2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
The Araks group is a vocal and instrumental group that achieved the greatest popularity in the second half of the 70s. The team worked closely with popular (at that time) composers (Alexander Zatsepin, Alexei Rybnikov, Gennady Gladkov, Yuri Antonov) and pop singers (Tatyana Antsiferova, Alla Pugacheva, Larisa Dolina).
How it was
In the late 60s, like mushrooms after rain, amateur groups began to organize in the Soviet Union, calling themselves "beatniks". The word "rock" itself was not yet used in those days.
The music of these ensembles favorably differed from the traditional VIA, performing songs by Soviet authors, members of the Union of Composers of the USSR. And since the “beatniks” tried to write musical works themselves, their work was not officially recognized, and, accordingly, they could not even dream of entering the big stages (not to mention any official recording of their work). The destiny of performances of beat-groups were basements and semi-basements, at best, camp sites of rest houses of seaside resorts. Occasionally it was possibleagree with the leadership of a supernumerary technical school or college on the provision of an assembly hall. In this case, most often the performance ended as soon as it began. Such a concert was stopped by a valiant police outfit.
The most popular beat teams at that time were: "Glare", "Best Years", "Atlantis", "Ruby Attack", "Buffoons", "Second Wind", "High Summer", "Falcon", "Tin Soldiers". They all disappeared, leaving almost no trace behind. If their songs were recorded in an artisanal way on antediluvian primitive reel-to-reel tape recorders, then the tapes themselves demagnetized a long time ago, crumbled, torn, and over time simply became unusable.
Survived only those groups who were able to acquire a professional status by becoming part of any state structure, such as a theater or a philharmonic society. There were few such ensembles, and almost two have survived to this day: "Time Machine" and "Araks". Since the late 70s, they have been called rock bands.
The Araks group was created in 1968 by three amateur musicians: Eduard Kasabov (bass, vocals), Alexey Panteleev (guitar, vocals) and Garik Kasabov (drums). The ensemble was led by Vadim Marshev. The group performed both songs of their own composition and cover versions of popular (at that time) foreign rock bands: Deep Purple, The Beatles, Led Zeppeling. By the way, Edik Kasabov, a student at the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, sang well in English. According to the name of his mother (Araksy), according to some music experts, the group was named. Although mostclaims that the band's name is the river of the same name in Transcaucasia.
The period of formation and glory of the team
In 1971, a new vocalist, Yuri Shakhnazarov, appeared in the group, who had previously performed in A. Gradsky's "Skomorokhi". The following year, Alexander Buinov and Boris Bagrychev join the team. Line-up: Buinov (keyboards), Shakhnazarov (guitar, vocals), Kasabov (bass) and Bagrychev (drums), the group actively performs in the Moscow region.
She is especially successful in the city of Lyubertsy. During one of the numerous performances, the team was noticed by theater director Mark Zakharov, who was staging musical performances and was looking for an ensemble to provide musical accompaniment to productions. Thus, since 1973, the rock group "Araks" has become a member of the troupe of the Lenin Komsomol Theater.
The group took part in the performances "Til" and "Avtograd XXI" (composer G. Gladkov). But the rock opera by A. Rybnikov "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta" brought the greatest popularity to the team. Thousands of music lovers had in their collection a magnetic tape with a recording of this work.
In the first half of the 1970s, there were also big personnel changes in the ensemble. Some musicians came (Sergey Rudnitsky, Alexander Danilovich, Anatoly Abramov, Alexander Polonsky, Alexander Lerman, Sergey Belikov, Alexander Sado), others (Alexander Buinov, Boris Bagrychev, Eduard Kasabov) left.
In 1974, the group was remembered for its participation in the film by G. Danelia "Afonya", performing a song of their own composition (author Yu. Shakhnazarov) "Memoirs". In the late 70s, the composition of the Araks group changed dramatically. The team includes such professional musicians as Vadim Golutvin, Timur Mardaleishvili, Anatoly Aleshin, Evgeny Margulis. The group leaves the Mark Zakharov Theater and makes an attempt at independent concert activity. From 1980 to 1982 the ensemble gave 876 performances. During this time, the group worked with popular composers and singers. Experienced music lovers will surely remember the legendary union that was formed by the composer and singer Yuri Antonov and the Araks group. The whole country sang their famous hits: "Anastasia", "Do not forget", "Golden Stairs", "Road to the Sea", etc. At this time, "Araks" is a group that helped such singers as T. Antsiferova, L Dolina, A. Pugacheva.
In 1982, the USSR Ministry of Culture issued an order banning the concert activity of a whole list of ensembles that did not pass the audition of the artistic council. By the way, such well-known groups at that time as Alpha, Cruise, Carnival, Firebird were included in this list. Among them was "Araks". The group broke up and ceased to exist until 1987.
Rebirth
In 1987, the ensemble revived and recorded an album of old songs from the early 80s. At the same time, instrumental recording is carried out in Russia, and voice - in the USA. There the vocal parts are recorded by Anatoly Aleshin. This is how the record called “Old, but gold” appeared.
In April 2002, the first performance of the revived ensemble "Araks" took place. Grouptook part in the combined gala concert in the shopping complex "Three Whales". Then there were performances on television in the recording of the Disco-80 program, concert performances in various cities, participation in television programs on the Russian channels REN-TV, NTV +, Stolitsa.
Present
Currently, there is a situation where there are two ensembles with the name "Araks": a group of classical composition (Golutvin, Mardaleishvili, Timofeev, Aleshin, Vasyukov) and "Lenkomovsky" (Rudnitsky, Abramov, Parfenyuk, Sado, Zaripov). "Lenkomovtsy" are those musicians who did not dare to go on "free bread" in 1980. Now both teams are actively touring the country, and it is difficult for an inexperienced viewer to figure out who is who.
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