Krambambula (group)

Background

In the second half of the 90s, the artist and poet Mikhail Anempodistov came up with the idea of ​​the album-play " Folk Album ". Rock stars of that time should have participated in it, and it was dedicated to the interwar period of Western Belarus . Lyavon Volsky , the leader of the NRM band Volsky, was also involved in arrangements and also sang most of the songs, moreover, in an unusual manner for himself, as the music on the album was stylized as folk. After the project was completed, Volsky still had many ideas for such comic songs, but he could not record them with his band NRM, since they did not fit her style. And then the idea came up to create a new project that would be exclusively entertaining in nature and would not concern politics. Volsky also appeared like-minded, musicians of various Belarusian groups expressed a desire to play in a new project. The group was named “Krambambulya” in honor of the old Belarusian tincture of honey and spices, the name of which in turn refers to the German liquor Krambambuli. The producer and manager of the group was Lyavon's wife Anna Volskaya ^{[5] [6]} .

2002-2004. Successful Start

Krambambul's group began preparing their first album. It was decided to completely devote it to alcoholic beverages of various countries. One of the songs, for example, was about whiskey and parody of country music, the other was about Soviet champagne and beat the sound of the VIA 70s, etc. The debut album "The table album " was released in mid-May 2002 and became the best-selling Belarusian album in that year, and the song "Absent" became a hit ^{[7] [8]} . At the same time, the album puzzled fans of Lyavon Volsky, who did not expect to receive a pop album from him ^[9] . At the Rock Coronation 2002 Music Award, Krambambul won three categories (Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year) ^[10] .

As their next work, the group planned to record a maxi-single for four songs. To record the composition “The Old Hipans”, it was decided to invite Sergei Mikhalk from the group of Lyapis Trubetskoy , as the musicians thought that this song was very suitable for him in style. Mikhalok agreed to cooperate with Krambambuli and brought his own songs. Thus, work began on a full-fledged album ^[11] . Together with Krambambuley Mikhalok sang in Belarusian . According to Sergei, he began to insert Belarusian songs on Lyapis's albums precisely under the influence of Lyavon ^[12] . Alexander Kulinkovich from Neuro Dubel , who recorded one song, also joined the group. The album “ Karalі rayonu ” was released in the middle of summer 2003 . The song "Gostsі" recorded in a duet with Mikhalk became the group’s most famous hit ^[13] . Belarusian athletes took part in the filming of the video for this song: cyclist Natalya Tsilinskaya , swimmer Alexander Gerasimenya , football players Alexander Khatskevich , Alexander Gleb and Gennady Tumilovich ^[14] .

Volsky had a few ideas about what to do next. In the future, he planned to record one international album in various languages ​​and one album with holiday songs. Before that, he decided to make a maxi-single for four songs, which would precede these two future albums. Two songs in it were supposed to be in Azerbaijani language performed by Gunesh Abasova , and the other two were about holidays. However, while work was underway on the single, there was so much material that it was decided to release an entire album - Radio Krambambulya 0.33 FM ( 2004 ). In addition to Gunesh, Mikhalkok and Kulinkovich again joined Krambambula ^{[15] [16]} . The new guest star was Ukrainian musician Kuzma Scriabin from the group Scriabin . He recorded the song “Susedzі” in a duet with Volsky. This song is simultaneously in two languages ​​- Ukrainian and Belarusian, and Scriabin himself expressed a desire to sing the Belarusian text, and Volsky suggested singing Ukrainian ^[17] . The song "Tourists", sung in a duet with Mikhalk, became a hit from this album ^[13] .

In early December 2004, during a political confrontation in Ukraine, Volsky, together with his two groups NRM and Krambambuley, went to support the protesters. Krambambul's group spoke to the 200,000th audience of the Maidan . According to the musicians, they were warmly received, and the song "Gostsі" was even sung along. It turned out that the Ukrainians know the text, because the clip went on Ukrainian channels ^{[18] [19]} .

Thus, in the first 2.5 years of its existence, the Krambambul group released three albums, of which three full hits were released ^[20] .

2005-2014. Festive and international albums. Ban

The next album, fans had to wait another 2.5 years. In May 2007, just during the fifth anniversary of the group, two albums were released at once. Krambambuli’s new album “ Svyatochnaya ” devoted to holiday songs, as well as a collection with the best songs in honor of the anniversary - “The Best albo Belarusian Disco”. The presentation was held in the Sovetsky restaurant and was designed in the style of stagnation . The protest notes also appeared in the new album. The song dedicated to November 7 mentioned Lenin , Stalin and Dzerzhinsky , who "got it" ^{[21] [22]} . At the end of the year, the group released the single "Dolce Vita", recorded in the style of the first albums ^[23] .

After a three-year break in late summer 2010, Krambambuly released the single “One-Two-Three - A Mustache at the Table!”. Then the group updated the composition of the musicians ^[24] . Lyavon Volsky began planning to record a new album, which should include Belarusian folk songs played in a modern style. Later, this idea grew into the idea of ​​recording a collection of European folk songs, but sung in Belarusian. Then this idea was complicated by Volsky’s desire to write the same songs in the original languages ^[25] . During the work on the album on December 19, 2010, presidential elections were held in Belarus, which ended in a protest rally and detentions. After some time, an unofficial “black list” of cultural figures appeared in the country, which included people who somehow expressed support for political prisoners. From the musicians to the “list” were: Lyapis Trubetskoy, Palace , Krama , Neuro Dubel, Naka , Zmitser Voytyushkevich and the Lyavon Volsky groups NRM and Krambambul. Planned concerts began to be canceled, new concerts stopped giving permission. For Krambambuli, this was the first ban, while the NRMs were already banned in 2005-2007 ^{[26] [27]} .

The album Drabadzi-drabada was released at the end of 2011 . The album consisted of two discs. The first disc contains European folk songs that are performed in Belarusian, on another disc the same songs are sung in the original language. In total, the album was recorded in 10 languages: Croatian , French , German , Swedish , Italian and others. Among others, there is a cover version of the famous Irish folk song “ Whiskey in the Jar ” on the disc ^[28] . The presentation of the album, due to the inability to perform at home, took place in Vilnius . The Lithuanian Embassy went to meet the Belarusian fans of the group and issued free visas for several days upon presentation of a ticket to the concert. The embassy began to do so in the future when holding large Belarusian concerts in Lithuania ^[29] .

2015 is our time. Chirvon Strahl

In 2015 , after a long lull, the group released a new album called “ ыirvoni Strall ”. The album is dedicated to guerrilla themes and the music on it has become more serious. Musical critics unanimously agreed that this is one of the best, or the best album recorded by Krambambuley. However, Lyavon Volsky said that this is a farewell album of the group and they now "go into the woods and engage in partisan activities." Among other things, the album included a cover version of the song “Partyzanskaya” by NRM, as well as the Belarusian version of Bob Marley ’s song “ I Shot the Sheriff ” - “I am Straight at the Militsyant” ^{[30] [31]} . In March 2016, Anna Volskaya, the wife of Lyavon and the director of Krambambuli, died of oncology ^[32] .

On May 31, 2017, a solo concert of Krambambuli was held at the Friends Restaurant in Minsk. This is the band’s first performance in Minsk since 2008 . On the Facebook page, the musicians explained that the concert was organized at the request of “one person”: “One person found [us] and invited him to play a concert. They decided to agree, and there it will be seen ” ^{[33] [34]} . During the year, the group gave several more concerts and performed at several festivals. At the end of the year, the public was presented with a new song “Partyzany kalyadnaga forest” and a video clip on it: “Song about people who are engaged in downshifting . Who left reality in the mythical Christmas forest ” ^[35] .

Current squad

• Lyavon Volsky : vocals , guitar , keyboards (since 2001)
• Ales Myshkevich: backing vocals, bass (since 2010)
• Pavel Arakelyan: saxophone , flute (since 2012)
• Andrey Yakubchik: trumpet (since 2012)
• Pavel Mamonov: percussion (since 2011)
• Pavel Triput: guitar (since 2014)

Former members

Albums

• 2002 “The Album Party”
• 2003 “ Karalі rayonu ”
• 2004 “ Radio Krambambulya 0.33 FM ”
• 2007 " Svyatochnaya "
• 2007 “The Best albo Belarusian Disco” (compilation)
• 2011 " Drabadzi-drabada "
• 2015 Chirvoni Strahl

Singles

• 2007 "Dolce Vita"
• 2010 "One-two-three - a mustache at the table!"

Participation in collections

• Our music 1 (2003)
• Prem'er Tuzin (2005)

• Culture of Belarus
• Belarusian rock

• Krambambula on Facebook
• Krambambula on Experty.by
• The history of the group until 2005
• Group history in photos
• 5 main songs of Krambambuli
• Krambambuly - geta salad, appetizer, desert and zhanchyn!