A dozen of local rock acts will come together next Tuesday to commemorate one of the most respected Russian rockers.
For Mike (full name Mikhail Naumenko), who died in August 1991, this date would have been his 40th birthday.
In the early 1980s Mike and his band Zoopark ("Zoo") spearheaded the "Russian Rock Revolution" alongside such groups as Aquarium, Kino and Strange Games, and the late musician's influence remains vast.
As Boris Grebenshchikov of Aquarium once mentioned, Russia had no Bob Dylan of its own. Vysotsky, despite his overwhelming national popularity, was different -- he was not rock and roll, many felt.
So the two musicians, who closely cooperated in their early years (for a short span Mike was a member of Aquarium), took on the task of bringing Dylan's subjects and sentiments to young Russians.
Mike, who was especially consistent in realization of this idea, wrote a number of songs, which were not straightforward translations, but rather vaguely based on such classics as "Desolation Row," "It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," "Subterranean Homesick Blues."
Most of his audience could not even imagine that some of the lines Mike so convincingly sang in his nasal voice were not entirely his own.
A fan of the Rolling Stones, T.Rex and Lou Reed, Mike drew some influences from their work too.
The first among the then-underground rock musicians he released the first "professional" album "Sladkaya N and Others" (it was a home-produced reel-to-reel tape with photos glued on each side) in 1980.Now most of his recordings are available on vinyl and cassettes.
Mike's lyrics, though not entirely free of bathos, often dealt with the city's lowlife, alcohol and sex, which was strikingly new the early 1980s' Soviet Union; the then-top band Mashina Vremeni and its imitators were obsessed with castles and old ships.
His songs were covered by fellow rockers -- a sign of credibility that any other songwriter in Russia can hardly boast of.
When rock became legal and every newspaper was eager to interview musicians, he refused to philosophize about "spirituality" or "social meaning" of rock music -- much discussed subjects in the late 1980s -- calling himself an "entertainer."
Mike Memorial Concert, organized in cooperation with the Free Culture Humanitarian Foundation, will be held in the hall of the Theater Narodnovo Tvorchestva, which often held performances of Zoopark.
WHAT: Mike Memorial Concert featuring Yuri Ilchenko, Khrabunov I
Tovarishchi, Kolibri, Oasis Yu, Opasnye Sosedi, Prepinaki, Red Blood, Rekshan
& St Petersburg, Secret, Strange Games, Titova, Trilistnik, Nikita
Vostretsov & Tops.
WHEN: Tuesday, April 18. 7pm
WHERE: Theatre Narodnovo Tvorchestva. 13 Rubinshteina Ulitsa Nearest
Metro: Dostoyevskaya
COST: 15,000 R. (Tickets are available from the Rock
Club's shop on 13 Rubinshteina.)