Yegor Letov

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Егор Летов и один из его домашних питомцев.jpg

Yegor Letow ( Russian Егор Летов ; actually Игорь Фёдорович Летов / Igor Fjodorowitsch Letow; born September 10, 1964 in Omsk , USSR / Russia ; † February 19, 2008 ibid) was an influential Siberian punk rock musician and poet. He was best known as the front man of the punk band Graschdanskaja Oborona . He is the younger brother of the well-known jazz musician Sergei Letow , with whom Yegor occasionally worked.

Life

Yegor Letow was born in the Siberian city ​​of Omsk in 1964. According to his own statements, up to the age of 12 he experienced clinical death several times as a result of an undetected illness . Letow was active as a rock musician since the early 1980s. He wrote his uncompromising texts himself, in which he avoided neither political and socially critical topics nor vulgar language , which was an extraordinary provocation at this time. He also played both acoustic and electric guitar himself . In 1984 he founded the band Graschdanskaja Oborona and was also active in other bands over the next few years.

In the 1980s, Letow was persecuted as a punk by the KGB and had to spend time in a psychiatric hospital. Since his fate was unclear after his admission to psychiatry, he recorded five Graschdanskaya Oborona albums in his home studio in just two weeks . Letow played almost all of the instruments alone. Despite their poor sound quality, these five albums from 1987 are considered examples of Russian punk rock and Graschdanskaya Oborona classics . After his release he recorded more albums with Graschdanskaja Oborona and gave concerts with her in the USSR until 1990. During this time, Janka Djagilewa - another important figure in the Siberian underground rock movement - worked with the band.

Around 1990 Letow Graschdanskaja Oborona dissolved, but actually converted the band into another project called Yegor i Opisdenewschije ( Егор и Опизденевшие ). In addition to Letow, the other main member of Graschdanskaja Oborona was also active in this - Konstantin "Kusja Uo" Ryabinow . Yegor i Opisdenewschije released two albums in 1990 and 1992: Pryg-skok ( Прыг-скок ) and Sto let odinotschestwa ( Сто лет одиночества , German Hundred Years of Solitude ). Both albums are considered highlights of Letow's artistic creation. The style of Letow's music changed from this time in the direction of psychedelic rock .

After the collapse of the Soviet Union , in contrast to many other Russian rock musicians, he positioned himself uncompromisingly in relation to the music industry and the establishment . He was considered "not for sale".

In the 1990s, Letow, as the holder of Party Book No. 4, was a leading member of the National Bolshevik Party of Eduard Limonov , for which some of his fans had no understanding. After 1998, however, he was only slightly involved in the party, declared in 2004 that he did not belong to any political tendency and later described himself as a "world Christian".

Yegor Letov's grave in Omsk

In the mid-1990s, Graschdanskaja Oborona was brought back to life and continued to exist until Letow's death in February 2008. Although fewer than in the 1980s, the band's new albums were released again and again. The recordings from the 1980s have been restored and re-released on CDs. In the 2000s, Yegor Letow performed several times in Germany both as a solo artist and with his band Graschdanskaja Oborona .

In 2008 he died in his apartment in Omsk. Initially, heart failure was believed to be the cause of death. One month after his death, however, the result of the investigation by the Russian prosecutor was published, according to which Letov died of respiratory failure as a result of alcohol poisoning.

Discography

See also under: Graschdanskaja Oborona

Solo albums

  • Russkoje polje eksperimentow ( Русское поле экспериментов , Russian experimental field ; acoustic; December 1988)
  • Werschki i koreschki ( Вершки и корешки ; 2 parts; September 1989)
  • Musyka wesny ( Музыка весны , spring music ; 2 parts, acoustic; autumn 1989)
  • Vosduschnyje rabotschije woiny ( Воздушные рабочие войны , workers air wars ; acoustic; own, folk and Soviet songs; 1992)
  • Concert w gorode-geroje Leningrade ( Концерт в городе-герое Ленинграде , concert in the heroic city of Leningrad ; acoustic; June 2, 1994, published 1996)
  • Concert w rok club “Poligon” ( Концерт в рок-клубе “Полигон” , concert in the rock club “Poligon” St. Petersburg; 1997)
  • Bratja Letowy ( Братья Летовы , The Letow Brothers ; concert of the OGI project with Sergei Letow : title by Yegor Letow, Kommunism , DK ; 2002)
  • Jegor Letow, GO, Lutschscheje ( Егор Летов, ГО, Лучшее , Jegor Letow, GO, Das Beste ; concert sampler from the concerts in "Poligon" Saint Petersburg; 2003)

Bootlegs

  • Pesni w pustotu ( Песни в пустоту , songs in the void ; acoustic, with Je. Filatow; autumn 1986)
  • Jegor i Janka ( Егор и Янка , Jegor and Janka ; house concert in Kharkiv , with Janka Djagilewa ; February 1989)
  • Prasdnik konschilsja ( Праздник кончился , The festival is over ; acoustic in Kiev ; September 1990)
  • Akustika w "Kosmonawte" ( Акустика в "Космонавте" , Akustik im "Kosmonauten" Saint Petersburg; autumn 1995)
  • Akustika w Karagande ( Акустика в Караганде , Akustik in Karaganda ; 1998)

Videos

  • Concert w gorode-geroje Leningrade ( Концерт в городе-герое Ленинграде , concert in the heroic city of Leningrad ; acoustic; 1994)
  • Concert wd / s "Krylja Sowetow" ( Концерт в д / с "Крылья Советов" , concert in the sports palace "Krylja Sowetow" , Moscow; May 16, 1997 and interview)

literature

  • Yegor Letow, Jana Djagilewa, Konstantin Rjabinow: Russkoje polje eksperimentow (Russian experimental field) . Djuna, Moscow 1994, ISBN 5-87787-004-1 (Russian).
  • Egor Letow: Yes ne werju w anarchiju (I don't believe in anarchy) . Isdatelski Zentr, List Nju, Moscow 1997, ISBN 5-87109-058-3 (Russian, collection of essays).
  • Yegor Letow: Stichi (poems) . Choir, Nota-R, Moscow 2003, ISBN 5-85929-122-1 (Russian).

Movie

  • I Don't Believe in Anarchy (orig. Russian Здорово и вечно ). Documentation, RUS / CH 2015, directed by Anna Tsyrlina, Natalya Chumakova

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Letov's answers to visitors ' questions , official website (Russian)
  2. ^ Eduard Limonow: Moja politischeskaja biografija (My political biography) . Amfora, Moscow 2002, ISBN 5-94278-280-6 (Russian).
  3. Cult Rock Musician Egor Letov Died , February 19, 2008
  4. Letov's cause of death named (Russian)