Stas Namin contributed huge contribution in the development of pop culture in Russia, but since the beginning of the 2000s, he has actually gone into the shadows. He created the group "Flowers", one of the first production centers, the first music festival - all these are the merits of the master.

The childhood of Stas Namin

The future creator of the group "Flowers" Stas Namin (real name Anastas Mikoyan) was born in Russia, in the city of Moscow. His father is Alexei Mikoyan, a military pilot, a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Therefore, the boy's childhood passed on the territory of military garrisons in Belarus, Russia (near Murmansk) and East Germany.

Mother - Nami Mikoyan (Arutyunova), musician, art critic and writer. She instilled in her son a love of music and art. Famous composers and musicians often visited the house.

In 1957, Stas went to the 74th general education school the city of Moscow, but since 1961 he moved to the Moscow Suvorov School at the request of his father.

First participation in musical groups

At school, he first heard the works The Beatles and Rolling Stones, which affected the passion for rock music. In 1964 he became a member of the first in his life musical group"Wizards", created at the Suvorov School. In 1967, together with childhood friends and his brother (Alexander), Stas created a new group - the Politburo.

After starting studies at the Institute foreign languages in 1969 he became the leader of the then-famous among the students of the musical group "Bliki".

Under the influence of the hippie movement "Children of Flowers" in 1969, Stas Namin created the "Flowers" group. They even managed to release a record at the then well-known Melodiya company. But because of their dissimilarity musical works with the style of the Soviet stage, the Flowers group fell under a total ban on the Soviet central media, and then only infrequent compromise records were released, which for the first time introduced rock musical elements into Soviet culture. In 1975, there was a conflict between the "Flowers" and the Philharmonic, which tried to take away the name from the musicians in order to use it commercially.

Since 1974, the group "Flowers" began touring. Since 1977, due to a ban from the Ministry of Culture of the USSR (even the name itself was banned as “propaganda of Western ideology and hippie ideas”), it was renamed by the participants into the “Stas Namin Group”. While still under a ban on the territory of the USSR, they were able to release several records and restore their former popularity with a new name.

Stas Namin and Flowers Group - Light and Joy

Against the background of the Olympic thaw in 1980, the group began to periodically flicker on radio and television channels. At the same time, the author's album "Hymn to the Sun" was released. But after the aggravation of the conflict with the authorities, they are not able to be released even on the Melodiya that hosted them.

Resumed vigorous activity"Flowers" only in 1986, when the famous perestroika began. It was then that they were able to perform for the first time in foreign countries and until 1990 to make a world tour, which previously was almost a fantasy. The group became the first domestic rock band to tour the United States, and then, breaking free, toured the whole world in a few years: Eastern and Western Europe, South and North America, Africa, Japan, Australia, etc.

Stas Namin talks about corruption. Interview.

But in 1990, the group split. Their activity has completely stopped.

Stas Namin in the cinema

In 1982, Stas Namin decides to change the field of activity due to the inability to continue his professional musical career, and enters the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors at the State Film Institute of the USSR. The following year, he became the author of the first video clip in the country for his song "Old New Year". It was banned from showing due to obvious political overtones. It was first shown on the air only in 1986 in the USA on the MTV channel.

The first experience of filming a movie for Stas Namin was "Neskuchny Sad" in 1991. There he acted not only as a producer, but also as a co-author.

Since 1992, he has been releasing a cycle documentaries called "International Geographic". As part of it, viewers were shown cities and countries such as Jerusalem (1992), Thailand (1993), New York (1995), New Mexico (1996), Easter Islands, Tahiti and Bora Bora (1997). ), Africa and South America (2002-2007) and Amazonia (2007).

Also, starting in 1989, several concert films were released, where Stas Namin appeared as a producer and director. Among them are the peace festivals in Luzhniki in 1989, "Rock from the Kremlin" in 1992, 3 parts of the festival " One world in 1990, 1995 and 1997.

Stas Namin Center

In 1987, Stas Namin created the non-governmental organization Stas Namin Center at the Green Theater in Gorky Park. He gathered young and talented musicians, new musical groups(“Gorky Park”, “Moral Code”, “Kalinov Bridge”, “Spleen”), poets, artists and designers. In fact, it was the first production center in Russia. It was in this center that Stas Namin created the Gorky Park group, inventing an image, repertoire and acting as a producer. The group performed at the grandiose rock festival in Luzhniki in 1989 along with such musicians as Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Cinderella.

At first, the activity of the center was completely non-commercial, because the very concept of show business did not exist then. The Stas Namin Center includes a recording studio, a production center, a concert agency, a design studio, a modeling agency, a rock cafe, a contemporary art gallery, a radio station, a television company and a glossy magazine.

In 1987, Namin created the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, chief conductor— Konstantin Krimets. In 1997-99, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra recorded more than eighty CDs with music for films, animated films and computer games, which were released in Japan, USA, China, Austria and England.

And in the 90s of the last century, the center held the first independent tour of a foreign star, Iron Maden, at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex, although until that time the State Concert was engaged in any concert activity in Russia. In 1991, having become interested in aeronautics, Namin created his first Balloon and organized the first festival in Russia balloons on the Red Square.

In the second half of the nineties, Stas Namin returned to musical creativity, starting work on several solo albums in different genres- ethno, rock, jazz. The most famous album of guitar improvisations in the style of art rock "Kama Sutra", dedicated to his deceased friend, famous musician Frank Zappa, was released in 2000.

Also in the nineties, Namin organized several major festivals: "Rock from the Kremlin" (1992), a series of festivals "United World" (1990, 1995, 1997), participated in the organization of the XX Moscow International Film Festival (1997).

Stas Namin Theater

In 1999, the Stas Namin Theater was created - the Moscow Theater of Music and Drama. The well-known rock musical "Hair", first staged in Russia as a genre, served as the beginning. This musical is included in the permanent repertoire of the theatre. Chamber musical performances, built on directing, acting and live music, are very popular. The most famous production of the theater is probably E. Webber's rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar".

In the 2009-2010 season, on the tenth anniversary of the theater, Namin presented a series of premiere performances - the musicals " The Bremen Town Musicians”,“ The Three Musketeers ”,“ The Picture of Dorian Gray ”,“ Alice in Wonderland ”,“ Beatlemania ”and musical performances for children“ The Snow Queen" and " The little Prince”, musical by Gennady Gladkov“ Penelope, or 2 + 2 ”.

The revival of the group "Flowers" by Stas Namin

In 1999, Stas Namin gathered his group "Flowers" for big concert for the thirtieth anniversary, where everyone who has ever been in the line-up performed. But this event was not the beginning of the group's triumphant return to the stage. Musicians perform at the Moscow Theater of Music and Drama, created by Stas. In particular, they took an active part in the musicals "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Hair".

Stas Namin and Flowers Group - Summer Evening

The team formed its permanent composition only in 2000. It included Oleg Predtechensky (guitar and vocals), Valery Diorditsa (keyboards and vocals), Alexander Gretsinin (bass guitar and vocals), Yuri Vilnin (guitar only) and Alan Aslamazov (saxophone, keys and vocals). After that, the return of the Flowers group to active touring and creative activities began.

2009 was marked by the release of the double album "Back to the USSR", which included hits from 1969-1983. The album was released for the band's 40th anniversary. And a year later, for the first time in 20 years, the group began concert activity- first performing in Moscow, then starting regular tours.

2011 was marked by the new album Open Your Window, which included 15 previously unreleased songs from the 1980s and 2 new songs Open Your Window and Hymn to the Heroes of Our Time.

In 2013, the Flowers team released two new live albums- "House of Reason" and "The Power of Flowers". And for the forty-fifth anniversary of the group in 2014, "Flowers" planned big tour in forty-five cities of Russia and abroad.

Stas Namin today

In parallel with work on creative projects, since 2008 Namin has been teaching and is a professor and artistic director course of the Faculty of Cultural Studies and musical art Moscow State humanitarian university them. Sholokhov, and since 2010 - professor and artistic director of the musical course of the faculty musical theater Russian Academy theatrical art(GITIS).

Personal life of Stas Namin

Stas Namin had three official marriages. The first wife Anna is currently the director of his production center and is in charge of all financial matters. From her he has a daughter, Masha (1977). It was Maria who gave him her granddaughter Asya.

The singer's second wife is the famous singer and beauty Lyudmila Senchina. This marriage lasted seven years.

current wife Stasa - Galina - has been with him for 25 years. Together with her, Namin also accepted her son Roma (b. 1983) from his first marriage. common child- Artem - appeared much later - in 1993.

Today, in addition to performances, Stas Namin is engaged in producing and organizing various festivals, both film and music, including various international ones. In addition, he manages to run his own modeling agency, art clubs and restaurants. He also took part in charitable activities more than once.

The first recordings at the Melodiya company. The first tour, the ban of the name and the collapse of the group.

1970 Concert at the evening in the Moscow school: V. Chugreev, S. Namin, A. Losev

1971 Performance in the 8th dining room of Moscow State University with a copper group: Y. Fokin, A. Losev, S. Namin. Also present are K. Nikolsky (left) and A. Kutikov (right)

The rock group "Flowers" was created in Moscow in 1969 by the lead guitarist - at that time a first-year student at the Institute of Foreign Languages. M. Torez - Stas Namin.

Having got acquainted with rock music early, already in the year Stas created his first group "Sorcerers", then in the year - the group "Politburo", and in 1969, having entered, he became the lead guitarist of the well-known Inyazov group "Bliki" among the students .

At the beginning of 1969, Stas Namin, still playing in Bliki, but realizing that the band's musicians were finishing their last year and the ensemble would break up, created his own new group. At that time, especially after the legendary Woodstock festival, the Flower Children hippie movement also appeared in Moscow. Hence the name that Namin took for the group.

First composition. Namin, as before playing the solo guitar, was the first to invite Vladimir Chugreev to the group. Fanatically in love with rock music, a self-taught drummer, he had an outstanding physical force and played with a powerful rock sound. Vladimir Solovyov played keyboard instruments in the first part of the "Flowers", in the past he was a musician of the "Red Devils" group at the Bauman Institute. Even then he had his own electric organ, which gave the group solidity and a "signature" sound. There was no permanent bass player, and the bassist from Blikov (A. Malashenkov) alternately played in the group, then from Vagabundos, another Inyazov group. Elena Kovalevskaya, a student of the French faculty of foreign language, became the vocalist of the group. She possessed a performance drive that was unexpected for that time and a very beautiful soulful voice; the public took it with a bang. Such was the first composition of the Flowers group. The repertoire at that time was mainly the most fashionable hits from the repertoire of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and others.

Six months later, at some party, Namin saw Alexander Losev singing a song like “Horses Can Swim” with a guitar, and decided to try it in a group, despite the fact that Sasha sang pop songs and was not fond of rock. Stas suggested that he master the bass guitar and learn a few songs on English language from the repertoire of "Flowers". Then it was the songs of Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, etc.

"Flowers" performed at student and school parties and became more and more popular among Moscow youth. Then the group was invited to television for the first time - they were even filmed at the studio, but they did not get on the air.

Copper group experiment. In the year when Elena Kovalevskaya graduated from the institute and left the group, and Solovyov and Chugreev also received professions and quit music, Stas replenished the group with new musicians. He invited pianist Igor Saulsky to keyboards, Vladimir Zasedatelev to drums, Namin and Losev remained on solo and bass guitars. Under the influence of the bands “Blood, Sweat, Tears” and “Chicago” that appeared then on the musical horizon, Stas decided to try to include a “copper section” in the “Flowers”. He invited his friend from the Suvorov Musical School, trumpeter Alexander Chinenkov, trombonist Vladimir Nilov, and two saxophonists - first Vladimir Okolzdaev, and then Alexei Kozlov.

1972 From left to right: A. Losev, S. Dyachkov, S. Namin, Y. Fokin (photo in the courtyard of the Melodiya company during the recording of the first disc)

Return to the small composition. Six months later, Namin abandoned the experiment with wind instruments and even the keyboards, deciding to leave only a rock trio in the tradition of Jimi Hendrix and "" and "The Beatles", while Losev gravitated more to the stage like Tom Jones and the Carpenters, and under Namin's influence leaned towards " deep purple”, “Chicago” and “Blood, Sweat, Tears”, then the arrival of Fokine, an ardent fan of Led Zeppelin, made the group even more fatal.

In 1971, in parallel with their studies, "Flowers" also performed a lot at school parties, in clubs and institutes in Moscow (Inyaz, MGIMO, Moscow State University, Bauman Institute, etc.). At that time, rock parties were often held in Inyaz, where the most fashionable groups in Moscow played - Scythians, Vagabundes, Second Wind, Shards of Sikorsky, Mirages and many others. As another experiment, Namin, in addition to the already popular among the students "Flowers", created another group - "Village Boys and a Strange Creature", which played oriental ethnic music based on rock with bright guitar solos and lasted about a year.

1974 A. Slizunov, A. Losev, K. Nikolsky, Yu. Fokin)

In 1972, when Namin transferred from Inyaz to Moscow State University, he took his group "Flowers" with him. Regularly performing in the lobby of the 2nd floor of the building of the humanities faculties of Moscow State University and in the 8th dining room of Moscow State University, famous for its rock parties, the group gathered not only University students, but also fans from all over Moscow.

Carier start. Recording the first disc. In 1972, "Tsvety", as a student ensemble that won the festival of student ensembles in Moscow, managed to release a soft-rock flexible record, which sold 7 million copies, and made them famous in the USSR.

In 1973, after the second single, sold by "Melody" in an even larger circulation, "Flowers", confirming their style unlike anyone else, consolidated their popularity, despite the fact that they did not appear on radio, television, or in the press.

The first recordings of "Flowers" both in style and performance were, of course, a compromise that the group had to make in order for the recordings to pass the artistic council. At that time, the genre of “Soviet song” dominated the Soviet stage and there was not even pop music (David Tukhmanov, Alla Pugacheva, etc.). Therefore, even those, in today's opinion, naive romantic songs of the Flowers, stood out noticeably on the stage of that time. They were so different from the stage that existed then that they were immediately banned in all media. But even two minions released by Melodiya were enough for Flowers to gain significant popularity. "Flowers" became, as it were, the forerunner of pop and rock music in the USSR, and their songs and performances made, in a certain sense, a revolution in the song culture of the country.

In 1974, "Flowers" were called in the Moscow press "Soviet Beatles" and began a professional tour of the USSR. Their rock concerts broke stadiums, but in the same year they were stopped by the Ministry of Culture, and the name "Flowers" was banned as "propaganda of Western ideology and hippie ideas."

Stas Namin Group (1976-1980)

Recordings and tours under a new name. First media appearance and solo album.

1976 From left to right: K. Nikolsky, S. Namin, V. Sakharov, A. Mikoyan, Y. Fokin.

Having no rights to the name, "Flowers" went underground for 2 years and after a two-year break, in 1976, the group resumed activities, but under a different name - as the "Stas Namin Group", and with a changed line-up: Stas Namin (solo guitar), Konstantin Nikolsky (guitar, vocals), Yuri Fokin (drums), Vladimir Sakharov (bass guitar, vocals), Alexander Slizunov (piano, vocals) and Alexander Mikoyan (guitar, vocals). However, the ensemble was still banned from television, radio and the press. "Flowers" were only allowed to record at the Melodiya company, since circulation brought huge profits to the company, but not to the group. In the same 1976, a new hit "Old Piano" was recorded and released, and in 1977 another disc with the hit "It's Early to Say Goodbye" was released.

1980 Before the concert at the Olympics - 80. From left to right: A. Slizunov, A. Fedorov, I. Sarukhanov, S Namin, V. Zhivetiev, M. Fainzilberg, V. Vasiliev.

After 1978, the composition of the group changed again: Yuri Fokin, Sergey Dyachkov and Vladimir Sakharov emigrated abroad, and in order not to stop the group's activities, Stas invited session musicians to the ensemble - Vladimir Vasilkov (drums), Vladislav occasionally took part in the recordings and concerts of those years Petrovsky, Valery Zhivetiev, Sergey Dyuzhikov, Nikita Zaitsev and others. As a result, a new line-up was formed: Igor Sarukhanov (guitar), Vladimir Vasiliev (bass guitar), Mikhail Fainzilberg (drums) and Alexander Slizunov (piano). In 1979, the band's disc was recorded with another hit, "Summer Evening".

In 1980, the first solo album of the Stas Namin Group "Flowers" "Hymn to the Sun" was released, which included the hits "After the Rain", "Tell Me Yes", "Heroic Power", "Rush Hour", "Dedication to the Beatles", "Bach creates ”, etc. In addition to the main composition, Alexander Fedorov (vocals), Alexander Pishchikov (saxophone) and others took part in the recording. In the same year, the group participated in the Olympics-80 and was first shown on television.

The first solo album of the group "Hymn to the Sun" immediately became super popular. After a 10-year ban, official doors seem to be starting to open for Flowers, and under the pressure of their already international popularity and many invitations from different countries, the authorities even agreed to release them to Poland for the festival in Sopot, but only as an accompaniment to the little-known Baltic singer M. Zivere.

Taking advantage of the “warming”, immediately after the disc “Hymn to the Sun”, the group recorded two more discs at the Melodiya company - as an experiment in other genres that are not similar to the style of “Flowers”: dance “Reggae, disco, rock”. Namin wrote all the music for the disc in just a week, and the recording took two weeks. Music, lyrics and arrangements were finalized and invented right in the studio. And the album "Surprise for Monsieur Legrand" in French in the style of symphonic jazz, and Namin invited Vladimir Belousov to arrange it.

"War" with the authorities (1981-1985)

The prohibition of new songs by all artistic councils. "Unauthorized" international contacts.

Accusations at festivals in Yerevan and Moscow. Project "Child of the World"

1981 Performance of the Stas Namin Group at a festival in Yerevan (photo and article from Time magazine)

In 1981, "Flowers" performed at the festival in Yerevan and at the end of the concert brought the audience, playing until 2 am. Both the whole festival and the performance of the Flowers became another target of the authorities. The group was again officially accused of "undermining the ideological foundations of the country", the press was ordered to boycott the festival, and the video recording of the festival (dir. E. Ginzburg) was demagnetized. The only information was preserved only in the Time magazine, which published a large article about the festival and the group. During this period, the pressure of the authorities especially intensified, the group was not only closed again in all media and banned from giving concerts in big cities. The prosecutor's office of the RSFSR began to pursue her and follow her every step, not hiding the goal of starting a criminal case, investigating where Flowers got equipment and tools.

1985 Jam session "Flowers" with Udo Lindenberg (Germany), "Child of the World" choir (USA) and others at the festival of youth and students in Moscow

Having lost all hope for normal life and creativity, in response to long-term prohibitions, "Flowers" decided to no longer seek compromises and offered the artistic council of the Melodiya company their real repertoire in rock style with harsh social poems: "Nostalgia for the Real" (A. Voznesensky), "Idol" and " I don’t give up” (E. Yevtushenko), “Empty Nut” (Yu. Kuznetsov), “One Night” (D. Samoilov) and others. These were no longer naive, romantic texts and soft sound, as in the 1970s, and the company "Melody" also closed for them.

In 1982, Flowers filmed the first video clip in the USSR for the song "Old New Year" (verses by A. Voznesensky) with openly political overtones. The clip did not even reach the artistic council and first hit the air only in 1986 in the USA on MTV.

Even Namin's unambiguously positive song "We wish you happiness", written in 1982 and, as it were, completed romantic period 1970s, was banned in the media until 1985, and only with the help of the same A. Pakhmutova appeared on television during the Festival of Youth and Students, where "Flowers" were able to perform several times with great success. During the festival, Stas Namin's group managed to illegally record a double album with foreign musicians. The disc, of course, was never released in the USSR. But at the same festival, by the decision of the Collegium of the Ministry of Culture, “Flowers” ​​were accused of “Pentagon propaganda” and “contacts with foreigners” (minutes of the Collegium of the Ministry of Culture).

The beginning of a free life (1986-1990)

Concerts in Moscow. First world tour.

1986 Start of US tour, York, Rochester (Harrisburg), Pennsylvania.

Apart from several trips to the socialist countries with performances for the Soviet troops, when, in fact, the musicians were not allowed to leave the military garrisons, we can say that for the first time the group "Flowers" went abroad in 1985. It was a five-day trip to West Germany through the Friendship Society (SOD), which happened by chance on days when the leadership of the Ministry of Culture was away.

But the real foreign tour of the Flowers began in 1986. It was the very beginning of perestroika. In 1986, the "Stas Namin Group" became the first Soviet rock band, which, after a 6-month scandal with the Ministry of Culture and the Central Committee of the party, and only thanks to the trends of the new time associated with Gorbachev's coming to power, was still able to destroy iron curtain and go on a 45-day tour of the US and Canada. Advertising of the concerts of the Stas Namin group in the USA was organized at a serious national level in the largest media, and the scandal with the cancellation of the tour could have a bad effect on the image of the beginning perestroika.

In addition to participating in the play "Child of the World", the group gave concerts for the American audience in the most prestigious rock audiences in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Seattle, Washington and other cities in America. There were also jam sessions and meetings with Yoko Ono, Peter Gabriel, Kenny Logins, Paul Stanley and many other legendary musicians.

Stas Namin's band concert at the Lime Light rock club in Manhattan (New York, 1986)

This trip opened for the Stas Namin Group new life. The band was able to fly to Japan right after the USA at the invitation of Peter Gabriel to the Japan Aid 1st rock festival. Then for several years the group toured Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, Australia, South and North America and many other countries.

Already in the 87th year, having begun to collect musicians for the new Gorky Park group he had conceived and planning to stop the work of the Flowers 2-3 years after the world tour, Namin began to help the musicians subsequently start their own careers. So, within the group "Flowers", especially for Sergei Voronov, the ensemble "League of Blues" was created, for which musicians were accepted: Arutyunov and Yaloyan. Alexander Solich became one of the founders of the Moral Code ensemble under Namin's tutelage, Alexander Malinin, having received the Flower School, began his career as a soloist. Namin also helped Losev to make an ensemble, arranging it at his Center, which also included Vladislav Petrovsky (keyboards) and Grigoryan (drums). Based on the musicians who also worked in the Flowers (A. Yanenkov, A. Marshal, A. Belov, A. Lvov), in 1987 Stas Namin created and by 1989 he promoted the Gorky Park group to the whole world . Thus, in 1989, after the end of his historic world tour, Stas Namin officially stopped the activities of the Flowers group and all the musicians began to engage in other projects.

Concert poster at the Lime Light Club (1986)

The group "Flowers" did not actually exist for 10 years (from the 89th to the 99th), but, despite the fact that only Namin owned and owns the official rights to the name "Flowers" and no one except him has any legal, nor the moral right to use it, impostors began to appear in some places on the periphery. In addition, helping Losev in creating his own group, Namin, given that Losev himself did not write songs, temporarily allowed him to perform his songs from the Flowers repertoire and even sometimes use this name. Subsequently, Losev in his solo touring activities sometimes (under the guise) he also used it. But, given its heavy at that time, life situation- an addiction to alcohol, and already poor health, no one has made legal claims against him. Moreover, Namin supported him, allowing him to record his famous and new songs at the SNC studio, and also patronized and represented Losev himself in the press, on radio and television, in order to facilitate the development of his solo career.

During the 10-year break in the activities of the group, Namin officially used the name "Flowers" only 2 times: once in 1989 for a trip to Alaska, and in 1996 on a tour of Russia "Vote or lose". Losev's group actually participated in these projects.

After a 10-year hiatus (2000-2008)

2007 At the rehearsal. From left to right: A. Sosiev, O. Litskevich, O. Predtechensky, Y. Vilnin, S. Dyuzhikov, Y. Fokin, A. Gretsinin

In 1999, Stas Namin again assembled "Flowers" himself, no longer playing in the ensemble, but doing theater and other projects. The basis of the group was: Oleg Predtechensky - vocals, guitar, Alexander Gretsinin - vocals, bass guitar and Yuri Vilnin - guitar, then Alan Aslamazov - keyboards joined them, and occasionally performed with the group: Oleg Litskevich, Valery Diorditsa, Armen Avanesyan, Natalya Shateev. The group "Flowers" began concert activity, as well as the musicians of "Flowers" participated in the Russian production of the musical "Hair", in the production of the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" and in other projects of the Stas Namin Theater.

Anniversary concert - 30

All participants and guests of the concert. Finale - "We wish you happiness"

S. Namin, N. Noskov, A. Gradsky, A. Romanov. "I only love rock and roll"

S. Namin, A. Losev after the performance of "Asterisk"

A. Makarevich, Y. Shevchuk, M. Chernov "We wish you happiness"

A. Abdulov, A. Romanov, S. Namin, S. Solovyov. "We wish you happiness"

Second world tour

Since 2001, the group began to tour abroad a lot, giving only exclusive concerts in Moscow.

• 2001 - Sweden
• 2001 - Israel
• 2001 - England
• 2003 - Los Angeles
• 2003 - Frankfurt am Main
• 2004 - Los Angeles, with the Formula Ethno project
• 2004 - New York
• 2005 - Los Angeles
• 2006 - Los Angeles
• 2006 - Tour in China: Beijing, Lian Yingang, Su Zhou, Yan Tai, Huhehod, Han Zhou, Ning Bo
• 2006 - Seoul, South Korea

Theater projects

The group "Flowers" participates in performances not only as instrumental ensemble. Oleg Predtechensky, Oleg Litskevich and Natalya Shateeva perform the main vocal parts in musicals and rock operas and the main roles in dramatic performances. "Flowers" became the musical basis for the theatre's first premiere performance, the famous anti-war rock musical Hair, and the first domestic production in the original language of the legendary rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.

For more than 35 years, various musicians and soloists have played and recorded songs in a group with Stas Namin, and at the same time, the "handwriting" and the individuality of the group's melodic lyrical style have remained unchanged. Notable Hits: “To be honest” was recorded by S. Dyachkov, “My clear star” - A. Losev and O. Predtechensky, “Old piano” and “It’s too early to say goodbye” - K. Nikolsky and A. Slizunov, “Summer evening” - V. Vasiliev , the entire disc “Hymn to the Sun”, including the songs “Heroic Strength”, “After the Rain”, was performed by A. Slizunov, I. Sarukhanov, A. Fedorov, V. Vasiliev, “We wish you happiness” - recorded by Stas Namin and other soloists "Flowers", etc. Throughout its history, "Flowers" appeared on TV a few times, and the phenomenon of their popularity is that it arose and was supported only thanks to concerts and recordings. The liberality of the Melodiya company, which allowed a semi-legal group to write, is simply explained: during the existence of the Stas Namin Group, more than 50 million records of the group were sold, while only Melodiya received the entire royalty for circulation, traditionally not paying performers. "Flowers" was the first rock band that came out of the "underground" and met with the reality of the Artistic Council and the official Soviet censorship. But even the forced compromise in the group's early recordings, released by Melodiya, which softened its style to soft and pop-rock, revolutionized the then official Soviet song. "Flowers" became, as it were, the forerunner of Russian rock in the mass culture of the country. Several generations have been brought up on their music, many have studied on it. modern stars rock and pop music. "Tsvety" is one of the few Russian rock bands born in the late 1960s that still exists today. Their songs are still remembered and loved by millions of people, and Namin's song "We wish you happiness" has become truly popular.

Compound

Modern operating composition. From left to right: O. Litskevich, A. Gretsinin, N. Shateeva, Yu. Vilnin, A. Avanesyan, A. Aslamazov, O. Predtechensky

Musicians who at various times played in the Stas Namin Group at the Legends of Russian rock". From left to right: O. Vasiliev, A. Sosiev, V. Malikov, Yu. Vilnin, M. Pichugin, T. Antsiferova, V. Belousov, K. Nikolsky, V. Petrovsky, A. Gretsinin, O. Predtechensky, Yu. Gorkov , V. Matetsky, Yu. Fokin, M. Korobkova, S. Namin, sitting: S. Dyuzhikov, O. Litskevich

Current composition

• Oleg Predtechensky - vocals, guitar (since 1999)
• Oleg Litskevich - vocals (since 2001)
• Yuri Vilnin - solo guitar (since 1999)
• Alexander Gretsinin - bass guitar, vocals (since 1999)
• Alan Sosiev - keyboards, vocals (since 2002)
• Armen Avanesyan - drums (since 2008)
• Natalya Shateeva - vocals (since 2000)

Musicians of past compositions

• Vladimir Solovyov - keyboards (1969)
• Vladimir Chugreev - drums (1969-1970)
• Elena Kovalevskaya - vocals (1969-1970)
• Igor Saulsky - keyboards (1970-1071)
• Alexey Kozlov - saxophone (1970-1971)
• †Alexander Losev - bass guitar, vocals (1970-1974 and 1981-1989)
• Alexander Mikoyan - guitar (1971-1978)
• Yuri Fokin - drums (1971-1978)
• †Sergey Dyachkov - keyboards, vocals (1972-1973)
• Sergey Dyuzhikov - guitar, vocals (1974-1984)
• Vladislav Petrovsky - arrangement, keyboards (1974-1989)
• Alexander Slizunov - keyboards, vocals (1974-1980)
• Konstantin Nikolsky - guitar, vocals (1974-1978)
• †Vladimir Sakharov - bass guitar, vocals (1976-1978)
• Vladimir Vasilkov - drums (1978-1984)
• Andrey Sapunov - vocalist (1978-1979)
• Valery Zhivetiev - vocalist (1978-1981)
• Alexander Pishchikov - saxophone (1978 -1980)
• Arzu Huseynov - trumpet (1978-1979)
• Igor Sarukhanov - guitar, vocals (1978 -1981)
• Vladimir Vasiliev - bass guitar, vocals (1978-1981)
• Mikhail Fainzilberg - drums (1978-1981)
• †Kamil Bekseleev - bass guitar, vocals (1978-1979)
• Alexander Fedorov - vocals (1979-1981)
• Yuri Gorkov - bass guitar, vocals (1981-1988)
• Alexander Kryukov - drums (1981-1987)
• †Nikita Zaitsev - guitar, violin (1981-1982)
• Vladimir Belousov - arrangement, keyboards (1982-1986)
• Alexander Solich - bass guitar, keys (1983-1988)
• Sergey Voronov - guitar, vocals (1986-1988)
• Sergey Grigoryan - drums (1986 - 1988)
• Alexander Malinin - acoustic guitar, vocals (1983-1987)
• Alexander Minkov (Marshal) - bass guitar, vocals (1983-1987)
• Alexander Yanenkov (Jan) - guitar (1983-1987)

Occasionally took part in the recordings and concerts of the group

• †Sergei Grachev - vocals (1970-1971)
• Alexander Chinenkov - trumpet (1970-1971)
• Vladimir Nilov - trombone (1970-1971)
• Vladimir Okolzdaev - saxophone (1970-1971)
• †Sergey Kavagoe - drums (1970-1972)
• Yuri Genbachev - drums (1970-1973)
• Vladimir Zasedatelev - drums (1970-1974)
• Anatoly Aleshin - vocals (1972-1973)
• Vladimir Polissky - bass guitar (1974)
• Vladimir Semyonov - acoustic guitar (1972-1973)
• Mira Korobkova - vocals (1972)
• †Olga Danilovich - vocals (1972)
• Tatyana Vorontsova - vocals (1974)
• Nina Palitsina - vocals (1974)
• Vladimir Vasilkov - drums (1978-1979 and 1982-1984)
• Vladimir Kiselev - drums (1978-1979)
• Vadim Malikov - vocals (1978-1980)
• Nikolai Rumyantsev - vocals (1978-1979)
• Igor Myalik - guitar (1978)
• Anatoly Abramov - drums (1982-1984)
• Nikolai Chinusov - drums (1982-1984)
• Victor Zernikov - trumpet (1983-1991)
• Georgy Vlasenko - keyboards (1983-1986)
• Alexander Alexandrov - bassoon (1985-1987)
• Nikolai Arutyunov - vocals (1987-1988)
• Igor Ivankovich - drums (1999-2003)
• Valery Diorditsa - keyboards, vocals (1999-2003)
• Vladimir Matetsky - bass guitar
• Alexey Belov (White) - lead guitar
• Mikhail Sokolov - drums
• Alexey Belov - arrangement, solo guitar
• Natalia Karakash - vocals

Group sound engineers

• Valery Shapovalov (1972-1978)
• Valery Spirtus (1978-1989)
• Viktor Pshenichny (1981-1984)
• Alexander Lvov (1985-1987)

Group admins

• Mark Krasovitsky (1974)
• Mark Bendersky (1978-1981)
• Mikhail Mitnik (1981-1983)
• Vladimir Dubovitsky
• Boris Krutogolov
• Nikolai Agutin (1983-1991)
• Victor Zernikov (1983-1991)
• Vitaliy Panchenko (2006-present)

Discography

Year of issue	Name	Comment
	Single “Flowers have eyes”, “Asterisk”, etc.	Firma "Melody" released a flexible disc in paper cover. Due to the huge popularity and circulation, it was reissued on vinyl.
	Single "Honestly", "Lullaby", etc.
	Single "Old piano", etc.	The first single of Stas Namin's group (after the prohibition of the name "Flowers")
	Single "It's too early to say goodbye", etc.
	Single "Summer Evening", etc.
	Album "Hymn to the Sun" "Heroic Power", "After the Rain", "Dedication to the Beatles", "Rush Hour", etc.
	Single "Jurmala" and others.	Recorded in year
	Album "Reggae-Disco-Rock" “I will find”, “Wall”, “Carousel”, “But you don’t know”, etc.	Recorded in year Disco-reggae-rock dance album
	Album "Surprise for Monsieur Legrand"	Recorded in 1981, in French in the style of symphonic jazz
----	Double album "We wish you happiness"	Recorded in the year, banned by the Artistic Council and was not released in the USSR
	Double CD and DVD albums (Life)	Audio and video recordings of the anniversary concert of the year. All entered the best songs groups for 30 years and unknown songs banned by the Arts Council
	Album "Village Songs"	Recorded in Los Angeles in the year in the style of ethno-rock. Special guest- Sergey Starostin
	Album "Unknown Songs +" (Life)	Recorded in the year at the festival "Legends of Russian Rock" at the SNC Theater
	Single "Summer Evening", "It's Early to Say Goodbye", "Heroic Strength", "We wish you happiness"	Remakes recorded in 2006–2007

Famous musicians about the group "Flowers"

• Appearing in the mass culture of the USSR, the group "Flowers" turned out to be revolutionary not only for its music, unlike existing genre Soviet song, in which all the official VIA and soloists of the country then worked, but even the hippy one-word name “Flowers”, since at that time the existing VIA were called “in Komsomol”: “Singing Hearts”, “Singing Guitars”, “Blue Guitars "," Cheerful guys", " Flow the song", etc. After the prohibition of the name "Flowers" in the new name - "Stas Namin Group", the Soviet standard was also broken by the fact that the word "group" was heard for the first time, instead of the one adopted in USSR "ensemble" or VIA, and for the first time the name of a specific person sounded in the name - the leader of the group.
• The group "Flowers" and "Time Machine" were created in 1969. Makarevich was still at school, and Namin was already at the Institute of Foreign Languages. Having already a previous “solid” experience, Namin helped the “Time Machine”, performing with them at their school concerts, and taught Makarevich fashionable techniques for “pulling up” the strings. They even rehearsed almost together in the famous house on the embankment, in the recreation center "Energetikov" and performed together in the 8th dining room of Moscow State University, etc., sometimes even changing musicians (Yuri Fokin and Sergey Kavagoya played in both "Flowers" and " time machine").
• In the same year, during the festival of students at the Luzhniki Sports Palace, the Flowers performed Jimi Hendrix's song "Let me stand next to your fire", flooding it as a black protest song "Let me be in the fire of your struggle." But when they started to play it, the hall began to stir, and the festival management panicked, and the group turned off the equipment. As later, many years later, the director of the Luzhniki Palace of Culture Sinilkina recalled: “I had never heard anything like this before and was seriously scared.”
• In 1971, the saxophonist Alexei Kozlov played in the "Flowers". They rehearsed at the Energetik Palace of Culture and performed in clubs and Houses of Culture. One of the hits in their repertoire at the time with the brass band was "Lucretia MacEvil" from Blood, Sweat & Tears. When the "Flowers" decided to return to the traditional composition of the rhythm section, Kozlov created his own group "Arsenal", based on the musicians of the brass group "Flowers".
• In the early 1970s, the authorities in Moscow banned the performances of Vladimir Vysotsky and the Flowers group as the most popular, and from their point of view, unreliable. Rare halls that dared to organize their concerts. Such places have traditionally been: the city of Dubna, in Moscow - the House of Culture of the Bauman Institute, the House of Culture of the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Institute of Foreign Languages ​​and Moscow State University.
• In the year, even before the all-Union popularity, during the concert "Flowers" in the Palace of Culture of the Faculty of Humanities of Moscow State University on the street. Herzen's fans broke the entrance doors, and the traffic had to be blocked. The concert was canceled, and the scandal reached the leadership of the University.
• In 1972, during the recording of the first disc of "Flowers", in the song "Don't" the sound engineer stopped the recording, saying that the distortion on the guitar should be removed. The musicians did not even understand what he meant, since Namin played a solo on the "fuze" - an electronic effect that today has become an integral part of rock music, and then first heard at the Melodiya company.
• Only in the 2000s it turned out that during the recording of the first single "Flowers" in string group participated, who had just arrived from Lvov, no one else famous Yuri Bashmet.
• During the recording of the first single, "Flowers", as a student ensemble, barely got a few hours at the Melodiya studio to record their first three songs. Unexpectedly, Losev said that he could not come to the recording, as he got tickets for the first USSR-Canada hockey match. Namin and Dyachkov literally forced him to come by force, since missing the chance and only chance to record a record on Melodiya was tantamount to suicide. Losev, having no recording experience, could not record a single song. To record his vocals in the song “My Clear Star”, more than 50 takes had to be done.
• In the year when the "Flowers" began touring, their repertoire even then included songs unknown to anyone: Nikolsky - "Musician", etc. and the songs "Time Machine" - "Dolls", etc. They were even performed illegally, not to mention that it was impossible to write them down at that time.
• In 1974, before the "Flowers" were banned by the Ministry, disagreements arose in the group with the leadership of the Philharmonic due to an unbearable work schedule (3-4 concerts a day). Namin, Nikolsky and Slizunov wanted to work less so that there was time for life and creativity, but it was profitable for the Philharmonic to earn millions on Flowers, despite the fact that the musicians were paid 5 rubles per concert.
• From the year Losev returned to the ensemble. Many believed that Losev was Stas Namin, since Namin himself did not appear on TV.
• In the 1980s, when all artistic councils banned new repertoire"Flowers", Stas Namin decided to show his songs to the composer Grigory Sviridov. Sviridov liked the songs very much, and he advised Namin not to take these prohibitions to heart, as justice would someday prevail.
• In the year, at the festival of popular music "Yerevan-81", Stas Namin's group performed in the very final, and the public did not let them go for a long time. They played until 2 am. The festival was filmed by Channel I TV, directed by Evgeny Ginzburg, foreign journalists were present at the festival. Immediately after the festival, the State Security Committee of Armenia wrote a letter to the Central Committee of the party in Moscow that the Stas Namin Group was undermining the ideological foundations of the youth, and the group was expelled from Armenia. Information about the festival was banned from the Soviet media, the video recording of the festival was demagnetized, and photographic films were confiscated from photographers. Thus, there are no photo and video materials left about the festival, except for the article and photographs published in the Time magazine. When flying to Moscow, Namin's passport was confiscated at the airport.
• In the early 1980s, Namin wrote a new repertoire for the group. For one of the songs - "Old New Year" to the verses of Voznesensky - a video clip was filmed in 2008, which became the first video clip in the USSR. The song is about the difference of 13 days between the old and the new calendar, which is actually the gulf between times. There were 2 parallel scenes in the clip: in the 1st the group sang a song at a car junkyard, and in the 2nd - in medieval costumes, books were burned at the stake of the Inquisition. Namin, knowing the result in advance, and only in order to mock him, brought the clip to television and showed it to the music editor A. Dovydenko, who played it through the internal channel, and all the editors who had the monitor turned on could see it. The video was banned even before the Artistic Council and was first shown on MTV during a tour of the United States.
• The song "It's too early to say goodbye" was written by Namin in English, and then Vladimir Kharitonov wrote the original Russian text. This was his first song in Russian, after which such hits as "Summer Evening", "Jurmala" and others were written with Kharitonov. Only in the 1980s, when V. Kharitonov died, Namin began to write songs directly into Russian text.
• The song "We wish you happiness" was written by Namin in 1982 and was banned from radio and television for three years. During this period, one of the editors of Channel 1 TV, having taken a soundtrack from I. Shaferan (the author of the song), decided to include it in the program “Song of the Year”. Then the chief music editor channel - Lyudmila Krenkel, having called all the editors and authors, announced that the song "We wish you happiness" is a disgrace to the Soviet stage and is unworthy of being not only in this program, but in general on television. Only in 1985, with the help of Alexandra Pakhmutova, the song "We wish you happiness" appeared on radio and television, becoming a hit.
• Scandal during the 1985 World Youth and Student Festival and denunciation of the group by the College of Ming. Culture in the propaganda of the American military was based on a specific fact, namely: during a performance on the shirt pocket of Sasha Kryukov (the drummer of the group), someone made out a barely noticeable design label of the Montana company. And the Montana firm, as it was announced at the College of Min. Culture, sponsored by the Pentagon. The Board was convened specifically on the issue of "Flowers", it was led by Minister Demichev and Deputy Minister - Ivanov.
• During a tour in Mozambique (Africa), the Flowers Sports Palace was warned not to use pyrotechnics at the concert, as the population was frightened by terrorist attacks and panic could occur. Nevertheless, the frostbitten pyrotechnician of the group still made an explosion and the whole hall, jumping up from their seats, ran to the exit. Only because the band did not stop playing did the people gradually calm down and return to their places.
• After touring North America in the year, Namin created the Gorky Park group from musicians who had previously worked in Flowers: Alexander Marshal, Yan Yanenkov, Alexander Lvov. Only Nikolai Noskov was invited by Namin from outside.
• The tour of the Stas Namin group in Australia coincided with the tour of the Mick Jaeger group, at a time when the Rolling Stones broke up. For Namin's musicians, meeting and hanging out with the superstars gathered by Jaeger was out of the realm of fantasy, especially since during the second tour in the United States, Sergey Voronov and Stas Namin, at the invitation of Keith Richards, participated in his solo disc "Talk is cheap"
Wikipedia - Flowers: Flowers are a common name for plants; more often the word "flowers" is used only for flowering (angiosperms) plants, however, the expression "indoor flowers" is often used in relation to any indoor plants, including ... ... Wikipedia
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Artistic director Stas Namin I'm ready to argue with the whole world. I'm ready to swear on my head that all colors have eyes. And they look at us with you. The popular legendary Moscow pop-rock group "Flowers" was created by a young musician Stas Namin in October 1969. Stas Namin / Anastas Alekseevich Mikoyan / was born on November 8, 1951 in Moscow - guitarist, composer, producer, manager. In his youth, when our country was shaken by the Beatlemania boom, Stas studied at the Suvorov Military School /1961-69/, took classical guitar and piano lessons. Before creating his brainchild - VIA "Flowers", he played in youth amateur groups: rock - trio "Wizard" / 1964 /, the group "Politburo" / 1967 / and the student group "Bliki" / 1969 /. At the end of 1969, Stas gathers a new group of musicians consisting of: Stas Namin - solo guitar, Alexander Losev - bass guitar, vocals, Vladimir Chugreev - percussion instruments, Elena Kovalevskaya - soloist of the group. Earlier, musician A.Malashenkov worked in the group - bass guitar. In parallel with this, Stas studied at the Maurice Thorez Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, later at Moscow State University named after M. Lomonosov Faculty of Philology. The musicians are working on their repertoire, actively rehearsing, playing on the dance floors on professional instruments of one of the first Moscow ensembles - VIA Moskvichi. On December 29, the musicians give their first concert. At the beginning of 1970, the group was replenished by the musician of the ex-group "Red Devils" Alexander Solovyov - keyboard instruments. In fact, since that time, the foundation has been laid for the creation and creation of a professional team on national stage. The musicians play guitar improvisations from the repertoire of Jimi Hendrix and other foreign authors, then work in the jazz-rock style. In the fall of 1971, the group, instead of the departed musicians, was temporarily replenished with musicians: Igor Saulsky - keyboards, Alexei Kozlov - alto saxophone, Vladimir Okolzdaev - tenor saxophone, Alexander Chinenkov - trumpet, percussion, Vladimir Nilov - trombone, Vladimir Zasedatelev - drums tools. The base and numerous rehearsals of the group took place in the Palace of Culture Energetikov. legendary band, with his repertoire, performs a lot in front of Moscow youth at evenings of rest in educational institutions and Palaces of Culture. Over time, almost all musicians leave the group and create a jazz ensemble "Arsenal". At this time, the group consists of musicians: Stas Namin - solo guitar, Alexander Losev - bass guitar, vocals, Yuri Fokin - / ex-group "Skomorokhi" / - percussion instruments. In 1972, the musicians successfully performed on behalf of the Moscow State University named after M. Lomonosov at the festival of student amateur performances on the stage of the Moscow Luzhniki Sports Palace. At this time, Stas Namin met the popular Moscow composer Sergei Dyachkov, whose songs: “Alyoshkina Love” / O. Gadzhikasimov /, “School Ball” / P. Leonidov /, “Words” / O. Gadzhikasimov / are sung by our whole country and invites him to write a number of songs for his group. To implement this project, Sergey Dyachkov invites his friend, one of the first leader - guitarists of our country, a member of the VIA "Korobeiniki" Vladimir Semyonov. Sergey Dyachkov recalled: “We sat down with Volodya, wrote something, tried. It seems to have worked out. Although half of what we wrote in the scores is not heard on the recording. Firstly, the equipment then was not as good as it is now, and, secondly, not everyone played. Recording time was limited." So, thanks to their cooperation and the organizational activities of Stas Namin, songs appear in the spring - hits, both on the national stage and in the history of the vocal and instrumental movement in our country. Two musicians - composers Sergey Dyachkov and Vladimir Semyonov, together with the musicians of the "Flowers" group, created truly brilliant masterpieces of the Soviet stage! Artists also took part in the recording of these songs: Vladimir Sakharov - bass guitar, Alexander Slizunov - harpsichord, singer Anatoly Alyoshin - backing vocals, later soloist of VIA Vesyolye Rebyata, the rock group Araks and others, as well as vocal group The worlds of the Korobkova singer: Olga Danilovich, Tatyana Vorontsova and Nina Palitsyna. The symphony orchestra conducted by Yuri Silantiev and the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater also took part in the recording of these songs. Sergey Dyachkov recalled his collaboration with Vladimir Semyonov when recording songs at the studio of the All-Union Recording Company Melodiya: “We did a lot of songs with him. We sat, looking for some kind of image. We didn't do it for the money. The money still came. And we did it from the heart. Purely creative work." These songs, preserving the traditions of urban romance, included elements of lyrical rock, which was an innovation on our stage. Truly the bouquet of all these songs has become calling card for all time group Stas Namin "Flowers". At the end of the year, the first flexible phonograph records - minions with these songs - were released at the All-Union Record Company Melodiya and sold in millions of copies. Songs were recorded on the minions: “Don’t” / S. Dyachkov - O. Gadzhikasimov /, “Flowers have eyes” / O. Feltsman - R. Gamzatov, translated by Y. Kozlovsky /, “My clear star” / V. Semyonov - O. Fokina /. I bought this record in the summer of 1973 in the Soyuzpechat stall in the city of Popasnaya, Voroshilovgrad, now Lugansk region in Ukraine, along with a record of the already well-known Moscow VIA. After listening to the songs, I, of course, gave preference to VIA "Flowers", like my childhood friends. We were very struck by the words of the songs from philosophical sense and arrangement of songs, this has never happened in our country. VIA "Flowers" has become one of my favorite ensembles for all time. And I was very happy and glad, after many years, to receive autographs of the masters of the Soviet stage, composers Sergei Dyachkov and Vladimir Semyonov as a gift! This year, on the All-Union Radio, the song "Flowers Have Eyes" / O. Feltsman - R. Gamzatov, translated by Y. Kozlovsky / was included in Viktor Tatarsky's popular music program "At All Latitudes". At the Melodiya company, the song “Don't” / S. Dyachkov - O. Gadzhikasimov / was included in the series of disc-grands “To everyone who loves the song”. In 1974, another star minion was released with the songs: “Honestly speaking” / S. Dyachkov - M. Nozhkin /, “You and me” / A. Losev - S. Namin /, “More life” / V. Semenov - L. Derbenev/, "Lullaby" / O. Feltsman - R. Gamzatov, translated by Y. Kozlovsky /. Basically, all the songs were recorded by the singer Alexander Losev, and the song "To be honest" was performed by Sergey Dyachkov. The classical female vocalization sounds very beautiful against the background of rock music in the song “You and I” / A. Losev - S. Namin /. The Lviv musician - violist Yuri Bashmet also took part in the recording of these songs, later - a world-famous musician. I note that Vladimir Semyonov was inspired by the melody for the song “More Life” at the beginning of Olga Fokina’s poems about birch, but with the assistance of Sergei Dyachkov, with this melody to Leonid Derbenev, the poet wrote another text of the song to this music. The same incident happened with the song "Farewell" by composer Vyacheslav Dobrynin, which was first performed by VIA "Leisya, Song". I was also lucky to buy this record in a store in the city of Kommunarsk, now Alchevsk. Songs from this minion only fixed my good relationship to the work of the ensemble "Flowers". Only on the eve of their arrival with a concert in the city of Kadievka, now Stakhanov, I did not manage to get to their concert because of my conscription for military service in the USSR Armed Forces. This year, on the All-Union Radio, the song "Lullaby" / O. Feltsman - R. Gamzatov, translated by Y. Kozlovsky / was included in the popular music program of Viktor Tatarsky "At all latitudes". At the Melodiya company, the song “Flowers Have Eyes” / O. Feltsman - R. Gamzatov, translated by Y. Kozlovsky / is included in the giant disk Melodiya-Concert. The songs of the ensemble "Flowers" are sung by our whole country, they sound everywhere from the windows of houses, as well as in parks, recreation centers at leisure evenings. Many musical groups and performers take these songs into their repertoire. The era of VIA "Flowers" is coming to our country. Numerous philharmonic societies give applications - invitations to concerts of the popular ensemble "Flowers". In fact, these songs were recorded in the studio conditions of the Melodiya company by many musicians from other bands, so Vladimir Semyonov and Sergey Dyachkov gather a group professional musicians and begin their successful tour of our country from the Moscow regional philharmonic society. VIA "Flowers" are touring with: Vladimir Semyonov - artistic director, solo guitar, 12-string guitar, Alexander Losev - bass guitar, vocals, Sergey Dyachkov - music director, keyboard instruments, vocals, Yuri Fokin - percussion instruments.

Group of Stas Namin ("Flowers")

The vocal-instrumental ensemble "Flowers" was organized in 1971 at the Moscow State Institute named after Maurice Thorez. Its creator and artistic director was Stas Namin. The ensemble included: bass player Alexander Losev and drummer Yuri Fokin, later pianist and composer Sergei Dyachkov, the author of popular youth songs, joined them. Among the ideological inspirers of the new group was another no less popular composer and arranger Vladimir Semenov (it was his song "My Clear Star" to the verses of Olga Fokina that opened the first record of the ensemble). Among other amateur groups, the group stood out for its "live" sound, interesting arrangements, searches for means of expression from the big-beat arsenal, suitable for synthesis with the traditions of Russian melos. Stas Namin defined the style of "Flowers" as "lyrical rock". In 1973, the ensemble won the competition of the youth groups of the capital, where it won personal prizes and the right to record a record. On that "amateur" disc, the songs "Flowers Have Eyes", "Don't" and "My Clear Star" were recorded. The symphony orchestra led by Y. Silantiev and the orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater took part in the recording of this disc. The success was complete, the record literally did not leave the players, these songs were sung on the streets and in apartments. The appearance of the second disc with the songs "To be honest", "Lullaby" and others even more clearly outlined the lyrical plan of the ensemble's creative style. The secret of such success lies in the painstaking work, high individual skill of the performers and, of course, in the sincerity of their creativity. The ensemble's songs are notable for their original arrangements, expressive instrumental solos and unique, penetrating vocals. The Ensemble's repertoire includes many songs of a civil theme. After a trip this spring to KAMAZ, the guys wrote several songs about the young workers of this shock Komsomol construction site. Now "Flowers" are working on songs about the Young Guard.
Arno Babajanyan . 1974 Young musicians found themselves faced with a problem: either to follow the well-trodden and rather clear path - to graduate from the institute and become a young specialist, or to embark on an unknown and dangerous path - to enter the path of professional musicians. They preferred the latter, and since 1974 "Flowers" has been a professional touring team. Difficult but joyful days began, devoted to their favorite work. A huge number of worries fell on young artists: artistic councils, directors' boards, searches for equipment, learning a new repertoire, rehearsals, concerts, run-throughs, tours: The load is colossal, there were almost no houses. Although the skill grew, the requirements for the game grew, and the lack of the necessary equipment was increasingly felt. All this led to a crisis. And, despite the fact that "Flowers" had recognition of success: 1st place at the All-Union competition "Silver Strings" in Gorky, 1st place in Tallinn at the All-Union Soviet Song Contest - in 1975 the guys stopped professional work. In 1975-76, we had a break, which, as you know, also gave rise to rumors about the breakup of the group, but in fact it was due to the fact that Sasha and I had to complete our studies at universities (Sasha majored in radio electronics, I - philologist).
Stas Namin. 1983 Yes, in 1974 we became a professional team, and Stas Namin could not work with us: he is a philology student at Moscow State University.
Alexander Losev. 1975 The guys dispersed, resumed their studies at the institutes, which they nevertheless graduated from. But time passed, the Soviet stage developed, new names appeared. And the former "Flowers", jealously watching the heyday of popular music, were convinced with joy that their place was not taken, and no one works in their style, lyrical rock - White spot on stage. New stage creativity began in 1977. Stas Namin, having come to realize the need for a new, more modern and expressive style in his work, returns to the professional stage. His a new group starts right away with the recording, because at this time from the company "Melody" comes an offer to record a record. The work on the new disc became, as it were, the compilation of the ensemble's further program; during rehearsals, the guys tried to implement new ideas, tried to formulate their attitude to the new in popular music. An attempt by S. Namin, A. Slizunov and K. Nikolsky to revive the team turned out to be the most successful. The studio recording of the composition "Red Poppies" by V. Semenov and V. Dyunin - Alexander Zabolotny sang it on the disc - not only "restored" all the advantages of "Flowers", but also discovered new horizons of creativity. In the comic song-parable "Old Piano", the ensemble in a soft humorous manner, as if inadvertently reminds the listener of the importance of enduring human values, and in this special climate of sincerity and recognition, in approaching human existence, in attention to it, the main potential grew stronger and multiplied. groups. The first EP - and "Old Piano" is a success: the company "Balkanton" selects a song for the record "10 best songs of the year "along with the compositions of such pop stars as the Eagles ensemble, Donna Summer, A. Celentano. So, the second birth of the ensemble again took place not without the help of a gramophone record. But since by this time there were many bands whose names were associated with flowers , the ensemble decided to call itself simply "The Stas Namin Group." On the opening day of the XVIII Congress of the Komsomol, in a concert dedicated to this event, the "Stas Namin Group" participated with concert number"Solidarity", dedicated to World Festival youth and students in Havana. In preparation for the festival, the guys prepared Cuban songs, youth protest songs in the languages ​​of the peoples of the world, songs of Soviet composites. At this time, Stas Namin began to actively collaborate with the poet V. Kharitonov - the song "Friendship" was written on his poems, which was first performed by Renat Ibragimov in 1978 at the festival of youth and students in Havana. In 1979, another EP was recorded with Stas Namin's songs "It's too early to say goodbye" and "If you're not there"; the ensemble participated in the recording of V. Kharitonov's CD "White Wings".

The group becomes one of the leaders in the genre of popular music. New forces joined the ensemble: guitarist Igor Sarukhanov, bassist Vladimir Vasiliev ("Good fellows", "Singing guitars"), drummer Mikhail Faizilberg, singers Valery Zhivetiev and Alexander Fedorov ("Singing guitars"). For the ensemble, the boundaries of "lyrical rock" are becoming narrow, because the range of the group's possibilities has grown immeasurably. Ensemble members successfully popularize songs Soviet composers A. Pakhmutova , O. Feltsman , D. Tukhmanov , write music and star in musical film Aida Manasarova "Fantasy on the theme of love", in which Stas Namin fully showed his melodic talent. In 1980, the group recorded their first giant solo disc "Hymn to the Sun", which became one of the most popular in the country, further strengthening the group's popularity. “A hymn to the sun for the ensemble is a program disc. The first side of the giant is a kind of rock suite, where the complex, rich in nuances composition “Just Listen”, which appeared in Namin under the impression of Bach's music, stands out. back side disk is lighter. for perception, however, there are many finds here. And if the records on the giant of the Namin group can be put on a par with the best works firm "Melody", then the concerts of the group of that time could not be compared with the deep, sincere song performances of "Pesnyarov", "Machines
time", "Araks" ... Instead of "program" works, the group in the first part at concerts, with rare exceptions, performed duty hits, and in the second - adaptations of fashionable militants from foreign groups.

Then the guys record together with Jaak Yoala the gigantic disc "Photographs of the Beloved", which features compositions by David Tukhmanov and Stas Namin, created to the verses of Vladimir Kharitonov.

In general, this year was very fruitful and successful for the "Stas Namin Group" - the ensemble became a guest of festivals in Yerevan, Tbilisi, "Kyiv Spring", "Moscow Stars", participated in the cultural program of the "Olympics-80", with two songs became the winner of the television competition "Song-80". The eighties on the Soviet stage are characterized by the appearance of rock bands. New forms were found, the secret of success with a new listener was revealed. And the Stas Namin Group remained modern and popular. For the Stas Namin Group, the eighties were also a time of a qualitative leap. The skill of the ensemble members has grown, the time has come for maturity. "The song fights for the world" - this is how, perhaps, one can characterize ideological orientation"Groups of Stas Namin" during this period. Contemporary youth music needs a clear political position, and it seems to us that its main message should be anti-war. Our genre has unlimited possibilities for promoting the ideas of the world. Of course, this does not exclude the execution lyrical songs, because of the life-affirming beginning does not contradict our main theme.
Stas Namin. 1985 For the 40th anniversary of the Victory, the ensemble prepared a concert cycle "Song Against the War", which included more than 20 ballads and songs based on poems by A. Voznesensky, E. Dolmatovsky, E. Yevtushenko, Yu. Kuznetsov. The ensemble performed at anti-war rallies and theme nights, often donating concert proceeds to the Peace Foundation.
In 1984, the band became a laureate of the Rock for Peace festival, which took place in Berlin. In 1985, the musicians received special prize for participation in an out-of-competition program international festival"Golden Orpheus". They were awarded medals and diplomas of the Soviet and Bulgarian Peace Committees. The Stas Namin Group existed until 1992.

In 1987, Namin created the Stas Namin Center (SNC) - a Russian "non-profit" organization whose main task is to "preserve cultural traditions and promote modern trends in Russian art and culture in the world." In 1991, the Center was transformed into a diversified show business corporation. Within the framework of the Corporation, a non-state television company and a radio station operate, recording studio, art gallery, design studio, magazine, symphony orchestra.

With the collapse of the USSR, Namin's ability to promote "Russian art and culture" in the world was significantly weakened. Now Namin is known as a figure in show business. From time to time he offers various musical projects- from holding grandiose rock festivals to staging a Russian-language version of the rock opera Hair. In 2002, he performed with young musicians of the newly assembled group "Flowers" at the nostalgic concert "Favorite VIA" in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. A little later, Alexander Losev, as part of the ensemble "Starye Tsvety", performed in the Olympic at the "Hit Parade of the 80s".

The group "Flowers" appeared in 1969 and began to quickly gain popularity, its style organically combined the usual hard rock and pop music. The first more or less stable line-up of the group included: the permanent leader of the group Stas Namin - guitar (grandson famous politician, colleague of IV Stalin Anastas Mikoyan), vocalist and bass guitar Alexander Losev (it is with his unique vocals that the Tsvety group is always associated, all other vocalists of the group were noticeably inferior to Alexander in popularity) and drummer Yuri Fokin, already known by that time.

Their first performances were unofficial, they participated in various festivals and underground rock concerts. Largely due to the determination and perseverance of Stas Namin, in 1973 the group made its way to the Melodiya company and released its first flexible records, which were sold in the Union in millions of copies, raising Flowers to the Olympus of the national stage.

Keyboardist and composer Sergei Dyachkov and guitarist Vladimir Semyonov joined the group, largely in the future, shaping its repertoire. In 1974, the group signs a contract with the Philharmonic and becomes a professional team, their second EP is recorded. Soon Dyachkov and Semenov left Flowers, and their places were taken by Sergey Dozhikov (guitar) and Vladislav Petrovsky (keyboards), however, they soon left the group, and former members of the Atlant group Alexander Slizunov and Konstantin Nikolsky (in future leader "Sunday").

In 1975, disagreements with the Philharmonic began and the group again existed as an amateur ensemble, but this did not prevent it from becoming super popular, which Namin always aspired to, so when the group nevertheless broke up, Namin continued to collect session musicians under the guise of "Flowers" and accepted with they participated in the Tallinn Rock Festival in 1976.