English star Arthur Brown at the opening of the Blues
Brothers Club. (Large jpg - 23K)
Blues might not be the most popular type of music in Russia, but Nikita Vostretsov, the founder of St Petersburg's first blues club and shop, feels the situation is changing.
"Now this music is becoming more popular," he said. "I think that blues in Russia is on the way up, as rock and roll was before it. Blues' popularity can be seen from Chizh' current success. Chizh is a purely pop performer, but his songs are based on blues. People started to realize that blues was not old music for a narrow circle of listeners, but it had a wider appeal."
"In my opinion, blues is not music for just one generation like acid house or many other fads, which have already died, but transcends several generations and no one can predict how long it's popularity will last," he added.
Vostretsov has been around for long time as a guitar player for several local groups, but he is best known for his "Blues Brothers" program on Radio Katyusha. He chose to give his new club and shop the same name. At the club's inaugural party, legendary British singer Arthur Brown entertained an audience of 200 guests who packed the small hall.
Nikita Vostretsov said, "Musicians have been eager to have a place where they would be able to create a chamber sound, just like the New York City Blues Club, although ours is a little smaller."
The Blues Brothers club will open on an irregular basis for some time, but the bar is already up and running. Those performers wishing to play at the venue will go through a careful selection process. It is hoped that the venue will attract famous names from here and abroad. The next event will be a concert by renowned local guitar player Alexander Lyapin.
"It won't really be a rock venue like TaMtAm or Ten Club, where for a few kopecks you can buy a ticket and get drunk on cheap beer. Our club will be more closed, but you are welcome to come if you are invited," Vostretsov said.
The shop offers a good selection of classic blues recordings, but also features lots of avant-garde and alternative CDs, which are difficult to come across in other local music shops. Vostretsov is sure that the choice of releases available from the Blues Brothers is the widest in the city.
"Many shops deal with what is popular, they buy and sell CDs in big quantities, while our shop is elitist, because it is oriented toward the sale of rarer collector's items and one-offs." he said.
According to Vostretsov, Western European pop music, which was popular in the 1980s sells faster than anything else. "Now the main customers are young people who have grown up and earned lots of money -- and they feel a nostalgia for Modern Talking or Toto Cutugno," he said.
He hopes to make better music than this available in the city and to keep promoting blues on his radio program and, in future, through a TV show of the same name.