Serghej VLADIMIRSKY - One-Man Band

MY MOSCOW" ј2(3), NOVEMBER 1999
By Lyudmila BUKHARINA

Strange sounds are filling up the room, beats of the subdued but distinct rhythm are joined by the excited throbbing of the man's heart.
The accelerating rhythm becomes more tense, one may hear someone's remote howl. Who is it? A wolf? And may be a man?
There appears a melody which gives birth to severe and shoreless spaciousness - it is either a snow or space decent.
But slowly the sounds melt, leaving a mysterious quietness after them.

It is Moscow, a usual town apartment and its owner Serghej Vladimirsky, the author of the composition that has just died down. And here is the history of its creation, which is, in my opinion, quite curious. During paleontological surveys a settlement of ancient men was discovered on shore of the Desna river in the Chernigov Region, and among many other finds there was a quite surprising one - it may seem strange but it was a whole "musical center" of mammoth bones.
Paleontologists are meticulous people: they have determined that according to the nowadays classification of musical instruments these bones may be referred to the subgroup of selfsounding, not tunable, non-cavity and cavity instruments. And if they are instruments Serghej Vladimirsky has decided to try and restore their sounding, interlacing it into the fabric of his own musical composition.


It resulted in an absorbingly interesting thing. But everything is interesting in this home: hosts themselves, musicians Serghej and Tatiana Vladimirsky, the friendly and bland creature - dog Marcella, an unbelievable number of musical instruments, lying on shelves, standing on the floor, hanging on the walls, and they are so close to each other that one cannot discern the color of walls. This unique assemblage of over 400 most diverse, outlandish, most exotic instruments, nevertheless, has not been named a collection by the hosts.
All these instruments are concert: they are full-fledged participants of the "Grenada" group headed by Serghej. The group is a laureate of multiple contests, two world festivals of students and youth - in 1978 in Cuba and 1985 in Moscow, the possessor of the Arthur Bekker Gold Medal (Germany). In recent years the group recorded two disks: Bird-Troika, Songs of Eastern Slavs and Songs of Russia.


A year ago its musicians marked Grenada's 25-year anniversary. During the period the composition of the group changed many times (now it consists of 7 musicians); only virtuosity of its participants and the principle of selecting the repertoire - music of world nations have remained unchanged.
All songs are performed in original languages and with national instruments; several dozens of instruments are usually used during a concert. That is the answer to the question: why does Serghej Vladimirsky need so many musical instruments? But there appears another question: where from? It turns out that all of them have appeared in this home in a different way. Some were just bought in shops, some were presented by craftsmen who made them.
And finally one more quite numerous group of instruments was won by Serghej at concerts during tours around the whole world. Prior to "Grenada"'s arrival in a town there appears a rumor that the Russian group is headed by a musician who after an attentive look at an instrument unknown to him can play it in the presence of the astonished public but subject to the condition that if he manages to do it the instrument will remain in his possession.
Everybody likes to see and hear such a miracle. Each musician and craftsman wishes to be the first to whom the Russian musical polyglot would lose. Till now such a thing have never happened.


The proof of it is the abundance of rarest folk instruments in Serghej's assemblage such as a Brazilian quika, Australian didgeridu, Cuban chekere, Indian shankhaj, Chuvash tudut, Touvinian toschpulur. For Serghej each musical instrument is a unique time machine, helping to comprehend the grandeur of the history and culture of a people, the soul of the craftsman who created such an instrument. For "Grenada" members the perception of continuous connection of times is very important.
May be because 13 years ago they set up a children's studio attended now by over 150 youngsters of all ages. One can see how their faces transfigure when they just step over the threshold of their club. The "Grenada" musicians give lessons to children every week in one of their rehearsal days and free of charge. The principle of selection for the children's studio is simultaneously very simple and very complex.
Children are accepted to the studio irrespective of the presence of an ear for music, the feeling of rhythm and other necessary (from the point of view of other educators) qualities: their desire is the only condition.
If it is present, then children together with their senior colleagues - musicians are capable to work wonders.

On coming back home I decided to listen through the compact disk with instrumental recordings, the majority of witch were composed by Serghej. The music caused me to smile blissfully. Yes! This is what I long wished but never knew where to find it. I heard both familiar favorite melodies and melodies I heard for the first time: they touched such fine cryptic soul strings that it seemed that the sounds recited the life - mine and yours too.

GRENADA GROUP - Новости















Serghej VLADIMIRSKY - One-Man Band

MY MOSCOW" ј2(3), NOVEMBER 1999
By Lyudmila BUKHARINA

Strange sounds are filling up the room, beats of the subdued but distinct rhythm are joined by the excited throbbing of the man's heart.
The accelerating rhythm becomes more tense, one may hear someone's remote howl. Who is it? A wolf? And may be a man?
There appears a melody which gives birth to severe and shoreless spaciousness - it is either a snow or space decent.
But slowly the sounds melt, leaving a mysterious quietness after them.

It is Moscow, a usual town apartment and its owner Serghej Vladimirsky, the author of the composition that has just died down. And here is the history of its creation, which is, in my opinion, quite curious. During paleontological surveys a settlement of ancient men was discovered on shore of the Desna river in the Chernigov Region, and among many other finds there was a quite surprising one - it may seem strange but it was a whole "musical center" of mammoth bones.
Paleontologists are meticulous people: they have determined that according to the nowadays classification of musical instruments these bones may be referred to the subgroup of selfsounding, not tunable, non-cavity and cavity instruments. And if they are instruments Serghej Vladimirsky has decided to try and restore their sounding, interlacing it into the fabric of his own musical composition.


It resulted in an absorbingly interesting thing. But everything is interesting in this home: hosts themselves, musicians Serghej and Tatiana Vladimirsky, the friendly and bland creature - dog Marcella, an unbelievable number of musical instruments, lying on shelves, standing on the floor, hanging on the walls, and they are so close to each other that one cannot discern the color of walls. This unique assemblage of over 400 most diverse, outlandish, most exotic instruments, nevertheless, has not been named a collection by the hosts.
All these instruments are concert: they are full-fledged participants of the "Grenada" group headed by Serghej. The group is a laureate of multiple contests, two world festivals of students and youth - in 1978 in Cuba and 1985 in Moscow, the possessor of the Arthur Bekker Gold Medal (Germany). In recent years the group recorded two disks: Bird-Troika, Songs of Eastern Slavs and Songs of Russia.


A year ago its musicians marked Grenada's 25-year anniversary. During the period the composition of the group changed many times (now it consists of 7 musicians); only virtuosity of its participants and the principle of selecting the repertoire - music of world nations have remained unchanged.
All songs are performed in original languages and with national instruments; several dozens of instruments are usually used during a concert. That is the answer to the question: why does Serghej Vladimirsky need so many musical instruments? But there appears another question: where from? It turns out that all of them have appeared in this home in a different way. Some were just bought in shops, some were presented by craftsmen who made them.
And finally one more quite numerous group of instruments was won by Serghej at concerts during tours around the whole world. Prior to "Grenada"'s arrival in a town there appears a rumor that the Russian group is headed by a musician who after an attentive look at an instrument unknown to him can play it in the presence of the astonished public but subject to the condition that if he manages to do it the instrument will remain in his possession.
Everybody likes to see and hear such a miracle. Each musician and craftsman wishes to be the first to whom the Russian musical polyglot would lose. Till now such a thing have never happened.


The proof of it is the abundance of rarest folk instruments in Serghej's assemblage such as a Brazilian quika, Australian didgeridu, Cuban chekere, Indian shankhaj, Chuvash tudut, Touvinian toschpulur. For Serghej each musical instrument is a unique time machine, helping to comprehend the grandeur of the history and culture of a people, the soul of the craftsman who created such an instrument. For "Grenada" members the perception of continuous connection of times is very important.
May be because 13 years ago they set up a children's studio attended now by over 150 youngsters of all ages. One can see how their faces transfigure when they just step over the threshold of their club. The "Grenada" musicians give lessons to children every week in one of their rehearsal days and free of charge. The principle of selection for the children's studio is simultaneously very simple and very complex.
Children are accepted to the studio irrespective of the presence of an ear for music, the feeling of rhythm and other necessary (from the point of view of other educators) qualities: their desire is the only condition.
If it is present, then children together with their senior colleagues - musicians are capable to work wonders.

On coming back home I decided to listen through the compact disk with instrumental recordings, the majority of witch were composed by Serghej. The music caused me to smile blissfully. Yes! This is what I long wished but never knew where to find it. I heard both familiar favorite melodies and melodies I heard for the first time: they touched such fine cryptic soul strings that it seemed that the sounds recited the life - mine and yours too.