Alisa
Encyclopedia
Alisa is a Russian hard rock
band, who are credited as one of the most influential bands in the Russian rock
movement.
and sold more than a million copies.
But the relations between two leaders, Konstantin and Zadery, were deteriorating, and finally Svyatoslav departed from the band. This occurred just one hour before Alisa was to perform at a concert. Alisa had to ask Kino
bassist Igor Tihomirov to replace him for one concert. Later Zadery created his own band Nateh! ( - "Take it!"). Zadery died on 6 May 2011 due to complications from a stroke at the age of 50.
The growing popularity of the band created a fan community called the Army of Alisa, known for their rough behaviour at concerts. It led to animosity between the band and Soviet officials. In 1987, the newspaper Smena
accused Alisa's leader Kinchev of Nazi propaganda and worshipping Hitler. Kinchev filed a suit for calumny and moral loss compensation. After the year-long court process the magazine published the refutation. Alisa's next album was titled Article 206 part 2, a chapter ("Hooliganism
") of the USSR Procedural Code, alluding to this process.
There were more changes in 1988, when guitarist Igor "Chuma" Chumykin joined the band. This change was followed by the heavier sound of next two albums, Shabash and For those Who Fell From the Moon. Alisa toured through Europe
and Israel
together with fellow Russian heavy metal
band Aria
. The album Black Mark, released in 1994, was dedicated to the memory of Chuma, who committed suicide by jumping from a window.
In the new millennium, with albums such as Seychas Pozdnee Chem Ty Dumaesh (It is Later Than You Think, 2003) and Izgoy (Exile, 2005), the sound of Alisa was changed to a heavier one, including elements of nu
, industrial
and Heavy Metal
. Music critics credited Clawfinger
as Kinchev's greatest new music influence. This gave Alisa a new fan base among Russian hard rock
fans, and three songs from Izgoy continually reached the top of the NASHE radio
chart. Follow-up "Stat Severa" and "Puls Hranitelia Dverey Labyrintha" were less alternative-oriented and made a blend of older and newer styles. Alisa shot a video for the Wolfhound
fantasy movie, though the song itself was cut from the soundtrack.
According to public polls, Alisa enjoys high popularity in Russia and around, ranking among top ten most popular russian rock
bands, and ranked 1st in Komsomolskaya Pravda
readers poll.
, Russian patriotism
, and Slavic
unity.
Konstantin is in good relations with the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church
, especially Andrey Kuraev. The band has participated in many religion-supporting festivals, such as Musicians for the Christ Savior Cathedral.
Kinchev's fairly conservative religious-patriotic shift was viewed unfavourably by some old fans that liked Alisa for their original "rock" message.
Shabash was partially recorded live, so it may also be counted as a live album.
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
band, who are credited as one of the most influential bands in the Russian rock
Russian rock
Russian rock refers to rock music made in Russia or in the Russian language. Rock and roll became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s , when the Soviet underground rock bands...
movement.
Biography
Alisa was formed in November 1983 by bassist Svyatoslav Zadery. The band's name originated from Zadery nickname. The band's lineup was finally completed in 1984, when new vocalist Kostya Kinchev (real name Konstantin Panfilov) and guitarist Petr Samoylov joined. Their debut album Energia was released by state publishing monopoly MelodiyaMelodiya
Melodiya is a Russian record label. It was the state-owned major record company/label of the Soviet Union.-History:It was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm of the USSR Ministry of Culture Melodiya"...
and sold more than a million copies.
But the relations between two leaders, Konstantin and Zadery, were deteriorating, and finally Svyatoslav departed from the band. This occurred just one hour before Alisa was to perform at a concert. Alisa had to ask Kino
Kino
Kino may refer to:In film and theatre:* Kino , a worldwide group of amateur filmmakers* Kino Flo, a manufacturer of lighting equipment for use in motion pictures.* Kino International, a movie theater in Berlin...
bassist Igor Tihomirov to replace him for one concert. Later Zadery created his own band Nateh! ( - "Take it!"). Zadery died on 6 May 2011 due to complications from a stroke at the age of 50.
The growing popularity of the band created a fan community called the Army of Alisa, known for their rough behaviour at concerts. It led to animosity between the band and Soviet officials. In 1987, the newspaper Smena
Smena
Smena may refer to:* Smena * Smena Minsk a Belarusian football club.*FC Smena Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russian football club* Smena was a Slovak language newspaper in 1995 taken over by SME* Smena a newspaper in Russia....
accused Alisa's leader Kinchev of Nazi propaganda and worshipping Hitler. Kinchev filed a suit for calumny and moral loss compensation. After the year-long court process the magazine published the refutation. Alisa's next album was titled Article 206 part 2, a chapter ("Hooliganism
Hooliganism
Hooliganism refers to unruly, destructive, aggressive and bullying behaviour. Such behaviour is commonly associated with sports fans. The term can also apply to general rowdy behaviour and vandalism, often under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs....
") of the USSR Procedural Code, alluding to this process.
There were more changes in 1988, when guitarist Igor "Chuma" Chumykin joined the band. This change was followed by the heavier sound of next two albums, Shabash and For those Who Fell From the Moon. Alisa toured through Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
together with fellow Russian heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Aria
Aria (band)
Aria is a Russian heavy metal band that was formed in 1985 in Moscow. Although it was not the first Soviet band to play Heavy music, Aria was the first to break through to mainstream media and commercial success. According to several public polls, Aria ranks among top 10 most popular Russian rock...
. The album Black Mark, released in 1994, was dedicated to the memory of Chuma, who committed suicide by jumping from a window.
In the new millennium, with albums such as Seychas Pozdnee Chem Ty Dumaesh (It is Later Than You Think, 2003) and Izgoy (Exile, 2005), the sound of Alisa was changed to a heavier one, including elements of nu
Nu metal
Nu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...
, industrial
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...
and Heavy Metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. Music critics credited Clawfinger
Clawfinger
Clawfinger is a rap metal band from Sweden and was one of the earliest bands to adopt this sound. Clawfinger is known for aggressive but melodic music and tackling political and anti-racist themes in their songs.-Band history:...
as Kinchev's greatest new music influence. This gave Alisa a new fan base among Russian hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
fans, and three songs from Izgoy continually reached the top of the NASHE radio
Nashe Radio
Nashe Radio is a rock music station designed to promote Russian rock bands . It is broadcast in every major Russian city as well as having an internet stream...
chart. Follow-up "Stat Severa" and "Puls Hranitelia Dverey Labyrintha" were less alternative-oriented and made a blend of older and newer styles. Alisa shot a video for the Wolfhound
Volkodav from the Grey Hound Clan (film)
Wolfhound is a 2006 Russian heathen themed action fantasy film by Nikolai Lebedev, based on the novel by Maria Semyonova and featuring Aleksandr Bukharov and Oksana Akinshina.In 2007, a prequel was filmed under the name of Young Wolfhound.- Cast :...
fantasy movie, though the song itself was cut from the soundtrack.
According to public polls, Alisa enjoys high popularity in Russia and around, ranking among top ten most popular russian rock
Russian rock
Russian rock refers to rock music made in Russia or in the Russian language. Rock and roll became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s , when the Soviet underground rock bands...
bands, and ranked 1st in Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on March 13th, 1925. It is published by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" .- History :...
readers poll.
Lyrics and relations with the Faith
Kinchev was baptised in 1990, and since then Christianity has been the main influence on his alignment and his lyrics. Although early Alisa lyrics were typical for Russian rock - social protest and rock 'n' roll hype - since the late 1990s their main theme has been ideas of ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, Russian patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, and Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
unity.
Konstantin is in good relations with the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
, especially Andrey Kuraev. The band has participated in many religion-supporting festivals, such as Musicians for the Christ Savior Cathedral.
Kinchev's fairly conservative religious-patriotic shift was viewed unfavourably by some old fans that liked Alisa for their original "rock" message.
Studio albums
| Original title | Transliterated Title Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another... | Translation | Year of release |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krivozerkalye | Through the Crooked Glass | 1984 | |
| Energiya | Energy | 1985 | |
| Blok Ada | Block of Hell / Blockade | 1987 | |
| Shestoy Lesnichy | Sixth Ranger | 1989 | |
| Statya 206 chast 2 | Article 206 part 2 | 1989 | |
| Shabash | Coven | 1991* | |
| Dlya Tekh, Kto Svalilsya s Luny | For Those Who Fell from the Moon | 1993 | |
| Chyornaya Metka | Black Mark | 1994 | |
| Jazz | Jazz | Jazz | 1996 |
| Duren' | Stupid | 1998 | |
| Solntsevorot | Equinoxe | 2000 | |
| Tantsevat' | To Dance | 2001 | |
| Seychas Pozdnee, Chem Ty Dumayesh | It Is Later Than You Think | 2003 | |
| Izgoy Outcast (Alisa's album) Izgoy - is a studio album by Alisa released in 2005 by Real Records. Outcast was the first album made by a new line up . A single Blue Border preceded the album... |
Exile | 2005 | |
| Stat Severa | Grace of the North | 2007 | |
| Puls Khranitelya Dverey Labirinta | The Pulse of Labyrinth's Doors Keeper | 2008 | |
| Ъ (Tverdii Znak) | Ъ ( The Hard Sign - Russian Letter) | 2010 | |
| 20.12 (Dvadcat Dvenadcat) | 20.12 (Twenty Twelve) | 2011 |
Shabash was partially recorded live, so it may also be counted as a live album.
Live albums
| Original title | Translation | Year and venue |
|---|---|---|
| Acoustics vol.1 | 1988, Perm Perm Perm is a city and the administrative center of Perm Krai, Russia, located on the banks of the Kama River, in the European part of Russia near the Ural Mountains. From 1940 to 1957 it was named Molotov .... |
|
| Acoustics vol.2 | 1985, Leningrad Leningrad Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province... |
|
| Acoustics vol.3 | 1988, Pskov Pskov Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:... |
|
| Acoustics vol.4 | 1986, Novosibirsk Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District... |
|
| Sabbath | 1990, Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent... , |
|
| At Shabolovka | 1995, Moscow, Shabolovka Shukhov Tower The Shukhov radio tower , also known as the Shabolovka tower, is a broadcasting tower in Moscow designed by Vladimir Shukhov. The 160-metre-high free-standing steel structure was built in the period 1920–1922, during the Russian Civil War... |
|
| Dance of Siberia on Neva Shores | 1997, St-Petersburg, Jubileiny | |
| We Are Together XX years | 2003, St-Petersburg, Jubileiny |
Compilation albums
| Original title | Translation | Year of release |
|---|---|---|
| Red Wave: 4 Underground Bands from the USSR Red Wave -Side 3 :All songs from the album Energy.# "Экспериментатор" – 4:31# "Мы вместе" – 2:43# "Доктор Буги" -Side 3 (Alisa):All songs from the album Energy.# "Экспериментатор" (Experimentor) – 4:31# "Мы вместе" (We're together) – 2:43# "Доктор Буги" -Side 3 (Alisa):All songs from the album Energy.#... |
1986 | |
| Legends of Russian Rock Legends of Russian Rock Legends of Russian Rock is an anthology of Russian rock published by Konstantin Preobrazhenski and Vasily Gavrilov of Moroz Records in 1996 as a six-disk collection, later augmented by further albums.... |
1997 | |
| Encyclopedia of Russian Rock | 2000 | |
| 13 | 13 | 2003 |
Current line up
- Konstantin KinchevKonstantin KinchevKonstantin Kinchev is a Russian rock singer, musician, frontman and the main songwriter for the Russian rock/hard rock band Alisa....
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
(1985–present) - Evgeny Levin - guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
(1998–present) - Igor Romanov - guitar (2003–present)
- Petr Samoylov - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(1984–present) - Andrey Vdovichenko - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(2003–present) - Dmitri Parfyonov - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(2000–present)
Former members
- Svetoslav "Alisa" Zadery - bass, vocals (1983–1985)
- Andrey Shatalin - guitar (1983–2003)
- Mikhail Nefedov - drums (1983–2003)
- Pavel "Pol Khan" Kondratenko - keyboards (1983–1987)
- Alexander Zhuravlev - saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(1987–1988) - Igor "Chuma" Chumykin - guitar (1989–1993)
- Andrey Korolev - keyboards (1989–1993)
- Alexander Ponomarev - guitar (1996–1998)
- Alisa Trewartha - accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
(1990–2000) - Boris Borisov - vocals, saxophone (1983)
- Lyudmila "Teri" Kolot - vocals (1986)
External links
- Official Alisa website, in Russian
- Fan website, in Russian
- Alisa pictures, in Russian
- Short history with music samples, in English
- Do Rock and Orthodoxy Have Anything in Common?, article in English
- Alisa on RussMus.Net: English translations to lyrics and more, in English