Andrei Makarevich

Andrei Vadimovich Makarevich is a Russian pop musician, composer, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Since 1969 he has been the artistic director of the band Mashina Vremeni. He is the author of music and lyrics of many popular songs from the band's repertoire. Andrei Makarevich recorded solo acoustic albums (1983, 1985). Acted in movies ("Start Again" (directed by A. Stefanovich, 1986), "Rock and Fortune. Twentieth Anniversary of the Time Machine" (directed by N. Orlov, 1988)). He is a graphic artist by education, exhibits at professional exhibitions. Author of the book "Everything is very simple" (1992). He was awarded the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" of the 3rd degree. Andrei Makarevich was born on December 11, 1954 in Moscow. His father - Vadim Grigorievich - is a famous architect... Andrei's mother worked in medicine all her life. However, in her youth she was fond of music and even received a musical education. She tried to pass her love for music to her son, and he was given to study at a music school at the age of 7. But nothing good came out of it - musical notation was given to Andrew with great difficulty, and many hours of solfeggio pissed off so much that the boy before his eyes turned into a neurasthenic. Therefore, after two years with the music school had to part with it. However, in place of classical music in the life of Andrei Makarevich soon entered rock and roll. It happened in 66 in the following circumstances.

One day Andrei returned home from school (they then lived on Volkhonka) and found his father for a serious occupation - he rewrote on a small tape recorder "Phillips" record "Beatles" "Night after a hard day", taken from a neighbor". According to Andrei Makarevich, "The Beatles days began. The Beatles were listened to from morning to evening. In the morning, before school, then right after and all the way to bedtime. On Sunday, the Beatles were listened to all day long. Sometimes my Beatle-weary parents would throw me out on the balcony with the tape recorder, and then I would turn the sound up full so that everyone around me would listen to the Beatles..." In the eighth grade, Andrei Makarevich created a rock band. "It, except for the founder, included three other people who studied with him in the same class - Misha Yashin and two girls, one of whom - Larisa Kashperko - Andrei had very warm feelings. The band's repertoire was dominated by songs by Yuri Vizbor and Anglo-American folk songs. Despite the fact that the group did not grab stars from the sky, but had an average degree of popularity within the walls of the native educational institution, competing with another collective - a male ensemble from the 9th grade ... One day two newcomers came to their class - Yura Borzov and Igor Mazaev, who loved the Beatles, played musical instruments themselves and were not averse to creating their own band. With this proposal they approached Makarevich, forcing him to solve a difficult dilemma: to remove the girls from the group (remember that one of them Andrei did not breathe well) or to switch to purely male rock. And Makarevich chose the latter (I should note that L. Kashperko then joined L. Utesov's orchestra). So in 1969 a vocal and guitar band was born, which was first called "The Kids", and later changed its name to "Time Machines" (in the plural). Its members sang songs in English - their first tape album was recorded in the same year and consisted of 11 songs." "The first rehearsal room the newly formed band got in one of the apartments of the famous House on the Embankment. There lived the drummer of the band Yuri Borzov, who was the son of Air Marshal and Navy aviation commander Ivan Ivanovich Borzov (except for Borzov in the band at one time played another "noble" classmate Makarevich - Pavel Rubin. His father or grandfather was in the leadership of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR). Unlike Andrei Makarevich's father, who warmly welcomed his son's passion for music (he even helped his son saw out his first guitar), Borzov's father was constantly dissatisfied with more than strange for the marshal's son's occupation and sometimes threatened to "disperse the whole hairy company". Fortunately, these threats never materialized.

Meanwhile, in 1970, "machinists" safely finished school and entered various universities. For example, Makarevich became a student of the Moscow Architectural Institute (MArchI). However, despite this, the ensemble continued its existence. Moreover, in 1970 Moscow hippies, who held their evenings in the Palace of Culture "Energetik" on the Raushskaya embankment, had already heard enough about it. Many famous performers passed through this alma mater of Moscow rock music: Alexey Kozlov, Stas Namin (it was he who brought the "machinists" to the Palace of Culture), Alexander Gradsky and others. It should be noted that the "rocker" party assumed the presence of its participants of certain habits, which are commonly called harmful: alcohol, smoking, girls. "Machinists" in this regard were no exception, although for a while there was one "white crow" among them - Andrei Makarevich, who unlike his comrades was not subject to any of the above vices. However, this could not last long.

One day, Sergei Kavagoe's nerves failed, and he bought a bottle of port and forced Makarevich to drink it for two in one of Moscow's ice-cream cafes. This is how Andrei Makarevich's "baptism of fire" in the wine field took place, and a little later all the rest. Meanwhile, in 1971, the composition of "Mashin" underwent serious changes: Mazaev was taken to the army, and Borzov left the group for personal reasons. Instead of them came other members: Alexander Kutikov (former boxer, bronze medalist of Moscow Youth Championship) took the bass guitar, Maxim Kapitanovsky (the first real musician, who had previously played in the most "technical" Moscow band "Second Breath") took the drums, Sergey Kavagoe took the keyboards (he was half-Japanese, and his father often brought his son the necessary musical props from Japan). There were also changes in the repertoire of the ensemble - songs in Russian began to take the place of English-language songs. It was then that Andrei Makarevich wrote the first "hits": "Song about a Soldier" ("I chose the right way since childhood..."), "The Seller of Happiness" ("Yesterday I walked at the beginning of the night..."), "Song about Pink Glasses" ("A day ago I was not happy that I was born into the world..."), "Millionaires" ("I heard that millionaires..."), etc."". "The group was organized in the end of 1968 by pupils of Moscow English special school №19; in one of the national holidays 1969 at the school party its first concert took place. The very first line-up included Andrei Makarevich (guitar, vocals), Igor Mazaev (bass), Pavel Ruben (bass), Yuri Borzov (drums), Alexander Ivanov (rhythm guitar). They mostly performed songs from the English repertoire, but there were also a few of their own compositions in the same language. In 1970 the young band enters the Moscow rock scene; at the same time its composition changes radically. Now it is Makarevich, Alexander Kutikov (bass), Sergey Kavagoe (organ), Maxim Kapitanovsky (drums). For some time "MV" acts as a "subsidiary group" of the most popular at that time ensemble "Best Years".

The performance qualities of the musicians, especially of the leader, left much to be desired, but the band was talked about. The reason for this was the presence of songs in Russian in their repertoire (which was a great exotic at that time). Moreover, Andrei Makarevich's songs, unlike, say, Alexander Gradsky's compositions, were quite "his own" not only in language, but also in content, i.e. they represented an honest attempt to talk about what was troubling. The naively satirical songs "Glasses with Pink Glass", "Seller of Happiness", "Soldier" were particularly successful. In fact, the 18-year-old Makarevich became the first Soviet rock author to put some kind of social and ethical message into the lyrics of his songs. Later on (and largely with his light hand) this became the norm of Russian-language rock." "Undoubtedly, the music of the Beatles had a decisive influence on Makarevich. Liverpool melody is the core of most of the MB songs written over the 20-odd years of the band's existence. The sound, arrangement techniques, however, varied according to the influences of this or that period. Thus, the middle of the 70s was marked by hard rock and white blues; then the influence of jazz-rock, art-rock began to be felt; in the 80s the new wave stylistics did not pass by "MV". While the melodic merits of the songs are undoubted, they are sometimes underestimated, calling "MV" a purely textual band. Andrei Makarevich's poetry really had a fantastic resonance; for a whole decade he remained almost the only rock author who managed to accurately express the mindset of our "thinking" youth, to formulate in songs the questions that torment them. Disbelief and adaptability, alienation and broken illusions, general hypocrisy and the search for something true - this is approximately the range of problems that concern the rock poet Makarevich. The majority of songs were solved in the key of allegorical parables ("Captain", "Flag Over the Castle", "Masks", "Cart"), less often - specific sketches from life ("Birthday", "Blues about the Absolute Harm of Drunkenness", "Cafe Lira"). And although the syllable of the compositions was delicate, and the language was quite Aesopian, the author's critical attitude to reality did not cause doubts among the listeners. And among them there were not only rock fans, but also workers of the ideological front. As the popularity of "MV" grew, so did the resistance to the group "from above". Access to mass media was completely blocked, and in 1978 began a protracted (7 years long, to be exact) conflict between "MV" and the Moscow (Grishinsky) City Committee of the CPSU, which significantly hampered their concert activity in their native city. Fortunately, starting from 1976 "MV" already went on tour. Particular success fell to their share in Leningrad, where Andrei Makarevich's trio completely overshadowed all local rock ensembles". "MV's place in modern Soviet rock can be compared to that occupied in the West by such veteran performers as Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones. On the one hand, they continue to write good songs and enjoy well-deserved respect and popularity, but on the other hand, surprises and revelations are no longer expected from them, and a sense of nostalgia dominates the reverence. On May 27, 1989, the 20th anniversary of "MV" was solemnly celebrated in Luzhniki. Rock music in the USSR: experience of popular encyclopedia. Compiled by A.K.Troitsky. - M.: Book, 1990, p. 211 "Becoming, in fact, the first star of Russian rock music and in many respects predetermined its transition to Russian-language creativity, "Mashina Vremeni" was organized in a Moscow school, although its creator and since then permanent leader Andrei Makarevich began his way into music a year earlier.

In 1968, he heard the Beatles for the first time and, subjected to the general fashion, gathered his classmates and female classmates to form a vocal and guitar quartet "The Kids", which played English-language numbers with varying success at school amateur nights. Acquaintance with A. Sikorsky and K. Nikolsky, who were already singing in Russian, prompted him to make a "real" group and start composing songs on his own". Alexeev A., Burlaka A., Sidorov A. Who is Who in Soviet Rock. Illustrated encyclopedia of Russian rock music. - Moscow: MP "Ostankino" Publishing House, 1991, p.149-150. According to music critic A. Troitsky: "To my taste, Andrei Makarevich's poems are a little bit dull - abstract and didactic - but they are undoubtedly honest and full of concern. They accurately, albeit in "Soft Focus," convey the symptoms of the vicious epidemic of consumerism and unbelief that was mowing down everyone at the time. Naturally, it was not customary to talk about these things in public: the mass media diligently supported the most favorable (and false) image of a resolute and ideologically convinced modern hero. That's why the "problem" songs of "Mashina Vremeni" had a fantastic resonance, as one of the few pure voices in the false chorus... " "In 1972, the group "Mashina Vremeni" ceased to exist for a few months and its members joined the popular rock band "Best Years", which practiced the performance of Western music..." "In 1973, "Best Years" almost in its entirety left for the professional stage and "Mashina Vremeni" (now called in the singular) was brought back to life (from "Best Years" keyboardist Igor Saulsky moved into it)."

"Eventually the university management got fed up with it, and Makarevich was expelled from the institute (the formal reason for this was his non-appearance at the vegetable base). After this Andrei Makarevich had to go to the evening department of the same MArchI, and during the day to work in the "Giproteater". At the same time, he had plenty of free time: at work he got a part-time enrollment and went there every other day, and at the institute he appeared only for exams". Andrei Makarevich recalled: "I must say, Danelia treated us very respectfully and scrupulously: the song was acquired from us according to all laws. And a few months later, I suddenly received an incredible pile of money - rubles five hundred (a case for our domestic film production is not at all typical). With this money was purchased in a thrift store tape recorder "Grundig TK- 46", which for a long time then replaced our studio. As for the movie, I don't even remember if we stayed in the frame. Scraps of the song seem to sound..." "An attempt to do this was made by Eleonora Belyaeva, the host of the popular program "Musical Kiosk", who learned about the existence of the group from her daughter. Literally in one day "machinists" recorded and combined six songs: "Circle of Clear Water", "You or I", "From End to End", "Black and White Color", "Flag over the Castle" "Flying Dutchman". However, to pass through the cordon of censorship Belyaeva failed and "Mashina Vremeni" on the blue screen did not appear. But the band members were not very upset - after all, their second studio recording took place, and the songs recorded at that time would soon spread on thousands of cassette tapes all over the country. At the same time, another important event happened in the life of the band - they started to give their first official tours".

"In March 1976, an event happened that opened new horizons in the life of "Mashina Vremeni" - the band was invited to Tallinn for the festival "Tallinn Songs of Youth - 76". The composition of the festival participants was diverse: there were bands from Moscow (except for "Mashina..." the capital was represented by Stas Namin and "Lucky Acquisition"), from Leningrad ("Aquarium", "Ornament"), from Gorky ("Vremya") and several bands from Baltic republics. The festival lasted for several days and ended with the victory of "Mashina Vremeni" - the band took the first place and took to Moscow a diploma signed by the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of Estonia. It was the first official recognition of the collective". A. Troitsky recalled: "There was another kind of resonance. I was a member of the jury and observed up close a mass stroke that happened to local officials because of the lyrics of "Mashina Vremeni". They were particularly frightened by "Blues about the Absolute Harm of Drunkenness" (a satirical anti-alcohol song) and "Stil", which had lines like these: My ship is the work of delicate hands, My route is a total failure, But as soon as the wind blows, Everything will change around, And the fool who thinks otherwise... "Mashina Vremeni" was excluded from the competition, they were clearly the best band, but the officials were afraid to put their signatures under the diploma. The band found itself in similar situations all the time: they were accused of "pessimism", "decadent moods" and "distorting the image of our young contemporary". "Meanwhile, in the spring of 1979, the former line-up of Mashina Vremeni broke up. And with a scandal. The stumbling block was a concert in the City Committee of graphic artists on Malaya Gruzinskaya, where Andrei Makarevich was a frequent guest. And then one day the artists asked him to perform with the band at one of their evenings, but Kavagoe stood on the fence. He said that if the artists are interested, let them come to a concert of the "Machine of Time" and there listen, and especially for them to play he will not go to play. It cost Makarevich a great deal of labor to persuade Kavagoe to perform for him, Makarevich, but later he strongly regretted that he had done so. The concert took place, but it was disgusting. On the same day Andrey Makarevich gathered all the "machinists" and announced his decision: he was leaving the group and invited everyone, except Kavagoe, to follow him. However, no one followed him. So Makarevich was left alone, and members of his team scattered to other groups - for example, Kavagoe and Margulis went to the newly created group "Sunday", which immediately became a supergroup". "Andrei Makarevich recalls: 'We rushed to rehearse. Fresh blood is a great thing... An avalanche of new thoughts fell on me. Petya was amazing in this respect. He could offer a hundred variations of his part, and I only had to tell him what was suitable and what was not, because he didn't know. Usually Kutikov, as always overflowing with melodies, but poorly aware of the arrangement of keys, hummed something in Petya's ear, and it was immediately embodied in concrete sounds. The program turned out to be percussive - "Right", "Who Did You Want to Surprise", "Candle", "There Will Be a Day", "Crystal City". Almost immediately we wrote "Turn" and "Ah, What a Moon". Everything was going on a colossal upswing, we liked each other very much and felt on a horse..." "In 1980, Roskontsert decided to invite Mashina Vremeni to its own staff, and this invitation was welcomed positively by the band members.

From that day on, the official rate of the "machinists" for one performance in the concert hall was 10 rubles, in the Palace of Sports - 20 rubles. The first performance of the "Mashina Vremeni" under the auspices of Roskontsert took place in Rostov, followed by concerts in other cities: Kharkov, Odessa. And everywhere - full houses". "Recalls A. Troitsky: "Andrei Makarevich had every reason to be happy, as a man who has been digging a tunnel for twelve years and finally got out of it into the light. However, he didn't look blinded, and our only in-depth conversation in Tbilisi - right on the eve of departure - had a bitter flavor. "Well, now you think we're bourgeois and corrupt elements" - Andrei Makarevich was referring to the press conference after the festival, where I said that Mashina Vremeni now had every chance to become recognized pop stars, replacing the boring and outdated Pesnyars, Samotsvetovs, and so on. "Do you think that if we are approved by the jury, hired by the Philharmonic, we are no longer the same and do not deserve attention? This is a very limited position. Musicians, including rockers, should work professionally, earn money with their music... You know I don't make any compromises and we play and sing what is really close to us. We haven't gotten worse, we haven't gotten stupider, it's just that the attitude towards both the genre and us has changed." "And we've never needed scandalous fame, I've never sought to eupatize anyone. Although some people might have perceived us as something threatening - to the extent of their stupidity. All my songs are ultimately about kindness, purity... love, if you will. And thank God that this has finally been realized and stopped talking about "pessimism" and "a fig in my pocket." "January 1, 1981 in the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" appeared the results of the next hit parade, where the first place was given to the song of "Mashina Vremeni" "Povorot". It is interesting to note that the idea of writing this song was born by the "machinists" quite by chance, without any connection to any specific event. However, the listeners interpreted the meaning of the song in their own way and declared it almost dissident. Foreign voices were saying the same thing at the time. Meanwhile, "Povorot" stayed in the first place for a record time - 18 months.

It is worth noting that in 1981 the first giant record of "Mashina Vremeni" was released, and it happened not in the musicians' homeland, but in the USA - the disk was released by Kismet Records and it was called "Hunters for Luck". Unfortunately, the joy of this event was spoiled by the quality of the record - it was disgusting". "In the days of the release of the movie on the screen with Andrei Makarevich happened story, more like an anecdote. The case was like this. Then he lived on Leninsky Prospekt, 37, and his neighbor on the bottom floor was an elderly geography teacher. To Makarevich's music, she had an extremely negative attitude, but especially resented his friends, who often organized noisy parties in the singer's apartment. And then one day her patience broke. When Makarevicha invited to his home all the participants of the film "Soul" (among them were: Sofia Rotaru, Mikhail Boyarsky, Roland Bykov and other celebrities), the neighbor called the police and asked to restrain the "boisterous youth". The police responded to the call very quickly, and five minutes after the complaint, the guards rang the doorbell of Andrei Makarevich's apartment. What was their surprise when the door was opened by Mikhail Boyarsky, and then from behind his back appeared the rest of the stars of national cinema, which they had never seen in person. In short, the incident ended with autographs". Razzakov F. I. Dossier on the stars. Idols of all generations. - Moscow: ZAO EXMO-Press, 1999, p. 264. "In 1984, Andrei Makarevich almost died in a car accident. However, two weeks after the accident, not having time to properly heal a cracked sternum, concussion and numerous cuts from the broken windshield, Makarevich escaped from the hospital in Vladivostok - on underwater hunting". "In 1986, with the change in the whole culture of the country's politics, Mashina Vremeni got a new opportunity to make itself known. The collective then prepared two strong programs - "Rivers and Bridges" and "In the Circle of Light". In the same year "Melodiya" signed an agreement with the musicians of "Mashina Vremeni" to release giant disks. The first of them (and the first in the Union) - "In Good Hour!" - soon appeared on the shelves of music stores. It was followed by others: "Rivers and Bridges", "Ten Years Later" (both - 1987), "In the Circle of Light", "Songs for Guitar" (both - 1989)".

"In 1987, a significant event occurred in the personal life of Andrei Makarevich - he had a son, whom the happy parents named Ivan. However, this marriage of the musician lasted only a few years. Back in 1991, answering the question of the correspondent of the newspaper "Family": "If your wife decided to leave you, would you take it as a tragedy or as a minor nuisance?", Makarevich replied: "As a major nuisance". And just a year later, this unpleasantness was accomplished - the marriage broke up. And a year later, next to Makarevich was another woman - a popular presenter of radio station "Europe-plus" Ksenia Volintseva, better known as Strizh. She later characterized her relationship with Makarevich: "The newspapers bloated that I am almost Makarevich's wife, that we have as if seven on the benches. We were in good relations with him, maybe a little more than good, close. For about three years (the interview was given in May '95. - F. R.). I lived in Valentinovka at his house (Andrei Makarevich bought it in 1989 from a certain fireman, giving almost all his savings - 150 thousand rubles. - F. R.). There was no talk of any marriage, the relationship was democratic. But everything begins and ends at some point, it's normal..." "... in early 1997. Then a number of central publications reported that Andrei Makarevich found an illegitimate daughter. At first, this message few people believed, but then the artist himself personally confirmed this message. As it turned out, the daughter really exists - her name is Dana, she lives in the U.S. (in Philadelphia) and works as a lawyer. On her father she came out herself, apparently, recently learned from her mother that he really exists.

And after her first call Andrei Makarevich thought that this is another applicant for the title of daughter. But after they met, Makarevich's doubts on this matter fell away by themselves. A little later Makarevich went to his daughter in America, and they had a wonderful time." "In November 1993, the light saw the first, invented by Makarevich, the program -" Smak ". Andrei Makarevich recounts: "It began with the fact that Kostya Ernst, who then (in the early 90's. - F. R.) was not yet a big boss, and only conceived the program "Matador" and is not yet very learned what it will be, offered me to make such a page, because we always gathered at my house and all the time something to eat from my cooking. He said: "Let's make such a page in "Matador", you will show your recipes. I said, "Let's do it." I waited, I waited, Kostya didn't call me. Then he called me and said: "Well, it somehow doesn't fit into the Matador concept". I said, "Let me make a separate program." But then it seemed to me that if I'm going to tell the story alone, then it would be better to really take some professional chef who knows more than I do. And it's interesting not to look at me, but at the guests. The guests should be known and loved. And they should be placed in an environment in which in our country we are used to talking about the innermost things, that is, in the kitchen. And so it turned out..."

In 1996 Andrei Makarevich invented and realized another TV project - the program "Eh, roads". " Something similar was stated by A. Trotsky. Here are his words: "With Andrei Makarevich the situation is maybe a little worse. If Bob (Grebenshikov. - F. R.) creativity, self-expression, some kind of spiritual craftsmanship are still indisputably at the top of the list of priorities, Makarevich is not without excitement engaged in tasks from creativity in the highest degree distant. I do not condemn him either for this or - even more so - for his cooking program, because many people like to eat good food and, in my opinion, this is no less worthy sphere of creative activity than singing. But the fact that Andrei Makarevich does not miss any opportunity to earn money and treats it not as an inevitable evil, but as a serious positive activity - I do not like it. There is too much split personality and hidden schizophrenia in it". Razzakov F. I. Dossier on stars. Idols of all generations. - Moscow: ZAO EXMO-Press, 1999, p. 269. Discography of "Mashina Vremeni". Minion record with "Trio Linnik" (1974), flexible mini records "Songs from the movie" and "Ensemble "Mashina Vremeni" (Melodiya, 1981), giant disk "In Good Hour" (1986), double album "Rivers and Bridges" (1987), record "Ten Years Later" (1988), "In the Circle of Light" (1989), "Slow Good Music" (1989), "Mashina Vremeni XX Years!" (1991), "Slow Good Music" (1991), "It Was So Long Ago. Time Machine. The Year 1978" (1993), "Freelance Commander of the Earth" (1993), "Best Songs. 1979-85" (1993), "The Best of" (1993), "Who You Wanted to Surprise" (1995), "Cardboard Wings of Love" (1996), "Breaking Away" (1997), "XXX Years of Time Machine" (1998), "The Place Where the Light Is" (2001), "Mashinalno" (2004). Solo albums. "At the Lombard" (1994), "Pioneer Blat Songs" (1996), "I Draw You" (1994), "Songs for Guitar" (1998), "Female Album" (with the group "Fern", 1998), "Songs from the movie "Crossroads" (1999), "Etc." (with "Creole Tango Orchestra", 2002), "Thin Scar on Favorite Ass" (with "Creole Tango Orchestra", Evgeny Margulis, Maxim Leonidov, Alyona Sviridova and Tatiana Lazareva, songs by Mark Freidkin, 2003), "Stander" (with "Creole Tango Orchestra", 2007). Books. "Everything is very simple", "Sam sheep", "Poems and songs", "Andrei Makarevich: songs and poems", "7 cities", "SMAK: meetings in the kitchen", "What is diving or aqualungs for everyone" (co-authored with Yuri Belsky), "The place where the light is", "Men's cooking". Sources: Biography http://to-name.ru/biography/andrej-makarevich.htm Discography http://file.liga.net/person/752-andrei-makarevich.html