Piknik (Picnic, russian: Пикни́к) is a

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 roc ...

band known for its unique style which is a mixture of

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an art ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and original

. The band was formed in 1978 in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

by Sergey Omelnichenko, Evgeny Voloschuk, Aleksey Dobychin and Edmund Shklyarskiy. Piknik is considered to be one of the "classic" Russian rock bands. Originated from the classic rock with huge influence of Jethro Tull and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

, its music progressed into its own style with using symphonic and exotic folk instruments. Also Piknik is considered sometimes to be the first Russian

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie a ...

band due to its specific sound, stage performances and dark lyrics. During more than 30 years of its existence the group's lineup changed many times, and the one and only permanent member and leader of the group is the frontman and lyricist Edmund Shklyarskiy. The name of the group was created as an allusion to the well-known novel ''

Roadside Picnic ''Roadside Picnic'' (Russian: , ''Piknik na obochine'', ) is a philosophical science fiction novel by Soviet-Russian authors Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, written in 1971 and published in 1972. It is the brothers' most popular and most widely tran ...

'' written in 1971 by

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 A ...

. Some of their early songs are written in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. In 2016 the band made it to the list of artists barred from performing in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, due to them performing in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

as part of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, which is seen as occupied territory by

Members

Current members: * Edmund Shklyarskiy – vocals, guitars, keyboards (1978–1979, 1981 – present) * Leonid Kirnos – drums, percussion (1982–1984, 1987 – present) * Marat Korchemny – back vocals, bass (2003 – present) * Stanislav Shklyarskiy – keyboards (2007 – present), replaced Sergey Voronin, the most long-playing member (1984–2006), who died from heart attack Former: * Nikolay Mikhailov (1978–1981) * Alexander Matskov (1978–1981) * Ali Bakhtyarov (1981–1983) * Sergey Omelnichenko (1978–1982) * Aleksey Dobychin (1978–1983) * Evgeny Voloschuk (1978–1984) * Vadim Lebanidze (1979-1982) * Yury Danilov (1979–1981) * Victor Morozov (1982–1983) * Alexander Savelyev (1983–1991) * Sergey Voronin (1984–2006) * Vladimir Sizov (1984, 1989) * Victor Evseev (1985–1988, 1990–1996, 2007) * Yury Klyuchanzev (1985–1988, 1990–1996) * Andrey Merchanskiy (1990–1994) * Alexander Rokin (1996–1999) * Sviatoslav Obraztsov (1999–2003)

Discography

* ''Dym'' (1982) (lit. "Smoke", Rus. "Дым") * ''Tanetz Volka'' (1984) (Wolf's Dance, Танец волка) * ''Iyeroglif'' (1986) (Hieroglyph, Иероглиф) * ''Rodom Niotkuda'' (1988) (Born Nowhere, Родом Ниоткуда) * ''Kharakiri'' (1991) (Харакири) * ''Nemnogo Ognya'' (1994) (A Bit of Fire, Немного Огня) * ''Vampirskiye Pesni'' (1995) (Vampire Songs, Вампирские Песни) * ''Zhen-Shen'' (1996) (Ginseng, Жень-Шень) * ''Steklo'' (1997) (Glass, Стекло) * ''Pit Electrichestvo'' (1998) (To Drink Electricity, Пить Электричество) * ''The Best'' (compilation) (1998) * ''Egiptyanin'' (2001) (Egyptian, Египтянин) * ''Fioletovo-Cherny'' (2001) (compilation) (Violet and Black, Фиолетово-черный) * ''Nastoyashchiye Dni 1982–1992'' (compilation) (2002) (Actual Days, Настоящие Дни) * ''Smutniye Dni 1992–2002'' (compilation) (2002) (Days Obscure, Смутные Дни) * ''Chuzhoy'' (2002)(Alien, Чужой) * ''Govorit i Pokazyvayet'' (2003) (Tells and Shows, Говорит и показывает) * ''Tribute'' (Piknik songs performed by other artists) (2003) (Трибьют) * ''Ten Vampira'' (with

Vadim Samoylov Vadim ( Cyrillic: Вадим) is a Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovene masculine given name derived either from the Persian ''badian'' (anise or aniseed), or from the Ruthenian word ''volod'' (russian: волод), meaning ''to rule'' or ''vadit ...

from

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

) (2004) (Shadow of Vampire, Тень Вампира) * ''Korolevstvo Krivykh'' (2005) (Kingdom of the Crooked, Королевство Кривых) * ''Novoyegipetskiye Pesni'' (remixes of old songs) (2005) (New-Egyptian Songs, Новоегипетские Песни) * ''Mrakobesiye i Dzhazz'' (2007) (Obscurantism and Jazz, Мракобесие и Джаз) * ''Zhelezniye Mantry'' (2008) (Iron Mantras, Железные мантры) * ''Teatr Absurda'' (2010) (Theatre of Absurd, Театр абсурда) * ''Tri Sudby'' (2011) (The Three Fates, Три судьбы) * ''Pevets Dekadansa'' (2012) (The Chanter of Decadence, Певец Декаданса) * ''Chuzhestranets'' (2014) (Stranger, Чужестранец) * ''Iskri i Kankan'' (2017) (Sparks and Cancan, Искры и канкан) * ''Siyaniye'' (2019) (Shine, Сияние)

References

External links

* (Russian)
Shklarskiy's cite
(Russian)
Piknik lyrics interpretations and quotes from Shklarskiy interviews
(Russian)
Band info
(English)
English lyrics
(English)

The song "Under a star" (from the "Ginseng" album
(English)
The song "And they taught me how to fly" (from the "Wolf's Dance" album)

The song "Fetish" (from the "Theatre of Absurd" album)

The song "Werewolf" (from the "Shadow of Vampire" album)
{{Authority control Musical groups from Saint Petersburg Soviet rock music groups Russian rock music groups Russian progressive rock groups