Avia is a group created on the basis of the eighties rock band Strange Games. As the members of the group themselves say, they had fun, moving away from politics, to get carried away and carry the vanguard of the era of the twenties to the masses. No parody or distortion of the reality of that time. The Soviet period was considered in the songs of the performers with some irony and respect.
Rock or something else?
Avia is a rock band with an interesting name. Of the words present in it, only the first letters are taken. In fact, the name of the group is an abbreviation. If taken and decrypted, then literally it will mean the following:
- A is anti;
- B - vocal;
- And - instrumental;
- A is the ensemble.
Originally, it is unlike everything that happened in the performing ensemble culture before this group. According to the comments of many fans of the St. Petersburg collective, it was precisely because of their non-standard attitude to the repertoire that the group fell in love with many listeners.
How was the birth of the group?
Three participants from the Leningrad rock band, Gusev, Rakhov and Kondrashkin, in the fall of 1985 decided to create their own program and start performing separately. From that moment, the history of the Avia group began. In the House of Culture of the city Leningrad, she showed the audience a new composition program. In the future, this work will form the basis of the first album of the group. On stage, the musicians ran from one instrument located in a certain place to another. And so that it did not look at least strange, all the actions on the stage were carefully planned and discussed. There are few musicians, many instruments. Therefore, the Avia team began to urgently seek a way out. The group has replenished with new members. A vocalist who played the trumpet and guitar, two saxophonists joined her ranks. An artist and showman were added.
The composition of the Avia group has now become complete, diverse. The program included pantomime studies, elements of sports figures that were fashionable in the early Soviet period. Members of the collective read poetry, danced, practiced acrobatics. Avia is a group that baffled many music critics. They found it difficult to determine her belonging to a particular style. The musicians did not cost anything to play marching music and rock compositions at the concert.
The team is universally recognized.
Almost immediately after its creation, six months later, the group at the festival of the same rock bands becomes a laureate. And two participants are recognized as the best instrumentalists. For the young team this was a real triumph. From this moment, luck began to accompany all its members. 1987 - received the prize of the “Rock Panorama 87” festival, 1988 - the album was recorded at the Melody company, known in the Soviet era. Tours took place in Finland and Yugoslavia. Avia is a group that has received permission to broadcast on Central Television. Her three songs were heard by a mass Soviet audience.
In 1988, the group experienced a change in composition. Having created his own theater, saxophonist leaves Avia. But the band has already gained fame, so two talented musicians came to replace Anton Adasinsky who left the band. A year and a half passed, and the team started talking about a new program. Musicians choose a patriotic name for their new performance, in which they mention the Great October Socialist Revolution. Touring, a new album released in the UK, received four stars, another change in the team - all this bustling series of events did not contribute to unity, but rather divided the group into separate elements. Nikolai Gusev began to engage in individual projects at his native studio. Alexey Rakhov got a job as a DJ at a radio studio. Zhdanov determined that he was attracted to the ethnic direction in music and chose the SAMBHA group. But four years after such a separation, the group releases an album that includes songs about love. This musical release turned out to be deeply lyrical.
Why do viewers like their songs?
Group "Avia" songs she created her own and continues to record new ones so original and interesting that she cannot leave the listeners absolutely indifferent to her work. Musicians are either loved or not accepted at all, but always listened to to make this choice. The members of the collective themselves have this in mind, because each of them is an accomplished person, a creative person. Not a single member of the group tolerates the same type of repetition of the same thing from concert to concert. They add a twist to their next program, speaking to a diverse audience.
About musicians
Aleksey Rakhov, for example, having joined the group, already had experience working in rock music bands, and received prizes for the best saxophone playing. Gusev Nikolay has a musical education, is fluent in keyboards, and adds his own vision to the composition. Alexander Kondrashkin worked on the dance floors of a suburb of Leningrad, recorded albums with the famous group "Aquarium". It perfectly copes with percussion instruments and vocals. I tried myself, working with many groups of rock musicians of the Soviet period.
Second birth
But the group still exists, musicians give concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Not so long ago, in 2012, the team was part of the participants in the Creation of the World festival. And their second birth took place on the anniversary of Alexei Rakhov. He invited everyone to his fiftieth birthday, and the musicians decided to perform together again. So far there are four of them, but real fans of this group will again be able to hear the favorite compositions of rock performers.