Ethnic experiences

The contours of the new program, which later compiled the album, were outlined by the group leader Roman Suslov in 1988. During this period, saxophonist Vladimir Davydov left the group, as well as poets and showmen — first Arkady Semyonov, and then Gor Oganisyan . Despite the fact that the poems of the latter were still used in several compositions, one of the ideas of the program was the replacement of texts with phonemes (tested by Suslov in the song “Fish” of 1986). This reception can be heard in the compositions “Hopoplyasovaya” and “Overture”.

The album was recorded in 1989, but due to difficulties with the release due to the deteriorating economic situation in the country, “Ethnic Experiments” were first released on vinyl on vinyl (in 1990 on Rockadillo) and only four years later - in Russia on CD (by Triariy) ^[1] . At the same time, the sound in the new edition of the album was remixed, and the Pessimistic Reggae composition was not included in it. In 2012, both versions of the album were republished by Geometria ^[2] .

For the song "The Fire of Moscow in 1812" directed by Sergei Solovyov and the crew of the film " House under the Stars " was filmed ^[3] (in payment for providing Suslov and his wife of his country house for the filming) .

1. Walked girlfriends (folk)
2. Bells (R. Suslov)
3. Gustoplyasovaya (R. Suslov)
4. Fire of Moscow in 1812 (R. Suslov)
5. Pessimistic reggae (R. Suslov - G. Oganisyan) (not included in the second edition)
6. Poevka (R. Suslov - G. Oganisyan)
7. Overture (R. Suslov)
8. Ikar (R. Suslov - G. Oganisyan)

• Roman Suslov - guitar, vocals;
• Dmitry Shumilov - bass guitar;
• Maxim Trefan - piano;
• Mikhail Mitin - drums;
• Andrey Pasternak - recording, mixing;
• Andrey Pavlovsky - graphic design;
• Vyacheslav Nedeoglo - administration.

“This is not a processing of folk tunes“ from the collection ”, but its own, very peculiar and vivid vision of East Slavic song. Ladoharmonic language of the group to the modal type <...>, going beyond the ordinary " major " and " minor ". If we add to this polyphony , the graphic character of the vocal-instrumental lines, the scale of the forms (for example, Gustoplyaskaya lasts almost 11 minutes) and the absence of “meaningful” text replaced by scattered phonemes, it becomes clear why the group turned out to be “far from the people” and not approached him. " ^[four]

• The opening composition “Walked out by the Girlfriends” was taken by the keyboard player from the permanent repertoire of the semi-legal circles of the Musical movement , in which he worked in 1984-1989.

• Album on the group website