The Araks group is a vocal and instrumental group that achieved the greatest popularity in the second half of the 70s. The team worked closely with popular (at that time) composers (Alexander Zatsepin, Alexei Rybnikov, Gennady Gladkov, Yuri Antonov) and pop singers (Tatyana Antsiferova, Alla Pugacheva, Larisa Dolina).
How it was
In the late 60s, like mushrooms after rain, amateur groups began to organize in the Soviet Union, calling themselves “beatniks”. The word "rock" was not used in those days.
The music of these ensembles compares favorably with traditional VIA, performing songs by Soviet authors, members of the Union of Composers of the USSR. And since the beatniks tried to write the music themselves, their work was not officially recognized, and, accordingly, they could not even dream of entering big scenes (not to mention any official recording of their work). The destiny of the performances of the bit groups was cellars and semi-basements, in the best case of a camp site for holiday homes in seaside resorts. Occasionally, it was possible to agree with the management of a non-technical college or school on the provision of an assembly hall. In this case, most often the performance ended, barely starting. Such a concert was suppressed by a valiant police outfit.
The most popular beat teams at that time were: “Glare”, “Best Years”, “Atlanta”, “Ruby Attack”, “Buffoons”, “Second Wind”, “Tall Summer”, “Falcon”, “Tin Soldiers” . All of them disappeared, leaving almost no trace. If their songs were recorded in an artisanal way on antediluvian primitive reel tape recorders, then the films themselves were demagnetized a long time ago, showered, torn, and over time simply became worthless.
Only those groups survived who were able to acquire professional status by joining a state structure, such as a theater or a philharmonic society. There were few such ensembles, and until today, almost two have survived: “Time Machine” and “Araks”. Since the late 70s, they began to be called rock bands.
The Araks group was created in 1968 by three amateur musicians: Eduard Kasabov (bass, vocals), Alexey Panteleev (guitar, vocals) and Garik Kasabov (drums). The ensemble was led by Vadim Marshev. The group performed both songs of their own composition and cover versions of popular (at that time) foreign rock bands: Deep Deep, The Beatles, Ice Zeppeling. By the way, Edik Kasabov, a student at the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, sang well in English. By the name of his mother (Araks), according to some music experts, the group was named. Although the majority claims that the name of the collective is the river of the same name in Transcaucasia.
The period of formation and glory of the team
In 1971, a new vocalist Yuri Shakhnazarov appeared in the group, before that he had performed in Skomorokh by A. Gradsky. The next year, Alexander Buynov and Boris Bagrychev join the team. As a part of: Buynov (keys), Shakhnazarov (guitar, vocals), Kasabov (bass) and Bagrychev (drums), the group actively performs in the suburbs.
She is especially successful in the city of Lyubertsy. During one of the many performances, the team was spotted by theater director Mark Zakharov, who staged musical performances and was looking for an ensemble for musical accompaniment of the performances. Thus, since 1973, the Araks rock band has become a member of the troupe of the Lenin Komsomol Theater.
The group took part in the staging of the performances "Til" and "Autograd XXI" (composer G. Gladkov). But the most popular group brought rock opera A. Rybnikov's "Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta." Thousands of music lovers had in their collection a magnetic film with a recording of this work.
In the first half of the 70s, large personnel changes took place in the ensemble. Some musicians came (Sergey Rudnitsky, Alexander Danilovich, Anatoly Abramov, Alexander Polonsky, Alexander Lerman, Sergey Belikov, Alexander Sado), others (Alexander Buinov, Boris Bagrychev, Eduard Kasabov) left.
In 1974, the group was remembered for its participation in the film by G. Danelia “Afonya”, performing a song of his own composition (author Y. Shakhnazarov) “Memoirs”. At the end of the 70s, the composition of the Araks group changed dramatically. Such professional musicians as Vadim Golutvin, Timur Mardaleishvili, Anatoly Aleshin, Evgeny Margulis appear in the collective. The group leaves Mark Zakharov’s theater and makes an attempt for independent concert activity. From 1980 to 1982, the ensemble gave 876 performances. At this time, the group worked with popular composers and singers. Music lovers with experience will surely remember the legendary union formed by composer and singer Yuri Antonov and the Araks group. The whole country sang their famous hits: “Anastasia”, “Don't Forget”, “Golden Staircase”, “Road to the Sea”, etc. At that time “Araks” was a group that helped to light up such singers as T. Antsiferova, L. Valley, A. Pugacheva.
In 1982, the Ministry of Culture of the USSR issued an order prohibiting the concert activity of a whole list of ensembles that did not attend the Arts Council. By the way, such well-known groups as Alpha, Cruise, Carnival, and Firebird were included in this list. “Arax” was among them. The group broke up and ceased to exist until 1987.
Rebirth
In 1987, the ensemble was revived and recorded an album of old songs from the early 80s. In this case, instrumental recording is carried out in Russia, and voice recording in the USA. There vocal parts are recorded by Anatoly Aleshin. So there was a record called "Old, but gold."
In April 2002, the first performance of the revived ensemble "Araks" took place. The group took part in a gala concert at the Three Whales shopping mall. Then there were television appearances in the recording of the Disco-80 program, concert performances in various cities, participation in television programs on the Russian channels REN-TV, NTV +, and Stolitsa.
Present
Currently, there is a situation where there are two ensembles with the name “Araks”: a group of classical composition (Golutvin, Mardaleishvili, Timofeev, Aleshin, Vasyukov) and “Lenkomovsky” (Rudnitsky, Abramov, Parfenyuk, Sado, Zaripov). "Lenkomovtsi" are those musicians who did not dare to go for "free bread" in 1980. Now both teams are actively touring the country, and it is difficult for inexperienced viewers to figure out who is who.