Boris Kaplun and his "visiting card"

A wonderful storyteller, a talented musician with an open mind, one of the famous six of the 70s of VIA "Ariel", vocalist, drummer, violinist. The famous Russian, Soviet entertainer is Boris Kaplun.

Biography and personal life

Honored Artist of Russia was born on January 15, 1951 in the city of Orenburg. Kaplun Boris Fedorovich grew up in a simple family, inherited his musical abilities from his parents. His father had a wonderful voice and could easily be a theatrical tenor, but he worked all his life at the foundry near a blast furnace as a cupboard worker, and passed away early - at 51. Mom sang and performed on the stage in amateur performances.

Boris Fedorovich has Ukrainian-Moldovan roots, his real family name is Kapul. During the Second World War, his father and his first wife and children were evacuated from Moldova, but the family died, only he survived and ended up in Orenburg without documents. When I received a new passport, a mistake was made, and the name Kaplun appeared.

Kaplun’s mother with her first husband (soon killed) and son (Boris’s older brother) also survived the evacuation from Ukraine during the war and ended up in Orenburg, where she met the musician’s father. In his childhood, he often visited with relatives in Moldova, in Ukraine, then almost all emigrated to Germany. Boris Kaplun, whose family remained in Russia, now lives in Chelyabinsk.

Since childhood, Boris was attracted to musical creativity, graduating with honors from a music school and music school in Orenburg, he entered the Chelyabinsk Institute of Culture in the department with a conservative bias in the violin class. After 2 years, the violin department was disbanded, and Boris Kaplun moved to the conductor-choral department. Since 1972, Mr .. joined the instrumental ensemble "Ariel" and remains its permanent member until now.

The artist constantly participates in charity concerts, events held for students of musical institutions of the Chelyabinsk region, is a member of the jury of various festivals and competitions in musical art, and works as a teacher at the State Tchaikovsky South Ural Institute of Arts. In addition, it broadcasts on local television and radio.

Boris Kaplun supports active social and public activities, has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Warm House organization since 2003, and is a member of the Board at the Main Department of Internal Affairs of the Chelyabinsk Region and the Council for the Revival of the Urals.

The famous Russian musician, vocalist and drummer of the legendary ensemble "Ariel" is a happy family man, father of two sons, grandfather of three grandchildren. The eldest son Alexander is a talented pianist, he graduated from the school. Gnesins, sound engineer. Junior Alexey - graduated from jazz college and is better known as a member of Uma2rman.

Honored Artist of Russia loves spending time outdoors in his house, located in a pine forest on the lake near Mias. Boris Kaplun, whose biography is full of bright moments and events, is also known as the owner of a unique mustache. They were first invented specifically for an image suitable for the song "Baba Yaga", but have remained his hallmark for life.

The beginning of the creative path

In 1970 he joined the team of VIA Ariel, became interested in playing the drums. There were times when a musician, participating in a concert, played drums and violin. The group won their first victory at the Silver Strings, becoming a laureate, and Boris Kaplun and Alexander Gradsky divided the first prize among themselves. The group performed the song "Gave to the Young", "The Swan Lost" and "Golden Dreams" of the legendary The Beatles. They started talking and writing about the group in newspapers, and after speaking at a competition in Liepaja in 1972, fame and popularity came.

After graduating from the institute in 1974, thanks to his participation in the group, he firmly settled in Chelyabinsk. In February of the same year, the musician became a full-time employee of the Chelyabinsk Regional Philharmonic Society, engaged in the creation of arrangements, his own musical works, and improvised on drums.

History of VIA "Ariel"

Ariel Group was formed in 1967. It so happened, but its founders were three Leos: Fidelman, Gurov, Ratner. They worked together until 1970 until they were joined by Valery Yarushin and Boris Kaplun.

Having first appeared on the big stage in 1971, the ensemble immediately became the laureate of the All-Russian competition. The following year, the group won first place at the Liepaja Amber Festival. The guys noticed their songs immediately became popular hits. Since 1974, the Ariel team has been working at the Philharmonic of the city of Chelyabinsk, becoming the winner of various competitions and music festivals, including the All-Union Fifth Competition of Variety Artists. In 1975, their debut disc was released. The main style of the repertoire was musical Russian folklore.

In 1989, Valery Yarushin left the group and began a solo career. However, in 2006, a conflict arose due to the fact that V. Yarushin began to use the name of the ensemble in his joint performances with his son and daughter, sometimes misleading the audience. For this reason, there was a problem of misunderstanding between former colleagues, which has still not been resolved.

"Ariel" become a member of many All-Union, international festivals, the team toured Europe, the United States, which was rare during the Soviet era. After the Autumn in Arkansas festival in 1992, all Ariel musicians received the title of Honorary Citizens of Little Rock.

Now as part of VIA "Ariel":

• Boris Kaplun - vocals, drums, violin;
• Lev Gurov - vocals, rhythm guitar;
• Alexander Tibelius - vocals;
• Oleg Gordeev - solo guitar, vocals;
• Rostislav Gepp - vocals, flute, keyboards, piano - the head of the ensemble.

The ensemble works in the main genre of Russian folk rock, uses stylization of folk songs. Vocal polyphony is a hallmark of performance.

Among the most famous compositions:

• "Cloud on a thread";
• "Rain outside";
• "Loss - Wounded";
• Skomoroshina;
• "Cabman's song";
• Baba Yaga;
• "Gave to the young";
• "Organ in the night";
• "In the land of magnolias";
• "Old record";
• "Wider circle" and many others.

Discography "Ariel"

• "Ariel" - 1975;
• "Russian Pictures" - 1978;
• "The Legend of E. Pugachev" (rock opera) - 1978;
• "On the island of Buyan" - 1980;
• "Invitation to visit" - 1980;
• "Masters" (rock oratorio) - 1981;
• "Every day is yours" - 1982;
• "Morning of the planet, suite" - 1983;
• "For the Russian Land" (rock-duma) - 1985;
• "Beloved, but Alien" - 1990
• Privet - 1993;
• "The reeds rustled" - 2000;
• Beatles in the russians - 2001;
• "Through the Maidan" - 2001;
• "The road is long" in 35 - 2005;
• "Ariel 40" - 2008;
• “Back to the Lakes” - 2011;
• Noisy Reed (LP) - 2014

The ensemble also recorded music for the films "Centerpiece from Heaven", "Between Heaven and Earth", in 2002 the song in the "Land of Magnolias" was used as a soundtrack in his film A. Balobanov "Cargo - 200".

Boris Kaplun is a sociable person, he himself admitted that he loves to travel to different cities, to get acquainted with the world of different people. Creativity is the main, greatest work of his life.