Aleksandr Davidovich Lipnitsky (; 8 July 1952 – 25 March 2021) was a Soviet and Russian journalist, writer, and musician. He was one of the founders of the Soviet rock group
Zvuki Mu
Zvuki Mu (russian: Зву́ки Му , roughly translated as "Sounds of Moo") was a Russian alternative rock/indie/post-punk band founded in Moscow in 1983. Lead singer and songwriter Pyotr Mamonov was one of the most revered and eccentric fig ...
.
Biography
Aleksandr Lipnitsky was born on 8 July 1952 in Moscow. Lipnitsky was the grandson of the actress Tatyana Okunevskaya and the
homeopathic
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...
doctor . His father, David Teodorovich Lipnitsky (1921–1994) was also a homeopathic doctor. His stepfather,
Viktor Sukhodrev
Viktor Mikhailovich Sukhodrev (russian: Виктор Михайлович Суходрев; 12 December 1932 – 16 May 2014) was a Soviet and Russian diplomat and translator, known for being a personal interpreter for Soviet leaders Nikita Khru ...
, was the personal translator of
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
and
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
. His mother, Inga Sukhodrev (née Okunevskaya-Varlamova) (1933–2013), was an English teacher. His brother was Vladimir Lipnitsky (1954–1985).
Lipnitsky became friends with
Pyotr Mamonov
Pyotr Nikolayevich Mamonov (russian: link=no, Пётр Никола́евич Мамо́нов, ; 14 April 1951 – 15 July 2021) was a Russian rock musician and the frontman of the Moscow band Zvuki Mu.
Early life
Pyotr Nikolayevich Mamonov ...
at school and attended concerts with Mamonov and Mamonov's younger brother, . In 1964, Lipnitsky was given his first
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
record by
Triloki Nath Kaul
Triloki Nath Kaul (1913 – January 16, 2000) was one of India's foremost diplomats in the 20th century. A member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS), he served in the foreign service branch, culminating in his being appointed Foreign Secretary twic ...
, the Indian Ambassador to the USSR, and became a fan of the band.
Lipnitsky studied journalism at
Moscow State University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
. He became a specialist in jazz and began to be published in Soviet periodicals in 1975. He also became a figure in the underground music scene and
dealt
''Dealt'' is a 2017 American documentary film directed by Luke Korem. The film is about the life and career of Richard Turner - who is renowned as one of the world's greatest card magicians, yet he is completely blind.
In the documentary, Richar ...
records. In the 1980s, he hosted informal concerts by underground musicians at his
dacha
A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...
in Nikolina Gora. His friends in the rock scene included
Artemy Troitsky
Artemy Kivovich Troitsky (; , born 16 June 1955 in Yaroslavl) is a Russian journalist, music critic, concert promoter, radio host, and academic who has lectured on music journalism at Moscow State University.
"He is an anarchist, pacifist and one ...
,
Viktor Tsoi
Viktor Robertovich Tsoi (russian: Виктор Робертович Цой; ; 21 June 1962 – 15 August 1990) was a Soviet singer and songwriter who co-founded Kino, one of the most popular and musically influential bands in the history of ...
,
Sergey Kuryokhin
Sergey Anatolyevich Kuryokhin (russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич Курёхин, also transliterated as Sergei Kuriokhin, Sergei Kurekhin, Sergueï Kouriokhine, Sergey Kuriokhin, etc.; nicknamed "The Captain"; 16 June 1954 – 9 Ju ...
,
Boris Grebenshchikov
Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (russian: link=no, Борис Борисович Гребенщиков; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the fou ...
,
Konstantin Kinchev
Konstantin Evgenievich Kinchev (Panfilov) (russian: link=no, Константи́н Евге́ньевич Ки́нчев (Панфи́лов); born December 25, 1958) is a Russian rock singer, musician, frontman and the main songwriter for the Ru ...
, and
Mike Naumenko
Mikhail Vasilyevich Naumenko, better known as Mike Naumenko (russian: link=no, Майк Науменко, 18 April 1955 – 27 August 1991)
In 1983, Lipnitsky, Mamonov, and Bortnichuk founded
Zvuki Mu
Zvuki Mu (russian: Зву́ки Му , roughly translated as "Sounds of Moo") was a Russian alternative rock/indie/post-punk band founded in Moscow in 1983. Lead singer and songwriter Pyotr Mamonov was one of the most revered and eccentric fig ...
. Lipnitsky sold his art collection to buy the band's equipment and learned to play bass. Zvuki Mu's first performance took place in February 1984, at Lipnitsky and Mamonov's old school. Lipnitsky played bass in the group until 1990.
From 1990 to 1993, Lipnitsky and
Joanna Stingray
Joanna Stingray (russian: Джоанна Стингрей Dzhoanna Stingrey, , born Joanna Fields, 1960) is an American singer, actress, music producer and socialite. She was a key figure in popularizing Soviet and Russian rock music and cultur ...
worked on the TV program ''Red Wave-21''. In the 2000s, he hosted the rock program ''Yelovaya Submarina'' on
Nostalgiya
Nostalgiya (russian: Ностальгия) is a Russian television channel, catering to nostalgia for the Soviet Union. Launched in 2004, the channel broadcasts to almost all the European portion of the former Soviet Union
The logo of the chann ...
. From 2010, he hosted a program dedicated to Russian rock on the radio station Finam FM. He regularly performed in groups such as OtZvuki Mu and Grozdya Vinogradovy.
Death
Lipnitsky died on 25 March 2021. While skiing on the
Moskva River
The Moskva (russian: река Москва, Москва-река, ''Moskva-reka'') is a river running through western Russia. It rises about west of Moscow and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through centra ...
near the village of Nikolina Gora, he fell through the ice and drowned. It is thought that at the time of his death he was trying to save his dog, who had fallen into the water. Lipnitsky's body was found in the Moskva on 27 March 2021. His funeral took place on 30 March 2021 at the Aksininsky cemetery in the village of Aksinino, near Moscow.