Alexander Nikolayevich Baschlachev

Alexander Bashlachev

Alexander Baschlachev ( Russian Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Башлачёв ; born May 27, 1960 in Cherepovets ; † February 17, 1988 in Leningrad ) was a Russian poet, songwriter and singer. Despite his early death, he is considered one of the most influential representatives of Russian-language rock music .

Life

From 1977 to 1978 Baschlachev worked as an artist in the Cherepovets Metallurgical Combine . From 1978 to 1983 he studied at the State University of the Urals in Sverdlovsk at the journalism faculty. After graduating, he returned to Cherepovets, where he works for the Communist newspaper . In September 1983 he got to know the music critic Artemi Troitsky through the journalist Leonid Parfjonow , at whose invitation he staged a series of "apartment concerts" in Moscow and Leningrad. In the autumn of 1984 Bashlachev left Cherepovets, first he traveled to Moscow, then to Leningrad.

In March 1985, Bashlachev's first public appearance took place in Leningrad, where he performed together with Yuri Shevchuk , head of the band DDT , in auditorium number 6 of the Leningrad Veterinary Institute. This concert took place immediately after the 3rd Festival of the Leningrad Rock Club (these festivals were the most important rock music events in the Soviet Union around the mid-1980s); therefore it was named "fourth day of the festival". A sound recording of the concert was later published under the title Kotschegarka .

At the same time, Baschlachev recorded his first album. The recording was organized by the head of the sound archive of the Leningrad Rock Club Sergei Firsov in the home studio of the songwriter, singer and sound director Alexei Vishnya . This record was later given the title Tretja stoliza (Third Capital) . From then on, Firsow saw himself as Bashlachev's manager.

Bashlachev's grave

In the following year, Bashlachev finally moved to Leningrad, where he became a member of the Leningrad Rock Club. With the help of Firsow, he got a job in March 1986 in a heating plant popularly known as "Kamtschatka" (representatives of unofficial Soviet rock music needed at least a formal job in order not to be persecuted as "anti-social" by the authorities; During this time, Viktor Zoi from Kino, among others, also worked in "Kamchatka" .

In the spring of 1987 Alexei Utschitel shot his film Rock , in which Baschlachev was to appear. During the filming, however, Bashlachev canceled his participation. Uchitel, however, later incorporated material from Bashlachev's funeral that he had filmed into a version of his film Rock .

In June 1987 Baschlachev appeared at the 5th Leningrad Rock Festival in the Leningrad Youth Palace , where he received the Hope Prize (as " Hope for the Future") and at the Rock Festival in Chernogolovka near Moscow. In September 1987 he took part in the shooting of the film Bardy pokidajut dwory (The Bards Leave the Courtyards) in Kiev , but then canceled his participation. On January 29, 1988, Bashlachev's last concert, as evidenced by a recorded recording, took place in the apartment of the journalist Marina Timaschowa.

Bashlachev died on February 17, 1988. He fell out of the window on the eighth floor of 23 Kuznetsov Prospect in Leningrad. He may have committed suicide , but the cause of death has never been determined. He is buried in St. Petersburg in the Kovalyovo cemetery. His son Yegor was only born after Baschlachev's death.

Museums

On November 1, 2009, an Alexander Bashlachev Museum was opened in Cherepovets. It is located in the building of the municipal sheet music and music library no.11.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Library website