Alexey Kortnev: from the times of the USSR, I only miss my own youth.

The singer, musician and host of the show “Through the Mouth of a Baby” spoke about creativity, family and a midlife crisis.

- Alexey, with your comedic roles and “light” songs, you give the impression of a person who does not get hung up on problems, endures life’s hardships effortlessly, like a Buddhist. Is this true or is the impression misleading?

Deceptively. I can’t say that I easily endure problems, but I endure. With a certain persistence. Believe me, the gap between a person and his stage image is great. I don’t want to say at all that I am gloomy and withdrawn, but I definitely strongly reflect and experience. My apparent superficiality is an optical illusion.

- Have you ever become discouraged when it seemed that you didn’t do anything special in your profession and you wanted to quit everything? How did you get out of the situation?

Crises happened about once every five years. As a rule, they are connected with the fact that you exhaust some idea and understand that it makes no sense to do something further in this direction. I saved myself by changing the motion vector, that's how musical performances group "Accident" together with the theater "Quartet I", rock operas, or I completely went into the translation of musicals. The best way in this situation, it seems to me, not to drop everything and go into taxi drivers, but to slightly change direction, remaining true to your business.

- You are the host of the program “Through the Mouth of a Baby”. Think of one of your children's funny sayings.

My favorite is the work of my son Athanasius (Alexey has five children: Artemy (29 years old), Nikita (19 years old), in the current third marriage with Amina Zaripova Arseny (14 years old), Afanasy (11 years old), Aksinya (6 years old). - Note "Antennas"). He has a lot of home "drives" - and iPhoney, and Ananasius, and Fantomasius. But somehow, reflecting on his transformed name, Afonya asked: “And if my name didn’t have “o” would I be called Afnya?” From that moment on, he became Afnya and has been in this position for several years.

- Are you a frivolous person by nature, do you let everything take its course or do you prefer to strictly follow the plan?

I prefer, as far as possible, to calculate the consequences in advance. I don’t like it when they try to impose a situation on me that I don’t control: they say, we’ll get involved, and then we’ll see.

- Have you ever been on a diet?

- I do not follow diets, but twice a year my wife and I arrange a cleansing of the body. We drink a course of herbs and roots for 10 days, trying to get by with a minimum of food, and useful, after which the intestines work. After such a kind of detox, we feel very good.

Why did you decide to shave your head?

- I started to go bald at the age of 25, bald patches appeared, baldness, but I didn’t want to cover my bald spot with bouffants. As soon as I realized that the hair would not return back, I shaved with ease and pleasure. I was then 30 years old.

- You wear a ring in your ear. How long ago? Do you change your accessory or is it the only one you have?

“Just recently I had to change it. I had to take it off during the shooting, and I lost it safely. Then a bag of spare rings was taken out of the bins. I carried the previous one for 10 years. I really don't care what kind of ring is in my ear. The first appeared in my year in the 87th. And now it is rather a symbol of a bygone era.

- Your wife Amina Zaripova is a famous gymnast in the past. Is it easy to get along under the same roof with a strong-willed, purposeful woman?

Both of us are capable of compromise, although, of course, we fight from time to time and even swear sometimes, but this is all superficial. In fact, our views coincide by 95 percent, we don’t have much to argue about. There are some issues that Amina decides, there are some that I am responsible for. And we don't step into each other's territory. Amina takes care of our travels, although we decide where to go together. With tickets and hotels, she understands easily, for her this is a common thing. As for leisure, where to go with children, what to do on vacation, what sports are more my territory, although it is also pleasant to discuss this together. But reading is completely on me, since I am a big book lover, in this regard, my authority is indisputable. As for education, we are of the opinion that the best in this sense is a personal example. We don’t theorize much on this topic, we just live in love and harmony in front of children.

- In September, you and your wife will celebrate the 15th anniversary of family life. This is your third marriage. Have you had to go through crises that helped you survive?

– Yes, it was about seven years ago, but we successfully overcame it. A crisis, in my opinion, is always a loss of purpose. Creative or family have the same origin. When you don’t understand how to develop relationships further, cataclysms happen. We passed them safely, because we both understood that this was a midlife crisis. That is a thing almost chemical. You just need to go through it, go through this time.

- You once said that for long-term family happiness, it is necessary that a “fresh” child appears in the family every three years. Do you still think so?

- And I think so, and Amina, we make plans, but it doesn’t always work out clearly, as in mathematics. But I hope we have more children.

- On August 10, Amina had a birthday. How did you please your loved one? What was given?

– At that time we were on vacation in Bulgaria big company. And the gift was a joint gift - they bought her a bunch of things in a golf store.

- How do you feel about money? Do you make spontaneous purchases or distribute the budget, count every penny?

Of course, we do not count a penny, and spontaneous purchases do happen. So a few years ago, Amina bought me a own initiative very expensive car. But she had to postpone it for a year. I was touched, but we agreed that we would not do that again. As a rule, our requests do not exceed our capabilities. Therefore, even with unexpected purchases, we do not go beyond the budget We do not plan it, but we look at the dynamics of our earnings and try to understand whether we have enough, say, to move to new apartment or not. In a couple of weeks, we are just going to move to new walls.

– In the Through the Mouth of a Baby program, you help adults understand their children better. Do you always manage to find a common language with your own children?

- As long as it works. I hope there are no unpleasant surprises waiting for me. But these are people, and complex, albeit small. Although next to me is my 14-year-old son Arseniy, it’s hard to call him small, it’s quite mature person. It is sometimes more difficult to understand. What helps me? The son here prompts: intuition.

- How is the upbringing of Aksinya different from the upbringing of her brothers?

- Aksinya was born when I was already an adult (now Kortnev is 50 years old. - Approx. "Antennas"). She is the smallest, so we indulge more. The only girl, also understandably gets more gingerbread. And, of course, when a girl realizes that she is a girl, she starts hugging more, showing tenderness, but I can’t say that this allows her to get something more for herself. But she doesn't have big requests. Sometimes he will ask for a doll, but nothing more.

- Did you sing to children when they were small and what songs? Folk, from their repertoire or specially composed something. Are they interested in music now?

- Both that, and another, and the third. And I am glad that the children now have a versatile musical taste. Senka, for example, listens to rock of the 70s and 80s, despite the fact that I never forced him to it, I came myself. Groups Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, but at the same time there are in his playlist and contemporary performers. My children have a penchant for music, not for composing it, but the taste is definitely there.

Alexey Kortnev - about his civic position, the upcoming anniversary of the "Accident" and the refusal of the "First Channel".

On February 2, in the capital's Arena Moscow, the popular Moscow band "Accident" will play a big solo session, which was supposed to take place last year, but fell through good reason. Before the concert, Izvestia columnist Mikhail Margolis had a sincere conversation with the leader of the National Assembly Alexei Kortnev.

- Last fall, you fell ill so that “Accident” had to cancel a dozen scheduled performances, including a large Moscow solo album.

- Is this the same specialist that treats Valery Kipelov, Pelageya?

You, apparently, are talking about Lev Borisovich Rudin. He is a first-class therapist, and in his office we really often intersect with the same Pelageya. He sent me to Ivanchenko, because therapeutic methods could not solve my problem. In the summer, apparently, I quailed, and even thoroughly caught a cold under the air conditioners and finished off my voice at the London Olympics, where I yelled in the stands like a real fan.

- Is the concert in the "Arena" in essence your "repayment of debts"?

Yes, and for those who were going to it in November, the tickets purchased then are valid. We want to show some new songs, but not much. In my opinion, arranging premieres in a large hall is not entirely correct. Here it is necessary to play what people already know.

- While you were being treated, a series of events took place in our country, the “Dima Yakovlev law”, for example, was adopted. Can the moods and customs of this winter be reflected in your next compositions?

You know, I realized that I can not react so quickly to the current circumstances. Here, for the performance, to make some hard verses and insert them, say, into the song "Snowflake" - that's it, please. Soon we will have regular screenings of Radio Day, and there I will definitely write something about the State Duma, its activities and laws. This is a feuilleton genre. And I don't compose serious songs quickly. I really envy the ability of Vasya Oblomov or Dima Bykov to instantly and efficiently respond to events.

- But I'm not talking so much about feuilleton writings, but about your recognizable sad philosophical. The one that, for example, again manifested itself in volume in the latest album of the National Assembly “Tunnel at the End of the World”. Relatively speaking, are you ripe for the songs “Sasha walked along the highway-2” or “Tears of men-2”?

Yes, I am working on such a thing. She, let's say, accumulates in me like an avalanche. Since the level of idiocy in the country, unfortunately, is growing every month.

- Your wife multiple champion world by rhythmic gymnastics Amina Zaripova, does she agree with you or does she not care? Let's say she can go to an opposition rally?

She understands everything perfectly. Although initially Musya was quite neutral about my “civil activity”. However, what a special activity I have there ... Well, I'm not the organizer of the protest movement, but just a sluggish person in it. But Musya has already gone with me to the recent march on January 13 against the “law of scoundrels”. About 30 people gathered in our company, and in fact half of them came to the rally for the first time, while seven people are my friends, who are specifically involved in the topic of orphanages and charity. They were simply shocked by what the Duma deputies had done.

- Sergey Nikitin, as you probably know, refused to participate in anniversary evening Yuri Bashmet after certain public statements by a famous violist. Are you ready to react in a similar situation to yourself in a similar way?

Yes. For example, just an hour ago, I turned down an offer to try myself as the host of one of the popular information programs on Channel One. True, they told me that "we have a completely apolitical program." But I said, sorry guys, I can't. To appear on the "First" as a grimacing artist - please. But to become a repeater of the opinion of the channel's management - this goes against my principles. I wrote this in a letter to those who invited me, and emphasized that my attitude to this TV does not apply specifically to them.

- Has anyone already told you: “Well, that's it, Lesha, after such an answer, did you burn all the“ bridges ”to yourself on“ First ”?

And no one knows yet. I tell you first. Morally, in principle, I am ready to part with Channel One, if they somehow zealously react to this refusal of mine. I won't say that I will suffer much, although it will, of course, be a little sorry for some of the big glamorous programs in which one can take part from time to time. But everything, as they say, has a cost. And I'm not ready to pay such a high moral price for remaining in the "First Channel" clip.

- But now you are playing in the musical "Squanderers", created based on the work of the notorious conformist of his time, Valentin Kataev, in the theater of the now successful cultural official Mikhail Shvydkoy.

I started working with Shvydkiy a couple of years ago and became close friends with him, but only on theatrical grounds. I really don’t know anything about his life outside the theater and have never been interested in it. Therefore, I have an absolutely positive attitude towards Mikhail Efimovich.

- I didn’t ask him: why did you, Mikhail Efimovich, “ate Gorbushka”?

It was not he who ate it, but the enterprise to which it belongs - the Khrunichev plant. And this happened long before Shvydkoy agreed to set up his own theater there. For several years, "Gorbushka" was empty. I was even offered at some point to become artistic director this DC.

- With what mission?

To do there what I think. And the owners of Gorbushka were ready to invest in new lighting and sound equipment, re-equip the dilapidated hall, and so on. But everything remained at the level of conversations.

- This year will be for you to a greater extent the year of your independent projects: in the theater, cinema, on TV, or is it still the year of the "Accident"?

Of course, the second. For this year the National Assembly is celebrating its 30th anniversary, for which we are slowly starting to prepare now. I'm not sure that I will be able to write some new bright songs directly for the anniversary, but maybe they are not required for such a holiday. It is better to turn to the origins, to raise something forgotten or unpublished.

- I remembered your duet etude with Andrey Makarevich “They beat with crowbars”. A running feature today for resonant performances or videos on the Web? Would you like to try again? The same Vasya Oblomov sings with Noise and Cord, with Ksenia Sobchak and Leonid Parfenov.

For the 30th anniversary of the National Assembly, we planned to make a bunch of funny duets in the spirit of the “Beating with Crowbars” just mentioned by you. God willing, it will turn into a kind of skit for about forty minutes at the beginning of our anniversary concert. Max Leonidov, Tanya Lazareva, Nonna Grishaeva, Andryusha Makarevich promise to participate in it. It will be an original story, not a Kawen-style reworking of our old songs. Maybe a musical will come out, shaped like our Last Days in Paradise. If it turns out talentedly, perhaps later it will disperse into independent short numbers.

I would like to believe. Shortly after the release of The Tunnel at the End of the World, I would probably have proudly agreed: “Oh, yes, yes! I feel that way too." But now I'm very worried that two and a half years have passed since the release of this album, and I haven't composed anything comparable to it yet. Of course, any scribbler is haunted by the fear of losing his writing gift. But right now he's suffocating me. I hope to overcome it.

We had a conversation with Alexei Kortnev in the press room of the Tula regional philharmonic society. The musician came out for an interview in good mood, with a smile on his face.

— Aleksey, a "sloppy concert" is an absolute interactive one, who came up with this idea?

We tend to come up with ideas together. We came up with this thing a long time ago, 15 years ago, during a brainstorming session. Maybe 10 years ago - I don't remember time periods very well. We played them, then we got tired and we abandoned this business. And a year and a half ago, this genre was revived again, now it is going very well. these days, people want to not just listen, but participate, and not be deafeningly loud and homely. It is clear why: we have practically lost this in everyday life, such gatherings with a guitar. I think that's why this genre is in demand.

Well, it's always a risk, isn't it?

At first we had mistakes in the organization, but now we have overcome all this. Previously, we did not limit the number of people who go on stage, now we understand that this is no more than two people and no longer than one song. As for the risk... Among our audience, no one has ever gone to the scandal and in general there were no inadequate spectators on the stage. However, if this happens, it will be even interesting.

- The group is 33 years old, the success is proven. Who is your audience now, and what can surprise the "Accident" group?

Some external events may surprise you. But what happens at our concerts no longer surprises me. On the other hand, we are waiting, maybe something extraordinary will happen. And our audience is still the same educated, intelligent people from 25 to 55 years old. But we also see very young people at concerts, which is very nice. Of course, there are more than 15-year-old girls at boy band performances, but we also have such girls.

I don’t know yet - everything is hidden from me, as from a seriously ill person. I know that we will go somewhere with my wife and mother. I suspect that a whole crowd of people will go with us, but they don’t tell me anything. And on the 10th, for some reason, we are going to Sheremetyevo, maybe we’ll just have lunch there. I don't expect any gifts. I was lucky, and I always had what I wanted. I do not dream of material goods at all. I dream of world peace, so that all this bullshit that is happening around Russia and other countries will stop.

Alexey Kortnev and Camille Larin.

We will have a performance-show "Two for 50". The script has already been written. We invited a bunch of friends with whom we spent half our lives together. These are Quartet I, Valdis Pelsh, Andryusha Makarevich, Zhenya Margulis, Bi 2, Max Leonidov, Ira Bogushevskaya, Tanya Lazareva, Diana Arbenina ... These are the people with whom we interacted in the cinema, in the theater, on the stage.

What is the number 50 for you? Is it time to take stock or is this just the beginning?

This number means absolutely nothing to me. This is half a hundred, but it is clear that most of The population of the earth does not live a hundred years. Therefore, this is by no means half of life, but much more. 35 or 40 years mean much more to a person.

Valdis Pelsh and Alexei Kortnev, mid-1980s.

- You organized the Accident group together with Valdis Pelsh. How often do you see each other now?

We see each other once a month - we play a play together. Plus, we do some projects together. Seryozhka Chekryzhov, our main composer, and I write music and lyrics for him. We invite Valdis to all our significant events, for example, to concerts for our 30th anniversary. Now at the celebration of my 50th birthday, he will shine on stage. So basically we communicate on business, but we invent these cases for ourselves with great pleasure.

What are you most nostalgic for from the times of the USSR?

By my own youth. And there were very few cars on the roads - it was nice. Everything else was worse.

— You have more than 40 film roles behind you. How do you manage to combine everything?

I don't have any footage right now. I refuse a lot, I can’t and don’t want to change my stage activity for filming. If I had been offered an offer to star in Andron Konchalovsky, then I would have approached this more carefully and would certainly have freed up time for filming. Job offers in various series or uninteresting films are not worth giving up concerts and performances.

Alexey Kortnev and the Saltykov-Shchedrin Show team.

- You are currently hosting the Saltykov-Shchedrin Show on NTV. What can we expect from new releases?

Will be very interesting stories. We have already filmed quite a lot of programs ahead. Some things will be very sharp, the songs will be funny and again sharp, which is nice. I think the show is unlikely to last too long because its range of topics is very limited. After a season, people will get tired of looking at the problems of housing and communal services, although these problems will not go away. But it is impossible to tell the same joke every evening. So I understand that this is a temporary project, and maybe a launching pad for something innovative.

- And what emotions does another NTV show “Through the Mouth of a Baby” bring to you?

Exceptional joy! In the same place, communication with these wonderful kids is pure delight! I think that this program will live forever, although it will not be able to win a wide audience. But the interest of parents in this program will always be. And it doesn't matter who leads it.

— You have five personal consultants for this program. What are your children interested in?

My eldest son Tim. after running around in various positions, he came to me to work as a senior administrator in our School Three Arts(a school led by actress Nonna Grishaeva, choreographer Yegor Druzhinin and musician Alexei Kortnev. - Author's note), which we opened in Khimki. Nikita studies at the Institute of Radio Electronics and Automation. Senya and Afonya go to school, Asya goes to kindergarten. Let it be for now.

- Your wishes to our readers.

Health, more money, economic miracle and peace!

Alexey Kortnev with his wife Amina, sons Arseny and Afanasia, daughter Aksiniya.

Dossier

He wrote his first songs in the seventh grade of an English special school in Moscow.

He studied at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, but did not graduate from the university.

In 1983, together with Valdis Pelsh, he created the Accident group.

Translator of texts of popular foreign musicals staged in Russia (Cats, The Witches of Eastwick, Mamma Mia!", "The beauty and the Beast").

Host of the NTV show "By the Mouth of a Baby" and "Saltykov-Shchedrin Show".

Family: the third wife of Amina Zaripova, son Artemy (from the first wife Irina Bogushevskaya), son Nikita (from Elena Lanskaya), from Amina - sons Arseny and Afanasy, daughter Aksiniya.

Selected filmography: Moscow Saga, Night Sisters, Election Day, Lilac Branch, Radio Day, What Men Talk About, Boiling Point, There Was Love, Duty Angel, "Rzhevsky against Napoleon", "Cuckoo".

Dear friend,

From the very beginning of the rise in oil prices, which roughly coincided with the arrival of Voldemar to the kingdom, until about the swift military-Georgian campaign, the Russian Federation had an amazingly long chance, almost eight years, to begin and even partially implement structural reforms in all major industries and the national economy - and mainly at their own expense, without resorting to significant external borrowing. Such a stretched-out "moment of luck" does not occur in every country in history, and it was not only stupid, it was criminal not to take advantage of it.

Like just small example- I do not want to give the whole mournful list. These are your jobs (i.e. pensions too), your education and healthcare system - it would be very useful to you when you grow old, but it will be at about today's level (i.e. very deplorable), and most likely will be even worse, i.e. Unfortunately, you will not receive modern treatment. I am without any gloating - I have friends in the Russian Federation, and not everyone can afford paid treatment, and even paid treatment lags far behind. The government has already taken steps to create a parallel structure of medical services for privileged layers (i.e. civil servants), i.e. even such lagging medicine is not enough for everyone. How will everyone else be treated? And like Chekhov in "Aesculapius": "Give him something!".

In practice, this means something like this:

You have grown old, have begun to ache. Abroad, new medicines have long appeared, new procedures that make life much easier - a doctor who has read foreign magazines tells you about this (suppose you are fabulously lucky and you have an advanced doctor who reads medical literature, and not the standard dull aunt who looks at the monthly report, and not at the patient) ... There are none in Russia and they will not appear during your lifetime. For example, in 2014-2015 in Canada, they developed a method for extracting a blood clot using a probe, after which a stroke patient almost immediately gets up and walks on his own feet, and does not lie for weeks in rehabilitation. The year is 2035, but in your district clinic, no one has heard of this technique.

You have completely lost your health, it is difficult for you to leave the apartment (and you need to see a doctor, for example), you need a stroller or a stick. The entrance, of course, is not equipped for this. And if you leave the house, then you won’t leave your own yard, because nothing is equipped anywhere. Who is to blame? Who's to blame for everything last years nothing was invested in development, in the most vital infrastructure, that investors fled like hell from incense, that housing (even "elite") was built as if only ever-young ancient Greek gods would live in it?

Of course, if you are forever young ancient greek god then none of this applies to you.

You are out now new album, there will be concerts, interviews. What helps you keep yourself in working condition?

The most important thing is the correct male daily routine. In the morning - physical exercises, in the evening - alcohol in the right amount. And the thought that this will end soon invigorates me. Now every day is loaded, but I know that it is exactly until the 19th. Then rest. Then work again. The thought of future breaks is very supportive and makes me give all the best.

I would not say that Amina is a physically strong person. She was involved in the wrong sport, which involves building up a crazy muscle mass. So we don't really have any problems with that. And the woman remains fragile, as she should be. Although professional sport educates a person very much, organizes him. Here in the family, she is just organizing and is engaged in the construction of a house, interaction with all sorts of nannies ... She succeeds very well in this.

Is she also responsible for physical training in the family? As an athlete?

No, she is not interested in this at all now, she has enough of her pupils - she is a well-deserved coach Russian Federation. I follow my uniform and my sons, I make them go to different sections. Moreover, I go in for sports much more than she does, simply because she is already tired of it. So from the side of the wife - absolutely no pressure or advice on this matter. It suits me very well.

First of all, a devotee. And preferably smart. I really dislike stupid people, although I recognize their right to exist. But I would never be able to associate life with such a woman. By the way, among my girlfriends and acquaintances, everyone is distinguished by great liveliness of mind.

How old is your eldest son?

At the age of 23, everyone is primarily boobies. I dabbled, wrote songs, staged performances... Artyom dabbles, takes photographs, writes something. Men's toys are changing, interests are shifting, but these are trifles ... And the way of life, thinking, ideas - everything is almost the same, I do not see strong differences.

Well, here's how to answer ... Now I know that one is enough. But before I met Amina, I led a rather relaxed lifestyle, cohabiting with beautiful women and didn't flinch at all. This does not mean that many women are needed, it means that while you are looking for, there may be two of them, or maybe twenty-two. And then you meet yours, having already typed life experience and then these male troubles - to marry or be a bachelor - disappear! If all these doubts are still spinning in your head, then something is wrong in the relationship.

Of course! No, if there is a desire to build a family at the age of 20, you can try. But it is highly likely that all this will end as soon as you want new experiences.