Alliance

Alliance. from left to right: Mitya Zhuravlev, Igor Zhuravlev, Andrey Tumanov. Photo by Russian-language Wikipedia user Makarona-85

Alliance is a Soviet and Russian rock group.

Biography

The group was formed in 1981 by Sergei Volodin (guitar), along with Igor Zhuravlev (vocals, guitar), Andrey Tumanov (bass, ex- Ruby Attack) and Vladimir Ryabov (drums). The band's inception coincided with the beginnings of new wave in the USSR, and their music was influenced by ska and reggae.

At the end of 1982, at the Fiztech-1982 rock festival in Dolgoprudny, Moscow, the well-known sound engineer Igor Zamaraev heard the band and offered to record an album. The album "Doll" (so nicknamed after the first track) was recorded in 1983 with his assistance. At the same festival, the members of the Alliance group met the artistic director of the Kostroma Philharmonic Society, who offered them a professional contract. A couple of weeks later the line up of Igor Zhuravlev (guitar, vocals), Andrey Tumanov (bass), Sergey Volodin (guitar) and Pavel Chinyakov (drums) left for Kostroma. The group went on tour under the name "Kudesniki", since there were still unused posters in the warehouse of the Philharmonic for a band of the same name which had broken up a few months prior. After a concert in the city of Bui, a commission from Moscow withdrew Alliance from the tour and expelled it from the Kostroma Philharmonic “for the lack of ideology of the music”. In the fall of 1984, the group was included in the black list of groups that were prohibited from concert activities^[2][3] and the band ceased to exist.

In the fall of 1986, the group reappeared in public at the Forum of Creative Youth in the Metelitsa cafe, after which it entered the Moscow rock laboratory. Their line-up at the time consisted of Igor Zhuravlev (vocals, guitar), Oleg Parastaev (keys), Andrey Tumanov (bass) and Konstantin Gavrilov (keys, programming) ^[2]. In February 1987, "Alliance" became a laureate of the first rock laboratory "Festival of Hope". The group performed the compositions "At Dawn", "Give Fire", "False Start" and others. Later, the band performed at "Rock Panorama '87" and began to perform at stadiums in concerts of the "Record" studio ^[3].

The collaboration between Zhuravlev and Parastaev lasted until 1988, falling apart when Zhuravlev decided to radically change the sound of the group towards rock music, which Parastaev, who planned to continue working in the spirit of new wave, opposed. He would leave the band to start his own project, "New Russian Group"("NRG"). Soon drummer Yuri "Khen" Kistenyov (ex-"Muzyka") joined the group, which completed the transformation of Alliance into a rock group. A year later, Andrei Tumanov left the band, and Sergey "Grebstel" Kalachev (ex-"Vstrecha na Elbe") took over bass duties. In 1990, the group performed at the Luzhniki Big Sports Arena with Kino, Lyube, Your Day, Joanna Stingray and Bioconstructor^[3].

In 1990, the singer Inna Zhelannaya joined the group. Together they performed several concerts and recorded the album Made in White". At that time, the band performed with the following line up: Zhuravlev, Maxim Trefan (keyboards), Yuri "Hen" Kistenyov (drums), Konstantin "Castello" Baranov (guitar, ex- Nikolai Kopernik), Sergey "Grebstel" Kalachev (bass), Vladimir "Miss" Missarzhevsky (percussion, ex-Meeting on the Elbe). In addition to them, two musicians who own ancient folk instruments, Sergei Starostin and Sergei Klevensky, took part in their creative endeavours.

In 1992, part of the band formed the Miss group, in which Missarzhevsky, who became the vocalist, wrote the words and music. The band played experimental music - a mixture of guitar rock and hard funk with rap elements, with all of their songs in English.

Since 2008, "Alliance" regularly performs in Moscow clubs, sometimes in a different composition, based on Igor Zhuravlev and Andrey Tumanov.

Return to popularity

In 2018, the group's ex-keyboardist Oleg Parastaev created a Youtube channel. In April 2019, he published a rare version of the video "At Dawn", filmed in 1987, which became a viral video ^[5][6]. That same month, the album "I Want to Fly!" was released, which became the band's first release in 25 years ^[7][8][9]. All its songs were written by Oleg Parastaev, and Igor Zhuravlev was the producer of the album ^[2].

On February 14, 2020, the group published the album "Space Dreams", whose release was preceded by the single of the same name ^[10].

On June 20, 2020, at 5 am, at the age of 61, Oleg Parastaev died ^[11].

Line up

Igor Zhuravlev - vocals, guitar, songwriter (1981-1984, 1986-1992, 1993, since 2008)
Andrey Tumanov - bass leader, backing vocals (1981-1984, 1986-1989, 2008-2009, from 2010)
Sergey Kalachev - bass (1989-1992, 1993, 2018-2019 - only in the studio)
Dmitry Zhuravlev - drums (since 2010)
Hermann Strom - keyboards, vocals (since 2019)
Seva Zhuravlev - backing vocals (episodic participation)

Former Members

Oleg Parastaev (died June 20, 2020) - keyboards, rhythm boxing, songwriter (1986-1988) (session 2017-2020)
Sergey Volodin (died February 9, 2017) - guitar (1981-1984, 1988-1989)
Vladimir Ryabov - drums (1981)
Georgy Ryabtsev - drums (1981)
Pavel Chinyakov - drums (1982-1984)
Ivan Kalinin - keyboards (1982-1984)
Alexey Sulyaev - drums, sound engineer (1982-1984)
Konstantin Gavrilov - keyboards, vocals (1986-1991)
Evgeny Osin - (d. November 17, 2018) - drums (1986-1987)
Yuri Kistenyov - drums (1988-1992, 1993)
Inna Zhelannaya - vocals (1990-1992, 1993)
Konstantin Baranov - guitar (1990-1992, 1993)
Vladimir Missarzhevsky - percussion (1990-1992, 1993)
Maxim Trefan - keyboards (1990-1992, 1993)
Alexander Vetkhov - drums (2008-2010)
Sergey Arutyunov - keyboards, vocals (2019)

Discography

1982 - "Alliance-82"
1983 - "Alliance + Last Chance, concert recordings from the tour from the Kostroma Philharmonic"
1983 - "Alliance-83" / "Doll" (Samizdat, MS);
1984 - "Alliance-84" / "I slowly learned to live" (Samizdat, MS);
1987 - "Concert with the group" Udaff "" (Samizdat, MS);
1987 - "Alliance-87" / "Give Fire" (Samizdat, MC, "Maschina Records", CD, MASHCD-023);
1988 - "Rock Panorama-87 (2)" (" Melody ", LP, C60 27209 007);
1989 - "First Music Festival In Moscow" («Wanted», MC, 2LP, CD, VHS, AN072 и «EMI», 2LP, 2-62 7934731);
1990 - "NRG - Alliance" (" Melody ", LP, C60 30846);
1991 - "Group Alliance" ("Horizon 1991 No. 10", " Melody ", FD, G92-13562);
1991 - Hit Parade Galaxy I - Rock (Sintez Records, RiTonis, LP, С60 31601 007 / 1-020-С-6);
1992 - Made in White (Alliance III) (Cohan / PSG, RiTonis, LP, R60 01087 and BSA Records, CD, OM 01-009);
1992 - "Rock of Pure Water" ("Rock of Pure Water / PSG", "RiTonis", LP, R60 01090);
1992 - «Mari Boine With Band Alliance - Meeting In Moscow» («BMG Ariola A / S (2)», CD, 74321-10176-2);
1996 - "Sounds at Dawn" ("Moroz Records", CD, MR 95068CD / MR 95127MC);
2001 - "At Dawn" ("Mystery of Sound", CD, MZ-032-9);
2011 - (double tribute album dedicated to the band);
2018 - At Dawn (Maschina Records, 2xCD, MC, LP, tape, MASHCD-023);
2019 - "I want to fly" ("Maschina Records", CD, MC, LP, tape, MASHCD-027);
2020 - "Cosmic Dreams" ("Maschina Records", CD, LP, MASHCD-049).

References

ALLIANCE - "At Dawn" (1987). Song history
The whole world learned about Soviet romantics 30 years later. What Alliance thinks about sudden glory
At dawn. 33 YEARS AND FIVE LIVES OF THE ALLIANCE GROUP - UNDERvaluated CLASSICS OF THE MOSCOW NEW WAVE
Russian rock. Small encyclopedia / Ed. V. Marachkin . - M: Lean, Antao, 2001 .-- 456 p. - ISBN 5-85929-068-3 .
YouTube unlocked the video "At Dawn". Look it up again (until you delete it again!). Meduza.9 April 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2019. Archived April 10, 2019.
The clip of "Alliance" "At Dawn" was removed from YouTube for being too popular
The Alliance group released the first album in 25 years. TASS. Date of treatment: April 20, 2019.
"Alliance" - "I want to fly!" (2019)
Maschina Records: CD: Alliance - I Want to Fly (2019)
Review: "Alliance" - "Space Dreams"
Author of the song "At the Dawn" of the Alliance group Oleg Parastaev died. TASS . Date of treatment: June 22, 2020.
Alekseev A.S. Who's Who in Russian Rock Music . - M .: AST: Astrel : Harvest , 2009. - S. 51, 52. - ISBN 978-5-17-048654-0 (AST). - ISBN 978-5-271-24160-4 (Astrel). - ISBN 978-985-16-7343-4 (Harvest).

External Links (in Russian)

Memories of Igor Zhuravlev / Special Radio, April 2017
Pyotr Kamenchenko . “We were so fluffy” // Lenta.Ru.

Text adapted from the Russian Wikipedia