Рассказ о викторе цое на английском

Viktor Tsoi
Виктор Цой
Tsoi in 1986
Born	Viktor Robertovich Tsoi 21 June 1962 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Saint Petersburg, Russia)
Died	15 August 1990 (aged 28) Zentene, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union (now Latvia)
Cause of death	Car crash
Resting place	Bogoslovskoye Cemetery, Saint Petersburg
Occupations	Singer songwriter composer actor
Years active	1978–1990
Spouse	Marianna Tsoi ​ (m. 1985)​
Children	1
Musical career
Genres	Rock[1][2] pop[3] post-punk[2][4][5] new wave[2][4] punk rock[6] alternative rock[2][6] indie rock[6]
Instrument(s)	Vocals guitar bass piano[7]
Labels	AnTrop Melodiya
Signature

Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (Russian: Виктор Робертович Цой; Russian pronunciation: [ˈvʲikt̪ər ˈrobʲɪrt̪əvʲɪtɕ ˈtsoi̯]; 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Soviet singer and songwriter who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and musically influential bands in the history of Russian music.

Born and raised in Leningrad (now known as Saint Petersburg), Tsoi started writing songs as a teenager. Throughout his career, Tsoi contributed a plethora of musical and artistic works, including ten albums. After Kino appeared and performed in the 1987 Soviet film Assa, the band’s popularity surged, triggering a period referred to as «Kinomania», and leading to Tsoi’s leading role in the 1988 Kazakh new wave art film The Needle. In 1990, after their high-profile concert at the Luzhniki Stadium, Tsoi briefly relocated to Latvia with bandmate Yuri Kasparyan to work on the band’s next album. Two months after the concert, Tsoi died in a car collision.^[8][9]

He is regarded as one of the most important pioneers of rock music in Russia and is credited with popularizing the genre throughout the Soviet Union. He retains a devoted following throughout the former Soviet Union, where he is known as one of the most influential and popular people in the history of Russian music.

Viktor Tsoi became popular by combining his music and lyrics with philosophy.^[10]

Early life[edit]

Viktor Robertovich Tsoi was born on 21 June 1962, in a maternity hospital on Kuznetsovskaya Street in Leningrad. He was the only child of Valentina Vasilyevna Tsoi (née Guseva), a Russian schoolteacher, and Robert Maximovich Tsoi, a Soviet Korean engineer from Kzyl-Orda, Kazakhstan, where his Korean parents had been exiled after Stalin’s 1937 deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union.^[11][12] The family’s Korean ancestry can be traced back to Songjin, Hamgyong, Korea (present-day Kimchaek, North Korea), where Viktor’s great-grandfather Choi Yong-nam was born in 1893.^[13]

Tsoi grew up in the vicinity of the Moskovsky Victory Park. The family lived in the notable «general’s house» at the corner of Moskovsky Avenue and Basseynaya Street (the building is now an architectural monument).^[14] For some time Tsoi studied at a nearby school in Frunze Street, where his mother worked.^[15]

From 1974 until 1977, Tsoi attended a secondary art school, where he was a member of the band Palata No. 6 (Russian: Палата № 6, English: «Ward No. 6»).^[16] From 1977, he attended the Serov Art School, until he was expelled in 1979 for poor performance.^{[citation needed]} Afterwards, he attended SGPTU-61, a secondary city vocational school, where he studied to become a wood carver.^[17] In his youth, he was a fan of Mikhail Boyarsky and Vladimir Vysotsky, and later Bruce Lee, after whom he started modelling his image.^[18][19] He was fond of martial arts and often sparred «in Chinese» with bandmate Yuri Kasparyan.

Career[edit]

Tsoi began writing songs at the age of 17. In the 1970s and the 1980s, rock music was an underground movement limited mostly to Leningrad; Moscow pop stars, endorsed by the Soviet state, ruled the charts and received the most exposure from the media. However, rock music was not popular with the government, and rock bands received little to no funding and were given little exposure by the media. The Leningrad Rock Club was one of the few public places where rock bands were allowed to perform.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Tsoi was a close friend of Alexei Rybin. Rybin, a member of the hard rock band Piligrimy (Russian: Пилигримы, lit. ‘Pilgrims’), and Tsoi, who played bass guitar in the group Palata # 6 (Russian: Палата № 6, lit. ‘Chamber # 6’), met at the house of Andrei «Svin» Panov, in whose apartment people and musicians often gathered, and also where his own punk band Avtomaticheskie udovletvoriteli rehearsed. By this time, Tsoi had begun to perform the songs he wrote at parties.

Tsoi and Rybin, as members of Автоматические удовлетворители (Avtomaticheskie udovletvoriteli), went to Moscow and performed punk-rock metal at Artemy Troitsky’s underground concerts. During a similar performance in Leningrad on the occasion of Andrei Tropillo’s anniversary, Tsoi and Rybin first met Boris Grebenshchikov. Later, after a solo concert by Grebenshchikov, they met up and Tsoi played two of his songs to him.^[20] Grebenshchikov, who had already been a relatively established musician in the Leningrad underground scene, was very impressed by Tsoi’s talent and helped him start up his own band.

Beginnings of Kino[edit]

At the Leningrad Rock Club, Tsoi played as a solo artist supported by members of the band Aquarium. Tsoi’s lyrics and music impressed the crowd. In the summer of 1981, Tsoi, Rybin, and Oleg Valinsky formed the band Garin i giperboloydy (Russian: Гарин и Гиперболоиды, lit. ‘Garin and the hyperboloids’). The name was a homage to the classic Russian novel The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin by Aleksey Tolstoy. In autumn of the same year, the band was admitted to membership of the Leningrad Rock Club. Not long after, Valinsky was conscripted into the army, leaving only Tsoi and Rybin, who renamed the band to Kino. Kino began recording its debut album in the spring of 1982.

First albums[edit]

Kino began recording its debut album, 45, in the spring of 1982 at Andrei Tropillo’s studio. Members of Aquarium also took part in the recording, with Boris Grebenshchikov directing the album. By the summer, the album was completely finished. Its duration was 45 minutes, after which the album was named 45. The album got some distribution and Kino performed in many apartment concerts in Moscow and Leningrad.

On 19 February 1983, a joint concert with Kino and Aquarium took place. After the concert, Yuri Kasparyan was invited to join the band as a guitarist. In the spring, Rybin left Kino due to disagreements with Tsoi. Tsoi and Kasparyan spent the summer on joint rehearsals. As a result, Kino recorded the album 46, which was initially thought of as a demo for Nachalnik Kamchatki (Russian: Начальник Камчатки, lit. ‘Chief of Kamchatka’). 46 was widely distributed and was considered to be a full-fledged album. In the fall of 1983, Tsoi went to a psychiatric hospital in Pryazhka, where he spent a month and a half. As a result, Tsoi was not conscripted into the army.^[21] After being discharged from the psychiatric hospital, he wrote the song «Trankvilizator» (Russian: Транквилизатор, lit. ‘Tranquilizer’).^[22]

«Peremen!/»My zhdyom peremen» («Changes!»/»We are waiting for changes»), first performed by Tsoi in the summer of 1986, quickly became an important political song, an embodiment of the spirit of the Perestroika. It remains a powerful political song, prominently used during 2020–2021 Belarusian protests.

Rise to fame[edit]

1987 was a breakthrough year for Kino. The release of their 6th album Gruppa Krovi (Russian: Группа крови, lit. ‘Blood Type’) triggered what was then called «Kinomania». The open political climate under glasnost allowed Tsoi to make Gruppa Krovi, his most political album, yet it also allowed him to record a sound of music that no one before him had been able to play. Most of the tracks on the album were directed at the youth of the Soviet Union, telling them to take control and make changes within the nation; some of the songs addressed the social problems crippling the nation. The sound and lyrics of the album made Tsoi a hero among Soviet youth and Kino the most popular rock band ever. In the diverse Soviet republics, fans translated his originally Russian lyrics into their native languages as well.

Over the next few years, Tsoi appeared in several successful movies and also travelled to the United States to promote his films at film festivals. Several more albums were released, their themes were once again mostly political, further fueling the band’s popularity. Even though Tsoi was a huge star, he still lived a relatively ordinary life. He kept his old job in the boiler room of an apartment building, called Kamchatka, which is currently a museum/club dedicated to the singer. The fact that he worked at a boiler plant surprised many people. Tsoi said that he enjoyed the work and he also needed the money to support the band, as they still received no government support and their albums were copied and passed around the nation via magnitizdat free of charge. This made Tsoi even more popular among the people because it showed that he was down to earth and they could relate to him. He also went on tour in 1988–1989 to Italy, France, and Denmark. Kino’s finest hour came in 1990 with a concert at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium; 62,000 fans filled the stands to celebrate the triumph of the USSR’s most successful rock group. It also was one of the four times the Luzhniki Olympic Fire was ever lit.

Film appearances[edit]

In 1987, the band Kino, along with other Russian rock bands, appeared as themselves in Assa (Russian: Асса), a film by Sergei Solovyov. However, the film as a whole has nothing to do with rock music, and Kino simply appears as a cameo in the end.

In 1988, Viktor Tsoi starred as the protagonist in The Needle (Russian: Игла, romanized: Igla), directed by Rashid Nugmanov and written by Aleksandr Baranov and Bakhyt Kilibayev. The plot is centered around the character Moro, who returns to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to collect money owed to him. While waiting out an unexpected delay, he visits his former girlfriend Dina and discovers she has become a morphine addict. He decides to help her quit and fight the local drug mafia responsible for her condition. But Moro finds a deadly opponent in «the doctor,» the mafia kingpin who is exploiting Dina.^[23] Tsoi was nominated for an award for his role in the film.^[21]

The film’s soundtrack, including original music by Tsoi’s band Kino, contributes to the overall feeling of the movie, in addition to the film’s use of post-modern twists and surreal scenes.

The movie was officially released in February 1989 in the Soviet Union.

Death[edit]

On 15 August 1990, in Latvia, Tsoi was driving on the Sloka – Talsi highway, near Tukums and Riga. At 12:28 p.m., Tsoi died in a car collision. The investigation concluded that Tsoi had fallen asleep while driving, possibly due to fatigue;^[24][25] he had not consumed alcohol for at least 48 hours before his death.^[26] At the time he fell asleep Tsoi was driving at a speed of at least 130 km/h, causing his dark blue Moskvitch-2141^[27] to turn into the oncoming lane and collide with an Ikarus 250 bus.^[28] Tsoi was pronounced dead at the scene. The bus driver was not injured. Tsoi’s car was completely destroyed to the point that one of its tires was never found.

The death of Viktor Tsoi was a shock to many fans, some even having committed suicide.^[29] On 17 August, Komsomolskaya Pravda, one of the main Soviet newspapers, had the following to say about Tsoi and his meaning to the youth of the nation:

Tsoi means more to the young people of our nation than any politician, celebrity or writer. This is because Tsoi never lied and never sold out. He was and remains himself. It’s impossible not to believe him… Tsoi is the only rocker who has no difference between his image and his real life, he lived the way he sang… Tsoi is the last hero of rock.

On 19 August, he was buried in a closed casket at the Bogoslovskoe Cemetery in Leningrad. Thousands of people came to the funeral.^[30]

Kasparyan left for Leningrad prior to the collision, with a tape containing the only recording of Tsoi’s vocals for the band’s next album. The remaining members of Kino finished and released the Black Album in December. It later became the band’s most popular creation.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[edit]

Viktor lived with his wife, Marianna Tsoi, and his son Alexander (born 1985). Tsoi lived a poor life, with Marianna saying that they could not even afford a proper wedding dress. The apartment building boiler room he worked at was nicknamed «Kamchatka», and is now the site of a museum and rock club dedicated to Tsoi.^[31] He previously also worked in Kyiv, Ukraine, however after the authorities found out he was working illegally, he was sent to Moscow.

During the filming of Assa, Tsoi met Natalia Razlogova, the director’s assistant. Tsoi later fell in love with Razlogova and separated from Marianna. However, they did not divorce, for the sake of their son.^[32]

Legacy[edit]

Portraits of Viktor Tsoi are displayed today in many places around Russia, from graffiti on the fences of Saint Petersburg to an entire wall dedicated to Viktor Tsoi in a bylane of the famous Arbat Street in Moscow, where fans still gather to remember their hero. Other Tsoi Walls can also be found in Minsk, Belarus and in some regions of Kazakhstan. In 2000 some of the nation’s top rock bands came together and released their interpretations of Kino’s best songs as a tribute to Viktor Tsoi on what would have been his 38th birthday.^{[citation needed]}

In 2012, on what would have been Tsoi’s 50th birthday, the remaining members of Kino gathered to record the song «Ataman» (Russian: «Атаман»), with his vocals that were recovered from his car crash but never used because of its poor quality. The drummer Georgiy Guryanov died shortly after, making «Ataman» the last song recorded by Kino and its members.^{[citation needed]}

On 15 August 2020, the 30th anniversary of Tsoi’s death was marked. In memory of Tsoi, the Palace Bridge in St. Petersburg was lifted to his songs. Fans across the country commemorated his death, especially in his home city of St. Petersburg where a number of events and concerts were organised, as well as at the Tsoi Wall in Moscow. The day before, a 4-meter-tall monument dedicated to Tsoi was erected in St. Petersburg in his memory.^[33][34]

The South Korean rock band YB covered the song «Gruppa krovi» (Russian: «Группа крови», lit. ‘Blood Type’; Korean: 혈액형) on their 1999 album Korean Rock Remade (Korean: 한국 ROCK 다시 부르기).^[35]

Viktor An, a South Korean-born Russian short track speed skater, chose his Russian name «Viktor» in honour of Tsoi.^[36]

Popular culture[edit]

• Joanna Stingray commemorated him in her song, «Tsoi Song».^[37]
• On 21 June 2012, Google commemorated Tsoi’s 50th birthday with a Google Doodle reminiscent of the Tsoi Wall.^[38][39]
• In 2015, Tsoi’s song «Kukushka» (Russian: «Кукушка», lit. ‘Cuckoo’) was covered by Russian singer Polina Gagarina for the movie Battle for Sevastopol.
• In the 2018 film Leto, Tsoi was played by Teo Yoo.^[40]
• In 2018, a monument to Tsoi was erected in Almaty, Kazakhstan.^[41]
• In the 2019 videogame, Metro Exodus, multiple songs by Kino such as “We Want Changes”, “Watch Yourself”, “A Song Without Words” and “Shut The Door Behind Me», can be heard on the radio during segments set on a train as it travels across Russia, its crew in search of a hospitable place to live after a nuclear war. “Shut The Door Behind Me” can also be heard in the beginning of the level ‘Taiga’ as the player and a crew member scout out a valley.^{[citation needed]}
• In the 2020 videogame, Cyberpunk 2077, graffiti reading «цой жив» (Tsoi is alive) can be found in various locations.^[42]

Family[edit]

External images
Valentina Vasiliyevna — Viktor’s mother
Robert Maximovich — Viktor’s father
Alexander — Viktor’s son

• Maxim Maximovich Tsoi (Korean name: Choi Seung Jun, Hangul: 최승준) — Viktor’s grandfather on his father’s side; a Korean from Kazakhstan.^[43]
• Robert Maximovich Tsoi (born 5 May 1938, Korean name: Choi Dong Yeol, Hangul: 최동열) — Viktor’s father; an engineer.
• Valentina Vasiliyevna Tsoi (née Guseva) (8 January 1937 – 28 November 2009) — Viktor’s mother; a physical education teacher.
• Marianna Igorevna Tsoi (born Kovalyova, Rodovanskaya after her first marriage) (5 March 1959 – 27 June 2005) — Viktor’s wife; Viktor and Marianna met in 1982, married in 1984, and separated in 1987, after which Viktor moved in with his new girlfriend Natalia Razlogova.^[32] Marianna became the owner of the rights to Viktor’s songs after his death. She survived him by 15 years, dying of cancer in 2005.^[44][45]
• Alexander Viktorovich Tsoi (performed as Molchanov) (born 5 August,^[46] 1985) — Viktor’s son; a graphic designer and musician. In June 2012, on his first ever interview, he said that he owns a club in St. Petersburg, writes and performs music, and works as a graphic designer, creating album covers for other musicians.^[47] He was a guitarist in the band Para bellvm.
• Natalia Emilyevna Razlogova (born 20 October 1956) — Viktor’s girlfriend; a film critic, translator, and sister of the famous film critic Kirill Razlogov. After Tsoi’s death, she married journalist Yevgeny Dodolev and left for the US, where she and Dodolev had two children.

References[edit]

Cited sources[edit]

• Zhitinsky, A. N. (2012). Tsoi Forever. St. Petersburg: Amphora. ISBN 978-5-699-37227-0.

Further reading[edit]

• (in Russian) «Виктор Цой, Звезда по Имени Солнце: Стихи, Песни, Воспоминания», Eksmo, 2001.
• Tsoi, Marianna; Aleksandr Zhitinsky (1991). Viktor Tsoi: stikhi, dokumenty, vospominaniya (in Russian). St. Peterburg: Novy Gelikon. ISBN 5-85395-018-5.

External links[edit]

• Media related to Viktor Tsoi at Wikimedia Commons

• Viktor Tsoi at IMDb
• Viktor Tsoi’s 50th Birthday Google Doodle

Текст TSOI (A Russian Rock Star) с переводом.

TSOI (A Russian Rock Star)
ЦОЙ (российская рок-звезда)

Victor Tsoi was born in Leningrad in 1962. His mother was Russian and his father was Korean. Little did they know that their son would grow up to be one of the pioneers of Russian rock music.		Виктор Цой родился в Ленинграде в 1962 году. Его мать была русской, а его отец – корейцем. Вряд ли они знали, что их сын станет одним из пионеров российской рок-музыки.
He started writing rock songs when he was 17, and by the time he was 20 he had formed a band called “Kino”. They made their first recording in Tsoi’s flat and the demo tape was passed around the city and then the country.		Он начал писать песни, когда ему было 17 лет, а к 20 годам он создал группу под названием “Кино”. Они сделали первую запись в квартире Цоя, и демо-запись потом пошла по городу и по стране.
Kino quickly attracted a large cult following. When their first album “45” was released in 1982, the political nature of their lyrics both excited a lot of Russian youth and angered the authorities. The band was the runaway winner of the Leningrand Rock Club Concert, mostly due to the popularity of their anti-war songs.		Группа “Кино” быстро привлекла много поклонников. Когда в 1982 году был выпущен их первый альбом “45”, политическая сущность их стихов взволновала много русской молодежи, а также рассердило власти. Эта группа легко стала победителем Концерта Ленинградского рок-клуба благодаря, главным образом, популярности своих антивоенных песен.
1985 proved to be a very important year for Tsoi and for Kino. Tsoi got married and had a son, Alexander. Social reforms allowed rock bands to be written about and appear on TV, which up until then had not been allowed. Kino then quickly became the most popular rock band in Russia.		1985 год оказался очень важным для Цоя и для группы “Кино”. Цой женился, и у него появился сын Александр. Социальные реформы разрешили писать о рок-группах и появляться им на ТВ, что до того момента не разрешалось. Группа “Кино” стала самой популярной рок-группой в России.
Sadly, Victor Tsoi died in a tragic car accident in 1990.		К сожалению, Виктор Цой погиб в трагической автокатастрофе в 1990-м году.
Amazingly, a tape of his vocals for the next album survived the crash and the band made the album after his death. This album was called the ‘Black Album’ and it was the band’s last.		Удивительно, но пленка с его записями для следующего альбома сохранилась в катастрофе, и группа выпустила этот альбом после его смерти. Этот альбом был назван “Черный альбом” и стал последний для группы.
Their music is still popular today and Victor Tsoi remains a cultural hero.		Их музыка все еще популярна сегодня, а Виктор Цой остается культурным героем.

Источник: Spotlight, 11 класс

Saturday marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Russia’s most beloved rock & roll star. When Viktor Tsoi died in a 1990 car crash, it was, to a young person in the Soviet Union, as if Bob Dylan, James Dean and Muhammad Ali all died simultaneously. Yuliya Abasheva was born in Russia the year of Tsoi’s death. Even so, she, like thousands of other Russians who weren’t alive during his career, became a lifelong Viktor Tsoi fan. She explains why for PKM readers.

Viktor Tsoi
(1962-1990)

The 1980’s were the high point of Russian rock & roll and punk rock. Many successful bands regularly performed on the punk scene during the late Soviet era.  Some are still together, producing fine albums and playing concerts in sold-out venues throughout Russia.  Alice, DDT, Aquarium, and Picnic are known everywhere and are still eagerly listened to. But, none of these bands can touch the fanaticm and love that was given to the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) band Kino (Cinema) in its heyday. Kino, by necessity, disbanded in 1990 when its front man, songwriter and singer, Victor Tsoi, died at age 28 in a car crash, a tragedy from which many fans have still not fully recovered.

Because Tsoi died the year I was born, I was not able to attend any of his concerts.  However, this did not prevent me or any of my peers from becoming devoted fans of his work. I remember clearly the moment I first became acquainted with the music of Kino. I was 9 years old.  My cousin, Olya, came to visit us from Belarus. She brought with her a tape player and a number of cassettes and played them all for me.  They were recordings of various rock groups; many of which I liked. However, from the moment I heard Tsoi sing, I was thrilled to the core of my being.  I literally fell in love with his music, and I immediately realized that I didn’t want to listen to any music but Kino.  This feeling has stayed with me for more than twenty years.

---

Tsoi was and remains a symbol of the era of perestroika in the USSR, the voice of the young generation, desperately wanting and waiting for change.

---

The first Kino album I bought, entitled Chyorny (known to fans as The Black Album), was the last album the band produced, released posthumously in December 1990.  It contained a number of great songs, but the one that became my favorite was “Hам с тобой” (“For You and Me”).  From the opening of the bass rhythm with the guitar accompanying Tsoi’s vocals, the song captivated me.  I played it over and over.  The video of the song below shows scenes from the movie, Needle.  We will discuss this film later.  (Check out the Russian payphone.  Thank God for cell phones.)

Hам с тобой (For You and Me)

I can’t tell which is the face and which is the mask / And I can’t tell which is the carrot and which the whip./ You cannot leave your pitchfork in the hay / And all the fish swim through the net / You can’t tell the sea from the land. / Or what is copper and what is gold / What you should build, what destroy / And I want to know why am I singing here and who am I singing for?

You and I, under the clear blue sky /For you and me, the forest becomes a blank wall / I am with you: we won’t drink from wells into which people spit / This is the plan for you and me

Here, the stones are like soap / And steel like tin / Strength becomes weakness / Truth is all flattery / And, it is not clear which is the leather and which is the awl / Nor is it clear which is the insult, and which the comeback / And I do not like what happens here. / No, I don’t like what’s going on around here.

You and I, under the clear blue sky /For you and me, the forest becomes a blank wall / I am with you: we won’t drink from wells into which people spit / This is the plan for you and meYou and I, under the clear blue sky

You and I have the black night and waters of the river / Our troubles will not trouble us anymore / Leave now, I am sorry and farewell / This is the plan for you and me.

####

In my passion for Tsoi’s music, I did the same thing other teenagers of my time did: I collected his albums on audio tape, bought T-shirts with his image on the front, and, in order to find out a  more about him (in those pre-Internet days), I searched for articles in any magazine I could lay my hands on. And of course, I learned to play his songs on the guitar.  These habits are still quite common in Russia even today.  Almost everyone who learns to play the guitar in Russia begins with the songs of Victor Tsoi.

So what is the source of Viktor Tsoi’s popularity? He was already a star during his lifetime, but his reputation has continued to grow continuously over the thirty years since his death.  Today, he is still the most beloved musician in Russia.

---

Almost everyone who learns to play the guitar in Russia begins with the songs of Victor Tsoi.

---

He was born on June 21, 1962, to a simple family in Leningrad (now, and once again, St. Petersburg).  His parents were not rich – his father worked as an engineer, his mother taught physical education in an elementary school.  As a young child, Victor demonstrated an advanced talent for drawing, so his mother enrolled him in art school.  It was there that he first developed an interest in rock music.  He received his first acoustic guitar as a gift from his parents.  While still in his teens, he formed his first rock band, Chamber No. 6, which lasted about five years.

Kino came together as a group in 1982.  By that time, Viktor was already friendly with the most famous Leningrad rock musician, Boris Grebenshchikov, leader of the band Aquarium.  BG, as he is known throughout Russia, was very impressed with the songs Tsoi had written, and helped him considerably.  At the time Tsoi was recording his first album, 45, he and Aleksey Rybin were the only members of Kino.  BG arranged for other musicians from his band Aquarium to help in recording the songs.  Later, Rybin left the group and Yuri Kasparyan came on to play lead guitar.  They were joined by Igor Tikhomirov on bass, and Georgiy Guryanov on drums.   Georgiy had a unique drumming style: he only played standing up.      Kino’s debut album, 45–produced by BG–was a huge success, and was quickly followed by three more albums: 46, Chief of Kamchatka, and This is Not Love.

Despite his band’s success and his own personal growing popularity, Tsoi remained a simple person. In those days of the Soviet Union, musicians did not receive money from the sale of concert tickets or their recordings, so almost all of them were forced to work at other jobs.  Tsoi worked as a fireman in the boiler room in an apartment building. It was his job to shovel coal into the furnace to keep the place warm. The owners of the building were also generous to other rock musicians, including Alexander Bashlachev, a talented singer/songwriter who committed suicide at the age of 27.

After Tsoi’s death, the basement where he spent the winters shoveling coal became a club known as Kamchatka. It is still in business, located in the basement of the same residential building on Blokhin Street in St. Petersburg.  Today, it is something of a cross between a club and a museum. Concerts are regularly held here with various groups performing Tsoi’s songs, and Tsoi’s guitar and paintings he did are permanently on display.

I love to come here simply to relax and bask in the atmosphere of a place overflowing with history; to listen to the music, to look at the exhibits.  For me, as well as for many other fans of his work, Kamchatka is filled with memories of Tsoi and warmed by the congeniality of his admirers.  Here like-minded people can gather, united by their love of Victor Tsoi’s music.

Perhaps the most significant event in Russian rock & roll history occurred in 1986 with the release of the album Red Wave in the U.S.  This two-record album devoted one side each to what were then the four most prominent rock bands in the USSR: Kino, Aquarium, Alice and Strange Games.  It was the first recording to introduce Russian rock & roll to the West.  The initiator and producer of the album was an American, Joanna Stingray, who, at that time, knew more about Russian rock & roll than anyone outside the USSR.  Stingray repeatedly visited the Soviet Union where she made friends with many rock musicians, including Tsoi and BG.  She exported the tapes of the bands that were used on Red Wave illegally from the USSR to America.  The release of this album opened a whole new set of horizons for Soviet musicians.  They got the opportunity to collaborate with Western rock bands, give concerts and release albums abroad.  Grebenshchikov (BG) worked with members of The Band on his album Lilith and with Annie Lennox.  He even appeared on David Letterman’s show.  A little while later, Joanna Stingray married Kino’s lead guitarist, Yuri Kasparyan.  In early 1990, Tsoi would visit the United States, for the only time, with Stingray and Kasparyan.

 Besides producing four albums in the Red Wave series, Joanna wrote a book in Russian called Stingray in Wonderland.  It deals with her life in Russian rock & roll and with Tsoi, Kasparyan and BG.

In 1987, Tsoi got his first sceen role in Assa, a 1987 Soviet cult film directed by Sergei Solovyov.  He appears at the end of the film playing a rock musician who is trying to get a gig replacing a friend of his who hurt his hand in an accident (in other words, he is playing himself).  He and his friend go to the office of the club manager who reads them the regulations explaining what steps they need to follow for Tsoi to get the job.  Tsoi and his friend simply walk out of the room, go to the restaurant and Tsoi begins singing this song.  As the song plays, the final credits roll.

Change!

Instead of heat – green glass. / Instead of fire – smoke / Another day ripped from the grind of the calendar / The red sun completely burned out /The day burns out with it / A shadow falls on the flaming city. /

Our hearts demand change / Our eyes demand change / In our laughter and in our tears / In the pulsing blood in our veins / We are waiting for Change!

Electric lights continue our day / And the matchbox is empty / But in the kitchen, the gas burns like a blue flower / Cigarette in hand, tea on the table, a common scene / There is nothing more, everything is in us

Our hearts demand change / Our eyes demand change / In our laughter and in our tears / In the pulsing blood in our veins / We are waiting for Change!

We cannot boast of the wisdom of our eyes / And the way we move our hands / We do not need all this for one friend to understand another / Cigarette in hand, tea on the table, so the circle closes / And suddenly it frightens us to change anything

Our hearts demand change / Our eyes demand change / In our laughter and in our tears / In the pulsing blood in our veins / We are waiting for Change!

---

There are always fresh flowers lying on Tsoi’s grave at the Theological Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

---

It was Tsoi’s next appearance in a movie that caused the biggest surge in Kino’s popularity.  This was the film Needle, directed by Rashid Nugmanov.  It dealt with the subject of illegal drugs; a topic previously prohibited by Soviet censorship.  Tsoi played the leading role.  At the request of the director, he behaved as naturally as possible; as if he were playing himself.  The film became a cult classic in Russia.  For his role in the film, Tsoi was named the best actor of the year in a poll conducted by the newsreel company “Soviet Screen.”  (Yes, we Russians still had newsreels then.)  The soundtrack to the film included the song “A Star by the Name of the Sun,” which Tsoi wrote during the filming.  To this day, it remains his most popular song, and one of my personal favorites.

“The Star Named the Sun”-Kino:

Zvezda po imeni “Solntse” (A Star By the Name of the Sun)

White snow, gray ice / On the cracked ground. / Patchwork quilt on top of it / The city surrounded by a circle of road. /

Clouds float over the city / Cutting off the heavenly light. / Over the city hangs yellow smoke. / A city two thousand years old /Living under the light of a star / By the name of the Sun.

And two thousand years of war, / Wars for no special reason. / War is the work of the young / Its cure for wrinkles.

Red-red blood – / In one hour, it’s absorbed into the earth / In two, flowers and grass begin to grow, / In three, she’s alive again / And warmed by the rays of a star / By the name of the Sun.

And we know that it will always be so, / The fate loves the people /Who live by other laws / And those who are doomed to die young.

He does not know the words “Yes, sir” and “No, sir.” / He remembers neither ranks nor names / Yet is able to reach for the stars / Not knowing that this is a dream. / And he will fall, singed by a star / With the name of the Sun.

The song as it appears in the closing credits of the film The Needle:

Kino performed its last concert at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on June 24, 1990.  Seventy thousand people attended.  A month and a half later, Viktor Tsoi was killed in a car crash, coming home from a fishing trip to Latvia. He died at the peak of his talent, leaving the lasting legacy of his songs.

This is my favorite song from that last concert.  Sorry, no subtitles, “Стук” (“Knock”)

Strands of wire, the current in my hands / The telephone says in all its voices / Bye, your time’s expired / And the coat on the nail, the scarf on the sleeve / And the gloves in the pocket whisper / “It can wait until the morning,” until morning…

But a strange sound knocks and bids me: “Get on the road.” /Maybe it’s my the beating of my heart, maybe a knock on the door /And when I turn around on the doorstep, / I will say only one word: “Believe.”

Again, I will go to the station, again I will board the train. /Again the attendants will hand out napkins and tea. / Again, I will not sleep over the groaning of the wheels / In my mind, I hear the word, “Farewell.”

But a strange sound calls: “On the Road.” / Maybe it’s my the beating of my heart, maybe a knock on the door / And when I turn around on the doorstep, / I will say only one word: “Believe.”

####

Soon after Tsoi died, a strange thing happened in Moscow: a blank plywood wall on a back street of the city was suddenly covered by pictures of Tsoi and the lyrics of his songs.  It became a living memorial to Russia’s most popular rock star.  It still exists.  People come from all over the country, some from abroad, to write on the Wall, post pictures or letters, leave flowers.  Every year, on August 15, the anniversary of his death, people gather and there is an impromptu concert of his works; nothing is planned.  It all happens spontaneously.  People of all ages come, from children to grandparents.  As you will see in the video, the first performer is a young girl; not much older than I was when I first heard Tsoi’s music.

Last year, my sister’s boyfriend, Damir Mukhamedzhanov (a production editor at a Moscow TV station), went there and filmed the tribute.  An unedited version of that video is shown HERE

There are always fresh flowers lying on Tsoi’s grave at the Theological Cemetery in St. Petersburg.  They are brought by loyal fans; sometimes by me.  I come here not just to honor his memory, but to stand and think about my own life; its joys and sorrows, all of which are connected, in one way or another, to his songs; songs of despair and hope and love. It is almost impossible to be alone when you come to this place.  The stream of visitors to Tsoi’s grave seems inexhaustible despite the fact that thirty years have passed since his death.

I will now try to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this article: “How do you explain such popularity?”  It seems to me that answer can be found in the words of Viktor Tsoi himself. In a 1987 interview, he said the following: “Almost everything can be forgiven to those who are honest.  Say, for example, if we [Kino] play our music in an unprofessional manner, or sing our songs in an unprofessional way – and we have made countless mistakes of this kind – our fans will overlook this, but, if we do not try our best to be honest our fans will never forgive us.”  I think that’s the whole point. The songs of Tsoi are honest songs, and the honesty inherent in them is what most appeals to the listener.  When I encountered Tsoi’s music, I was a nine-year-old child. The meaning of his texts was not always clear to me.  Understanding came later – therefore, the love that arose for his work at such an early age can be explained by my intuitive instinct, which told me that what I was listening to was real, sincere, honest.

As a final song, I will leave you with one of the rare songs Tsoi sang in English, “Blood Types” (“Gruppa Krovi”):

Blood Types

by Viktor Tsoi

It’s such a warm place,
But there on the street,
Where our footprints are waited for,
Stardusted boots
Sparkle and shine.
Here are the shepherds and upholstered chair,
Dazzling dreams below the bright sun, orb,
The trigger untouched
When it was the right time.

My blood type mark is on the sleeve,
There’s my ordinal number marked on the sleeve,
Wish me now some luck in the fight,
Sayin’ now, sayin’!
I won’t stay in this field of green,
I won’t stay in this field of green,
Wish me now to be lucky,
Sayin’ now, sayin’!
… Be lucky!

I am able to pay, but I never want
A triumph at any price,
I never want
Someone’s chest lying under my foot.
I would rather stay here with you,
Just to stay here with you,
But the star which is high in the skies
Still gives me the route.

My blood type mark is on the sleeve,
There’s my ordinal number marked on the sleeve,
Wish me now to be lucky,
Sayin’ now, sayin’!
… Be lucky!

Tsoi was and remains a symbol of the era of perestroika in the USSR, the voice of the young generation, desperately wanting and waiting for change. He and Kino personified freedom and a departure from the gray Soviet reality and its innumerable prohibitions, thereby leaving its mark not only in the history of Soviet rock, but also on the history of Russia.

MORE FROM PKM:

BANG: A PRIMER ON RUSSIAN ROCK, FROM GORKY PARK TO VIKTOR TSOI