www.darkentries.be You were even more successful in the nineties, with albums as the ‘Russian album’ and ‘Navigator’. Why do you think such albums were that successful, and are still considered classics of Russian rockmusic? Because people longed to hear something that was true to their nature, and ‘Russian Album’ and ‘Navigator’ were precisely that.Somebody called‘Navigator’the‘Sgt.Pepper of the Russian countryside’. I don’t know how statistically successful they really were, but people still hold them dear.As for me, I did not do it consciously –at these times it was all I wanted to write. However, after the success of ‘Snow Lion’ in 1996, you chose to make more experimental music.You integrated electronic music, world music and various sorts of influences in a series ofveryeclectic albums.What drove you towards this eclecticism? We were always like that. Åquarium is really an incarnation of Herman Hesse’s ‘The Glass Bead Game’. it’s just that in the eighties, we didn’t have a technichal possibility of doing this. with the Kremlin. When Russia declared its ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine in 2022, you were one of the first personalities to denounce the war. You fled the country and even declared that your life was at risk in Russia. Can you tell us more about the reasons that drove you to leave Russia? Actually the word ‘fled’ does not apply. I moved to London in 2019,way before the war. I prefer to work there.And for two years I lived in London and played concerts in Russia. I moved to London for a very simple reason - it’s easier to get to the studio in Richmond from Chelsea than from St. Petersburg. It was all about music.We were never friends with the Kremlin. You were declared a ‘foreign agent’ by the Russian government, as were many musicians including Zemfira, Noize MC and your good friend Andrei Makarevich from Mashina Vremeni. How come Russia treats its musical heroes so badly? Is rock music dangerous to the current people in power in Russia? Truth is always an eyesore to those in power. But we were never pals with the Kremlin. Xavier KRUTH All photo’s © Boris Gebenshikov De Nederlandstalige versie van dit interview vindt u op - 21 - www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be
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