BORIS GREBENSHIKOV Boris Grebenshikov may be unknown to many Western Europeans, but in Russia and the surrounding area he is a legendary rock star.When the first Russian rock bands emerged in the early 1980s, Boris and his band Åquarium were immediately one of the most popular formations, and he has continued to build on that success bywriting a lot of excellent music over the years. However, since he strongly condemned the current war in Ukraine, he cannot return to Russia,which is whyhe is now on a tour in Western Europe. We had the privilege of asking him a few questions. Dear Boris, thank you for this opportunity to interview you. You are about to embark on a European tour in the west playing symphonic versions of your work in Vienna, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Prague, and even in the Belgian Hasselt.What is the purpose of this new tour? To let this music live. To share it with people, so it might help them be. Can we go back in history? We know that you and your band Åquarium have a long history. The band was founded in 1972, but it really became successful in the eighties. I am especially curious about the Leningrad Rock Club, of which you were one of the founders in 1981. Can you tell me how the club was founded? Throughout the seventies, there were about seventeen attempts to organize a rock-club: a place,where we could play our music without being stopped by the police.All of these attempts failed, as they were refused by the authorities. I even took part in one of the attempts. So when the Rock Club came and we heard it was finally possible, everyone flocked there. We were never friends It is still a matter of discussion how big the influence of the secret police KGB was in the Leningrad Rock Club. You were present at the time and had contacts with all the actors, including KGB officers. Can you tell us what their role was? It is said that the KGB gave a green light to the creation of the Leningrad Rock Club, so they could have all the usual suspects in one place. They foolhardy tried to keep everyone under control, but it proved impossible. Music became uncontrollable. So when you look at what happened at the end of the eighties, it definitely shows that art is stronger than politics. Åquarium, and the whole Russian rock scene, rose to phenomenal success during the perestroika time. For sure, we know that censorship ended and that you were finally able to earn a real living with making music. How did you experience the perestroika years? It was fun. At the end of the eighties, we had to play stadiums, because otherwise we’d have to play eight to ten concerts in every city.Thank God in 1991 we broke up the band, and started to play smaller places under BG Band alias. Then in 1992 the band became Åquarium again.As for money,we just had enough to go on.And that was fun, too. www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be - 20 -
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