Aleksandr Borisovich Kondrashkin ( November 23, 1956 , Leningrad - July 9, 1999 , St. Petersburg) - Soviet and Russian drummer.
| Alexander Kondrashkin | |
|---|---|
 Alexander Kondrashkin in 1987. | |
| basic information | |
| Full name | Alexander Borisovich Kondrashkin |
| Date of Birth | November 23, 1956 |
| Place of Birth | Leningrad |
| Date of death | July 9, 1999 ( 42) |
| Place of death | Saint Petersburg , Russia |
| Buried | |
| A country |  USSR →  Russia |
| Professions | |
| Collectives | “ Picnic ”, “ Aquarium ”, “ Strange Games ”, “ Jungle ”, “ AVIA ”, “ Manufactory ”, “ Tambourine ”, “Zarok”, “ Object of Mockery ”, “ Vostok-1 ”, “ Chizh & Co ”, “ Standard ”, “ Cavalier Club of Gluck ”, “ Brain Drian ”, “ Pop Mechanics ”, “Toys & Noys” |
He played in the groups " Picnic " (1978-1981), " Aquarium " (1981-1983), " Strange Games " (1981-1985), " Manufactory " (1983-1984), " Jungle " (1985-1987), " AVIA ”(1985-1990),“ Tambourine ”(1981-1983 (?),“ Zarok ”,“ The object of ridicule ”(1985-1987),“ Vostok-1 ”,“ Chizh & Co (1993-1994) ”, “ Standard ”, “ Cavalier Club of Gluck ” (1994-1995), “ Brain Drian ”, in Sergey Kuryokhin 's project “ Pop Mechanics ” (in Bolshaya and Malaya), in Sergey Letov’s jazz projects, his own Toys & Noys and others.
Alexander Kondrashkin is considered the best drummer of the Leningrad Rock Club [1] .
Content
Biography
He graduated from the Leningrad Rimsky-Korsakov School of Music , was married several times, and has children.
According to him, the following musicians influenced him: cellist Vladislav Makarov , trumpeter Vyacheslav Gayvoronsky , drummer Vladimir Tarasov , and from the styles - oriental - gagaku (Japanese music), Tibetan music.
At the end of 1978 he became the drummer of the " Picnic " group. In 1981 he came to Aquarium , where the albums Electricity , Triangle , Acoustics , and Radio Africa were recorded with his participation.
In the first half of the 1980s, Kondrashkin was fond of jazz improvisation and often performed and recorded a duet with saxophonist Sergei Letov (record published by Leo Records ). In 1983-1984, the recordings of the Kondrashkin-Letov-Makarov trio took place (reissued on CD (15 tracks) by Sergey Letov in memory of Alexander Kondrashkin). In the same period of time, he also collaborated with Sergei Kuryokhin ( Pop Mechanics ).
After leaving the "Aquarium" he was invited to "Strange Games", participated in the recording of the album " Metamorphoses " . In 1986, the group broke up into “ Games ” and “AVIA”, Kondrashkin left the last, with his participation “AVIA” recorded “Life and work of composer Zudov” , “AVIA Everyone!” , AVIA and “Hurray!” .
He came up with and used a lot of innovations for drums: calls from alarm clocks and bicycles, electric lamps, empty tin cans, wrinkled plates and metal sheets, a bicycle wheel. The first was to install drums on stage in an unconventional place - on the side, facing the rest of the musicians. On the records you can recognize a whip, characteristic of Kondrashkin, a blow. In addition, he is distinguished from other drummers by the so-called “ping-pong effect”: the sound of a bouncing tennis ball, when the beats are accelerated, pass into the shot.
In the second half of the 1980s, in addition to AVIA, he played in the Jungle, Tambourine, and the Object of Taunts almost simultaneously, as he was a popular instrumentalist. In the 1990s he played in the group “ Chizh & Co ”, with his participation the albums “Chizh” and “Crossroads” were recorded.
In early October 1994, a tragic incident occurred in Kondrashkin in Germany ( Andrei Burlaka calls another date - spring 1993) [2] in Germany ; it is still not known for certain what happened. According to information collected by Sergey Letov, Alexander Kondrashkin, as a member of the Gluck Cavalier Club group, went on a tour to Berlin , where, under unclear circumstances, he was badly beaten by hooligans and thrown off the viaduct. He was taken to a local clinic with severe fractures of the limbs, spine and concussion, where he was treated for six months. Any information about him disappeared from the archives of the Leningrad Rock Club, and the story itself was not publicized in the media. After the incident, he received a disability . He never returned to music.
Alexander Kondrashkin died on July 9, 1999 in St. Petersburg from a stroke - on the third anniversary of the death of his friend Sergei Kuryokhin. He was buried in the South cemetery of St. Petersburg [3] .
Memory
There is no detailed information about Kondrashkin either in the literature or in the press. According to the recollections of friends, he was a calm, "non-party" person. In the 1980s, he lived in an apartment, the only room of which was glued with egg trays (for soundproofing) and contained a cassette recorder, a bed, a guest bed and a drum kit. He played for 10-12 hours, interrupted several times a day in order to make a run. Worked near the house as a projectionist in a movie theater.
A 1985 interview with Roxy magazine has been preserved, a note in the book “The Second Journey of a Rock Amateur, or Almanac of a Rock Amateur” by Alexander Zhitinsky , the head of “My Martyrology”, references in the articles of the rock encyclopedia “Who is Who in Soviet Rock”, references on the official websites of the groups where he played, an article by Sergey Letov “Memorial notes about Alexander Kondrashkin, a true legend of St. Petersburg rock. About the city of oblivion and the riddle of aliens. "
Discography
- Aquarium
- " Electricity "
- The Triangle
- “ Acoustics ”
- Radio Africa
- Strange games
- "Metamorphoses"
- "Concert in Lenenergo"
- “Look at both”
- AIR
- “Life and work of the composer Zudov”
- "Bombay"
- "AVIA Everyone!"
- "Hooray!"
- Manufactory
- " Waiting room "
- "Road"
- Chizh & Co
- Chizh ( Sergey Chigrakov solo album)
- Crossroads