Group mill official. History of the mill group

Melnitsa is the most famous Russian folk rock band.

Seven full-length albums have created a truly unique phenomenon in folk music and in the domestic music industry as a whole.

The journey from tiny clubs to huge stadiums took ten years - there were radical line-up changes, radio triumphs, public recognition and a huge number of live concerts. The group managed not only to change the audience's attitude towards folklore, but also to make folk rock as popular as we see it today.

The work of the Melnitsa group is usually classified as acoustic or electro-acoustic folk rock, but on the albums you can hear folk jazz (“The Witch”), classic rock ballads (“Rain for Us”) and even lullabies with a harp (“White Cat”) . A very attentive listener will notice in the sound of the Mill the influence of such titans of music as Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, The Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin.

The authorship of most of the songs belongs to Helavisa, there are songs on the verses of W.B. Yeats, Kipling and Robert Burns. Helavisa often uses in songs a joint creative kitchen with the poetess Olga Lishina and Ivan Malyutin.

Helavisa is a professional Indo-European linguist, and understands the work of the word like no one else. Lyrics and music are often based on Russian, Celtic, Scandinavian mythology, Balkan ballads, legends and beliefs.

Melnitsa is the most famous Russian folk-rock band founded in Moscow on October 15th in 1999.

7 full albums have created a phenomenon in folk-music which puts down roots deeply in the entire music industry.

Melnitsa’s way from tiny Moscow clubs till the largest capital stadiums took ten years full of triumph on the radio, changes in the line-up and an enormous number of live concerts. Band has managed not only to make public change its attitude to folklore but they also succeeded in making folk-rock as popular as it is nowadays.

Music of Melnitsa is mainly considered to be an acoustic or electroacoustic folk-rock though there is a mix of folk-jazz ("Witch"), rock-ballads ("Rain for us") and even lullabies ("White cat"). A very careful listener can hear influences of such bands like Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, The Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin as they are creative reference points for Melnitsa.

The authorship of the majority of the songs belongs to Hellawes (Natalia O’Shea) yet band has some songs based on W. B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling and Robert Burns poetry. Hellawes also has constant co-writers Olga Lishina and Ivan Malyutin.

Hellawes is a professional linguist, so she constantly uses a wide and vivid palette of indo-european mythology while writing songs. Lyrics and music are often based on russian, celtic, scandinavian, balkan ballads, legends and folk beliefs.

Former band members

The musical group "Melnitsa" performs compositions in the style of folk-rock. This is the most famous team working in this direction in Russia. The path of the team was not easy, but she managed to conquer the rock Olympus and win the hearts of the public.

History of creation and composition

The group's creative biography dates back to 1999. In 1998, the fateful acquaintance of the former Belarusian monk Ruslan Komlyakov and musician Denis Skurida took place. The multi-instrumentalist received from the monk, who left the worship, the album of his group "Till Ulenspiegel". Among the recorded tracks was the song "Port Wine and Sausage".

Skurida was intrigued. After getting to know each other better, the musicians decided to work together. For Denis, this was a new experience, as he had to play drums, and Ruslan needed to master other instruments besides the guitar.

The first tentative steps were rehearsals and a modest home concert in an Internet cafe in Moscow's Lublino. In the summer of 1998, Ruslan Komlyakov decided to diversify the group's repertoire and its composition. The musician came up with the idea to invite a soloist to the band.

The search for the vocalist began with an appeal to the members of the band. Skurida remembered his acquaintance with, which took place at the reconstruction of the knightly tournament in 1995. By that time, the performer had become famous for her compositions in narrow thematic circles. She was a songwriter, composer and talented soloist.

Helavisa accepted the offer of the musicians and started working on the arrangements of the author's compositions. The first joint concert was held at the Stanislavsky club. The group presented the songs "Snake" and "Highlander", from which the construction of the band's repertoire began.

1998-1999 became a landmark for the established Till Ulenspiegel group. Her popularity has peaked. The songs "Rapunzel", "Road of Sleep", "Winter", "Mora" and others belong to this period. The audience enjoyed attending the concerts of the musical group. At that time, its members included: vocalist Helavis, percussionist Alexei Sapkov, cellist Alexandra Nikitina, as well as violinist Maria Skurida, founder Denis Skurida and flutist Natalya Filatova.

Over time, the ensemble underwent rearrangements. The violinist Olga Kharitonova was replaced by Maria Bolycheva. The musicians warmly welcomed the drummer and percussionist Pavel Davydovich. At about the same time, a sound engineer Anna Kondakova appeared at the folk group.

During this period, the group gathered a large number of listeners at concerts. The team had many plans, as well as sponsors who supported financially. The first problems began to arise due to misunderstandings and financial disagreements with Ruslan Komlyakov, the organizer of the group. In 1999, Till Ulenspiegel refused to cooperate with him in full force. Some musicians left for other projects, and it seemed that it was impossible to unite them.

Helavisa came to the rescue, restoring relations with Denis Skurida. She suggested creating a group with democratic principles. Former members of the team were invited to co-create. So the official birthday of the folk group "Melnitsa" was October 15, 1999. The soloist came up with the name and logo.

The first concert took place 2 weeks later. The event was held under the posters of "Til Ulenspiegel", but Helavisa announced the changes from the stage. Later guitarist Alexander Stepanov joined the group. He stayed for a short time, leaving his colleagues, but returned in 2001.

The repertoire of the Mill was based on the songs of Til Ulenspiegel. In 2005, the folk group announced itself, hitting the charts of Our Radio under the name "Chart Dozen". Thanks to a fan flash mob, the composition "Night Mare" turned out to be very popular. Since then, "The Mill" rarely left the hit parade.

In the same year, the group again experienced a split. Several members left the team to organize a new Sylph project. The second vocalist Alevtina Leontyeva appeared in the "Mill". But the girl left the team in 2007. Now the Melnitsa group consists of soloist and harpist Helavisa (Natalia O "Shey), guitarist and backing vocalist Sergei Vishnyakov, bass player Alexei Kozhanov, drummer Alexei Kozhanov and Dmitry Kargin, who plays wind instruments.

Music

The genre, to which the "Mill" is involved, is characterized as folk. The members of the team in searches and experiments were guided by the work of groups, Jefferson Airplane.

Throughout the history of the group, the direction of its work has not changed. This is the merit of the soloist. Helavisa is a Celtologist and linguist, candidate of philological sciences. The texts she writes combine plots of epics, medieval legends, Scandinavian ballads and minnesangs. They often contain mythological images. The music of The Mill is full of allusions.

Co-creation in a musical group is perceived as something natural. Lyrics are co-authored by Sergey Vishnyakov and session members Ivan Malyutin and Olga Lishina. Several songs belong to the authorship of Alexei Sapkov.

The first full-length album "Road of Sleep" was released in 2003. He won the love of the audience. A year later, a disc called "Master of the Mill" was recorded. It consisted of 7 songs included in previously presented collections. The disc was released in 1000 copies.

In 2005, Melnitsa already had a large number of fans and, in the wake of popularity, released the album Pass, in which Alexei Sapkov performed as a male vocalist.

2006 brought the release of the album "Call of Blood". Then, for 3 years, the team delighted the audience with tours and favorite hits performed at concerts.

2009 was marked by the long-awaited release of the disc "Wild Herbs". Several songs from this album occupied the top positions of the Nashe Radio charts. In 2011, the band delighted fans with the album "Christmas Songs". The album was released in a limited edition. It consisted of previously unreleased songs.

The disc of 2012 called "Angelophrenia" is called by music critics not the most successful project of the "Mill". Already in 2015, the group delighted fans with songs from the album "Alchemy", in 2016 the musicians re-recorded the album "Chimera".

Melnitsa group now

Today, the musical group "Melnitsa" is the leader among Russian folk groups. She continues to replenish her discography and release videos. The new program of the group “Alhimeira. Reunion ”combined tracks from the last two records. The single "Believe" became a hit in 2018.

The news of this year was the release of the video of the same name, filmed within the walls of the Church of St. Anna. An interview with the leader of the group Helavisa and her photo are published by online publications and the press.

The folk-rock band has a personal page in "Instagram". Publications in the account have been appearing since June 2018. Photos, videos and invitations to concerts are posted on behalf of the group.

Discography

• 2003 - "Dorogasna"
• 2004 - "Master of the Mill"
• 2005 - "Pass"
• 2006 - "Call of Blood"
• 2009 - "Wild Herbs"
• 2011 - "Christmas Songs"
• 2012 - "Angelophrenia"
• 2015 - "Alchemy"
• 2016 - "Chimera"
• 2017 - "Alhimeira"

Clips

• 2012 - "Roads"
• 2014 - "Ballad of the fight"
• 2014 - "Contraband"
• 2016 - Goodbye
• 2018 - "Believe"

Mill

The Moscow folk-rock group "Melnitsa" was founded on October 15, 1999. Its backbone was made up of the musicians of the group "Til Ulenspiegel", which by that time had disintegrated. The leader and main songwriter of the group was Natalya Nikolaeva (by her husband - O'Shea), better known as Helavisa. Natalia has a linguistic education, so the texts of The Mill actively use images from European mythology. The music of the group was also seriously influenced by ethnic musical traditions, and not only Russian ones: the folk-rock "Melnitsy" at first sounded more like a stylization of medieval Celtic ballads, but then the band's stylistic palette expanded noticeably.

The first years of its existence, the "Mill" was in the status of a cult group, that is, popular in certain narrow circles. Helavisa and Co., in particular, were very fond of "role players", also known by the popular nickname "pushed". In 2003, Melnitsa released their first album, Road of Sleep, which was of very high quality, but completely inconsistent with the then musical mainstream.

Two years later, however, there was a breakthrough to widespread fame. Fans of the "Melnitsa" - by that time already more numerous - staged a flash mob and brought the song "Night Mare" to the top of the "Chart Dozen" hit parade of "Our Radio". As a result, the group was "heard" by both fans of Russian rock and radio operators. On the same Nashe Radio, folk rock became a fashion trend for some time; however, when the fashion passed, the strongest bands of the genre remained in the cage. Undoubtedly, "The Mill" was in the forefront, standing out for its non-standard approach, unwillingness to adapt to stereotypes and the strong, beautiful voice of Natalia-Helavisa.

The appearance of "Melnitsa" in the charts coincided in 2005 with the release of the album "Pass" and changes in the composition of the group. Several participants separated and formed their own project - the Sylphs group, which, however, did not leave a noticeable mark on Russian music. Among the new musicians, the soloist Alevtina Leontyeva, who was distinguished by a more “Russian” presentation of the material, came to the “Mill”. Alevtina took part in the recording of the album "Call of Blood" (2006) and in 2007 she took up a solo career.

In 2009, Melnitsa released the disc Wild Herbs, and Helavisa released the solo disc Leopard in the City. From time to time, Natalya also practices solo concerts - the so-called "helavisniki", which are more reminiscent of creative evenings in format.

In April 2012, the group released the album Angelophrenia. The team now includes Natalya O "Shey, Sergey Zaslavsky, Alexei Orlov, Alexei Kozhanov, Dmitry Frolov and Sergey Vishnyakov. The group also attracts session musicians to record albums.

It is a unique project for the Russian music scene. Some "hotheads" tend to argue that there is no such thing in Europe anymore. “Such” is a combination of elements, each of which, taken separately, may not be original, but which you will not find all together within the framework of one musical project.

It all starts with composition. Not only is “Melnitsa” a live band playing live music, not veneer, but also in full acoustics: violin, flute, cello, two acoustic guitars, various percussion and, of course, vocals. At the same time, such a composition does not at all make the group academic, chamber. Rock and roll drive is inherent in it no less than in many truly rock bands.

Determining the style of "The Mill" is a separate issue. When people who are unfamiliar or not at all familiar with the work of the group ask the question “what style do you actually play in”, this confuses even the musicians themselves. They draw inspiration from almost all styles, except perhaps for electronic-industrial trends. There are also echoes of the classics (musical education affects), and folk (Russian, Celtic, Scandinavian and even Spanish), and minstrel ballads, and the gloominess of gothic, and the energy and riffs of rock, and in some songs the guitar begs to be heavier. With all this, "The Mill" is completely devoid of any excessive conceptuality, complexity in perception, calculation for a fairly prepared listener, which for some reason is characteristic of almost all bands working in complexly mixed styles. The result of this is curious: folk lovers of all stripes, gothic lovers, metal lovers, and Russian rock lovers take for their group.

What can you sing about with such music? The main theme is, of course, lyrics about love, hate, beauty, life and death, but in a kind of "fabulously magical" version. The spread is large - from mysticism to something sweet and close like the Brothers Grimm. Someone really will call it fairy tales, someone will say "fantasy", and someone will hear that it's all about our very real, earthly life. Therefore, the group is loved by old women-wardrobe girls and seventeen-year-old punks, romantic girls and stern officers of the Russian army, poor students and rich businessmen ... It is this Babylonian mixture of the public that can be seen at the Mill's concerts.

The basis of the work of "Melnitsa" is poetry and music written by the musicians of the group. In addition, the "Mill" also performs songs based on poems by Gumilyov, Tsvetaeva, Yeats, Burns.

The group has existed for more than five years and during this time has managed to play in almost all Moscow music clubs that have the opportunity to accommodate a rapidly growing audience. On April 2, 2004, the first big solo concert of the group organized by the Melnitsa concert agency took place in the Gorbunov Palace of Culture. The performance was a full house and gathered more than 1700 people.

In April 2003, the band recorded their debut full-length album, Road of Sleep, released by CD Land Records. The second disc “Master of the Mill (EP)” was released by our own forces especially for the concert in the Gorbunov Palace of Culture and included works recorded 2 years earlier and published only on collections plus 2 new tracks.