Women of Yegor Letov. Who was Natalia Chumakova to him? Interview with Natalia Chumakova from Civil Defense - I can cry now

Yegor Letov is a nugget musician from Omsk, the founder of Russian punk rock, the ideological inspirer of the Civil Defense group. Despite the fact that the musician lived and worked in Western Siberia, he managed to become famous throughout the country. Countless followers still remember his songs and continue to be interested in creativity. talented performer.

The man was in a serious relationship three times. True, he had only one official marriage - with Natalia Chumakova. Read about how the personal life of the musician developed in the article.

First big love

In 1987 he met singer Yanka Dyagileva in Novosibirsk. They met at an unofficial rock concert, exchanged contact details, and went back to their homes. Then they met in Omsk, where Yanka came on an idle visit. The musicians gathered at someone's apartment, arranged noisy gatherings. Later, on a walk, Diaghilev and Letov realized that they were made for each other.

The whole world of Russian punk rock followed their relationship. And real Mexican passions boiled in them. The lovers then converged, then dispersed, loudly slamming the doors. However, forever remained to each other dear people. After the tragic death of his beloved in 1991, Letov cut his hand crosswise in memory of her.

Acquaintance with Anna Volkova

In 1991, Yegor fell in love with Anna Volkova, who later became the administrator of his group. Their relationship was not as stormy as the previous ones, besides, a few years later the man became interested in another girl. Surprisingly, it was difficult to accuse him of frivolity. Apparently, just the Mexican passions were missing.

Anna was a jack of all trades, according to the memoirs of Yegor's brother, Sergei. The girl not only managed the administrative affairs of the "Civil Defense", but could easily fix any broken musical instrument.

Natalya Chumakova - official wife

The future spouses met at a funeral in 1991. But then the man was not up to romance, he was very upset by the tragic departure from the life of his beloved. The second meeting took place in 1997. Now Letov was free from relationships, Natalya Chumakova was also no longer married. The novel developed rapidly. The girl was fascinated by her chosen one, a native of an intelligent family, who writes thoughtful texts and is engaged in creativity.

Natalya Chumakova is the wife of Yegor Letov and his faithful companion until the death of the musician in 2008. She fully shared his views on life and work. The "Civil Defense" team accepted her as a bass player. She traveled a lot with the group around the country, sometimes singing songs, writing music and dealing with administrative issues. However, her main love was Yegor.

Letov's death

The musician was not in good health. Because of the wild life at a young age in adulthood, he several times gave Natalya Chumakova, whose photo the fans of the group are still looking for, reasons for worry. The man suffered several heart attacks, was repeatedly on the verge of life and death. As a result, at the age of 44, he died in the arms of his wife.

Natalya Chumakova still has not been able to recover from the tragedy.

Natalya Chumakova – Russian journalist and rock musician, widow of a famous Soviet and Russian musician Egor Letov.

Biography of Natalia Chumakova

Natalya Yurievna Chumakova was born on July 14, 1969 in the Kirghiz SSR. Mother Natalya - Eleonora Illarionovna Khudoshina is a philologist, and father Yuri Nikolaevich Chumakov- Doctor of Philology, researcher of Russian poetry and Pushkinist.

Back in childhood Natalia together with her parents she moved to Novgorod, where they got a job at the Pedagogical Institute. The family was given a small room in a hostel at the Pedagogical Institute. After living in Novgorod for about three years, the family moved to Novosibirsk.

rock music Natalia got carried away in student years- after watching the director's film Valeria Ogorodnikova"Cracker", in which leading role played the leader of a rock band Alice» Konstantin Kinchev . This movie Natalia I looked during an internship at a horse breeding farm in the Novosibirsk region. Chumakova she hoped that the internship would help her enter the Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K. A. Timiryazev. However, there Natalia failed to enter, and she went to study at the Moscow state academy Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology named after K. I. Skryabin. While Natalia listened to a lot of music, especially she liked the group " civil defense". Later Natalia started playing in the Novosibirsk group " Party leaders».

In 1991 Natalia met the leader of a rock band civil defense» Egor Letov . Their acquaintance happened at the funeral of one of the members of the group. Yana Diaghileva and beloved Letova. Over the next few years Natalia and Letov practically did not communicate, but unexpectedly in 1997 they began to romantic relationship, and after a while the couple got married. Soon after it Chumakova joined the main cast Civil Defense».

After the death of her husband Natalia continued his work. In 2014, together with Anna Tsirlina she made a biopic about early work Letova entitled " Healthy and forever».

Natalya Chumakova: First of all, a huge gratitude from us to all those who condoled and prayed. It was really very supportive! Unfortunately, the responses were delayed. It was very hard and not the right place to do it.

Micha, Boston

Please accept our deepest condolences!

We all mourn with you, we all (even those who did not know Yegor personally) feel that we have lost close friend. It is very sad that I did not write earlier ... but it was worth nothing. Just to say thank you: learned a lot, understood a lot, received the necessary support many times. Question-request: I would like to see a book-official biography written by a normal person. It would be normal, it seems to me, a counterweight to the yellow muck. Thank you!

Natalya Chumakova: - Such a book will probably appear, but definitely not in the near future. Everything that can be written "in hot pursuit" is nothing more than speculation and a desire to warm up on the wave of this painful interest.

Andreev Andrey, Ukhta.

Hello members of the Civil Defense group Natalya, Alexander, Pavel, my sincere condolences to you, as well as to Yegor’s close relatives, brother and father. Excuse me if the question seems inappropriate. I would like to be clarified on the following issue, in connection with the death of Yegor, many different interpretations and interviews appeared in the media, sometimes contradicting each other, and not clear, such as that Yegor had 14 cardiac arrests, 6 heart attacks, and then that the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation initiated an investigation into the death of I. Letov, and that he died in St. Petersburg. Sorry if my question is not relevant. I would like to hear from you how things were, and not to listen to other people's rumors and conjectures. Thank you for your attention and for the opportunity at this difficult time.

Sveta Moscow

Please tell us how and from what Yegor actually died. It seems strange to me and to other fans. Yegor's father says that Yegor died in St. Petersburg because he drank a lot. Natasha says that he died in Omsk from 6 heart attacks. When Fyodor Viktorovich was asked: “Did Yegor

health problems?" He replied that in 43 years, every person can have health problems. What really happened?

The cause of Yegor's death became the most discussed topic on the Internet in the last week of March. Moreover, all this was overgrown with strange rumors and incredible, mutually exclusive details. What can you say about it? How did it happen that these examinations got into information agencies?

Natalya Chumakova:: - Let's start with the fact that Yegor's father's name is Fedor Dmitrievich. This alone indicates how much you can trust such a source. Right now, so as not to repeat myself later, I will say that I did not give a single interview, and did not even exchange half a word with any of the journalists. And by the way, I'm not going to. As for Fedor Dmitrievich, what they did to him is shameful and cruel. People broke into a very old and completely heartbroken man and began to torture him, and then they passed off their own conjectures as his words. By the way, it was he who had 6 heart attacks, and not Yegor, who never complained about his heart. In any case, we heard it from him only a couple of times after especially difficult concerts. Yeah, he didn't even drink much. recent times, ask any of the organizers. It's just that health does not improve with age.

In addition to concerts, a lot of effort was spent on moving and arranging an apartment. The elevator did not work in the new house and I had to go up and down several times a day to the 8th floor with huge weights. He wanted to do everything with his own hands.

The prosecutor's office did not initiate any case, in their own words, due to the absence of crime.

What kind of strange data is there and how, where they got to and why, I have no idea. Everything that was written about it was some kind of sick fantasies, one more ridiculous than the other. As for the specifics, I will only say that nothing worth discussing happened. No excessive doses of alcohol. No chilling details. And the details of his personal life, I think, should not interest anyone. He died at home, in bed, without even changing the position in which he slept. My heart stopped, my breath stopped...

Rumyantsev Daniel

Will it be published that Yegor did not have time? That is, the remaining Communism, the collection of rarities "With the Speed ​​of the World" and a new live DVD (with a recording of a performance in Orange, for example).

Natalya Chumakova: I hope so - everything except for the collection of rarities, at least in the way it was intended. The fact is that Yegor did not have time to record vocals for him.

Mikhail Kudryavtsev

Natalia, I express my deepest condolences, if words are at all appropriate here. Please clarify the history of the "last note". Did Yegor really write this before his death, and how, and why did she fall into the clutches of the media?

Natalya Chumakova: Well, of course, this is not the last note. Yegor wrote a great many such notes in his life. There, it is completely clear from her that she is 4 years old - since we are talking about mixing "Resuscitation". And how it got there is very simple: the same journalists, having broken into our old apartment, did not hesitate to walk around it properly and steal what they thought was of value. Why is not my question...

Hello dear guys. First of all, my condolences. I was born in Omsk in 1971, I lived in Kyiv for a long time in the 80-90s, and I regret very much that I did not meet Yegor personally, although I knew quite a lot about him. Meet me in the sky Do you plan to erect a monument in your homeland? If yes, please tell the account number publicly?

Natalya Chumakova: There will be a monument, of course. I hope that everything will grow together, and it will be completely unusual, generally unique. But this, unfortunately, is really also a matter of funds. The account number will be announced one of these days by Sergey Popkov in his part of the interview.

Describe Egor’s average “home” day by the hour, what time did you get up, what did you do when you went to bed? Did he have a dream?

Best regards, Yurban

Natalya Chumakova: Those who read live offline interviews should be well aware that Yegor never let anyone into his personal life. All questions asked on this topic were certainly and categorically swept aside. And now nothing has changed. I do not understand why, for what purpose they are asked. What will change for you if you find out what time he got up? Neither I, nor those who really knew him well, would be frank on such topics.

Maxim Nikolaev

Hello, Let me first of all express my condolences to Yegor's family and friends, father, Natalia, brother, musicians... I have known Yegor's work since the early 90s, and all this time it has been a part of my life. He took the incident as a personal tragedy.

1. “On the grave of the atheist Letov they installed Orthodox cross" - complete nonsense. Familiar with the work of Yegor would not have spoken like that. Yegor's brother said that the cross on the grave was a misunderstanding, later there was a refutation on the forum that this was not accidental. Please tell us, according to what traditions did the burial take place, what was accidental and what was not? What was the will of the deceased (if any) regarding burial.

Natalya Chumakova: Of course, there was a will - but it turned out to be impossible to fulfill it. Most of all, Yegor did not want any hype around his person, and wanted to be buried so that no one would know this place. But it was unreal... unfortunately. Of course, he was not an atheist. Although he really was not baptized in the church, he considered himself a Christian, moreover, Orthodox. Not because he felt special sympathy specifically for Orthodoxy, he just felt himself very freely, informally felt in spiritual sense- but because he considered it right and natural for a Russian person. So nothing random happened. And he is buried with pectoral cross that he wore all the last time - Jerusalem.

2. The fact of Yegor's self-baptism in the Jordan is known. Is there any information about his possible baptism into Orthodoxy, for example, in childhood?

Natalya Chumakova: - Unfortunately, there is no one to ask - neither grandmother nor mother has been alive for a long time, and his father was an atheist and a devout communist all his life, so he could hardly have been informed, even if we assume that this fact had place.

Leonid, Barnaul

What is the fate of GrOb records studio? What will happen to her next? It does not become a museum, it would be at least strange. It is clear that time must pass, but, in my opinion, and not only in my opinion, the musicians of the Defense, those who worked in it, can preserve the lively spirit with which it is overflowing.

Natalia Chumakova: Why a museum? It will work just like before. Thank God, we, Sanya Chesnakov and I, worked in it for many years, and even without Yegor - that is, without his physical presence, to be more precise - we will be able to continue his work, since we know very well how to do it.

Sergey, Moscow

Recently I visited the concert of the St. Petersburg group "King Kongs" for the first time, previously I heard them only on records downloaded from the network. I was quite amazed and delighted, as if I had gone for a walk in the 60s. I read that live album King Kong was brought together by Yegor and Natalia. How did it happen? Will this record come out with the GrOb records logo?

Natalia Chumakova: - This live album is released by Bert Tarasov, our old friend. He, in fact, recorded King Kongs in O.G.I. at that time, and then asked us to mix - because the recording itself turned out to be not very successful in quality, and a lot of cunning had to be applied to make it sound. Of course, it will be released with our logo - since the mixing and mastering was done here. With the release of it, unfortunately, there were some problems that we did not go into very much, but it seems that it will be published soon, as far as I know, this is a matter of just a few weeks.

michael zem

Sunshine for you guys!

Question: 1. Did Igor Fedorovich manage to start recording remakes of 1989. Will any unreleased songs be released? Natalya Chumakova: - No, I didn't have time. Everything that he considered necessary to release will be released without fail.

2. Will Natalia Chumakova be involved in any projects?

Natalia Chumakova: - I don't know yet, maybe.

3. (Sorry for such a question) Did Igor Fedorovich have any forebodings on the eve of his death? Natalya Chumakova: No, it wasn't.

MUDSLINGER

Hello. I apologize in advance, I really do not want my questions to pass for inappropriate curiosity. My condolences to Natalya Chumakova, family and friends, all musicians G.O., the director of the group and all admirers of Yegor Letov's work.

1) What are Natalya Chumakova, Alexander Chesnokov, Pavel Peretolchin and Sergey Popkov planning to do now? Will you continue to make music?

Natalya Chumakova: - I have great amount work related to parsing archives, audio, video and drafts. I don't think about music yet.

2) Did Egor manage to prepare all the desired recordings for re-release? What is the fate of the remaining reissues? Will Starfall and Communisms come out? Who does it depend on now?

Natalya Chumakova: Basically, yes. The remixed "Starfall" was ready in the fall, the unreleased Communisms - even earlier, a long time ago. Actually, in general, the whole story with reissues of the back catalog was started in to a large extent precisely for their sake, but the publishers failed to cope with the task. It is absolutely necessary to publish them exactly as Yegor intended, but it is not yet known who will be able to undertake this.

3) On one of the news sites, a certain Willy Melnikov (according to him, a friend of Sergei Letov) commented on the news of Yegor's death and mentioned that "for the last eight years, Yegor has been on a drip every month." Is this true?

4) Is it true that Egor had a clinical death in the summer of 2007?

Natalya Chumakova: Not true.

5) Is it true that a certain journalist shamelessly stole photos from Yegor's father?

Natalya Chumakova: All photos were returned.

6) Did Egor leave any wishes about how to dispose of his work after his death. Was there any will?

Natalya Chumakova: There was no will, but there were verbal orders, and quite clear ones.

oleg_arm

Hello! You wrote that you can ask questions ..

Igor Fedorovich attended the Church? And what did he say about God?

Thank you in advance for your answer Natalya Chumakova: He said a lot of things, everything he wanted to say “out loud” is in his poems and songs, in an interview, finally. He went into churches, especially liked some of them, for example, those in the Holy Land.

Alexei. Novosibirsk. "Rock City"

Hello Defense! My question concerns the legacy of songs, poems left by Yegor. Are there plans to publish them? I mean those things that have not been published before, and I think there are a lot of those left. Maybe Egor planned to publish something, but just didn't have time? Thanks for the answer.

Dmitry. (Tallinn)

Hello!

First of all, I express my sincere condolences to Natalya and all the participants of the Civil Defense. I myself have been living with Yegor's songs since 1991, so for me his departure is a big and tangible loss. If possible, I would like to know what Egor was up to recent months life, did the band start recording an album of remakes of songs from the late 80s? What will happen to the remaining archives of the band? Will there be a demo version of the album “Why dream?”, which Egor spoke of as a self-sufficient album, will be released? With respect and love to all of you

Natalia Chumakova: We have basically answered almost everything... I repeat, everything that he wanted to make public will be released one way or another. For example, last poems, which, apparently, will appear in the reissue famous book"Yegor Letov. Poetry". As for the demo version, it is possible to publish it, but it's too early to think about it, there are more important things, those that Yegor himself considered to be top priorities.

Michael. Crimea. Simferopol.

Hello CIVIL DEFENSE!

I, like thousands of people, are experiencing pain with what happened. Of course, it’s harder for you than everyone else now, and let the thoughts and feelings of people from different parts of our planet, for whom your work has always had serious significance, give you some kind of support! Strength to you to live and good!

Several times in off-line interviews, questions were asked about the film about the band. Is it possible to create such a film under your authorship? (i.e. the point is that the authors of the film should be exactly the musicians G.O. and relatives, if you think that this is necessary at all). I mean a film that, for example, could consist of some video fragments, episodes filmed during concert tours (what happened outside the stage) + It just seems that this is the period of H.O. since the beginning of the 2000s, as a group, it has been the most beautiful and colorful in the entire history, this is somehow felt both in albums and in concerts and in videos and photographs. Those. It was during this period that it somehow became especially felt that the Civil Defense is a real single group, which includes creative musicians, and each in his own place. Natalya Chumakova: Yes, there are such records, and it is very possible that we will do as you suggested.

Nikolay, Zelenograd

"Shutters with a newspaper, climbs the Internet." And how did Yegor come into contact with the computer? Did he use the Internet, music programs? Read the news in the online media? Read email?

Natalya Chumakova: It's absolutely no secret that Egor was exclusively on "you" with the computer. That is, he was simply even afraid to turn it on and off. And the computer was afraid of him. If Yegor sat down for him, he immediately began to squeak, throw out threatening warnings, and, in the end, just hang. So all his communication took place with the help of intermediaries. I read the mail, I opened it for him. Dictated answers. Well, in general, I often read something, although I did not look for it myself. As for music programs, he didn’t understand anything about them, but he made demands on the highest level, and if the computer refused to simultaneously mix 40 32-bit tracks, but with processing, he threatened to throw it out the window. I had to match. Us with a computer

Alexey, St. Petersburg

On the popular social resources Odnoklassniki.ru and Vkontakte, even during Yegor’s lifetime, accounts appeared, allegedly on his behalf. Moreover, after his death, they did not disappear, on the contrary, there were even more of them. Even a fool understands that Yegor himself did not start these accounts, and the rules of these resources, prescribed in the user agreement, are violated in many respects. Will they be removed? And what can you say to those people who started them?

Natalya Chumakova: I have already answered about the relationship with the computer. In addition, Yegor has long hated to communicate with people at all, with the exception of a very narrow circle. As for those classmates and things like that, he didn't even know they existed. What to say to such people? You need to feel sorry for them ... There is no life of your own, it is boring, meaningless, so they live someone else's, not suspecting how stupid and insignificant it looks. And after all, in order to create this account, they spend their time, make some efforts, it is incomprehensible to the mind. So I have nothing to say to them, and they are unlikely to read. Let's not cast pearls... And the administration will probably someday remove them anyway.

Anton Lf-res

Numerous Internet communities of the Civil Defense after the death of Yegor began to arrange meetings throughout Russia and abroad, evenings in memory of Yegor. What is your (group's) attitude towards this? As far as I remember, Yegor himself did not like to participate in memorial evenings, although he came to play.

Nastya, Moscow.

How do you feel about the numerous past meetings of memory, concerts, as well as the performance of songs by G.O. other musicians in memory of Yegor? Natalya Chumakova: - Since the time of concerts in memory of Bashlachev and Selivanov, that is, for almost 20 years, Yegor has not participated in such concerts. He treated it very badly, called it “dancing on the bones,” and our attitude is the same. In any case, to perform his songs ... Egor always said: do something of your own!

This will be his best memory.

The founder of Russian punk rock, poet and musician Yegor Letov was an iconic figure in the Russian underground in the 80s and 90s. Despite the fact that the place of deployment of the Civil Defense group created by Letov was Western Siberia, his work was highly valued among the vast mass of young people throughout Russia. Music band Egor had a peculiar own style, characterized by high energy, original music and coarse-grained poetry, in which punk philosophy is whimsically mixed with rich erudition and emotionality. Even the semi-legal existence of the Civil Defense group had a significant impact on the development Russian rock. Yegor Letov's wife was, at one time, three women who were close to him in spirit and passion for music, but he was legally married to only one of them.

From my first civil wife, singer Yanka Dyagileva Egor met in 1987, at the first rock festival in Novosibirsk. It was an accidental acquaintance that did not end in an alliance: the police dispersed the musicians and the performance of the Civil Defense lasted only 10 minutes. Later, Yanka arrived in Omsk, where an apartment concert took place. Having gone together to the pharmacy for medicines for a sick guest, Yegor and Yanka realized that they needed each other. Their love has become a legend among punk rockers. They lived together, then separated, talking about the freedom of relations, participated in concerts, wore hippie-style clothes, quarreled and put up, being a mystery and idols for the surrounding fans. Yanka, not distinguished by her special beauty and femininity, was very dear to Letov and he had a hard time with her death, which happened in May 1991.

Drowned in the river Yanka, some declared a suicide, but there were also unconfirmed officially rumors about the violent nature of her death. The investigation called her death an "accident." For Yegor it didn't matter. special significance: he collected all the papers of his beloved and republished her poems, songs, records. Friends say that, in desperation, he cut his hand crosswise in memory of his lost first love. At the funeral of Yankee, he met his future legal wife, Natalya Chumakova, but their romance was ahead. Letov's second girlfriend was Anna Volkova, the administrator of his group. She was a "jack of all trades" according to the memoirs of Yegor's brother, saxophonist Sergei, and knew how not only to arrange concerts, but also to repair them musical technique, if necessary - to "build" the entire team and keep it in a relatively sober state.

The reason for parting with the beautiful Anya was, according to Sergei, the banal betrayal of her lover. Restrained in relation to other women and, in general, “not a walker”, Yegor became interested in some Muscovite and his civil marriage with Anna, having existed from 1991 to 1997, broke up. Then the second meeting between Letov and Natalya Chumakova took place. It is worth noting that the well-read, who came from an intelligent family, Yegor, despite the spree, punk paraphernalia and obscene expressions that sprinkled his work, had a strong intellect, imaginative thinking and wrote unusual for the townsfolk, but very good poetry. His women, too, were never stupid simpletons: Yanka showed the ability to humanities and wrote good songs. Natalya grew up in the family of a Pushkinist professor, graduated from Novosibirsk State University and studied at graduate school.

They got married in 1997, after Natalya divorced her first husband and became a bass player in Civil Defense, completely dissolving in Yegor's affairs and hobbies. She participated in the concerts of the group and sometimes sang, but the main thing in her existence was Letov, his deeds, cares and health. Not too strong and survived in 1985-1986, compulsory treatment in psychiatric clinic, the musician has already suffered 5 heart attacks and several clinical deaths. He died at the age of 44, in his wife's arms, and this became terrible tragedy for her. After the death of Yegor in 2008, Natalia took up the publication of his poetic and musical heritage, made a biopic about her husband. She, with the help of the group's fans, erected a monument on Letov's grave and annually attends memorial concerts on his birthday.

On February 28, in Veliky Novgorod, the last concert of "Civil Defense" - "Shine will fall down" was shown. The film director, GrOba bass player Natalya Chumakova came to present the film at the Novgorod cinema center. Today we will tell not only about the film, but also take a walk with Natalia around the city of her childhood - Veliky Novgorod.

About "The Shining Falls Down"

It is dedicated to the last concert of GrOba, which the musicians gave in Yekaterinburg 10 years ago, on February 9, 2008. Ten days after the performance, the group's ideologist, poet and musician Yegor Letov died. The concert was recorded by pure chance and later, ten years later, turned into a full-fledged film through the efforts of Natalia Chumakova and the independent Moscow film studio Kosmosfilm. Stunning performance, memorable encore and performance last song. Now the legendary Siberian punk rock band is experiencing new round popularity - even rappers, the new idols of youth, confess their love for Civil Defense.

It was an ordinary concert, the beginning of a touring year. Naturally, no one could have thought that he would be the last, - said Natalia before the show in Veliky Novgorod.

- Does the feeling from that concert match what you saw in the film?

Of course not. During the concert, I focus on something completely different, I follow a specific sound. The sound on stage is technical. Each of us hears certain instruments. And I also had to tell Yegor the order of the songs, because he does not see well without glasses and it was useless to write a list for him.

The sound of the film was mixed specifically for cinemas. Of course, it is not perfect, there were mistakes. Then they told me: “Just think, you messed up somewhere, no one noticed ...” But when someone messes up and the whole group hears, it knocks the team out of the mood, the internal drive goes away. The sound engineer of the film, Mitya Patrakov, clearly heard where last concert Egor lost this drive and where he caught it. I told Mitya in great detail about key points concert, and he was terribly glad that he understood everything correctly. We also had a wonderful editor Danya Zinchenko, who felt the music absolutely right. And the shooting was carried out by ordinary Yekaterinburg cameramen, not filmmakers, one of them was very fond of filming girls in the hall, although there were not very many of them (laughs). The Sverdlovsk people also made a small report for eight songs, but it is absolutely ordinary, traditional. It was clear that they were not in the subject at all, they were not very interested. As soon as we played to the pause between the main concert and the encore, they immediately turned off the cameras. Although it would be possible to shoot a lot of interesting things - how people in the hall scream, what kind of faces they have. At first we wanted to cut out this pause, then we began to listen to people stomping and yelling, and it became clear that this fragment should be left. I brought a bunch of photos, including from the dressing room of this concert. And in the end they put the most last photo Yegor.

How to explain the phenomenon of "Civil Defense": it seems that now the group is many times more popular than during Yegor's lifetime. Why didn’t it work out right away, like, say, the Kino group?

I think that Tsoi did not resist his promotion, and Yegor at one time, when he realized that they were becoming too popular, generally disbanded the group. He avoided it. “Kino” has such music that easily falls on the ears, it is easy to fall in love with it. And Egor - for a narrower and more special audience. And these people are very different ages and musical preferences: rappers, people who love ethnic, psychedelic. Yegor touches painful and important strings of the soul. And these strings can be in a person of any age, any profession.

- How much is left in the archives?

A lot, but I don't want to throw it all out. Well, there won't be anything super unexpected for the fans.

Natalya was in a hurry to go to the cinema, so our conversation ended, but we agreed to meet the next day and take a walk around the city.

It is unlikely that all Letov's Novgorod fans came to the February show of The Shining: the hall was not overcrowded. It is worth noting that several years ago Natalya already brought the film “Healthy and Forever” to our city, then there were not enough seats in the cinema for everyone who wanted to see the picture. In 2018, the most loyal fans gathered for the show: they were not afraid of frost and sat for about an hour waiting for troubleshooting - they couldn’t manage to adjust the sound. Natalya offered to brighten up the awkward pause with a conversation: in the question-answer mode, time flew by unnoticed. Frames flashed on the screen, the sounds of “GO” were heard ... There were no fans dancing at the chairs, they did not sing along with Letov. Everyone seems to be huddled in their chairs. The film is a time machine. 2008 is all around us, Letov is alive, we are at a concert among stomping fans. Only we have, in addition to delight, sadness: we know more than those Yekaterinburg guys. And after the concert, we applaud not so much Letov as Natalya, who in 2018 arranged a real tour of Civil Defense in Veliky Novgorod.

About Novgorod and childhood

The next day after the film screening, we met with Natalia. I wanted to give her a tour of the city of childhood: she lived in Veliky Novgorod for 10 years. We chose Yaroslav's Court for a walk, associated with childhood memories. But it turned out that the general associations with our city among the Chumakov family are very disturbing.

I lived in Novgorod from 2 to 12 years old. First, in a hostel at the pedagogical institute in the Anthony Monastery, then we were given an apartment on Kochetova. There was a wasteland and boarded-up churches in Yaroslav's courtyard. We used to go here often with my girlfriend. Naturally, we were maniacs of archaeological excavations, we were "digging" all the time in this courtyard. Nothing, of course, was dug up. We went to collect potsherds on the banks of the Volkhov. In general, in Novgorod I had two excellent friends, with whom we staged performances, came up with the most interesting games ...

- Why did you leave Novgorod?

My parents taught at the Pedagogical Institute. dad is human difficult fate. He is a war veteran, literally in the first months he was seriously wounded and he was discharged. And in the middle of the Great Patriotic War, they were imprisoned on a denunciation. Then they rehabilitated, but the “stigma” remained for life. Novgorod turned out to be a conservative and squeezed city. Of course, I do not want to offend the Novgorodians, but the spirit of a very strong lack of freedom reigned in this teacher's institute. Then dad was an ordinary teacher, who was not even allowed to defend his dissertation. The students considered it their duty to report that Chumakov at lectures allows himself not to make loyal speeches about Soviet power. I also got it at school: the teacher lower grades just hated me. She demanded that I read poems about Lenin at competitions, but I didn’t want to, I didn’t have this pathos. She carped terribly, and the whole class was also happy to try ... When it became clear to my parents that there was nothing to breathe in Novgorod, they decided to move to St. Petersburg, but they began to invite us to Novosibirsk. We left there. After some time, the rector told the pope that denunciations from Novgorod had been going on for another two years.

At Yaroslav's Court, Natalya remembered that Vladimir Ivanovich Povetkin lived nearby. I suggested that we take a walk to the Center for Musical Antiquities: it should be interesting for a bass player to look at old musical instruments. The stars aligned: we arrived at the center exactly at the beginning of the excursions, and even managed to find the successor of Vladimir Ivanovich's work - Anton Kamensky.

He put aside all business and arranged a tour for the guest. Natalya examined the instruments with delight, and even played a few chords on the harp - despite the fact that she has not played the guitar since Yegor's death.

It so happened that we started talking about Letov only at the end of the meeting.

- Each new person brings something into the life of another. What did Yegor teach you?

From the age of six he listened to rock, then avant-garde. These ten years would not have been enough for me to listen to everything that he listened to before me. I learned a lot from him in terms of music.

- And in terms of life philosophy?

He was an absolute maximalist, and, in principle, I always shared his opinion that if you do something, you need to do it as well as possible. Jump out your pants to get results. Yegor said in an interview that a person should jump above his head, and if he does not jump, then he is worthless. I thought that was all beautiful words until I saw how he lives and what he does. Everything that he loved besides creativity was in the second and third roles.

- Does Yegor Letov in creativity differ from Yegor Letov in life?

Of course. In creativity, he was still in the image. Looking at him, you would understand that he was very cheerful person with a great sense of humor? Hardly. But he was very witty, you can hear it in the songs. We were constantly laughing like crazy or cursing like hell. If we didn’t agree on something, then a terrible swearing would begin - not before a fight, but tough. We did not have a calm, viscous and boring pastime. Fireworks one way or the other. Egor has a complex character, there could be flashes out of the blue, always like on a powder keg, you don’t know when it will explode.

- You are now very closely engaged in work in the archives. Do you have time for yourself?

Hardly ever. Unfortunately, the archives take up all the time, it's quite hard. Some of those who understand how painstaking work this is, say that this is not possible. But Yegor died quite early, and if something happens to me, then who will take care of all this? - concludes Natalia.

Natalia with enviable persistence every day moves towards realizing a little more ideas Yegor. The publication of autographs, unreleased recordings and concerts are not just gifts for fans, but, it seems, the meaning of her life. If someday Natalya decides to organize big concert memory of "Civil Defense", then the hall, definitely, should applaud it.