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Although some may take this as an exaggeration, it always seemed to me that there was something more complex about Mummy Troll and Ilya Lagutenko than what appeared on the surface of his songs. It's...

Although some may take this as an exaggeration, it always seemed to me that there was something more complex about Mummy Troll and Ilya Lagutenko than what appeared on the surface of his songs. It's not that he has a particularly exciting biography, however, nor does the group really stray far beyond the standards of Russian pop. But if you listen closely to the lyrics, you realize there has to be some sort of reason, or at least justification for either their esoteric showiness, or imaginative eccentricity (depending on your point of view). You just don't know where to look for that justification. When I found out that by the time he reached the status he knows today, Lagutenko had already obtained a diploma in African and Eastern Studies from the Far East State Universtiy in Vladivostok, and had lived in China for a while (which I'm sure did wonders to his lexicon and his concept of vocabulary), I was able to place an origin to some of the wildest imagery in his songs. Not that lines like "Vodka- that's a difficult water," and the one describing the innocent, offended girl who woke up to find her pillow covered in blood necessarily have any Chinese or Eastern influence in them, they just testify to a twisted, eclectic outlook that is often the result when a person learns several languages completely unrelated to one another. What is more peculiar is that lyrics like these are sneaked in under pretty standard rock melodies or ballads in the popular genre.

It was in 1979 (that would make Lagutenko only 11 years old) that the group was founded, under the name of Boney P, and it was then that they recorded their first thirty-minute "album", singing songs in English. Like most groups, they maintained a somewhat flimsy existence until 1986. While the Boney P that existed as of 1979 consisted of four members besides Lagutenko (Kirill Babiy- keys, Pavel Babiy- drums, "Kulya"- guitar, Andrei Barabash- bass), by 1982 the newly met Leonid Burlakov (later known as Leo) brought in two professional musicians: Vladimir Lutsenko (bass) and Alik Krasnov (all other instruments). Apart from this, Leo persuaded the group to abandon its attempts to sing in "english," and offered them new text, the first of which was called "You Are a Cross" in Russian. Leo also proposed a name, for better or for worse, which the group wore for the next couple of months- "Shock." The influence they gathered from such St. Petersburg groups as Aquarium, Kino and Zoo apparently changed their self image to such an extent that the group temporarily stopped existing, even though it was precisely in that nameless period that they were blessed with a producer by the name of Igor Davidov. It wasn't until October of 1983 that they managed to come up with a final name for the group, that was Mummy Troll.

Through "Dave," as the producer came to be known, the group was able to start, in 1984, the first professional album recording in the history of Vladivostok, called "The New Moon of April," which included, among new songs like "Emancipйe Girls," "Park," "The New Moon of April," and "Interplanetary Guest," their first experiment in Russian, "You Are a Cross." Songs from the album immediately became hits that were taken over as far as Finland and Japan. This led to nothing less than their first concert in Vladivostok on June 26, 1986, the morning after which the group's musical career was temporarily interrupted. Since most of the members, including Lagutenko, had already turned eighteen, they were rounded up and taken away for mandatory service in the army that is demanded fom every Soviet citizen, and lasts two years.

After their return in 1990, there didn't seem to be any danger that the group would "die out," as often happens after a long pause- after the creation of the studio "Decade" they recorded their third album. The group did break up for a while after this, and it was at this time that Lagutenko went off to live in China and Great Britain. But by 1996 the group was already functioning, and even making serious deals with serious record companies, culminating with one of their most popular albums, "Morskaya" (Sea Album), released by Rec Records in 1997. There were some unsuccessful attempts at a release in London, but this did not happen until later. On June 28, 1998 the group released a two-part album entitled "Shamora. The Truth About Mummy Trolls. 1983-1990". It can be considered that hopefully by the time a band releases either a "best of" collection or something similar, as in this case, it would have a good reason to do so. And in many ways this can be considered true, that by this point, the band had attained a tremendous status on the Russian pop/rock scene. Several concert tours followed including a show in Japan and the release of several music videos that were featured when Russian MTV was first broadcast in Moscow in September.

Concerning the group's more recent projects, December 24th 1999 was the first sign of Mummy Troll's new album, "Exact Mercury Aloe", scheduled to be released in the beginning of February. Incidentally this was the day when the video for the album single, "Karnavala.Net", released on New Year's Eve, was made. For the release of the album, the group is scheduled for an extensive tour calling itself the Mercury Aloe Tour, since it will mostly feature songs from the new album, as well as old hits. The tour will cover dozens of Russian cities, as well as those abroad.

По материалам: www.zvuki.ru

23.02.2000, Анна АРУТЮНЯН (ЗВУКИ РУ)

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Сайт: www.mumiytroll.com

МУМИЙ ТРОЛЛЬ

Although some may take this as an exaggeration, it always seemed to me that there was something more complex about Mummy Troll and Ilya Lagutenko than what appeared on the surface of his songs. It's...

Дата образования:

16 октября 1983

Подробности из жизни:

Although some may take this as an exaggeration, it always seemed to me that there was something more complex about Mummy Troll and Ilya Lagutenko than what appeared on the surface of his songs. It's not that he has a particularly exciting biography, however, nor does the group really stray far beyond the standards of Russian pop. But if you listen closely to the lyrics, you realize there has to be some sort of reason, or at least justification for either their esoteric showiness, or imaginative eccentricity (depending on your point of view). You just don't know where to look for that justification. When I found out that by the time he reached the status he knows today, Lagutenko had already obtained a diploma in African and Eastern Studies from the Far East State Universtiy in Vladivostok, and had lived in China for a while (which I'm sure did wonders to his lexicon and his concept of vocabulary), I was able to place an origin to some of the wildest imagery in his songs. Not that…

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