Zoopark (band)

Zoopark (Russian: Зоопарк) was one of the founding rock groups which began the golden era of rock music in Russia. The group was founded in 1981.[1]

This article is about the music group. For the rail station, see Zoopark railway station. For the Russian radar system, see Zoopark-1.
Zoopark
OriginLeningrad, USSR
Genres
Years active1981–1991
MembersMike Naumenko
Aleksandr Khrabunov
Nail Kadyrov
Valery Kirilov
Past membersIlya Kulikov
Andrey Danilov
Alexander Donskikh
Andrey Muratov

Background

It consisted of singer-songwriter Mike Naumenko, guitarist Aleksandr Khrabunov and a varied group of artists. The first album recorded was All Brothers Are Sisters with Boris Grebenshchikov in 1978. They recorded on the banks of the Neva River in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) with a "choir" of drunken friends and colleagues playing percussion on metal cans.[2] Naumenko was a rock outcast, concentrating his work on electrified hard-core blues, although his Russian-language poetic songwriting made him a favorite in the hippie underground.[3] His inspirations included Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, T. Rex, B.B. King and Chuck Berry.[3]

Legacy

Naumenko died in 1991,[1] cutting his career short. He remains celebrated, however, as a pioneer of Russian rock music, with his birthday observed in St. Petersburg clubs, along with numerous creative tributes, including a 2009 novel and a "blues opera" that premiered in 2011.[4] A collection of Naumenko's complete written works—including his samizdat translation of Richard Bach's Illusions—was being prepared for publication in 2015.[4]

Discography
  • 1981: Blues de Moscou
  • 1983: Small Town Called N (Уездный город N)
  • 1984: White Stripe (Белая полоса)
  • 1985: Life in the Zoo (Жизнь в Зоопарке)
  • 1987: W
  • 1987: Illusions (Иллюзии)
  • 1991: Soundtrack for the movie (Музыка для фильма)

References
  1. Zoopark:Istoriya (in Russian)
  2. Rybin A., Startsev A., eds. and authors, with A. Lipnitsky. Mike from Zoopark (in Russian). Tver: Lean, 1996. ISBN 5-85929-004-7.
  3. Urban, Michael, with Andrei Evdokimov. Russia Gets the Blues: Music, Culture, and Community in Unsettled Times. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2004. pp. 32, 90, 93. ISBN 0-8014-4229-X
  4. Chernov, Sergey (April 18, 2012). "Unexposed genius: Musicians will gather this week to remember the late Zoopark singer Mike Naumenko". The St. Petersburg Times.
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