Zen-Anarchy

The album was recorded at the St. Petersburg Recording Studio during 2008–2009. Sound producer - Kira Malevskaya.

The multimedia application includes two video clips - “Robin flies to the North” (a joint production of the St. Petersburg recording studio and electropartisanvideo, 2009) and “Star and machine” (electropartisanvideo, 2009)

The album is dedicated to the memory of the musicians Egor Letov and Alexei "Colonel" Hrynov who left in 2008 .

The name of the album combines two concepts - " Zen Buddhism " and " anarchism ":

... I thought: what a good name for the album - "Zen-Anarchy"! After all, Zen Buddhism is a free-spirited religion, and if the anarchist cannot or does not want without religion, Zen is the very thing. In Zen, anyone can become a Buddha , no masters of heaven and God's servants, only teachers and students - improve yourself!

- From an interview with Vadim Kurylev NewsMusic.ru on December 25, 2009 ^[1]

The issue was held under the slogan “We manage without intermediaries: publishers, factories, warehouses, shops! Music from the performer directly to the listener! ”Thus, the group is trying to resist the iron rules and laws of the market, offering those who wish to send money or freely download the album.

A detailed release that ultimately declares the anarcholibertalian views of Vadim Kurylev. The "Partisans" themselves slightly changed their composition, and the traditional brass section "DDT" was reduced to Ivan Vasilyev (Mikhail Chernov did not participate in the recording this time). The essence of the program and the ideology adhered to is perfectly described by the songs “Libertalia”, “Zen-Anarchy”, “Electric Zen”. The album opens with a small intro that strongly resembles the material of the album Metrophobia, with the famous mantra “ Om Ma Ni Pad Me Hum ” sounding in the background. In addition to Zen-anarchy, considerable attention was paid to well-known anarchists and radical leftist leaders: Misson and Karachiolli (“ Libertalia ”), Nestor Makhno (“ Gulyai-Pole ”, “I rushed into battle ...”, “Freedom in a pouch”), Andreas Baader , Ulrike Meinhof and the Rote Armee Fraktion (Star and Machine) organization. The last is also devoted to a video clip in which you can see footage of the chronicles of those events. By his own admission, Kurylev, he presented how the French writer Jean-Paul Sartre visited RAF activists in prison who went on a hunger strike and almost died from exhaustion. It didn’t do without folk partisans - its interpretation of the legendary Italian Resistance song of the Second World War “ Bella Ciao ” “The Electric Partisans” played a curtain. There was also a place for a cover version of Vladimir Sigachev’s “Music of Ha-Ba”. The songs “Stone” and “Dim Sun”, which have become modern versions from the acoustic album of Kuryleva, 20 years ago , have become a kind of journey back in time. “Robin flies north” (the second clip on the disc) is similar to “Harakiri”, there are two slightly ironic songs - “Autonomous Source” and “Christmas”. The album is decorated with a 6-panel digipack plus a 16-page booklet ^[2] .

In many ways, this album is similar to the Siberian punk rock. Some listeners remind Knabengof , others - Ivan Baranov from Echelon, the third - Shevchuk , the fourth - Mongol Shuudan . From a musical point of view, the Wind Molecule was the most.

It was from this work that the “explanatory work and the propaganda of anarchist ideals” began, indicated in the second paragraph of the manifesto of the group. Before that, Vadim composed beautiful lyrical songs and seemed to be aloof from politics. One way or another, but in Zen-Anarchy, the worldview of Kurylev was clearly defined, which remains unchanged to this day. The author actually deprives the listener of the opportunity to interpret his works in his own way, without leaving the right to interpretation. Apparently, Vadim is well aware that his potential listener is a romantically-minded teenager who is still able to sincerely believe that at one point the mechanism of the state will break and everyone will become happy and contented. The option of establishing anarchy is as utopian as the construction of communism. He will not be bloodless ^[3] .

The cover design involved Julia Levchenkova. In the design of the cover, a famous NASA photo was used - the cosmonaut Apollo 11 on the surface of the moon , but the American flag was replaced with a red flag with the anarchy symbol . In the lower right corner there is the logo of the “Electric Partisans” group. On the back cover, the "copyright" sign is replaced with the anarchy symbol .

In the image, a man in space thinks that he is self-sufficient in his Zen-anarchy and happy, but in fact is alone

- From an interview with Vadim Kurylev, December. 2012 ^[4]

• Vadim Kurylev - voice , guitar , bass guitar , organola ;
• Mikhail Nefyodov - drums ;
• Dmitry Kovalev - guitar;
• Maxim Zorin - guitar;
• Ivan Vasilyev - the trumpet ;

• In the Intromantra , the Buddhist mantra Om man padme hum sounds.
• The song “Libertalia” is dedicated to the semi-mythical anarcho-pirate republic of Libertalia in the early 18th century .
• The title song of the album - “Zen-Anarchy” is a poetic image, not a socio-religious trend.
• “The robin flies to the North” - according to Christian mythology, the robin tried to alleviate the suffering of Jesus by pulling a thorn out of a crown of thorns, and was stained with his blood. In the European tradition, robin is a symbol of death and rebirth. This bird flies to warm lands and back home to the north only at night, guided by the stars. In the song, it became a symbol of eternal reborn love, not changing its course in the middle of the world, dying in search of its own meaning ^[5] .
• The song “Gulyai-field” is dedicated to the anarchic republic that actually existed during the years of the Civil War (1917-1921) in the territory of modern Ukraine , with its center in Gulyaypole .
• The song "Stone" was written a quarter of a century before the release of this album and is dedicated to youth student revolts in Europe and America in the late 60s . Previously entered into the album "Dim Sun" in the acoustic version.
• “Electric Zen” - the application for reincarnation : the opposition of the spiritual beginning and the state end. When everyone becomes a buddha, control organizations will not be needed.
• The plot of the song “Freedom in pussy” was prompted by Vadim Kurylev Alexei “Colonel” Hrynov during a joint concert in Nizhny Novgorod on December 8, 2007. According to the legend, the Makhnovists , trying to save the remnants of gold reserves from the enemy environment, tied pouches with gold on the necks of gray cranes. The song is written within one day. She has a bias in folk music, it uses folk motifs that arose "spontaneously", but left deliberately.
• “Final” - a small free sailboat floats away into dark Libertalia on dark waves. The question is who will have time to board. ^[6]

• Zen-Anarchy on Discogs.com
• "Zen-Anarchy" on the service " Yandex.Music "
• The official site of the group "Electric Guerrillas"