I was born in St. Petersburg in 1982, and
although in western culture people describe my music as folk,
in Russia they call it Bard. This is a movement that dates back
to the 50s, which defines a genre in which only guitar and
voice create the song. The main accent was on the words, so in
most cases the poetry was more developed than the music. In
terms of singing poetry, I would consider my work as Bard, yet
I draw from much broader musical influences that end up
effecting my compositions.
I cannot define it as a specific style.
It’s eclectic. I like to play strategic games and
approach music in a similar manner, starting with pieces that
might not work together at first, and stretching my fingers
till I reach a harmony. Throughout this process in a back of my
head I start getting an idea of the melody and of the poem that
will tie in to complete the puzzle. It’s an engaging
challenge.
My Grandma used to play a 7-string guitar
when she was young. I’ve never heard her play, but I saw
pictures and it still created an image.I took violin lessons
from age 7 till 11, and my mom would make sure I’d do my
two hours a day. She'd sit through the whole time I'd be
playing and I guess it was painful for both of us. So I gave up
on that. I wasn’t till I was about 13 that I picked up a
guitar that we had in the house. Mom showed me the three chords
she knew Am, Dm and E, which really inspired me, from there I
started learning by myself.
People inspire me a lot, although often i
feel much more in tune with animals and nature. Growing up in
St. Petersburg, the city and its history had an immediate
effect on me. Found by Peter the Great in 1703 and build
largely by Italian, Dutch, and French architects, it was meant
to be "a window to Europe". In a sense it is very
different from other Russian cities. It is a very beautiful
city, which was home to many great writers and artists, yet
there have always been two worlds that existed. One was the
capital of culture where you inhale art with the air you
breathe and the other was the city recovering from communism.
Most people lived below the poverty line, with nothing in the
stores,and even a time when each family was given food tickets
that limited what you can buy. We lived in a communal four
bedroom apartment with 5 other people - a family of four, a
single man, my mom and I.
When I was 9 mom met a New Yorker who came
for a visit to St.Pete. In 1996 they got married and we moved
to Warsaw. We lived there for 3 years. After graduating high
school in 1999, my parents decided to move to Portugal, and I
had a choice of either going with them or going to America to
stay with my step aunt. I moved to Nyack NY and went for
another year of high school to get up to speed in English. That
year was very hard for a variety of reasons. In June 2000 I
left for Russia and thought I was leaving for good. For the
next half a year, I met a lot of creative people, went to
readings, took poetry classes, and felt like I'm catching up
and in my "right shoes". Then little by little I
began to see the grayness and miss NY and by Christmas went
back, rented a room and started college.
After about two years I moved to an art
community in Jersey City - 111 First St. That was where in
early October 2003 I met Mark Dagley from Abaton Book Company,
who said he was very interested in hearing my songs. After much
hesitation, I actually sent him a very bad demo recording that
I did through my computer. I guess he really liked it as he
insisted that I play for him, which I did. He wanted to start
working on a record right away. We began recording, I started
playing out at the same time, and by April we had the record
ready. ...
I am currently living in Paris , working on
new material and starting to collaborate with other musicians.
