Alisa (russian: Алиса) is a Russian
hard rock band, which is considered one of the most influential bands in the
Russian rock
Rock music became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its Western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s (especially the era of perestroika), when the Soviet underground ro ...
movement.
Biography
Alisa was formed in November 1983 by bassist Svyatoslav Zadery. The band's name originated from Zadery's nickname. The band's lineup was finally completed in 1984, when new vocalist Kostya Kinchev (real name Konstantin Panfilov) and guitarist Petr Samoylov joined. Their debut album ''Energia'' was recorded between 1985 and 1986. ''Energia'' was released by the state publishing monopoly
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
in 1988 and sold more than a million copies.
The relations between Alisa's two leaders, Kinchev and Zadery, deteriorated, and Zadery left the band. This occurred just one hour before Alisa was to perform at a concert.
Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
bassist Igor Tihomirov was asked to replace Zadery for one concert. Later, Zadery created his own band Nateh! (russian: НАТЕ!, lit=Take that!). Zadery died on 6 May 2011 due to complications from a stroke at the age of 50.
Alisa's growing popularity led to the formation of a fan community called the
Army of Alisa
An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, known for their rough behaviour at concerts. It led to animosity between the band and
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
officials. In 1987, the newspaper ''
Smena'' accused Alisa's leader Kinchev of
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
propaganda and worshiping
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
. Kinchev filed a suit for
calumny
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
and moral damage compensation. After a year-long court process, the magazine published a refutation. Alisa's next album was titled ''Article 206 part 2'', a chapter ("
Hooliganism
Hooliganism is disruptive or unlawful behavior such as rioting, bullying and vandalism, usually in connection with crowds at sporting events.
Etymology
There are several theories regarding the origin of the word ''hooliganism,'' which is a d ...
") of the USSR Procedural Code, alluding to this process. It was recorded in 1989, but would not be released until 1994 due to the tapes going missing.
In 1988, guitarist Igor "Chuma" Chumychkin joined the band. This change was followed by the heavier sound of next two albums, ''Shabash'' and ''For those Who Fell From the Moon''. Alisa toured through
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
together with fellow Russian
heavy metal band
Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
. The album ''Black Mark'', released in 1994, was dedicated to the memory of Chuma, who committed suicide by jumping from a window.
In the new millennium, with albums such as ''Seychas Pozdnee Chem Ty Dumaesh'' (It is Later Than You Think, 2003) and ''Izgoy'' (Exile, 2005), Alisa's sound became heavier, including elements of
nu,
industrial
Industrial may refer to:
Industry
* Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry
* Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems
* Industrial city, a city dominate ...
and
heavy metal. Music critics credited
Clawfinger
Clawfinger is a Swedish rap metal band from Stockholm. The group is known for aggressive but melodic music and tackling political and anti-racist themes in their songs.
History Origins: 1989–1991
The band's origin dates back to mid-1989, w ...
as Kinchev's greatest new music influence. This gave Alisa a new fan base among Russian
hard rock fans, and three songs from ''Izgoy'' continually reached the top of the
Nashe Radio
Nashe Radio (russian: Наше радио, ''Our Radio'', pronounced ''Nashe radio'') is a Russian Rock music radio station. It was designed to promote Russian rock bands, as opposed to pop and Western music. Nashe is based in Moscow and broadca ...
chart. The follow-up albums ''Stat' Severa'' and ''Puls' Khranitelia Dverey Labyrinta'' were less alternative-oriented and blended older and newer styles. Alisa shot a music video for the fantasy movie
''Wolfhound'', but their song was not included on the soundtrack.
Alisa ranked among the top ten most popular
Russian rock
Rock music became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its Western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s (especially the era of perestroika), when the Soviet underground ro ...
bands according to a Romir survey from 2005, and ranked first in the list of the most influential Russian rock groups according to a
Komsomolskaya Pravda readers' poll from 2004.
In 2022, the band supported the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
.
Lyrical themes
Kinchev was baptized in 1992 after a series of concerts in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, and since then Christianity has been the main influence on his direction and his lyrics. Although early Alisa lyrics were typical for Russian rock - social protest and rock 'n' roll hype - since the late 1990s their main theme has been ideas of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, as well as Russian
patriotism and
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
.
Konstantin is in good relations with the priests of the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
, especially
Andrey Kuraev. The band has participated in many religion-supporting festivals, such as ''
Musicians for the Christ Savior Cathedral''.
Kinchev's fairly conservative religious-patriotic shift was viewed unfavourably by some old fans that liked Alisa for their original "rock" message.
Discography
Studio albums
* Recorded with Svyatoslav Zadery on vocals, before Kinchev joined
Live albums
Compilation albums
Band members
Current line up
*
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 ...
-
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
, additional guitar (1985–present)
*
Petr Samoylov -
bass, backing vocals (1986–present), vocals (1983), guitar, backing vocals (1985—1986)
*Dmitri Parfyonov -
keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
, programming, backing vocals, additional guitar (2000–present)
*
Andrey Vdovichenko -
drums (2003–present), ex -
N.E.P.
*
Pavel Zelitskiy - guitar (2018–present)
*Alexander Pyankov — guitar (2019—present)
Former members
*Boris Borisov - vocals, saxophone (1983)
*Lyudmila "Teri" Kolot - vocals (1986)
*Svetoslav "Alisa" Zadery - bass, vocals (1983–1986)
*Pavel "Pol Khan" Kondratenko - keyboards (1983–1988)
*Alexander Zhuravlev -
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
(1987–1988)
*Igor "Chuma" Chumychkin - guitar (1988–1993)
*Andrey Korolev - keyboards (1989–1993)
*Alexander Ponomarev - guitar (1996–1998)
*Andrey Shatalin - guitar (1983–1985, 1986-1988, 1989-2003)
*Mikhail Nefedov - drums (1983–2003)
*Igor Romanov - guitar (2003-2018)
*Evgeniy Lyovin - guitar (1998-2019)
Timeline
References
External links
Official Alisa website in Russian
Fan website in Russian
Alisa pictures in Russian
*, short history in English
* ''
Pravda
''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, "Truth") is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most influential papers in the ...
'' 17 December 2003, in English
*
Alisa on RussMus.Net: English translations to lyrics and more in English
{{Authority control
Musical groups from Saint Petersburg
Russian hard rock musical groups
Soviet rock music groups
Christian rock groups
Musical groups established in 1983
Russian heavy metal musical groups
Christian metal musical groups