Memory. Leonid Fedorov

Photo: Megaq, entrance photo - Vladimir Lavrischev/www.leonidfedorov.ru

"Not a single raven from all sides!" - we yelled at Fedorov's concerts for the past ten years, and now the song “Head and Leg” can be yelled at any rally: “And I, it seems, can’t be silent, the skin on my shoulders bursts from silence. I forget familiar names. Feeling under turns into feeling on!” Only this will no longer be a rally, and the truth is that Leonid Fedorov is an incredibly apolitical person. Home. He writes his terrible songs to the words of Ozersky, Vvedensky and Khlebnikov at home, and we talk in the kitchen.

Is today Thursday a fish day or are you fasting?

(Lida, wife and producer of Fedorov, takes out of the refrigerator and oven different fish- fried, steamed, salted).

We are doing such a diet, the second time already. The first day - only buckwheat porridge, the second - only boiled chicken, the third day - kefir or okroshka. Without bread, vegetables are possible. The fourth day is fish, but for some reason today is Monday. You won’t believe it - every day a kilogram of weight goes somewhere. The fifth day is vegetables, the sixth is a holiday, that is, fruits. It’s good in the morning, in anticipation: oh, you think, chicken, but by the evening you can’t look at this chicken, complete disgust. And the next morning you expect porridge like manna from heaven. Very strange sensations from food, you know?

What are you reading now?

I was reading a biography of Michelangelo, and it struck me that with his great wealth he lived always on wine, cheese, bread and olives. This is what I mean by diet. You can still sit on bread and cheese for a week, but for the rest of your life - it's impossible to imagine. Vasari writes that the already very old Michelangelo, having been engaged in the Vatican Cathedral, having spent many years on mosaics, in the end took and smashed everything with a hammer. Was a normal guy.

We read Martynov with Lida as soon as he writes something new. It is impossible not to agree with him that there is a stratification and delimitation of people in circles and parties, even within the same profession. We went to Silvestrov's 70th birthday at the Rachmaninov Hall, and I realized that this is a very narrow circle, a party where everyone has known each other for a long time. There are many different circles in music. And in the movies you can't count them. There is no single cultural space, communication, air is not enough. Everything has been replaced by a TV or a bunch of glossy magazines. Understand? Where can different people gather? Nowhere. Kuryokhin was the last in music who kept completely different people together. At some point, he managed to include everyone in his process. The same inclusion, but on a global scale, was made by the Beatles. Millions took up guitars, myself included. They still lived in a common cultural layer for all, in this common air it didn’t matter who did what - classical, jazz, whatever. And now, the funny thing is, they are not at all interested in what is happening in the neighboring musical party. Free jazz players don't fit in with populists, there is no cooperation.

Kuryokhin was the last in music who kept completely different people together. At some point, he managed to include everyone in his process. The same inclusion, but on a global scale, was made by the Beatles

When they still sang in the villages, they were free jazz in pure form, every day grandmothers pulled a new note, new drawing melodies were given out depending on the weather and mood. And now you will find such only at your concerts.

I read about Mozart and Beethoven that they didn't use sheet music, they constantly improvised, at all performances. What we have left in the notes are all the pale imprints of their rampage. A pianist played in the first part, and Beethoven himself came out in the second part and improvised. The notes meant nothing to them. Now you can record everything, record a concert, but then every day everything was new. If we consider their notes to be precious, then it is impossible to imagine their playing. Cool guys.

Well, after all, keeping silent about you and Auktyon, what really struck you in that legendary music from the times of the Leningrad Rock Club when you started?

Bashlachev's apartment. When they let me listen to his cassette, it didn’t seem to me at all. But the concert... I remember that feeling. As if from under the ground, from under his chair, a column of flame and unearthly fury beat. Physiological sensation of a clot of energy. Half an hour of a hurricane - words and three chords are not important - and you see a simple kid with fixes and blood on his hands. Absolutely amazing, like no other energy. Vysotsky was still boring us with some thoughts, but here there is no thought. It was a squall and an earthquake. And since then, I have never felt anything like this, with anyone. No, there were many concerts where some rockers rocked the hall, but I understood that this was the sound. But Bashlachev did not have a word that struck me, not a sound. There was a stream, fiery lava, gap-grass. And then I watched the video - no feeling, just remembering the presence at that concert. I still don't understand how this is possible.

I once had a sound device examined my health. Clicks clearly localized in the head come from the stereo headphones, and the computer with the system feedback according to the reaction of the brain to thousands of clicks in the entire volume of the head, he makes a diagnosis. So, the buzz from this electronic diagnostic "music" greatly exceeded all the pleasure that I once received from the German "Tangerine Dream". Do you think electronics will replace live instruments?

Not sure. Rather stay live music. This is most likely different genres. You see, it's like poetry - in any case, they will exist in literature. The impact of these musics is different, they have different spaces. It's like comparing a book with an electronic reader, you always want to turn the paper in your hands more than the reader. But you can no longer go anywhere, extract all the sounds and music from the computer, download books. In Google" museum program, so I spent three hours yesterday at the Uffizi without getting up from my chair.

I barely pulled him out of there, - says Lida, - my head was already spinning to look at the pictures, but he still won’t come off, he breaks his eyes.

Do you go to real museums of the world together?

We love it, yes. It was not always like this, but about ten years ago canvases and paints suddenly pulled us. In January we were in Madrid Prado.

Do you go to the theatre? At the presentation of the Wolfgang album at the Central House of Artists, you arranged a pure theater with a dozen ancient Mosfilm chairs and half a dozen ancient wooden radios, not to mention Vika Tolstoganova on stage and a cartoon on the screen.

Rarely. Last time went to a performance by Martynov at the Boyakov Theater. Here my great-grandfather was absolutely theater man, People's Artist Monakhov, founder of the BDT and its superstar. In Alexei Tolstoy's "Walking Through the Torments" young ladies run to Monakhov. In the cinema, he is remembered for the role of the landowner Troekurov in Dubrovsky. At the age of sixty-three, in 1937, he married a young, seventeen-year-old beauty, and she poisoned him. Some people think that the NKVD could not do without it. Like this luxurious life. He was a friend of Benois and Gorky. (“You don’t have to follow in his footsteps,” Lida remarks.) He started with verses, and ended up with Don Carlos in Alexandrinka, he simply became a great artist. True, under Stalin, after 1929, all his roles dried up and began to give away clerical work. Great-grandfather for me and theater, and its history. And when I saw him young in the photo in my memoirs, I was stunned - the spitting image of my father. The language and style of his memoirs are exactly what I would write myself. Moreover, the whole situation and people are very similar to current affairs. It's like nothing changes.

Bashlachev did not have a word that struck me, not a sound. There was a stream, fiery lava, gap-grass

I look at the photo of your great-grandfather and see you as part of the coupletists of the early "Auktyon".

I say: nothing changes. Here is a story about Chaliapin. One fashionable actress refused to perform at the Monakhov Theater, and the tickets were all sold out. In order not to go broke, Monakhov invited Chaliapin, who said: "If you drink with me, I will sing for free." And Monakhov says: “I can’t, the ulcer.” However, they still drank, but the super bass did not appear on the stage, because the great-grandfather offered to go to the girls instead of saving the box office.

How many times have your songs appeared on TV? Let's count: twice in the eighties, zero times in the nineties, a couple of times in the two thousandths. I mean Garkusha with the song “I was born under a hood” in the film of the Teacher “Rock” of 1987, the same year of “Burglar” Ogorodnikov, again with Garkusha, “ Music ring" in 1989, "The Road" in "Brother-2" in 2000, "There will be no winter" in "Boomer" in 2004. No doubt, the films are noble, but ... Oh, I forgot, on the radio a couple of songs from the people's favorite "Birds" were played in 1995. Not rare?

Well, we went to Dibrov three more times, to different programs, after which they closed. Is it a coincidence or something. I attended all such programs only because my friends asked - Oleg Garkusha, Vova Volkov, for example. If it were not for my friends, I would never have appeared on the screen anywhere. I'm kind of alien to TV. My friend, Lesha Agranovich, the director of all sorts of spectacles, ceremonies and presentations, always thinks that this is the time - and he will promote me there, into the light. So, a few years ago, he invited us to perform at one of the first Golden Eagle award ceremonies, where the three of us were me, Volkov and Tatiana Grindenko. And we were the only ones cut from the record.

Do you remember the Musical Ring program? In that memorable "Ring" in 1989, the audience reacted to the AU in the same interesting way as to Kuryokhin's quite Oberiut lecture "Lenin-mushroom" in Sholokhov's program "The Fifth Wheel".

When we entered the Leningrad Rock Club, by the way, we were suspected that we were mishandled Cossacks. There were already groups without pathos, so to speak. " strange games", For example. Everyone kept us as strange, we didn’t care how the Komsomol members perceive us. Honestly, over the past twenty years, my desire not to shine anywhere, not to hang out, has only grown stronger. I won't speak for everyone else. You see, in the eighties, when we just started playing, of course, we wanted recognition and all sorts of fame, but we quickly cooled off. There were many opportunities to appear in the box thoroughly. But when I started talking to people from there, I didn't really like it. Not people, but the whole atmosphere of what is called show business. So I merged with TV, began to somehow abruptly refuse offers. Social circle and interests were clearly not mine. That is, it was boring, dreary and it is not clear why. I didn't like the results of rare appearances on TV. Why shine there when there is still no music industry in the country. There is earning money, but there is no quality of the product at the output. And then, in the eighties and nineties, it was all the more a kindergarten. Were musical ideas- theirs, not theirs, it doesn't matter. And when you realize that, having spent a lot of effort and time on the implementation of these ideas, you will have to turn everything into a booth, into a product that is digestible for the viewer, you choose something else: you do only what is interesting. So I methodically did this interesting thing. It would be interesting for me to do something with the directors I know, maybe they with me, but we have our own business, it's hard to find time.

So you like the director of the film about Landau, because you starred there?

There were shootings of Stalin's Moscow in Kharkov, these hundreds of people in the clothes of the thirties, it is so unlike anything, not projecting, but an experiment, in fact, not just a show of mummers. Of course, when both a person and his ideas are liked, there is an understanding that he will not make the film below the expected level. Igor Voloshin, Ilya Khrzhanovsky - they are approximately on the same wavelength, we talked a lot. Not really common interests, but we are in the same space, despite the fact that we are different. It used to be that other directors offered scripts to read, asked if they liked it, if it was great. I had to say that it was not great, because I did not want to go back, go down to the basements, waste time. This feeling of lower flight and level is inherent in everyone, that is, those projects where I could have participated ten years ago are now in no way suitable.

At the age of sixty-three, in 1937, my great-grandfather married a young, seventeen-year-old beauty, and she poisoned him

All the people from the "Auktyon" somehow inadvertently, accidentally picked up for joint creativity. For example, a man with operatic vocals, Sergei Rogozhin, appeared in Ozersky's field of vision at the Institute of Culture and immediately sang at the AC; a disco dancer came, as they say now - a representative of the lifestyle contemporary dance, Vova Veselkin - and immediately made a crazy duet with Oleg Garkusha. Never had a clear plan for what the AU should be like?

Yes, unplanned economy. But we were ambitious, we wanted everything at once. The people gathered are not quite ordinary, but this is fate. As in Garkusha's poetry, "a boy, like a boy, was born under a cap." These moments cannot be explained, it happened, and that's it. In that country, we simply did not have the right to perform, only at dances. When I quit my job after taking two days off work, my parents told me I was crazy because we only played at the rock club five times a year and for free. They enjoyed the stage and the sound, that's all. But since 1988, there have been opportunities for, so to speak, not a free drive. Garkusha and Bondarik, cautious people, worked in their offices until 1991 or something.

And when did you meet Sergey Kuryokhin?

Somewhere in 1985, but Garkusha was more familiar with him, he actively participated in Pop Mechanics. As soon as Kuryokhin saw Garkusha in the "Auktyon", he immediately took him into his hands. We had mutual friend, Firsov, here we sometimes met with him, especially in the last years of Sergei's life. You see, Kuryokhin generally influenced everyone and everything, but the rest had no less influence. "Aquarium" as a musical phenomenon influenced me much more than "Pop Mechanics". "Pop Mechanics" was a product of that atmosphere. It was for us a normal visual embodiment of what is happening around. Brought the goat to the stage, brought folk artists in the role of janitors, well done. Some special aspiration, cries of “ah!” we did not have. You see, at that time it was in everyone's head. I was always more interested in music, I would be too lazy to take a goat, but he easily embodied this general collective madness. The show was purple for me in the Auktyone too. Ozersky wants a performance - please, let him do it. Miller wants to put some kind of suit on me - come on, if it's not too tight in it. We did not invent anything, everything was taken from the atmosphere of that time.

In the completely Soviet, but good film of the Teacher “Rock”, the idea was visual - to show troublemakers-troubadours unbearable to the state as quiet, useful to society “cogs”: a simple stoker Vitya Tsoi, gentle dad Borya Grebenshchikov, a slender dance teacher Anton Adasinsky, affectionate projectionist Oleg Garkusha and so on. And what was Tsoi in reality, for example?

Choi is amazing, his fate is amazing. Not a stoker, but rather Lermontov. He achieved gigantic popularity without any media at all. When he appeared on television, he was so famous, such an idol that it was PR for the TV, and not for Vitya. Everyone without exception knew about Tsoi. Once we played in "Pop Mechanics", in August 1988, in Alushta. We arrived in a crowd, all the pop mechanics, there were fifteen of us, including me, Garkundel, Gasparyan. The first day was completely wild: they didn’t want to put us in a hotel, we slept in some kind of wooden pioneer camp, nobody needed us. In addition, there was a scandalous concert. But the next day, Tsoi arrived, who had already done the “Blood Type”. And in a magical, dramatic way, everything changed at once. We were put up in the best hotel, we went to the special beach. Fans crowded around from all sides, shouting: “Choi!” More Africa - Sergey Bugaev was wildly popular after the movie "Assa". Nobody knew Kuryokhin at all, especially us, and Tsoi sounded from every tape recorder, kiosk, tavern and nook.

The show was purple for me in the Auktyone too. Ozersky wants a performance - please, let him do it. Miller wants to put some kind of suit on me - let's, if it's not too tight in it

Your duets with Volkov and Ozersky can only be heard in small clubs. What, too lazy to hang posters on fences, to collect some kind of "Olympic"?

Well-u-u ... And why, and why? I don't think it needs to be done now. It's not about the posters, you never know different Vasya Pupkins hanging over Tverskaya. There is some inner feeling of how many people can listen to this music, who really needs it. I understand why Tsoi could gather half a million people. And what are we, with what songs, in fact, could we go out: “I can’t and can’t be like everyone else”? (Laughs.) I do not think that now with Vvedensky and Khlebnikov one can be the idols of the country.

When did you meet Vladimir Volkov?

Volkov always knew. But we didn't know each other personally until 1997. I was far from the music that Volkov played, far from any free jazz and other things. Somehow fate brought him together, at the funeral of Kuryokhin. Vova spoke about his "Volkov-Trio", and then our first record came out - "There will be no winter." When it was recorded, I was in great doubt whether this record should be released. It was even for us a strange and unusual sound production. The approach to music was rebuilt. They chose an experiment, so what the ten of us have been doing for the past ten years could not help in any way, this is a completely different activity. I know perfectly well that my close friends, that is, the entire Auktyon, do not need this, it is not in their area of ​​​​interest. It's not about who to sing to the verses, Khlebnikov or Khvostenko. The point is this. All discs recorded with Volkov are absolutely one-time things. Recently, Vova and I listened to a piece of "Besonders" and realized that now we would have done it completely differently, but only five years have passed. You see, this is inserted into the context of time, it could only be recorded instantly. Volkov is absolutely mobile - he got ready in half an hour and arrived. We whistled something and we sit quietly at night playing, he quietly plays the double bass so as not to wake the neighbors. With a large AU, this was not possible then, but it is already possible now. Everyone already understands, gathered and felt. Suddenly it became clear how to record without rehearsals, without hundreds of takes, how to record the very givenness of time in time, at this very minute. All AU discs were made traditionally: we whole year rehearsed songs, quite painfully, and then quickly wrote everything down. Therefore, I was never happy with the result: what was invented never turned out on the record, and I could not understand why. It suddenly dawned on me that only what happened in the studio itself turned out, unexpectedly, lit up in the process of recording itself, and not at rehearsals that lasted a year. “Dweller of the Peaks” turned out because not only everything that was invented in advance, but also the insights of different people on the recording itself, immediately fit in. But still, there was an invention. And all the work with Volkov is pure improvisation, without duplicates. We just try three - usually - options and choose. So? Not this way? Here he is! He is such a. And that's it.

Watch the video of the interview with Leonid Fedorov and Dmitry Ozersky

Our meeting with Leonid Fedorov happened in one of the Moscow clubs at the concert of Leonid Soibelman. We agreed to talk after the American tour of AUKTSION.
It so happened that your american tour coincided with world-shaking events. What are your impressions from your September trip to the States?
Leonid Fedorov: We flew to New York on a Dutch airline. While flying to Amsterdam, everything happened. Then we spent almost two days at the airport.
What did you do?
Leonid: Slept and drank, what else to do there? Vodka was not sold to us at first. We approach the counter, we are asked to show the tickets. It turns out that with New York tickets, alcohol can only be sold three hours before departure. So on the first day they did not sell. Indeed, we had it with us. Enough for one night. And then, when they realized that we were hanging for a long time, they began to sell. They returned home two days later. They ended up in the States only on September 26th. And had to cancel most tour. Played only four concerts. They performed in Boston, New York and Washington.
It seemed to me then that the atmosphere in America is much calmer than in Russia. There was such hysteria here thanks to the means mass media! Journalists grabbed the sensation. This is not the first time we have been to the States. AND significant changes I personally didn't notice. As New York was, so it remains. Unless there are more police officers on the roads and near bridges. The blow, of course, is powerful for everyone. But, unlike us, Americans do not panic.
Did you play for the Americans or for the immigrant audience?
Leonid: In the States, the story is not the same as in Germany, where at first we played only for the Germans. In America, the people who are engaged in our tours, initially focused on emigrant listeners. Therefore, for us there is not much difference - to perform in Russia or in America. The audience is the same.
I know an artist who created his best paintings for the auction Bird. Have you ever been inspired by non-musical works?
Leonid: There are many such examples. Dima Strizhev, my good artist friend, with his pictures. I went to museums in Germany and America a lot ... And recently there was a drop dead exhibition in Pushkinsky - dutch painting. Most strong impression left over from a Vermeer painting. He has a stunning portrait from the back. Stronger impression for Lately I didn't experience. Vermeer defeated everyone.
What is the fate of auction cartoons? Looks like you were going to release them on VHS...
Leonid: Well, maybe someday we will get together to publish all the accumulated material: cartoons, clips... The first cartoon was given many prizes at various festivals. But the second one, I think, is more interesting. He is absolutely avant-garde, not one that can be shown to children at night, not Carlson.
For my long history AUCTION had to perform in the most unexpected places. In Germany, there was even a concert in a convent...
Leonid: Yes, it was in Aachen. The drummer Sasha Kondrashkin, who played in STRANGE GAMES, AVIA and other bands, was lying in the hospital there. He had a wild injury, and he was in the hospital for a very long time. His wife asked to raise money. She didn't really have anything to eat. Sasha was fed in the hospital, but she was not. So she agreed with the convent. The monastery is so small, the nuns are quiet, inconspicuous. At the concert itself, they probably weren't there.
On this moment this is the most unusual concert hall?
Leonid: Not really. In 1987 we played in a prison in Yablonevka. I still remember this concert. This performance was arranged by one photographer, who, unfortunately, has already died. He himself once sat in this prison. He had a funny article for pornography. His wife worked at the Leningrad Circus, and one night he decided to film a naked card deballet in the arena. He was then caught and given six years. Then, being already at large, he agreed with the political officer of the prison about our concert. It's actually amazing how that could happen. After all, we did not have the right, according to the laws existing at that time, to play for money, because we did not have music education. But the political officer turned out to be progressively thinking, he came up with something. Then all our texts went through a bunch of all sorts of obstacles ... Then Alexei Uchitel was filming the film Rock, and he got excited about the idea of ​​filming this concert of ours. At first, nothing worked, then they got to some general ... In general, it was still nonsense.
We performed on the asphalt parade ground. We play, the political officer sits in front, then the convicts. Huge parade ground, benches. Such a gloomy picture. Not a single cotton. It wasn't until after the performance that things began to stir. The convicts began secretly handing over notes to freedom ... After the concert, they went to change into Lenin's room. And then we performed in bright make-up. In general, we wash off these colors from ourselves, they tell us: The political officer wants to talk to you. He came and started lecturing that in general everything was fine, but here, here and here it was necessary to sing not like this, but like this. This has never happened to us! After all, we have always been such desperate nihilists, and someone's opinion was on the drum. The main thing is that we like ourselves. We seriously did not recognize the authorities, maybe that saved us. Those who did not like our work, we simply sent. And here a person expresses his attitude towards us, and we do not object to him, because there is a feeling that we can easily be left in this prison. Fuck knows ... You also have to imagine what faces we had at that time, and played in front of the prisoners, you don’t understand what. The program was All Quiet in Baghdad. In general, it is not clear what, and why it is for the convicts?
We asked who was there. We are told: Drug addicts, murderers, burglars. In general, such normal prisoners. No political prisoners.
Admirers, therefore, were not acquired in a criminal environment?
Leonid: Yes, what fans! They perceived us as p...ditch and bastards. It was like waving a red rag in front of a bull. They sit, and here we go! And in our faces there is such infantile freedom... I think this is an unpleasant feeling for them. We even had the idea that the political officer did this on purpose in order to annoy the convicts. Like - look what kind of freaks walk in the wild.
Do you feel that everything that happens to you is not accidental?
Leonid: This can always be confirmed. But I don't know how sensitive I am to these signs. I think if you want, they are there, if you don't want, they are not. That is, if it is given, you will see it, even if you do not want it. And if it’s not given, but you want to, you still won’t see it.
All I can say about myself is important events in my life are happening very abruptly. It doesn’t happen that you smoothly flow from one situation to another, and then you realize that, it seems, nothing special has happened, but at the same time a lot has changed. Everything is changing for me at once. It's like a curtain is closing. Boom! And I live a different life. I clearly know that at that moment an event occurred that turned my life into a new direction. In 1986, I very abruptly quit my job at Russian Gems. Then they could have fired me under the article, but they fired me not under the article. Since then I have not worked for the state. A completely different life began, fateful meetings. Why all of a sudden, where? Here, for example, with the Tail. From what the hell?
In 1989 we flew to Paris for the first time. And after the airport we were immediately taken to a restaurant. There was a crowd of emigrants. For them, this was the first trip of the underground at the official level. Of course, there was a wild pump. A mass of powerful people gathered Chief Editor Continent, Mamleev and his wife, some priests ... I had never heard of any of them, I did not know. He didn't know anything about the Tail either. I have a friend Sergey Firsov. Kuryokhin told him that Khvostenko lived in Paris, who wrote Under the Blue Sky. Of course, we all knew the song. And it so happened that we were sitting next to him at the table. Instantly determined that we are kindred spirits. And after the restaurant, without stopping at the hotel, we went to him.
And the idea joint project appeared later?
Leonid: Yes, it didn't exist back then. He just sang his songs, and we admired. It was such a thrill! I then said that it is already possible to somehow come here. But Tail's wife, Rimma, came at me like a kite. He says: We were expelled, we will never go to the Union. And in 1992, Khvostenko still flew here. In fact, by accident: then there was a famine, and he was somehow stuffed into a plane with humanitarian aid. So he came here - illegally. We then recorded the Kettle of Wine. Prior to that, I rather sluggishly persuaded him to record an album. Somehow they sat, drank, he sang about thirty songs per verse on a cassette ... And at the moment when he appeared here, I had no desire to write anything. We just finished Hangover, I relaxed. But then we recorded the Teapot of Wine rather quickly, in about two weeks. Didn't stress too much.
Do you still consider it the best auction album?
Leonid: Yes, sure. This is a very precise, pure thing. She is not invented. Me, at least. And this is the thrill. I understand that when these songs were composed by Khvostenko and Volkhonsky, it was a colossal work for them. But there are a lot of things that were invented absolutely spontaneously. The very work with Khvostenko is awesome. Especially during that period it was so. The tenant of the Vershins was written more heavily. The tail is already old ...
And the teapot is great! The songs were already sung. He gave them cool, easy. Although the songs are gloomy, there is no tension in this album, a very light atmosphere is felt.
Is it possible that you will record something else together?
Leonid: Why not? I just don't like planning things like that. After the Bird, I gave up on those things. I don't like planned albums. They have a task. I love things that happen spontaneously. They can be much darker, but at the same time closer. Here is the Resident of the Peaks and Anabena - absolutely not planned albums. When an inner desire appears, we try to realize it. If something works out - cool, if it doesn't work out - garbage.
Does the AUCTION have failed concerts?
Leonid: So many. It's hard to say what it depends on. Bad day, bad sound, stupid mood... Anything. It has to do with things that are out of our control. I can control some things, but up to a certain limit. This cannot be predicted. Sometimes a great concert can happen in the most terrible places. And sometimes cool festival, crazy money, the company is super, and nothing happens on stage.
Some rock musicians talk about stimulants as a way to see the top to go. That is, it is enough to look at it once, then to climb there on your own.
Leonid: I remember being interested in the effects of alcohol. I thought how to convey this state. It turned out not so difficult. Everyone can be deceived. It is more difficult to express the feelings of being completely sober and healthy person, with whom a nightmare occurs or, let's say, he wildly rejoices. It is difficult to make a person frightened, laugh, experience delight.
In fact, to achieve something in creativity, you just need to have a clear head.
Yulia BARENGOLTS

From the biography: Leonid Valentinovich Fedorov was born on January 8, 1963 in St. Petersburg - Russian rock musician, leader of the Auktyon group. Over the past 20 years, Leonid Fedorov has rightly earned a reputation as one of the leaders of independent rock music in Russia. A native of St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), in the 80s ... Read completely

Leonid Fedorov, one of the oldest rockers in Russia and a member famous group Auktyon reacted very unexpectedly to the interview. Until the moment the recorder appeared in his hand, Leonid easily communicated, talked a lot about himself and asked questions himself, but as soon as the recorder appeared in his hand, he ... suddenly became shy. Holding the guitar on his knees, he, as if embarrassed, picked it with his finger and answered questions, sometimes losing touch with the above.

Andrey Pomidorrov: Will we ever hear new songs from "Auktyon", will there be new albums?
Leonid Fedorov: I hope (laughs). There is now one proposal, if everything ends well, then we will write in America.

A.P.: Why in America and not here?
L.F.: Because there are musicians who offered us to record. I don't know if they've heard of them - John Zorn, saxophonist, Mark Ribot, guitarist "wet". Zorn is probably the best saxophonist in the world.

A.P.: But what about Rubanov?
L.F.: And he will also be, it was the offer to "Auktyon", not to me.

A.P.: Why do you have concerts in America so often, several times a year?
L.F.: No, we went somewhere once a year. Now it somehow happened that they played in cool places.

A.P.: Almost all projects separate from "Auktyon" you do together with Volkov. Why did the choice fall on him?
L.F.: A very good musician, and as a personality amazing. There are few such people in Russia, and in the world, I think. There is no one to even compare him to. Well, maybe only Starostin.

A.P.: At one time you helped the Leningrad group. Now you are impressed by what this team is doing?
L.F.: I produced the first album of "Leningrad", helped them to record. Yes, I don't care anyway. Then it was interesting, unusual. Then there was a little and the composition of the other. Sang Vdovin.

A.P.: Have you liked any of the performers lately?
L.F.: Here is the only thing that I liked - this is the group "Inside" and Nino Katamadze.

A.P.: Periodically, when they write in the news "Auktyon group", they add "Petersburg". Do you like this word and love Peter?
L.F.: I was born and lived there until 2002. How can you not love him?

A.P.: And now you live in Moscow?
L.F.: Yes, and I like Moscow, by the way, too.

A.P.: And you live in the capital, because you are closer to everyone musical movements?
L.F.: No. Because my wife is from Moscow, my son is studying there. Well, somehow it happened. For the most part, we are there. In general, it is difficult to say where we live. Most of the time we drive.

A.P.: Do you have vacations, like sometimes groups do?
L.F.: There are, but rarely. We try, but somehow it doesn't work. Here in Last year just came out. I broke my spine in the summer and spent two months lying around. True, I wrote the album "Besonders", just at that moment, so as not to die at all (laughs). We once in our lives went to Tunisia, the second time we wanted to go to Montenegro. We have a friend there, but on the first day I broke my spine.

A.P.: Do you welcome any active sports?
L.F.: Yes, I would welcome if there was time. And so free time will turn out, I'd better lie down. Old age is exhausting. Yes, and a little time. In addition to concerts, there are also recordings of albums. Last year we recorded two records. A lot somehow.

A.P.: Songs from latest albums would be great as a soundtrack to a play. Do you have offers to write music for a film or play?
L.F.: There were no such proposals that would really cling. And not much freedom. It’s much easier for me when they just take the finished song and insert it somewhere. When I specifically write, for some reason I don’t get into what I need. For example, I wrote "There will be no winter" for one girl, and she was eventually afraid to take the song. But then she sounded in three other films.

A.P.: I heard it only in Boomer.
L.F.: In addition to "Boomer", there were other films. Yes, this album is generally the whole movie dispersed. I don't like what's going on in the movies now. Nothing remarkable has been done lately. But the only thing I like is the movie "Four". Sorokin's script. His for a long time we were banned until he received the Grand Prix in Amsterdam. Although it is still banned. This movie is like nothing else. Now at least they began to shoot better, five years ago the cinema was generally terrible.

A.P.: And how do you like "Boomer" and "Brother"?
L.F.: I don't like. We were friends with Balabanov for some time, I told him so in his eyes. In fact, he has good film though not finished. And even in this form, he is awesome. An actress died there. He released it unfinished. Actually, after I saw this film, I met him. But "Brother" ... all the same, the Americans shoot better. I liked Bodrov, I met him shortly before his death. He made a strong impression on me. Genius actor. Well, as for the director's move… I don't understand it.

Like it should something to regret, but somehow does not regret. Of course, everyone does nasty things, but I never did them on purpose.

I like play music. But it seems to me rather stupid to make work, a routine, a profession out of this.

Public in my understanding does not participate in creative process. Relationships on stage, playing music - for me there is salt in this. But this: “Hello, friends, hello, Moscow” - I don’t understand this.

I am sorry spend time learning languages.

At the end1980s- in the early 1990s, the most terrible thing was here - this coupon system, it was forbidden to play ... At the same time, we somehow treated everything easily, with pleasure doing our job, without having the right to do so. But I have absolutely no nostalgia. Everything was so vile around, so false.

The main thing for me for the concert to take place inside. If this does not happen, then no matter how good it is, for me it is bad. And vice versa, it may be unsuccessful externally, but if everything coincides inside, then it’s normal.

Vvedensky- He is organically mine. When I made records of his poems, I realized that I could easily sing the entire two-volume set.

Lately I don’t read anything at all, except for biographies or books about art, about religion, diaries of people who are interesting to me. Novels, most poems - I just can't bring myself to. It seems to me that all this is pointless, wild.

Some small tasks puts art in us.

In Russia the music industry never came into existence, which everyone hoped for, since we have capitalism. Garkusha recently told me that there are five hundred rock bands in St. Petersburg. In the days of the rock club, we were, I think, fifty-fourth. Well, maybe there were a hundred bands in the whole city. And now - five hundred! Where is it all? They are playing somewhere. This is what I don't understand.

Internet is a tool that you can use in any way you like. Most tragic event what could happen in the country, happened - this is Beslan. In moral terms, it is comparable to war. And they talked about it, well, for a year. And then nothing. What is the use of this flow of information of yours? It's all chatter. It's just that now it has become more extensive - not ten of us are talking in the kitchen, but we are 500 people. We are discussing some garbage: Medvedev, Putin. The bullshit is complete! Nothing to do with real life it doesn't have. Here Beslan has - to our today's life.

Well come to your concert 10 thousand people. And you hit them. And then what?

global challenge does not require large physical strength She needs more attention. From the little things you can brush aside, and the global task will keep you.

When you take any poem by Khlebnikov and you start to enter it, you understand that he solved global problems. Understandable or incomprehensible, interesting to you or not, they are initially so huge that we even have no one to put next to us.

I remember at one of Kuryokhin's concerts, in Oktyabrsky, a boat swayed on chains above the stage, in which Alla Pugacheva sat and knitted. And she didn't make a sound.

Kuryokhin said, that music is a momentary thing. Absolutely agree with him. This is similar to what Joyce wrote about. He was sure that all the greatness, all the buzz of the writer must be sought in notebooks- it is in them that the inspiration that has just visited him. Everything that is more successful or unsuccessful then splashes out into the finished work, it is no longer the same.

There was a moment when I was taught notes, but I honestly forgot everything and I don’t even want to get into it.

Direct speech is gone not only from literature, but from life in general. I would look into the eyes of that poet who will now write "I loved you, love can still be ...". We have forgotten how to say: "I love you."

Western history about the impoverishment, the freezing out of religion - not even religion, namely God - I don’t like all this at all. After all, there is nothing in return - only bleak and dull despondency. And I don't understand what it's really good for.

We live in an absurdity. We just don't get it, but it's true.

or About the benefits of jogging around the monastery

“Do you really think that you will be doing this music until the age of 30?” - asked the mother of young Leonid Fedorov, who quit his job at the research institute for the sake of musical career. Today, the leader of the "Auktyon" group is almost 50, and the scope of his "music", as he himself calls it, goes far beyond the boundaries of one genre. Ethnic, ancient monastic melodies, rock, jazz improvisations, poems of symbolist poets set to music ... That's right - "music". Lenya Fedorov does not take too seriously either his work or himself. He takes his faith much more seriously.

Leonid Fedorov
Born on January 8, 1963 in Leningrad. Studied at the Polytechnic Institute. He made his first rock band from classmates in the 70s. In 1983, the Auktyon group appeared, the leader of which Leonid is to this day. At the same time participating in musical projects variety of genres and trends.
In collaboration with poets and musicians V. Volkov, A. Khvostenko, A. Volokhonsky, A. Kotov, S. Starostin, he releases songs based on verses by avant-garde poets of the early 20th century (“Razinrimilev” - based on verses by V. Khlebnikov, “Bezonders "- to the verses of A. Vvedensky), old folk songs and spiritual cants (“Emotional songs for every day”), etc.
In 1997-2006 saw the release of three solo albums by Leonid Fedorov "Four-and-a-half tons", "Anaben", "Purple Day". Married. Daughter Ksenia is the soloist of the Kubikmaggi group.

History of the CPSU, oranges, inspiration

Leonid, lately, one after another, the most famous rock musicians. One gets the impression that the rock environment somehow disposes, if not to the adoption of Orthodoxy, then, in any case, to the search for truth. This is true?
- I don't think. It seems to me that this feeling arises simply because famous musicians more in sight. Everything is simpler here: the search for truth is a common aspiration for all Soviet people in the 90s. We saw that our grandfathers and fathers had already tried atheism, and it turned out “good”, it turned out convincingly: they broke everything! Apparently, therefore, he was drawn to learn something else, opposite in sign, so to speak. Therefore, I can not say what attracted me exactly Orthodox culture: things related to faith begin to be really interesting only when it already becomes a part of your life. So the point is not in rock culture and not in its "mystical connection" with Orthodoxy. I would call it like this: it dawned on me.

- What kind of worldview did you have by that time?
- What could it be? .. It seems to me that the real holistic worldview of Soviet people ended somewhere in the 30s. And from the 70s, the impression remained that no one believed in anything for a long time. Even those who by position are obliged to believe. We had a teacher at the institute, Khabibullin - a wonderful uncle, taught the history of the CPSU. When Brezhnev died, cars honked on the roads, people in institutions stood up in mourning. We had a lecture - we had to get up too. And now Khabibullin says so reluctantly: “Well, okay, let's stand” ... And at the exam, when I honestly admitted that I didn’t know anything about the question that had fallen to me (like “Lenin’s speech at the VIII Congress of the CPSU”), he said: “Yes ? Do not know? Okay, tell me anything you know." It was clear that he himself did not believe in what he was teaching. Because clever man, historian, understands everything ...

We went to the polls together with my father. Do you know why? Because at the polling stations, in order to attract people, they traded various scarce goods. And if dad went alone, he could take only one kilogram of oranges. And when he came with his son, he was already given two.

Such pseudo-life. White was called black, black was white. Even if you are internally free, you still live in this inverted system of concepts, like in a prison.
So what is the worldview? After my first trip abroad, to the West, for three weeks I could not bring myself to leave my home in St. Petersburg. I was scared, it seemed that I just could not stand it. There was such a terrible feeling: why did I come back here at all? What am I doing here? Where we live?!..

But there was never any desire to climb the barricades. I just wanted to live and enjoy this life. I was not interested in someone to prove something, to argue.

- What was interesting? An informal hangout?
- I have never been a party-goer, but I liked a single community of non-standard people. In the Leningrad rock club then there was an amazing atmosphere, it was a very special place. And in St. Petersburg, informals all “cooked” together, did not divide into groups: you walk around the city and recognize all your people at once - although it could be a person you personally did not know. Everything around was equally gray, everyone thought according to standards, but here it was completely different. Garkusha and I (Oleg Garkusha - vocalist and songwriter of the Auktyon group - V.P.) were often taken to the police for appearance.

- What kind of appearance was there? Biker jacket, mohawk?
- No, what a jacket there. As we are now performing on stage - so I walked around the city. I had a huge double-breasted gray jacket in size 64 (apparently, the uncle who wore it before me was my height, but with a huge belly) and the same pants, where besides me two more could fit. I just wrapped these pants around me and wore them like that. Plus tight suede boots, well, the hairstyle is appropriate. In general, we looked convincing.
Actually, together with Garkusha, we were then baptized ...

"Music", caves, father Kosma

You left work and collected musical group to earn a living from it. How did you decide on this, why?

It’s just that I somehow intuitively realized that I can’t work anymore and I want to make music. Although, according to the law, I had no right to do this - then it was possible to go to jail for this.

- For parasitism?
- No, because they played and sang for money without a specialized, musical, education. When I went into music, my parents were horrified: “What are you, an idiot? What kind of occupation is this - writing songs? ... "Mom said:" Are you really going to do this music until the age of 30? (Laughs.) I answered evasively: "Well, I don't know."

And I really didn't know. It’s just that all the events that happened to me then lined up as if without my participation. I didn't quit my job, I got fired. For the fact that I skipped two days, and thought that I would work after. But it was not there! At first I was very upset, then the whole department stood up for me and ... I was fired for own will(laughs).

- It was scary - to go nowhere?
- Of course, at first it was a little uncomfortable. My head was spinning: “What to do next, how to live?” But at some point I stopped worrying about things that once seemed to be the basis of existence - what to eat, where to live. And the funny thing is that as soon as I stopped paying special attention to it, everything immediately appeared. Now I don’t worry about it at all: I know that God will not leave me.

- And then you also relied on God?
- Not at all. After all, at that time I was not even baptized, I was cool towards the Church. In 1988, I realized that I did not want to have anything to do with the state. And any institution associated with the state, with administrative system, I was obviously not interested. And the Church just seemed like another “department” in which there was no sense of any life.
Everything changed only after meeting Alexei Khvostenko (Alexey “Khvost” Khvostenko, avant-garde poet, songwriter, artist, first performer of the song “Over the Blue Sky” - V.P.). Such amazing people like him, I never met: I was struck by his kindness, affection and the extraordinary joy that emanated from him. At the first meeting with him, I suddenly felt that this is a native person for me. Straightaway! I could not understand: how is it?! For me it was some kind of nonsense, wildness - it doesn’t happen like that! I wondered if he behaves like this with everyone or only with me? At first, I assumed that Khvost simply “froze” in the state in which it was expelled from Russia: after all, the “sixties” were all good, bright. We are already corrupted by communism, a global lie ... And then I realized - no, this is just such a person. And he began to think: why is he like this? Why can he do it and I can't? The answer turned out to be simple but profound - Alexei was a Christian. Much of it became clear to me only when I myself was baptized.

What has faith given you?
- Life. I would have died long ago if not for faith.
Literally.
And then, you see, now I am almost 50 years old, I have seen everything in my life. And I can definitely say that real joy only faith can give a person. No achievements, no travels, new experiences, new acquaintances - nothing gives such joy, meaning, fullness of life ...

Many things that once seemed extremely important to me, I don’t even remember now! And some seemingly insignificant episodes remained in the memory forever. And you understand that they were the most important things in life.

- What are these events?
- Mostly associated with temples, with holy places. For example, visiting the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. They were just opened at that time, and anyone could enter even the most distant galleries. A curtain just hung over the entrance, a monk stood nearby, silently, quietly, and near the entrance there was a sign: “If you believe, come in.” My friend and I looked at each other - “We believe!” - and let's go. And there were relics without sarcophagi, just bodies in vestments - some of their faces were open, some had their hands. For example, Ilya Muromets - you could kiss his hand. I remember what a thrill we had, just goosebumps.

This was something real.

Or meetings. I have a very busy life, I met a lot interesting people, but the meeting with Khvostenko is very special.
And yet, here is an acquaintance with our friend, Father Kosma.

We lived near the Donskoy Monastery, on Serpukhov Val. One fine day I wake up, and it’s so hard for me, everything aches after yesterday’s concert, everything hurts. I tell my wife, Lidochka: “Listen, take me somewhere to a veterinary clinic, let them put me to sleep there, I don’t have the strength to live.” She: “Yes, everything is clear. Come on, let's go run." And we ran around the monastery. May it's warm. Early morning, but the monastery gates are already open. I suggested going to the temple. Come in. And suddenly such a “kite” in a black robe appears above me and says: “Are you Lenya Fedorov? Hello, and I'm your fan! I thought: “Well, here we are, this was still not enough - a monk-worshipper.” So we became friends. Father Kosma helped us a lot, he always supported us. Once he simply begged us for an apartment - such a "practical Orthodoxy" turned out.

- What is this story, tell me?
- We lived in a small apartment, it was crowded, and then the rent was doubled - it was necessary to urgently look for something new. By the time we met Father Kosma, we had no prospects. What to do? Upon learning of this, Cosmas was surprised: “What are you? It is necessary to serve a prayer service, on the relics of Prince Daniel, he is the master of Moscow. He did not lag behind us until we went with him to the Danilov Monastery for a prayer service. We returned home, and just stepped over the threshold - the phone starts ringing. Offers of housing simply rained down on us, the flow of calls did not stop for two hours! As a result, we rented an apartment where we live now. And from the windows you can see the monument to Prince Daniel of Moscow...

Rachmaninov, Greeks, global lie

Spiritual life is never filled with joy alone. Perhaps you had to face difficulties?
- I don't know... I didn't have that. Immediately - trust, but doubts did not come to mind. At that moment, life was generally hard, so if I also doubted my faith! ..
And then, in my life then simply wonderful things began to happen - here all sorts of doubts, if there were any, would have disappeared.

- And what, if not a secret?
- Healing, for example. You cannot cure yourself if the disease is serious. Or gaining some kind of gift. There are some things that you cannot learn, no matter how hard you fight, and then they just fall on you like a gift!

- Are you talking about songs?
- Songs, art is separate story. Then I realized that in general it's not me who does everything. Yes, you can’t control the whole process - creativity is not a technique. There are things about which you can say that you invented them, but most of the things, the best ones, are simply impossible to invent for a person!
I talked about it different people, they said: "Well, it's weird!" And I know for sure that this is true, it’s just that words can’t explain this ...

- How do you feel about creativity itself? What is more important for you - result, process, evaluation?
- I like the process itself, I'm more interested in it than, say, delving into the essence of what I'm doing. And then I think that music is still not a fundamental thing. It helps, creates an atmosphere, but I know a lot of people who don't care about these songs.

- Will the album fail or will it succeed - all the same?
I don't think it's worth taking it seriously. How much our music will be perceived and understood, how many discs will be sold - it's all the same, yes. Sometimes you do such rubbish - and everyone likes it, but the best, dearest things to you - no one likes. I treat creativity as a talent: they gave it to me, they can take it away from me.

And how to use talent - here each person chooses what he likes best. Let's say someone decides: I will make only Orthodox art. If I knew what it was, I might have done it too! For example, I don't really like Rachmaninov's liturgical music, because, in my opinion, it is too bright, too luxurious.

- It's a matter of taste!
- It's not about taste, it's about condition. For example, the most amazing church singing what I heard is a small choir of Greek monks in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher. There were only five of us in the temple - my wife and I and three other people, American tourists. And all denominations sang in turn. When the Greeks began to sing - there were only five of them - it immediately became clear to me - what kind of music should be played in the temple. I looked at one of the monks: he didn’t do anything special, didn’t strain, didn’t imitate anything, he just sang, but this singing gave me goosebumps! Very simple, sincere melody - and immediately everything is clear. There is no need to talk anymore. And the luxurious Rachmaninov turns ... From the point of view of music - a masterpiece, of course, but from the point of view of faith - they personally do not fall into me. I understand the simple, uncomplicated singing of a monk. But in order to do such simple and poignant things, you have to do a lot of things with yourself. Become a monk, most likely.

- If the bar is so high, is it pointless to talk about Orthodox art?
- I do not think that we are now able to make Orthodox art. What to do? On the base Soviet songs? We are a country that has thrown itself out of the fire and into the frying pan. Some fragments of the former culture were preserved, but only fragments.

For example, earlier on the Neva, from Petropavlovka to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island, a barge went by, on which one hundred musicians played. Only the memories of one Dutch traveler remained about this, who wrote that the music was beautiful, and he could not understand in any way whether it was horn or drum. And then they began to instill in us the Western, European music, Russian secular music was destroyed.

Here we are, those who are now trying to redo secular music. Although culturally we are rootless, not remembering kinship, what can you do? ..

And so in our country, not only in music, in my opinion. After 70 years of “hard work for the good of the fatherland”, it’s ridiculous to talk about some kind of revival now. I'm not saying that we are sliding, it just seems to me that we are still rolling ... And sooner or later, I'm sure everything will work out. As my friend, Anri Volokhonsky, by the way, the author of the lyrics of the song “Above the blue sky” said: “The main thing is that the global lie that hung over those and over these - over all has ended! So it's still good."

Florence, Gospel, "Crucifixion"

What do you think about Europe? You once gave more than two hundred concerts. Is there a revival or the notorious lack of spirituality?
- My friend told me how a teacher was fired in London because she crossed a student when he left the classroom. Or how the nurse was asked to leave, because when she leaned towards the patient, an Arab, a cross on a chain fell out from under her shirt - she offended the religious feelings of a Muslim. I understand that it is now The general trend in the West. But somehow it doesn’t really bother me - I’m not going to live in Europe. I am very interested in something completely different in the West...

- What exactly?
- It strikes me that certain period time - at the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV century - in Florence, in this small town, people reached amazing heights in all areas - in architecture, in politics, in painting, in music: Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo, da Vinci, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Giotto and Masaccio. It was there that the modern European civilization How cultural phenomenon. 500 years ago! I'm just admiring it and trying to understand what happened. It seems that at some point it dawned on the Florentines.

In your interviews, you have repeatedly said that a work of art is valuable when it is cold as ice. What did you mean?
- Emotionlessness, non-inclusion of oneself, one's attitude. You can tell any story with horror, or you can tell it with delight, depending on what you like. And you can - just convey to the person a specific thing, meaning.

Passion, it seems to me, is always associated with some reason, and the reason is a momentary thing. The occasion has passed, and what has the passion turned into? And detachment is great power, strength, freedom. This piece suits every mood.

At some point I thought that Russian art, with a few exceptions, sins precisely with passion, sensuality. And, unfortunately, through this art itself leaves, its power leaves. And things are the most uncompromising, they always hit the hardest.

- Can you give an example?
- The simplest thing that can be cited as an example is the painting of Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge. The other day we were at his exhibition in the Tretyakov Gallery. There it is clearly seen that some kind of insight descended on a man, and he wrote the Crucifixion. First there were all these portraits - Tolstoy, Nekrasov ... and then - "The Crucifixion". Everything that was before him can be completely removed from the hall, nothing more is really needed! It was as if another artist painted this picture: different paints, color, technique, plasticity ... As if a person “jumped over” himself.
But this picture is impassive, simple.

In my opinion, the Gospel is the same - absolutely detached, simple. And the Old Testament - even more so. This is only a narrative and an assessment at the level: a reward or a reward, without any emotions.

- But also gospel stories evoke emotion...
- Firstly, I hardly have the right to consider my emotion more important than that that wrote and felt, say, the evangelist Mark. And then, I don’t think that emotions are what it is worth reading the Gospel for.

- What's it worth?
- In order to understand the essence, to understand how life works. And - again, a conversation in the categories of retribution and rewards. For me it is.
I haven't read any novels for ten years now. But the gospel is a different story, it's really worth reading.

- Because it's interesting?
- No. Because it is necessary. You see, I never considered myself a connoisseur and champion of the faith, and now I don’t think: what a neophyte I was, I have remained so; I tried not to philosophize, not to climb into what I do not understand. But I can’t imagine life without the Gospel: it puts everything in its place. And I know that I just need it...

Posashko Valeria

Photo by Vladimir Eshtokin, Alina Platonova