Jazz lovers are invited to a tribute gig to Sergey Kozhukhar at the San Marino café this Thursday. The line up includes Andrey Kanunov (saxophone), Igor Ostrovsky (piano), Vitaly Bazelevsky (bass), Andrey Troyanovsky (double-bass) and – the chances are good – the guests. SK who has passed away in the 90s, played double-bass and was a well-known figure in the local jazz scene at the time. Here’s the recording made last year – two Andreys, Igor and Vitaly but sorry none of them featured in this photo – and this is the only picture I got from the 2008 SK tribute show (photo by Alexander Ghirlin). If you live in Sergiyev Posad or might happen to be here by any chance, a very warm welcome to you – Thurday, December the 17th, 7pm, San-Marino café (Karla Marksa ulitsa/street, 138/2).

Recorded December 18th, 2008
Published December 11th, 2009 (9.4 mb).

Each year on this day they celebrate what has triggered a loss of the country to ones and a start of a new era to the others. The event in question is the 1917 Communist coup (or revolution according to its supporters) that still brings them together, mostly the elderly ones, carrying flowers and slogans just as they did through decades. Deprived of Christ in what turned out to be a god-less state overnight, they were given a new cult 92 years ago. It took a form of sound on that wet and rainy morning as the few women in their 70’s I think sang along L’Internationale, the left-wing anthem. Standing among them I got the same unavoidable feeling as if standing in a church choir. Later on this recording – an old man asking how the factory (where he has worked obviously) is doing. There’s no factory now, someone replies about the largely defunct plant, closed down as modern Russia took a new direction again. Have a listen for yourself.

Recorded November 7th, 2009.
Published December, 6th 2009 (4.2 mb).

While there were Maslenitsa (Mardi Gras) festivities on the streets of Sergiyev Posad, the nearby Abramtsevo college made it on their own. The would-be ceramicists and painters had fun playing outdoor games and enjoying live music beside the college main entrance. It all ended with a joky scarecrow burning as a symbolic farewell to the winter. This is what it sounded like – a soundcape recorded on that day.

Recorded February 27th, 2009.
Published December 6th, 2009 (2.2 mb).

“Maslenitsa” by Boris Kustodiev, 1919.

Tennis players in Sergiyev Posad, Dvoynikh tournament.

Recorded September 1st, 2009.
Published December 6th, 2009 (2.2 mb).

The first and yet the only politician in Sergiyev Posad to perform in public with an orchestra onstage. On that December night at the Gagarin Concert Hall Lord Mayor Anatoly Upyrev unexpectedly did a medley of a few Soviet-era tunes.

Recorded December 4th, 2008 with built-in mics, headphones are not required.
Published December 6th, 2009 (6 mb).

Yes indeed, the BMX rider named Oguretz did this stunt at the extreme sports festival in Sergiyev Posad, and the crowd rejoiced with wows.

Recorded May 31st, 2009.
Published December 6th, 2009 (1.2 mb).

They come in an old squeaky lorry, the manure and peat traders. Both substances are used as fertilizers by dachniks – part-time DIY-farmers, part-time city dwellers. The stuff is packed in huge bags, delivered from home to home in a row, and the lorry is used as a counter. These people hail from the former USSR republics hence the accent.

Recorded July 25th, 2009 with built-in mics.
Published December 6th, 2009 (2.1 mb).