Artemy Troitsky

Artemiy Troitsky. Photo by: Dmitry Rozhkov

Artemy Troitsky (Russian: Арте́мий Тро́ицкий, 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. In 1988 he was described in The New York Times as "the leading Soviet rock critic"^[1] as one of the foremost promotors of rock music in the USSR.

In 1986 Troitsky was one of the organizers of the "Account No. 904" rock concert, modeled on Live Aid, to raise funds for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster, the first such concert in the Soviet Union.^[2]

Currently Troitsky is living in Tallinn, Estonia and works as a lecturer in Tallinn and Helsinki.

Biography

Artemy Troitsky was born on June 16, 1955 in Yaroslavl, into the family of political scientist and Latin American historian Kiva Lvovich Maidanik (Майданик, Кива Львович). His mother was Rufina Nikolaevna Troitskaya. He spent his childhood in Prague, where his parents worked as employees of the journal Problems of Peace and Socialism («Проблемы мира и социализма»).

From 1972 to 1974 he organized discos in the main building of Moscow State University, in cafe B-4. In 1977 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics with a degree in mathematics and economics. From 1978 to 1983 he worked as a junior research fellow at the Institute of Art History. He was fired before he had time to defend his Ph.D. From 1982 to 1983 he was the guitarist of Zvuki Mu. He was also one of the founders of the “General Records” label.

Since 2001, he has lectured on the subjects “The History of the Entertainment Industry” and “The Music Press” at the “Production and Management in Music Show Business” faculty of the State University of Management.

From 2001 to 2014,^[3] he conducted a master class in music journalism at the journalism department of Moscow State University. In an interview, Troitsky noted that he was “survived” from Moscow State University after 13 years of teaching, and they tried to censor and “control” his lectures at the university in recent years.

Between 2003-2004 he was the chairman of the jury of the International Festival of Ethnic Music “Sayan Ring” in Shushensky (currently the “World of Siberia” festival since 2012).

In 2011, the journalist was subject to a surge of prosecutions for his public statements. There were seven lawsuits in total: five civil and two criminal, the plaintiffs in criminal proceedings were former policeman N. Khovansky and musician V. Samoilov. In support of the journalist, a solidarity concert was organized, which was held at the Moscow club “Hleb” in June 2011. In December 2011, these lawsuits were dismissed.

Since mid-September 2014 he lives in Tallinn, Estonia where he teaches. He is also an active teacher in Finland and London, and lectures in many other places, such as in the United States, for various higher education institutions.

In 2018, in the framework of the Moscow Beat Film Festival, the premiere of the two-hour documentary film “The Critic” (directed by Andrei Ayrapetov), dedicated to the figure of Artemy Troitsky, took place. The film focuses on the journalist's young years, as well as on his activity in the rock community in the 1980s.

Journalism

Trinity's debut as a rock journalist took place in 1967, he wrote a review of The Beatles' album “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, published in a homemade school magazine. He wrote about rock music articles in the journal "Peer" at a time when rock music was out of favor with the authorities of the USSR. The first such publication was an article about a Deep Purple album in 1975 .

In 1981, he was a member of the editorial board of the Samizdat magazine Zerkalo. His publications were banned in the Soviet press between 1983 to 1985.

From 1995 to 1996 he was the first editor in chief of the Russian version of Playboy magazine. Later he collaborated with other publications, including Novaya Gazeta (since 1997, the host of the weekly Novaya Gazeta. Monday, a member of the editorial board and author of the music app Moskovsky Bit).

Concert promotion

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he organized underground concerts and festivals of Soviet rock bands and performers, including Mashina Vremeni, Dynamic, Aquarium, Automatic Satisfiers and Kino. He was the organizer and a jury member of the "Spring Rhythms. Tbilisi-1980” festival, thanks to which the groups Mashina Vremeni, The Magnetic Band,“ Aquarium and Autograph became widely known. He was one of the first who noticed the talent of Vasily Shumov and the Center group , and later - Alexander Bashlachev, who he later helped in every way and took care of.

In the late 1980s, he promoted the first concert performances outside the USSR of groups such as AVIA Zvuki Mu, Games, Televizor and Bravo.

He remained active for many years in promoting concerts from both Russian bands abroad and foreign bands in Russia, bringing bands and artists such as Suicide, Sonic Youth, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Mouse on Mars and others.

Books

• Back in the USSR: The True Story of Rock in Russia. London and Boston: Faber & Faber, 1988.
• Tusovka: Who's Who in the New Soviet Rock Culture. London: Omnibus, 1990.
• Subkultura: Stories of Youth and Resistance in Russia, 1815-2017. New Social: 2017.

Selected filmography

• Down House (2001)
• Paul McCartney in Red Square (2003)
• Gloss (2007)

References

1. Bill Keller, About the Arts: Moscow. Rock, Born in the U.S.S.R., in The New York Times, Oct. 9, 1988.
2. "Soviet Stars Give Concert for Chernobyl", Rock Hill Herald 29 May 1986, p. 4b.
3. Артемий Троицкий: «Путин вышел из ельцинской загогулины, но пошел значительно дальше». Плейбой революции. Московский комсомолец (17 сентября 2015).

External links

• Artemy Troitsky, "The Russia I Lost", New Statesman, 27 November 2006.
• Artemy Troitsky, "Someone still loves you, Boris", New Statesman 30 April 2007.
• Artemy Troitsky, "Loyalty Card", New Statesman, 29 November 2007.

Text adapted from Wikipedia