Russian New Music Film Series Screening
Time
2014.10.25 14:00 – 16:00
Venue
+ A3+, North District of OCT-LOFT
The introduction of Russian New Music film series
Russian New Music is a series of 10 films about the emergence of new (improvised/open/free jazz) music in the Soviet Union in the 1980’s.
Jazz has always played a very important role in the Soviet society among the intellectuals. In a totalitarian society it was a symbol of freedom and freethinking.
Since improvisation is the only art form that could not be censored. Until mid 1970’s Soviet musicians played jazz copying Americans. In the 1970’s, the situation changed – there appeared the first group that was not aping Americans but was playing their own original music. That was the Ganelin Trio, which became famous for its own brand of music.
By mid 1980’s new music was flourishing in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was falling apart and with the beginning of Perestroika new music was played in many parts of the Soviet Union. This music that was played underground got a chance to get into the open and be heard. There were outstanding performers in Leningrad, Moscow, Lithuania, Arkhangelsk, Volgograd, Siberia, Azerbaijan and many other areas of Russia.
These 10 films that were shown on British TV in 1989 document this movement. These films are in English with English subtitles. The first film entitled “Sergey Kuryokhin & Pop Mechanics, Divine Madness” is 48 minutes long, which consists of three parts about 16 minutes each part. All other films are 25 minutes long.
These 10 films are:
1. “Sergey Kuryokhin & Pop Mechanics – Divine Madness”
2. “Slava Ganelin – Father of Russian New Music”
3. “The Collective – Jazz Group Arkhangelsk”
4. “Voices of New Music – Sainkho Namchylak & Valentina Ponomareva”
5. “Vyacheslav Guyvoronsky and Vladimir Volkov – Trip through Yankee Doodle”
6. “Orkestrion – Letter from Volgograd”
7. “Folk Connection – Aziza Mustafa Zade & Misha Alperin”
8. “Balkan Suite – Anatoly Vapirov”
9. “Western Links – Petras Vysniauskas”
10. “Experimental Echoes – Zga, Aleksei Tegin and Natasha Pshenichnikova”
The screening will include the last 8 films above.