Integral Group. Start

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Integral Group was formed in 1962. Its founders were students of the eighth grade of a comprehensive school in the city of Charsk, which is located in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan.

Start

Among the founders were Boris Alibasov and Mikhail Arapov. It was these two musicians who created a jazz ensemble, which included several more guys. Alibasov in this group was on drums, performed vocals, and was also the immediate supervisor. The first of Integral's compositions was the song "When I went to Bembasha". The guys took this song from the repertoire of the Yugoslav band.

Besides this, the Integral group, whose composition was then only teenagers, performed jazz music in those days. In the same year, Bari Alibasov was expelled from high school for touring. It didn't upset him. The group still continues to tour the surrounding area, give paid music concerts, visit large cities, including the regional center of Semipalatinsk. Alibasov was later reinstated at school, and in 1965 he graduated from it. The guys moved from Charsk to Ust-Kamenogorsk - the regional center of the East Kazakhstan region, where they entered the technicaluniversity.

Ust-Kamenogorsk

In Ust-Kamenogorsk, Arapov and Alibasov get a job at the Palace of Culture of Metallurgists, where they work as simple laborers. There, the comrades revive their musical group, invite other students from their university to join it. Among these new members were Vladimir Senchenkov, who played electric guitar, saxophonist and vocalist Vladimir Solovyov, and Anatoly Lepeshkin, who played double bass. Then the group got its name "Integral".

Alibasov was still on drums, simultaneously performing vocals. Arapov played the electric organ, which was rare in the USSR at the time.

Alibasov - leader of the jazz ensemble

Already a year later, at the request of Leonid Kotovsky, the former director of the Palace of Culture, Bari Alibasov was appointed head of the jazz ensemble with a salary of 110 rubles. Members of the group begin to actively earn money by organizing concerts in the House of Culture. As the New Year holidays approach, the guys give several paid concerts in a row.

The group's repertoire of those years consisted of singles from such famous rock and roll artists as Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Little Richard. However, Alibasov and his team focused on the twist, which by that time had received official status in the Soviet Union.

Then "Integral" begins to compose simple texts, put music on them. One of the first compositions written by Alibasov and Arapov is "Spring Rain", which has gainedsufficient popularity among the masses.

Popularity

The "Integral" group, whose songs were already well known among the Kazakhs, is becoming very popular. To buy a ticket to a concert of the band, one often had to stand in line for hours. Raising its professional level, "Integral" gets into the regional theater, accompanies the production of two famous performances.

Since 1966, the tour activity of the Integral group began in the Altai Territory, East Kazakhstan and Semipalatinsk regions. Alibasov, being the head of the group, makes very strict requirements for its other members. And this is connected not only with the musical component, but also with the visual one. His demands on musicians regarding their facial expressions, emotions and plasticity make many leave the band.

In just two years, three soloists have changed in the team, who could not stand the harsh work and power requirements of Alibasov.

Krakhin and Stefanenko. Experimental music

After some time, Alexander Krakhin and Alexander Stefanenko get into Alibasov's team. With their arrival, the style and general direction of the music performed by the band changes. Both Krakhin and Stefanenko were excellent musicians, but they were also excellent composers who were far from Soviet popular music. Both were fans of The Beatles, who, however, were not very praised by Alibasov himself. It was this difference in views, in musical interests, that helped expand the band's repertoire.

AlexanderKrakhin composed songs, ballads, experimented and combined rock with classical and national music from countries such as China and India. Stefanenko also wrote songs, but they were more lyrical, similar to the style of bands such as The Doors, The Hollies, etc. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd had a very significant influence on the style of the group.

Alibasov tried to make his team not just a team, but a show group, like Pink Floyd. To this end, he used all sorts of tricks and tricks to increase the attractiveness and spectacle. He used, for example, several movie screens, on which certain plots were shown during the performance of the group. The concerts featured magnificent scenery and special attention was paid to lighting effects.

1969 was a significant year for the group - the team went on tour in Kazakhstan, gave a concert in the capital Alma-Ata. The whole of Kazakhstan becomes aware of the group, leading Kazakh newspapers write about it. At the same time, Mikhail Arapov marries Valentina Svistkova, and Alibasov begins a conflict with the rest of the participants because of the then-famous singer Aza Romanchuk. The result is that Alibasov in 1969 leaves to serve in the army. The rock band "Integral" suspends its work for two years.