts and cinema. Reference points in the work of the novice musician were Vladimir Vysotsky and Mikhail Boyarsky. Victor also became interested in martial arts and became a fan of Bruce Lee.
In his youth, as a student at an art school, Tsoi and like-minded people played the bass guitar in the youth group Chamber No. 6. Meetings and communication with musicians from other groups brought fateful events into Tsoi's life. So they brought Victor to the group "Automatic Satisfiers". With them, he went to Moscow for informal concerts, which at that time were often arranged by music critic Artem Troitsky. In Leningrad, at one of these concerts, Tsoi met Boris Grebenshchikov, who later helped in many ways in the career of an aspiring singer and songwriter.
In the spring of 1982, the Kino group appeared on the musical horizon, created by Viktor Tsoi and guitarist Alexei Rybin. They recorded their first album together with the Aquarium musicians under the direction of Grebenshchikov. Underground concerts also continued, which aroused more and more interest in the group after the distribution of the album on cassettes.
Before recording the second album, Yuri Kasparyan joined the group, but soon Alexey Rybin left it due to creative differences with Tsoi. The second album "46" was widely distributed.
Thus began the path to fame and popularity of Viktor Tsoi. Tsoi invested his talent and energy not only in writing songs (basically, all the texts and music of the Kino group were written by Victor). In the summer of 1986, Tsoi, along with other members of the Kino group, made his debut in the short film The End of Vacation.
During his short life, the musician starred in 15 feature and documentary films. The films “Needle” and “Assa” brought Tsoi special popularity as an actor. In 1989, he was recognized as the best actor of the year at the Odessa film festival "Golden Duke". Since that time, the group began to be produced by Yuri Aizenshpis. The recording of new albums, concert tours, television and radio performances made it possible for the musicians to gain all-Union popularity. Millions of people experienced a real shock when they learned that Viktor Tsoi had tragically died. In many cities, walls of Tsoi's memory appeared, on which the singer's fans wrote words of bitterness and condolences, lyrics from his songs and the main motto: “Tsoi is alive!”
When did Viktor Tsoi die?
In the summer of 1990, having settled in a dacha with friends in Jurmala, Victor and Yuri Kasparyan were engaged in arranging and recording songs for a new album. On August 14, the planned work was completed, Yuri left for Leningrad, and Viktor, in the early morning of August 15, went fishing to the forest lake. The return was unpredictable. On the same day, Choi got into a car accident. Victor's death came instantly from his injuries. The traffic police officers who arrived at the scene recorded the time of Tsoi's death at 12 hours 28 minutes.
How did Choi die?
There is an official version of the death of Viktor Tsoi. It is based on the data of the accident report, the testimony of the only witness and the conclusions of the forensic medical examination. But until now, this version is questioned by some of the singer's friends and analysts - experts. According to the investigation (which was carried out hastily and left many questions for the experts of our time), the musician, moving at high speed along the Sloka-Talsi highway, fell asleep at the wheel in his Moskvich car and lost control of the car. Having driven into the oncoming lane, Victor's car crashed into the Ikarus bus, which, after the collision, drove to the side of the road and rolled into the river. The bus driver remained unharmed. Victor's car was completely crushed and thrown 20 meters from the accident site. It all happened on the 35th kilometer of the track, not far from the Tetchupe River.
Causes of death of Viktor Tsoi
As a result of the accident, the artist received multiple bruises, broken bones and skull. His face and body were so disfigured that his relatives insisted that the singer's body be buried in a closed coffin. The funeral took place in Leningrad, on August 19 at the Bogoslovsky cemetery.
According to the results of the court honey. examination, the main cause of Victor's instant death was a traumatic brain injury. Collectively, all the injuries were simply not compatible with life. At the time of the accident, Viktor Tsoi was sober, no traces of alcohol were found in his blood.
According to some colleagues of Viktor Tsoi, the cause of death could be overwork after the last concerts and work on albums, which affected the singer's condition, and he really could fall asleep at the wheel. However, close friends and relatives who knew Victor well, in particular his wife Marianna, did not believe that everything happened exactly as it was stated by the investigation. Some of the friends leaned towards the version of premeditated murder. But at that time they had to accept the official version.
On March 6, 2017, Novye Izvestiya published an article about a new thorough investigation into the accident involving Tsoi, which was conducted by independent technical expert Yuri Antipov. The information collected and analyzed by him, compared with the documents of the investigation, lined up in a logical chain, suggests that the accident was planned and organized by unknown persons. Someone needed the death of Viktor Tsoi.
Many fans of the talent of the leader of the Kino group still cannot believe in his death. For them, he remains alive as his roles in films and songs, which turned out to be prophetic in the 80s, remain relevant today.
On August 15, 1990, Viktor Tsoi passed away. Much has been written about his death in a car accident. But the most complete and truthful, it seems to me, were two articles written by Oleg Belikov, made on the basis of a journalist's trip to the scene of the tragedy in November 1990. One was published in the newspaper "Live Sound", the second in the magazine "Rolling Stone".
Here are the articles
Rolling Stone "There Will Be No Keane"
The idea to go to the place of Tsoi's death did not occur to me. One of the metropolitan acquaintances, a certain Svetka, told me: “We are going to hitchhike to Tukums, to the place where Choi crashed in November. Will you go with us?” This idea stuck in my head so tightly that I collected all the available cash - about 300 rubles, bought 2 packs of Opal cigarettes and stomped to the editorial office of the local newspaper Znamya Oktyabrya. Having stated to Galina Ivanovna, the editor-in-chief, the proposal to send me on a business trip to "investigate the causes of the death of Viktor Tsoi", I actually had absolutely no idea how I would conduct this investigation. And so I asked to give me some kind of official document. Letter of Credence.
“Of course, we will give you paper, but no money!” said Galina Ivanovna. "I'll go to my own!" - I answered, and we began to think about what kind of "village to grandfather" to address it. The smartest decision seemed to be to choose the prosecutor of the Tukums district as the addressee (since there is a district, then there must be a prosecutor, and he will always be the head of the police). The paper said that a correspondent such and such "is sent to collect material about the last days of Viktor Tsoi's life. Please provide him with all possible assistance."
Stuffing a camera, a flash, about a dozen photographic films and canned food into my bag, I soon stood in front of Svetka and her two friends, who also decided to "see the place." Coming out of the subway, we wandered to the highway. "To Riga". I had very little faith that such and such a truck driver would put such a crowd into his cab after some kind of goblin and drive it "for so" right up to Riga. Therefore, resolutely leaving the girls fifteen meters from the traffic police post, taking out my "protection certificate" and editorial certificate, I went to the post. The policeman, having carefully scanned the papers with his eyes and saw the formidable word "prosecutor", said: "Well, we'll have to wait a bit until we catch the right car. Are these with you too?" He nodded towards the girls. “Yes, correspondents too!” I answered as nonchalantly as possible.
"Necessary car" was found from the fourth time. "That's it, take the correspondents in the direction of Riga," the traffic cop said to the driver. "These?" The driver looked at us incredulously. "Yeah, the documents are in order, I checked." "Well, let them sit down," he answered doomedly. In the cockpit, we immediately take the Elektronika-302 tape recorder from the bag and turn on Tsoi. Somewhere halfway through, the driver drops us off and goes to sleep in some truck stop he knows only. We, invigorating, weave along the highway. To top it all off, it's not quite appropriate snow. Cold. Rare cars don't stop or "go the wrong way".
Only at sunrise do we manage to fit into the brand new UAZ, which takes us all the way to Tukums. I leave the girls at the railway station and go in search of the prosecutor's office. Prosecutor Janis Salons, a man with kind eyes, is carefully studying my papers. He obviously likes them. He picks up a big thick book that looks like a barn and starts flipping through it. Accidents are recorded in this book. The record occupies one line: the brand of the car, license plate number, full name of the owner. The desired entry is found when ten sheets of written paper are flipped back. It seems that accidents happen here almost every hour.
I see the car is registered to Mariana. The case was led by investigator Erika Kazimirovna Ashman. The prosecutor picks up the phone, spins the disk. "Erika Kazimirovna? Now a journalist from Moscow will approach you, please acquaint him with case number 480." I ask: "Are you working today, because the holiday is November 7?". "Well, you have a holiday there, in Moscow, but we don't have any holiday. We are yours
We do not recognize Soviet holidays.” Erika Kazimirovna first greets me “with hostility.” Apparently, the call from the prosecutor's office had no effect on her.
“I don’t have the right to show you materials from this case at all, it has not yet been closed, and, besides, your colleagues have already written in the newspapers what was not there, and then I got hit for allegedly showing them the materials No, no one came here, you are the first one, he only called on the phone from "MK", I read some excerpts to him, and then he mixed everything up. They wrote that Tsoi was not drunk according to the results of an "examination of active brain cells" "But we don't have such an examination at all, we have a small town, it can only be done in Riga, and I don't know. They only did a blood test for alcohol, it wasn't there, that's all. Why didn't they take them to Riga?" So no one knew, they just said that the young guy had crashed. So I'll let you get acquainted with the materials of the case, and then you write, and it will hit me again!
I feel that now they will say "Goodbye" to me, and with fervor I begin to explain that this is why I am here, to learn everything "first hand" and not to allow any "inaccuracies". And that in journalism there are different people, as, in general, in other professions. "And you probably have them too!" The last argument works, and case No. 480 lies before me on the table. I'm scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Erika Kazimirovna: “This? This is about initiating a criminal case against Tsoi Viktor Robertovich. How for what? As the culprit of the accident. But the decision to dismiss the case due to the death of the accused. what do you think, he’s a singer for you, but for us he’s just a delinquent. No, well, they probably wouldn’t have been imprisoned, but they would have been fined for sure. And what you wanted, the damage was done to the auto enterprise - Ikarus was just out of repair, and again got up for two months "But this is money! He didn't go, he didn't carry passengers, the enterprise has losses for several thousand, probably!"
I start to write down all the most interesting things. After a few minutes, I realize that a multi-page volume can take a couple of days of my life from me. I ask permission to copy some pages. "What are you, I shouldn't have shown you the case." Then he surrenders: "Well, just don't tell anyone, otherwise the case is not closed yet." I quickly take out my camera and start shooting one page after another. "The driver of Moskvich - 2141 dark blue (license number Y6832MN) Tsoi Viktor Robertovich lost control of the car on the 35th kilometer of the Sloka-Tulsa highway and drove to the side of the highway, driving 250 meters along it. Then his car hit the fence post of the bridge across Moskvich was thrown into the oncoming lane from the impact, along which the bus Ikarus-250 (license plate 0518VRN, driver Janis Karlovich Fibiks), motor transport company No. 29, Tukums was moving. Collision time - 11 hours 28 minutes. Weather: +28. Visibility - clear.
Erika Kazimirovna explains to me how to find the landlady Birota Luge, from whom Tsoi rented a room: "Are you by car? Write down: the village of Plientsems, the Zeltini house. And there is no numbering of houses, just tell the taxi driver "Ziltini House", he will find it. Or you locals will show you, ask, everyone knows there." Saying goodbye, I photograph the hostess of the office. “Yes, why me, why not!”, - she is suddenly embarrassed.
The girls are waiting at the railway station, near which there are several free taxis. We get to know the driver. "Yanis. Last name? Why do you need it? Ahh, journalists. From Moscow?! About Tsoi material?! Melderis is my last name. I know where the accident happened. And I already took your fans there. You have to travel a lot ? Where?". The girls immediately turn on the cassette with Tsoi. The driver does not mind and even allows you to smoke in the cabin. The car rushes in the direction of the village of Plincems. In about 20 minutes we are already entering the village. Janis, leaning out of the window, asks a passer-by in Latvian about "Zelini".
He waves his hand in the direction of the car, explaining about the yellow sandstone finish. Hence the name. We are approaching. In the sun, the house really shines with gold. At the gate there is a mailbox with the inscription "Zeltini". I enter the yard. The door to the house is closed. I walk around the house. Another door. Also closed. The neighbors who became interested in me explain that Birote is at work, at a fish processing factory. I sit down, let's go. On the edge of the village is a long one-story building. In front of him is a gate with wide open doors, into which we call. I go in and go to look for the boss. Having found it, I explain that his worker, Birota Luga, is needed, for which we actually came from Moscow.
He nods sympathetically and escorts me into the workshop directly to Birote's workplace. She sorts through fresh fish. “Here, journalists have come to you from Moscow. You can go home,” says the boss. She quickly and somehow bashfully wipes her hands, takes off her apron, and we go out into the street. Birota categorically refuses to get into the car, assuring that it will come like that. We are waiting for her at the gate. The house has several rooms. We sit down in the living room. The hostess does not speak Russian well, and the taxi driver Janis, who volunteered to be an interpreter, helps us out a lot.
“I got to know Viktor through his girlfriend Natalya. She has been coming here every summer for ten years, even with her first husband. And for the last three years with Viktor. Sometimes they took Vitya’s son Sasha with them. Usually they came for three months - from June to September How did you rest? Well, the whole family went to the forest for mushrooms. They played badminton. They rode on a skateboard. He still often went fishing, Sasha often took with him. No, he didn’t bring much fish, he was not a fisherman. He said, "she catches for pleasure. And that in noisy Moscow you can't have such a good rest, every time you repeated. I loved the sea very much, there it is - behind the house, behind the pines - it's already a shore. Often went there with Natalya, swam. Ate what? Yes, nothing special, what Yes, I loved tomatoes very much!"
“Yes, I didn’t really communicate with him. Only when he asked where he could get it. He always brought good wine as a gift. the day before, he didn’t touch wine at all. And they sat around the table for something, started talking, and went to bed late. In the morning, at five o’clock, he was going fishing, he wanted to take Sasha with him, but he got tired, he took pity on him One left ... Muscovite loved his very much, he liked him very much, he bought him only three months ago. I ask him what kind of music he has been listening to lately. “I don’t even know. I don’t understand it, he had something spinning on the tape recorder in his room. Sometimes he himself played something on the guitar, hummed. No, I don’t have any photos of him. Will you? Was he a famous musician?
How did it happen...
We say goodbye to Birota and go to the scene of the accident. "It's near the farm Tautopnike, there is only one house there," says Janis. "Fifteen minutes from here if by car." Let's go. Finally, the highway turns sharply to the left. Just around the corner is the bridge over the Taytopu River. Home-made posters and posters with the image of Tsoi, all sorts of ribbons and "baubles" are already hanging on the bridge. In the center, near the fence, there is a three-liter jar of flowers. There are also flowers around, right on the pavement. Thrifty Svetka takes out a bottle of wine. I open it and we take turns taking sips. I ask Janis to signal. He nods knowingly and repeatedly presses the klaxon for a long time.
Natasha and Zhenya's eyes begin to sparkle suspiciously. We finish the bottle, and I go to a lonely house. The hostess comes to my voice. This is Antonina Ivanovna Urbane. She says: “I followed this Ikarus, also on a bus. The driver agreed to give me a ride home. He was ahead of us all the time. that's all - Ikarus stands with its front wheels in the river, and the car is passenger, all mangled, in the middle of the road. The driver of Ikarus had not even managed to get out from behind the wheel yet - he was in shock. Well, I sent my grandson Kolya Zvonnikov, he comes to visit for the summer, " call the ambulance and call the police. The first ambulance arrived, then the police. The doctors took that guy out of the car, he was squeezed there. It was twenty minutes to twelve.
On the right side of the bridge, pieces of concrete knocked out by Ikarus from the protective fences are visible, hanging on the reinforcement. In the river - traces from the wheels of the bus. On the other side of the bridge there is also a column chipped from the side - the one into which the Moskvich crashed. In the middle of the road - a healthy crooked scratch three meters long - crumpled from a terrible blow, it was drawn by the cardan of the Tsoev car. We get into a taxi. "Now where?" Janis asks. “It would be nice to find that bus. This is the automobile enterprise No. 29. Do you know where?” I say.
"I work there, but this bus is in our park, it, in my opinion, has not yet entered the line!" We are going in the middle of the corridor of ship pines. Then the lakes begin to flicker to the left. On one of them, Tsoi threw his fishing rods. In the courtyard of the car park, we drive up to the same Ikarus. There is no driver, he left for lunch, and it is not known when he will come. I take a picture of the bus and get back in the car. “It would be nice to find Tsoi’s car itself!” I say. "Why look for her, she is in the box with our boss, he took her from there!". We're going to the boss.
Konopiev Sergey Alekseevich, having learned about the purpose of the visit, broke into a sly smile: “Wow, I’m hiding from everyone, I don’t tell anyone, but you somehow found out. You were the first who found me. I put her in my box, and then they recognized Okay, let's go - I'll show you. Nobody touched the car. I only took the fishing rods there, here they are in my office, and there were a few fish in the trunk, I threw them away, they'll get spoiled anyway. Take a picture of the car? I don't know, it's you need to ask your relatives for permission!", - he says and calls in Leningrad - Maryana. She is not home. Tsoi's parents, Valentina Vasilievna and Robert Maksimovich, are clearly surprised by the call from Tukums with a request to take pictures of the car. "The car is registered to Maryana, Victor drove by proxy, Maryana and decide, but we cannot decide here."
The head of the automobile enterprise No. 29 Konopiev Sergey Alekseevich opens a garage in which there is a broken Muscovite Viktor Tsoi. The girls are coming. As auto mechanics say, "the car is beyond repair." The front of the car looks like an accordion: the bonnet folded in half, and the roof also reared up. The front seats were pressed into the back seat. Inside the salon, we notice a strand of long black hair. Receptive Zhenya, seeing them, immediately begins to sob. Nika, knowing about the ban on filming, pushes me with his elbow and says in a conspiratorial whisper: "He's turned away and is not looking - let's shoot!" I answer that I can't do that.
Sergei Alekseevich opens the trunk. Behind the car is completely intact, the impact was frontal. In the trunk there is a shabby backpack (probably for fish) and several folded posters from the MK holiday in Luzhniki. On them - the announcement of the gala concert "Soundtrack" and in the center it is written in large size - the group "Kino". The car is dark blue (and not white, as some Moscow publications wrote), and the engine is in place. We are out of boxing. Everyone is depressed
“And here, by the way, is the bus that carried the coffin to Leningrad,” says Sergey Alekseevich, and points to the yellow PAZ-672 with the license plate 2115 LTR. “You can take pictures of him, just don’t write the number. Otherwise, they will meet fans in Moscow, they will still stone the windows. How for what? the bus driver Vladimir Guzanov, he brought it straight from the Tukums morgue to the very Bogoslovsky cemetery.They took Natasha's coffin, she was here, then Maryana arrived, and, in my opinion, Aizenshpis also arrived.
We gave the driver travel allowance for two days. After all, no one wanted to take it, everyone refused. Well, firstly, the road is long to Leningrad, and you won’t drive quickly - after all, the coffin. And Volodya "flew" before that with a booze, so they sent him as a punishment. " Saying goodbye, Kopiev gives me his business card asking me to send the material when he leaves. We drive back to the station. It starts to get dark. Passing by the accident site, Janis is already without our requests gives a long beep.
Please stop at some store, buy cigarettes and sweets. The store is full of both, but a strict saleswoman asks me for a customer's business card. I leave the store with nothing. Seeing my upset face, Janis asks what's the matter. I explain that I wanted to buy a couple of boxes of chocolates, but they don’t sell them. "Wait, there's a familiar driver unloading, give me 25 rubles." I give, and a minute later he comes back with two boxes of chocolates. Finally we arrived at the station. There are 23 rubles with kopecks on the counter. The girls whine that they have very little money left. I take out a twenty-five-rouble note and say that "no change is needed," but let him buzz more when he passes the place of Tsoi's death. He promises
Live sound "Tsoi's death: the way it really is"
Introduction
This year, Viktor Tsoi would have turned 35 years old. The date is round, but did not live up to it. August 15 will soon come, the day on which a new one will begin, already the eighth year of life without Tsoi. Many admirers of "KINO" are still sure that the death of their idol was not accidental. In those days, some media tried to instill in the public the idea that death waited a very long time for the musician and simply chose the right opportunity to attack.
Some moviegoers still believe that Tsoi is alive. The most devoted Vita fans tried to conduct their own investigations into the incident, which is why such a number of rumors, myths and legends arose around a simple accident that it was just right to publish a thick book dedicated to the death of the artist. Journalist Oleg Belikov brought to the editorial office of the newspaper "Live Sound" unique materials on that disaster, including an interview with Vita's mother, Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi, dated February 1991 and never published before. Since there is no doubt about the reliability of the factual information, we decided to publish the most truthful version of the tragedy. And finally put an end to this story.
Holidays
One of the income items of the Latvian Birta Luge, who worked at a fish processing plant, was her house, nicknamed by her neighbors in the fishing village of Pliencems (which is near Riga) “Zeltini”, if in Russian it is “Golden”
Birta met Natalya Razlogova a long time ago - even when she was in her first marriage. So when one day Razlogova arrived in Plienzems with a silent dark-haired guy named Viktor Tsoi, Ms. Luge simply took note of the changes in the personal life of her regular client. The fact that he was a musician, and even a famous one, Birta found out only later.
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “I know what a car accident is, I know that he died. I cannot but believe Natasha’s story. I am a biologist by education, and therefore that act is an indisputable argument for me. I remember, however, that after the first time I tried to read it, I couldn’t approach him for two months. Actually, you need to be ready to read papers describing your child’s injuries. That is, I’m ready for the physiological and anatomical details of anyone’s death, but that’s another matter when this is written about my son! However, there is no getting away from it! Life and death - they always stand side by side. I am not going to be specifically interested in the circumstances of his death, from that act I realized that he had a terrible hole in his chest, and he died instantly. But the guys from the Bogoslovsky cemetery constantly torment me with assumptions that supposedly he is not dead. It is very hard for a mother. "
Natasha came with Victor and his son Sasha every year for the whole summer - from June to September. As a gift to the hostess, the head of the family always brought a bottle of good wine, which they drank right there for the meeting. According to Birta, Vitya always said that nowhere else could he have such a good rest as in Zeltini. And no wonder - behind the house, made of yellow sandstone, there was a small row of pine trees, and right behind them the waves of the bay were already visible. And it was unusually quiet.
Victor and Natasha greatly appreciated the peace that radiated from the fishing village. As a family, they loved going mushroom picking, playing badminton, skateboarding and, of course, fishing. It was hard to believe that Vitya was "one of those hairy ones" who were always yelling something into the microphone on TV. Too much the guy did not correspond to popular ideas about rock music - although he brought a guitar and a tape recorder with him, he did not yell songs in a heart-rending voice. Victor often strummed something, but it happened only in his room and very quietly.
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “We were walking from the cemetery, I see the signs “Vitya is alive” all around. And I say: “Robert, how can you believe that your Vitya is gone ?!” And recently the phone rang. Mom!" I, the only thing I could answer, "Oh, what?!" But it was not Vitka's voice, apparently mixed up. And they hung up. that live on Bogoslovsky. Vitya passed through their fate, and my grief is their grief. And they are trying to prove to me that Vitya is alive. They say: "Valentina Vasilievna, you know, there is such a sign that animals bypass the places where buried dead. You will never see them on the grave. "I answer:" When I was there, ravens flew in, because they are not afraid of anything. First they sat on an umbrella, and then they flew even closer to the grave. "And they:" Another squirrel sat on his grave ... "And, can you imagine, these children, who are always there, next to Vitya, also begin to doubt. One boy from Bogoslovsky, Stas told me: "You know, at night there is some kind of glow on the grave, something completely unearthly rises up ... "In general, they have faith in Vitya's supernatural power"
Sasha - the son of Viktor and Maryana Tsoi (the musician's first wife) - loved to go fishing with his father. The "men" usually returned home tired, but happy, even though there were usually few fish. Apparently, they just liked the process itself: first - fishing fees, packing equipment, loading it into the car, then - driving on a night road and a long vigil by the river.
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “There was a moment when I wanted to leave. I have accumulated a large number of notebooks of Vitya’s fans with dedication poems. There are a lot of poems, and they are so ... deadly! And then, at that time, it was quite easy to go to him Then I kept crying, "sitting" on pills ... I hesitated, but constantly persuaded myself that I had someone to live for: firstly, it is not clear what will happen to Sasha, since Maryana is creating a new family; secondly ", Irina Nikolaevna, Maryanina's mother is a person in need of help. In addition, I have a sister who is somewhat weak - her mother died, her father died, and I was left alone with her. In short, I decided that I have for whom to live! I must live! I even have to live! After all, Robert needs me, and his son Lena ...
Does Robert have a son?
Yes, Lenya, a very good boy. After all, Robert left us, married another, and then returned again. Now his son is already 17 years old, but until 14 the guy did not even know that he had a brother Vitya. His mother immediately gave the child her last name - Kuznetsov, and did not allow Robert to see him. The only thing Lenya knew about was that his father's surname was Choi. But at the end of the cons, she allowed Robert to call Lena, and they began to communicate - they met, went fishing, and immediately everything worked out. The boy was always drawn to us, he understood Vitka. Now Lenya takes our last name, he himself decided so. You see, he also needs to live, and we must help him."
Tragedy
At the beginning of the twelfth morning on August 15, the sun was already beginning to bake, +24. Vitya was returning home from night fishing. This time Sashka did not go with him, because in the evening he fell asleep without waiting for his father. A straight line of asphalt on the Sloka-Tulsa highway between two rows of ship pines flew under the wheels of Tsoi's car at a speed of 150 km / h. In the trunk were a couple of fishing rods and a catch - a few fish. An Ikarus-250 with license plate 0518 BPH was driving towards him, driven by Janis Karlovich Fibiks. He drove an empty bus from repair to his native motor depot No. 29. A lonely one-story house, nicknamed "Teitopnike" in the district, was ahead of the path, both the first and the second.
The owner of "Teitopnike", Antonina Urbane, followed the "Ikarus" on another bus. The "Ikarus" riding ahead was constantly in her field of vision and only for a minute disappeared from sight - when turning behind the house. When Urbane drove up to the house, she saw that the "Ikarus" was already standing in a roadside ditch, its front wheels having driven off the bridge into a small stream. His driver was still in the cab. And in the middle of the road stood a "Moskvich" with a crumpled hood, turned across the highway from a strong blow. The dashboard of the car drove into the front row of seats, pinning the driver to the seat. And the roof of the car, deformed, squeezed his head. The crumpled cardan shaft had drawn a deep scratch about a meter long on the highway.
In Tukums, the roads are not the same as in Russia. They are well paved, so high speed is not uncommon there. Hence the frequent accidents. For local residents, numerous incidents have become commonplace. And for the investigator of the Tukums police department, Erika Ashmane, who was in charge of case No. 480 about the accident on the 35th km of the Sloka-Tulsa highway, the disaster that happened was not something out of the ordinary. In order to fix this case, it took only one paragraph of an official paper in the OVD documentation. And over the course of a year, this police station accumulates dozens of pages with similar entries. Antonina Urbane sent her grandson to call an ambulance. The clock showed 11 hours 40 minutes. The ambulance doctor, who arrived at the scene of the accident earlier than the traffic cops, stated the death of Viktor Robertovich Tsoi. Somewhere in the archives of the Tukums Department of Internal Affairs, a petition is still kept to initiate a criminal case against citizen Tsoi V.R. as the culprit of the accident. The case was dismissed "due to the death of the accused"
Whether Choi fell asleep at the wheel or thought about it, no one will know. But it has been established for sure that the Moskvich crashed into the fence post of the bridge, and it was after this that the car was thrown into the oncoming lane under the wheels of the Ikarus. And before that, the car drove about 250 meters along the side of the road.
Did Vitya fall asleep? Did you leave thinking? Sudden cardiac arrest? Loss of consciousness?
Valentina Vasilievna Tsoi: “Once Yura Kasparyan told me: “Vitya was a great magician, he controlled thousands of people with the help of the power that he possessed. I can't understand how he did it. He must have been a very strong nature ... "And I remembered how once Vitka came home, and I told him:" Listen, you are so ordinary, why are people going crazy about you? "He is silent in response. "You Tell me, how are you at least doing?" - "Mom, I'm very, very good." - "Vit, is it difficult to be like that?" -2 Very difficult.
Funeral
According to the Leningrad program "600 seconds", in the first days after the death of Viktor Tsoi in Leningrad, the number of suicides jumped by 30%. Mostly they were young people and girls who had not yet reached the age of 21.
The bus with the remains of Viktor Tsoi arrived from Tukums to the gates of the Bogoslovsky cemetery (in St. Petersburg) at noon. But his fans said goodbye to Vitya in the morning. First - in a rock club on Rubinstein 13, then - in Kamchatka (in the boiler room where Tsoi worked). There was no civil memorial service. It was replaced by the construction of an improvisational exhibition on the cemetery wall. Photos, drawings, badges, posters, dedication poems are everywhere. In the lattice of the building there are two bowed Russian flags. And a sea of people with mourning tapes, tape recorders and guitars. Tsoi's music is everywhere. The coffin, upholstered in dark blue fabric, is lowered into the grave, a granite slab with the inscription "Tsoi Viktor Robertovich. 1962 - 1990" is installed. Nearby are two large portraits of Tsoi, a wreath with the inscription: "To the singer and citizen Viktor Tsoi. With regret. Korean society." After parting at the grave - a funeral procession along Nevsky Prospekt. Ahead are portraits of Tsoi, they are carried in their arms. Tilt flags. Columns of people are accompanied by militia. Movement is slow, like an honorary escort. The procession occupies one side of the Nevsky. Cars behind them carefully drive around the marchers. On the palace square, under the arches, people begin to chant "Victor is alive!"
Sources
Viktor Tsoi is a legend of Russian rock, an incredibly talented musician, founder and leader of the Kino group, whose work is still admired by millions of fans.
Childhood
Viktor Robertovich Tsoi was born on June 21, 1962. The singer has eastern roots - his father, Robert Maksimovich, is Korean by origin. Victor's father was an engineer, mother, a native of St. Petersburg, Valentina Vasilievna, was a physical education teacher at school.
From childhood, little Vitya was drawn to the world of art - at first the boy became interested in drawing, then his parents sent him to an art school. After going there for three years, Victor stopped visiting her.
Viktor Tsoi in childhood
After graduating from the ninth grade, the young man decided to continue his art education. Then Tsoi entered the Leningrad Art School as a graphic designer. However, the love of drawing quickly cooled down, giving way to music, and the guy stopped attending couples. In his second year, he was expelled for academic failure.
After being expelled, Viktor worked for a short time at the factory, and then entered a professional lyceum as a woodcarver.
In his youth, Victor was a fan of the work of Mikhail Boyarsky and Vladimir Vysotsky. Then Choi began to imitate Bruce Lee, under whose wagging Victor became interested in martial arts.
Musical career
In the summer of 1981, a new group "Garin and Hyperbolides" was formed, which included Viktor Tsoi, Alexei "Fish" Rybinsky and Oleg "Basis" Valinsky. In the same autumn, the team became a member of the Leningrad Rock Club. Soon Valinsky was drafted into the army, and the remaining members of the group decided to promote themselves on the musical Olympus - they changed the name of the group to "Kino" and began recording their debut album.
The first disc was recorded under the direction of the famous Boris Grebenshchikov at the music studio of Andrey Toropillo. The musicians from the Aquarium group helped the newly-minted group record the album.
The album, released in 1982, was called "45". The number 45 represents the total length of the songs in the album. After the release of the record, the group begins to win the first fans, the musicians are increasingly invited to apartment houses in Moscow and Leningrad.
In the same year, the group recorded two new songs, "The Last Hero" and "Spring", but both compositions were rejected and Victor took them for himself. Also, for 82 years, the team has been giving concerts in the capital.
February of the following year was marked by a joint concert of the Aquarium and Kino groups. The successful performance brought both groups new fans. However, this year the composition of "Kino" has changed dramatically. Due to a quarrel with Tsoi, Alexei Rybin left the group, and the new team spent the whole summer rehearsing with a new guitarist.
The result of the work was the album "46", which was originally intended as a demo recording of the album "Head of Kamchatka", but thanks to Alexei Vishna, the work was perceived as a full-fledged album of the group.
In May 1984, the Kino group presented a new disc, Head of Kamchatka. The album was recorded in Andrei Toropillo's studio, and Boris Grebenshchikov again produced the record.
The band recorded this album with a new line-up: permanent leader Viktor Tsoi, guitarist Yuri Kasparyan, bass player Alexander Titov and drummer Georgy "Gustav" Guryanov. In the same year, a group with a renewed line-up became a real sensation for Russian rock, becoming a laureate at the second Leningrad Rock Festival.
The following year, the musicians again made a splash at this festival. Inspired by the success, they decide to record their fourth album called "Night". The members of the group worked on the album longer than they originally expected, so before the release of Night, Kino released the magnetic album This Is Not Love in 1985.
Viktor Tsoi and the Kino group
In November, the line-up of the group changed again - Igor Tikhomirov became the bass player, replacing Alexander Titov. After that, the composition of the group did not change until its dissolution.
In the winter of 1986, Andrey Toropillo samizdat released the long-awaited disc "Night". In the same year, in the summer, the group went to Kyiv to shoot in the film "The End of Vacation". Upon returning, "Kino" together with "Aquarium" and "Alisa" gives a concert in the capital. In the same year, the disc “Red Wave” (“Red Wave”) was released in the USA, which included recordings by the group “Kino”, “Alice”, “Aquarium” and “Strange Games”.
In the summer of the same year, Choi works in a bathhouse. It was necessary to work only an hour from 22.00 to 23.00, but it was at this time that the musician worked with the group, so Choi did not stay long in this position. Later, Victor receives an offer to work as a fireman in the Kamchatka boiler house, to which he agrees.
The release of the album "Blood Type" in 1988 brought a new wave of popularity to the group. Then the fans of the group began to appear far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. The group performed with concerts in Italy, Denmark and France. 
The following year, Kino pleased the listeners with a new disc, A Star Called the Sun, which was recorded in a professional studio for the first time in the band's history.
The success of the group increased every day, the number of fans grew at an incredible rate, the whole world seemed to be captured by "movie mania". However, the tragic events of 1990 broke all the plans of the team.
Filmography
Victor also became famous as a talented actor.
In 1986, the performer played in two films - the documentary "Ya-Kha" by Rashid Nugmanov and the film "The End of Vacation". The following year brings fans the documentary "Rock" featuring Tsoi. The famous film "Assa" was released in the same year. The next major work of Victor was the role in the dramatic thriller The Needle, for which the performer received the title of best actor in 1988.
Personal life
The leader of the Kino group married Marianna Tsoi. Shortly after the marriage, in August 1985, the couple had their first child, Alexander. Victor did not live long with the mother of his child - in 1987 Tsoi left Marianna for Natalya Razlogova. The performer met Natalya on the set, then the girl was an assistant director. Relations began between them, which led to the destruction of the family and Victor's move to Moscow. Officially, the marriage with Marianne was not terminated.
Victor and Marianna Tsoi with their son Sasha
tragic death
Victor passed away at the age of 29. August 15, 1990 at noon there was a car accident. As is known from the police chronicle, the singer's car was moving along the Sloka-Talsi highway at a speed of 130 km/h. The singer, unable to cope with the control, flew into the oncoming lane and collided with the Ikarus bus. The people on the bus were not injured, but Victor was seriously injured and died on the spot.
The actor was absolutely sober and did not drink alcohol. The analysis showed that Tsoi fell asleep at the wheel, possibly from overwork. The news of the death of the legendary musician shocked the whole world. Some fans have committed suicide after learning about the horrific death of their idol. Thousands of fans attended the funeral on August 15.
In actor Tsoi, from childhood he was fond of music and drawing, at a very young age he already played the bass guitar in the rock group Chamber No. 6. Musician, songwriter, actor and artist - he became a real legend of the 1980s. His songs were wildly popular, the film "The Needle" with the participation of Tsoi became one of the leaders in the box office, and young people throughout the Soviet Union imitated the manners of the famous musician and even tried to look like him.
Wood carver and frontman of the Kino group
Viktor Tsoi was born in Leningrad in June 1962. His mother was a physical education teacher and his father was an engineer. Tsoi's talents showed up already in kindergarten: he drew well and, moreover, he could easily repeat any melody, even the most complex, tapping the beat with his palm. Educators advised to send the boy to an art or music school. But Tsoi began to study drawing only at the age of 12. Prior to that, he changed several schools: every time his mother changed jobs, the boy moved to a new educational institution with her. In the 1970s, Tsoi first took part in a rock project - the group Chamber No. 6 - where he played the bass guitar.
Viktor Tsoi. Photo: 24smi.org
Viktor Tsoi with his family. Photo: isrageo.com
Viktor Tsoi (left) at the art school. Photo: kinomannia.ru
Four years later, Tsoi entered the Serov Art School, but he was soon expelled for poor performance. Tsoi went to an evening school, got a job at a factory, and later studied at a vocational school with a degree in woodcarving. From his studies, he had a lifelong habit of carving wooden Japanese netsuke figures. Profession Viktor Tsoi chose not by chance: he was still fond of fine arts. However, like music. The circle of his contacts in the 1970s and 80s was iconic figures for the Leningrad underground: Alexei Rybin from the Pilgrims group, Andrei Panov from Automatic Satisfiers, Mike Naumenko from the Zoo collective and Boris Grebenshchikov.
Viktor Tsoi himself participated in Moscow rock apartment houses: at different times he played in several groups. And in the summer of 1981, Tsoi first performed on stage in the Leningrad cafe "Tryum". It is believed that after these concerts, the Garin and Hyperboloids group was formed, its name arose by analogy with Alexei Tolstoy's novel The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin. The team included Viktor Tsoi, Alexey Rybin and Oleg Valinsky. However, soon Valinsky was drafted into the army, and the composition changed its name: this is how the Kino group appeared.
"Head of Kamchatka"
The group released their first album in 1982. It was recorded for a month and a half. They worked at different times of the day: the musicians now and then had to skip work and study. The first disc "Kino" was called "45" - exactly this, 45 minutes, was the total duration of all the songs on the album. Boris Grebenshchikov helped with the recording: members of the Aquarium group acted as session musicians. And a year later, the musicians of two Soviet rock bands performed together on stage - in a big joint concert.
Viktor Tsoi. Photo: vsyoo.com
Cinema group. Photo: m.ncrim.ru
At this time, the guitarist changed in the Kino group. Alexey Rybin left the team after a quarrel with Tsoi, and Yuri Kasparyan was taken in his place. Throughout the summer of 1983, the group rehearsed: the musicians were preparing for the Leningrad Rock Festival. After the performance, Tsoi's song "I declare my house a nuclear-free zone" was recognized as the best, and the group itself became a laureate of the festival. The songs of the festival program were later released as a separate album: it was called "Head of Kamchatka".
In 1984, Viktor Tsoi married Marianna Rodovanskaya - they met at the time when the musicians of the Kino group were recording their first album. Legends of the Leningrad Rock Club walked at their wedding with Tsoi: Boris Grebenshchikov and Alexander Titov, Georgy Guryanov and Yuri Kasparyan. A year later, Victor and Marianna had a son, Alexander.
Viktor Tsoi with his son Alexander. Photo: lovlya-ryby.ru
Viktor Tsoi with his wife Marianna and son Alexander. Photo: lovlya-ryby.ru
At the 1985 rock festival, the Kino group again performed in triumph. Inspired by the success, Tsoi, together with the musicians, began to record the next disc. Soon the album "This is not love" appeared, which was sold throughout the Soviet Union. The name of Viktor Tsoi became known to young people. The musician finished work on the album "Night" and performed with new songs at the joint festival of the Leningrad Rock Club and the Moscow Rock Laboratory. At this time, Tsoi, already a well-known performer, worked in a bathhouse on Veterans Avenue. And later he got a job as a coal miner in a boiler room, now there is a club-museum “Boiler Room. Kamchatka.
Viktor Tsoi - actor, artist and rock legend
Viktor Tsoi not only wrote and sang songs, but also acted in films. His film debut was the diploma work of director Alexei Uchitel - the documentary "Rock". Oleg Garkusha, Boris Grebenshchikov, Anton Adasinsky, the Aquarium, AVIA, Auktsion, DDT, Kino groups also starred in it. Later, Tsoi was invited to shoot more and more often. He starred in the films "Yah ha!" Rashida Nugmanov, "Assa" by Sergei Solovyov. In Nugmanov's film "The Needle", the musician played the main role - Moreau. During the year, the film was watched by more than 14 million Soviet viewers, and the Soviet Screen magazine recognized Viktor Tsoi as the best actor of 1989.
“Well, sometimes it’s interesting to portray, say, a boor. I would never have acted like this in my life. But still, this is not far from the real character, the film was made without any costumes and hairstyles. As I walked down the street, I entered the frame. We had, of course, the original literary script, then Rashid wrote the director's script, with significant changes. In the end, almost nothing remained of the original.
Viktor Tsoi on the filming of the film "The Needle". From an interview with the newspaper "Young Leninist"
In parallel with music and filming, Viktor Tsoi continued to draw. He was part of the New Artists group, which turned to the heritage of the avant-garde of the 1920s and foreign projects - pop art, comics, graffiti by American artists. This also affected the works of Viktor Tsoi - bright, expressive, with deliberately simplified forms. He did not have his own workshop, and he painted where he could and on what he could. Often - on pieces of paper, cardboard and even polyethylene. Viktor Tsoi participated in exhibitions of his creative association and even in the New York exhibition of Leningrad artists - in total, 10 of his paintings went to America.
A joint album of several Soviet rock bands "Red Wave" was released in the USA - it contained songs from "Aquarium" and "Alice", the bands "Strange Games" and "Kino". The record was released by the American singer Joanna Stingray, who met Tsoi during a trip to Leningrad. In the spring of 1989, the album "A Star Called the Sun" was released - the only disc that the musicians of the Kino group recorded in a professional studio.
In 1988-1990, Tsoi gave dozens of concerts throughout the country. He toured in Denmark, performed at the largest rock festival in France in Bourges and at the Soviet-Italian rock festival Back In The USSR in Melpignano.
On August 15, 1990, the Muscovite, driven by Viktor Tsoi, crashed into a bus at high speed. It happened on the Sloka-Talsi highway in Latvia. Later it was found that the musician fell asleep at the wheel. He was buried at the Bogoslovsky cemetery in Leningrad. The last Kino disc called Black Album was released after the death of the band's frontman. On August 15, fans of the rock band celebrate Viktor Tsoi's memorial day.
