“In the protest movement, I am a sluggish person. Alexey Kortnev: “The rejection of democratic freedoms is terrible, disgusting, but now necessary

The “Accident” group is 35. Time to sum up the interim results. There are dozens of hits: “The Generals Don’t Let Me Sleep,” “I’m Going Away, Mom,” “What Did You Mean,” “Zoology”... Until recently, they were on TV screens and were in heavy rotation on the radio. Plus films: “Election Day”, “Radio Day”... And even now, against the backdrop of the general crisis, this is one of the most successful groups. It would seem that everything is going well. But Kortnev does not look like a winner, rather the opposite.

— Alexey, what have you, your group, your generation come to over the years?

“Our generation, the generation of 50-year-olds, unfortunately, lost. We lived very superficially. And the fact that we have all now been hit on the nose by the authorities is, by and large, natural.

While we were singing, having fun, putting on performances about how good it is to go towards freedom and democracy and what funny incidents happen along the way, the carriage turned its shafts and drove back at full speed.

— Lost generation?

- No, just the loser. Personally, many people just won. For example, I live a fairly prosperous life. Most of my friends are in demand, society is still interested in them.

- So, maybe this is the whole point? Smart, honest, intelligent people could not resist the temptation of success, sweet life, big money. And they compromised with the authorities. This started long before Putin. Back in 1996, you participated in the Vote or Lose Tour. They say that they paid a fantastic fee for those concerts.

- Yes, good. Furthermore: I later campaigned for Chernomyrdin, although I was friends with the Union of Right Forces. There was such a project “Old songs in our house”, and I was the entertainer there. Remember the party “Our Home is Russia”? It was then that “Old Songs about the Main Thing” came out on ORT, and almost all the musicians who took part in it went to campaign with terrible force for Chernomyrdin. This was the first big money I earned.

I worked and didn’t really think about what it would lead to. But even if I thought about it. I was definitely on the side of Yeltsin, and even more so of the young reformers. Young, perky, beautiful. And most importantly, in terms of language, in terms of psychotype, and simply in terms of age, they are completely their own. Who should we campaign for, if not for our own? Our audience was the same: students of prestigious universities with progressive views. Thinking educated public.

- And not poor.

— Yes, then they grew into managers of large companies. Our audience is not very wide, but well-resourced. We still play concerts for them, less often public, more often private.

- Corporate events?

- Exactly.

- How interesting. You participated in supporting the Bolotnaya prisoners, in supporting Navalny. And at the same time they played at corporate parties of the people against whom, in fact, the protest was directed.

- Not certainly in that way. We haven’t played with officials for ten years now, only with businessmen.

— Where does Gazprom belong? Is it government or business?

— Yes, they played for Gazprom employees. You can take a radical position and say that private concerts cannot be played at all, because the money will definitely be stolen. All large fortunes were acquired dishonestly, as Bender said. And it is true. But if you radicalize your existence like this, you will be left with a bare torso. I am in no way trying to portray us as innocent lambs. We make compromises, we make money in today's Russia, where everything is riddled with corruption, every bill, every product. But if a person is at least not disgusted to look him in the eye, we play.

What about corporate parties? Sorry, I was the moderator at the meeting of musicians with President Medvedev. He gave me cufflinks with double-headed eagles! And I sang “Smoke on the Water” to him, his favorite song. I learned it specially. Isn't this a compromise in the extreme?

- Why did you have to do this?

— My main argument: interesting. Isn't it interesting to meet and talk with the president of your country? I didn’t ask him for anything, he didn’t offer me anything. Except cufflinks. We then sold them for crazy money and donated them to a charity foundation.

— Did you understand something about our power at this meeting?

- Nothing. Purely tourist experiences. I really liked Dmitry Anatolyevich’s shoes, wonderful boots. But that's all.

- Was it worth it? After this, thousands of people said: yeah, Kortnev sold out to the authorities!

— It’s unpleasant when people scold you, label you, bully you. But it’s even more offensive when they bully people for reasons other than their own. Well, who did I sell myself to, why? All this is past the cash register. Recently, the SBU blocked my entry into the territory of Ukraine. And it’s also unclear why. We have never played concerts in Crimea.

- But there was a reason. In 2014 you gave scandalous interview“Free Press”, where they approved the annexation of Crimea.

“It’s strange that they only remembered this now, almost four years later. I have visited Ukraine twenty times since then. Last time played a concert in the Ukrainian musical theater in Odessa, and everything was fine.

— I remember your anti-war speech at “Invasion.” I remember how you stood up for Zemfira in the ugly persecution over the Ukrainian flag. But it was an interview...

- Listen, it was right after joining, I didn’t understand what was happening. And no one understood. Since then there was time to figure it out, now I have different views on Crimea.

But I am ready to repeat the main thing from that interview now: thank God there was no bloodshed or direct military intervention. Would it be better if rivers of blood flowed?

“Those whose youth was in the 2000s will call it a beautiful era.” We listened to your songs, traveled, went to expensive cars, ate in expensive restaurants. And so they were pulled out of this cozy world into a much tougher one. What went wrong do you think?

“I think that this flywheel, this patriotic hysteria, started from Ukraine.

- Was everything like this before?

- Of course not. Landing of Khodorkovsky, dispersal of NTV...

- God be with him, with Khodorkovsky. There were islands of Europe in the country, oases of rich life. And millions of beggars milled around them. This is worse than the crackdown on NTV. But I see that many today are fighting to get it all back and live again like in the 2000s. Why return? After all, it will end the same again.

“If the pendulum swings back to the liberal side, it won’t be the same as before.” Although the devil only knows. How to live further and what to do is generally unclear. And I think it’s not just me alone.

I hope that they will survive and be able to benefit their people, their homeland.

—Have you ever thought about leaving?

— It occurs regularly, but no, the answer is negative. I have traveled a lot around the world and understand that I only want to work here. This is my audience. After all, I write songs in Russian.

— So there are purely professional reasons here, or are you a patriot? I don't mean any negative meaning to this word.

- Me too. Probably a patriot. I recently listened to Drapeko’s speech about the need to create a morality commission. Essentially censorship. Every day some kind of nonsense comes to the surface. And when I hear things like that, I want them to leave, not me. Well, yes, now I am a loser, but this will not always be the case, I hope.

- Look what happens. You are a patriot and at the same time a liberal. And we are constantly assured that these are antonymous words.

- In general, we are always being tricked into false oppositions. This is such an ideological method: plus and minus, black and white, without nuances. Either a patriot or a liberal. Or either. It is interesting how patriotism is interpreted: a patriot is obliged to hate Pindos. Not to be friends with other people, loving your homeland, but to love your homeland, hating everyone around you. That is, according to them, hatred is a form of love.

- And how to resist her?

- Gently, without aggression. Write, sing, talk.

— Can we expect anything from you in this regard?

- Just wait. We are now actively writing the musical “In the City of False Dmitrov”, which we will play both on large stages and in clubs. According to the plot, False Dmitrov is a single-industry town built in the 1950s around nuclear reactor. There, under the dome of radiation, everything is different than in the outside world. They have an eternal mayor who does not die or age, and a cult of the man who founded this city. I won't tell you any further. This is already a spoiler.

— What is the message?

— In criticism of the existing system, of course. Main character evil conquers. This is a musical, there can't be a happy ending.

— That is, you still leave some hope for people.

- That's the whole point.

- You are not a prophet, neither am I, but let's try to simulate the near future. Rock will finally become a retro genre. Three or four names will remain in the rumor mill. So?

- Well, five. It's like an opera. Who do we know? Placido Domingo, Carreras, two or three more artists - and that’s it. I'm happy that I managed to jump on the rock and roll train at the last stop, but now it's not a train anymore, it's a museum.

— The regime will become tougher, there will be landings.

- Apparently, yes.

“Young people will increasingly take to the streets. This, in fact, is already happening. By the way, it’s interesting what they will sing at the same time.

— When Nemtsov was buried, they carried posters with the phrase “I’m freaking out, mom.” We released this song a week before he was killed. Nobody sang, they just carried placards. I was shocked.

— The Ukrainian war will gradually fade away, but something else will begin, a new mess will be brewed.

— The war is stagnating, like the conflict in Karabakh, like Transnistria, like the occupation of Cyprus. And yes, they will try to stir up a new one. It is profitable to fight.

- This is my picture of the future. And you?

- Very similar. On the other hand, people thought the same way three or four years before perestroika. They sat and said: “Nothing will change, stagnation will last for decades.” These things happen suddenly. And just when you least expect them, when it seems that everything is already over.

P.S.

On December 8, the “Live Communication” project will present “Conversation with a guitar with Alexey Kortnev” at the Central House of Artists. The evening is hosted by Novaya Gazeta author Ksenia Knorre-Dmitrieva.

Our conversation with Alexei Kortnev took place in the press hall of the Tula Regional Philharmonic. The musician came out for an interview in good mood, with a smile on his face.

— Alexey “careless concert” is an absolute interactive activity, who came up with this idea?

As a rule, ideas are born together. We came up with this thing a long time ago, about 15 years ago, during a brainstorming session. Maybe 10 years ago - I don’t remember the time periods well. We played them, then we got tired of them and abandoned it. And a year and a half ago they revived this genre again, and now it’s going very well. These days, people want to not just listen, but participate, and not have it all loud and homey. It’s clear why: we have practically lost this in everyday life, such gatherings with a guitar. I think that's why this genre is in demand.

- Well, this is always some kind of risk?

At first we had mistakes in the organization, but now we have overcome all this. Previously, we did not limit the number of people who go on stage, now we understand that it is no more than two people and no longer than one song. As for the risk... Among our audience, no one ever went into a scandal and there were no inappropriate spectators on stage at all. However, if something like this happens, it will be even interesting.

— The group is 33 years old, its success has been proven. Who is your audience now, and what might surprise the “Accident” group?

Some external events may surprise you. But what happens at our concerts no longer surprises me. On the other hand, we are waiting, maybe something extraordinary will happen. And our audience is still the same educated, intelligent people from 25 to 55 years old. But we also see very young people at concerts, which is very nice. Of course, there are more 15-year-old girls at boy band performances, but we also have such girls.

I don’t know yet - they hide everything from me, as if from a seriously ill person. I know that we will go somewhere with my wife and mother. I suspect that a whole crowd of people will go with us, but they don’t tell me anything. And on the 10th, for some reason, we are going to Sheremetyevo, maybe we’ll just have lunch there. I'm not expecting any gifts. I was lucky and always had what I wanted. I don’t dream about material wealth at all. I dream of world peace, so that all this bullshit that is happening around Russia and other countries will stop.

Alexey Kortnev and Kamil Larin.

We will have a play-show “Two for 50”. The script has already been written. We invited a bunch of friends with whom we spent half our lives together. These are “Quartet I”, Valdis Pelsh, Andryusha Makarevich, Zhenya Margulis, “Bi 2”, Max Leonidov, Ira Bogushevskaya, Tanya Lazareva, Diana Arbenina... These are people with whom we interacted in the cinema, in the theater, on the stage.

— What does the number 50 mean to you? Is it time to take stock or is this just the beginning?

This number means absolutely nothing to me. This is half of a hundred, but it is clear that most of The world's population does not live a hundred years. Therefore, this is by no means half of life, but significantly more. 35 or 40 years mean much more to a person.

Valdis Pelsh and Alexey Kortnev, mid-1980s.

— You organized the “Accident” group together with Valdis Pelsh. How often do you manage to see each other now?

We are guaranteed to see each other once a month - we play a play together. Plus we do some projects together. Seryozhka Chekryzhov, our main composer, and I write music and lyrics for it. We involve Valdis in all our significant events, for example, at concerts for our 30th anniversary. Now, at my 50th birthday celebration, he will shine on stage. So mostly we communicate on business, but we come up with these things for ourselves with great pleasure.

— From the times of the USSR, what are you most nostalgic for?

From my own youth. There were also very few cars on the roads - which was nice. Everything else was worse.

— You have more than 40 film roles under your belt. How do you manage to combine everything?

I have no filming at all right now. I refuse a lot, I cannot and do not want to change stage activities for filming. If I had been offered the opportunity to star with Andron Konchalovsky, then I would have approached this more carefully and would probably have freed up time for filming. Offers to work in various TV series or uninteresting films are not worth turning down concerts and performances.

Alexey Kortnev and the Saltykov-Shchedrin Show team.

— You are now hosting the “Saltykov-Shchedrin Show” on NTV. What can we expect from new releases?

They will be very interesting stories. We have already filmed quite a lot of forward programs. Some things will be very poignant, the songs will be funny and again poignant, which is nice. I think the show is unlikely to last very long because its range of topics is very limited. After a season, people will get tired of looking at housing and communal services problems, although these problems will not go away. But it’s impossible to tell the same joke every evening. So I understand that this is a temporary project, and maybe a launching pad for something innovative.

— What emotions does another NTV show “Through the Mouth of a Baby” bring you?

Exceptional joy! Communicating with these wonderful kids there is pure delight! I think that this program will live forever, although it will not be able to win a wide audience. But parents will always be interested in this program. And it doesn’t matter who will lead it.

— You have five personal consultants for this program. What are your children's hobbies?

My eldest son Tyoma. having worked in various positions, he came to me to work as a senior administrator at our School Three Arts(a school led by actress Nonna Grishaeva, choreographer Yegor Druzhinin and musician Alexei Kortnev - author's note), which we opened in Khimki. Nikita studies at the Institute of Radio Electronics and Automation. Senya and Afonya go to school, Asya goes to kindergarten. Let it be for now.

— Your wishes to our readers.

Health, more money, economic miracle and peace!

Alexey Kortnev with his wife Amina, sons Arseny and Afanasia, daughter Aksinia.

Dossier

He wrote his first songs in the seventh grade of an English special school in Moscow.

He studied at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, but did not graduate from the university.

In 1983, together with Valdis Pelsh, he created the group “Accident”.

Translator of the texts of popular foreign musicals staged in Russia (“Cats”, “The Witches of Eastwick”, “Mamma Mia!”, “Beauty and the Beast”).

Presenter on NTV of the show “Through the Mouth of a Baby” and “Saltykov-Shchedrin Show”.

Family: third wife Amina Zaripova, son Artemy (from his first wife Irina Bogushevskaya), son Nikita (from Elena Lanskaya), from Amina - sons Arseny and Afanasy, daughter Aksiniya.

Selected filmography: “Moscow Saga”, “Night Sisters”, “Election Day”, “Lilac Branch”, “Radio Day”, “What Men Talk About”, “Boiling Point”, “There Was Love”, “Angel on Duty”, "Rzhevsky against Napoleon", "Cuckoo".

Dear friend,

From the very beginning of the rise in oil prices, which approximately coincided with the advent of Voldemar to the throne, approximately until the rapidly military-Georgian campaign, the Russian Federation had an amazingly extended chance, almost eight years, to begin and even partially implement structural reforms in all major industries and the national economy - and mainly at their own expense, without resorting to significant external borrowings. Not every country in history has had such a long-term “moment of luck,” and it was not just stupid, it was criminal not to take advantage of it.

As just a small example, I don’t want to give the whole sad list. These are your jobs (i.e. pensions too), your education and healthcare system - it would be very useful to you when you get old, but it will be at approximately today's level (i.e. very deplorable), and most likely it will be even worse, i.e. Unfortunately, you won’t get modern treatment. I mean this without any malice - I have friends in the Russian Federation, and not everyone can afford paid treatment, and even paid treatment lags significantly behind. The government has already taken measures to create a parallel structure of medical services for the privileged sections (i.e. civil servants), i.e. Even such lagging medicine will not be enough for everyone. How will everyone else be served? And as in Chekhov’s “Aesculapius”: “Give him something!”

In practice this means something like this:

You have grown old and are starting to feel achy. Abroad, new medicines and new procedures have long appeared that make life much easier - a doctor who has read a lot of foreign magazines tells you about this (let’s assume you are fabulously lucky and have an advanced doctor who reads medical literature, and not the standard sad aunt who looks at the monthly report, and not at the patient)... They don’t exist in Russia and won’t appear in your lifetime. For example, in 2014-2015. In Canada, they developed a technique for extracting a blood clot using a probe, after which the stroke patient almost immediately gets up and walks on his own feet, rather than lying for weeks in rehabilitation. The year is 2035, but in your local clinic, no one has heard of this technique.

You have completely lost your health, it is difficult for you to leave the apartment (and you need to see a doctor, for example), you need a stroller or a stick. The entrance, naturally, is not equipped for this. And even if you leave the house, you won’t go further than your own yard, because nothing is equipped anywhere. Who is to blame for this? Who's to blame for everything last years nothing was invested in development, in the most essential infrastructure, that investors fled like hell from incense, that housing (even “elite”) was built as if only ever-young ancient Greek gods would live in it?

Of course, if you are forever young ancient greek god, then none of this applies to you.

Russian rock band "Accident" celebrates its 35th birthday. The group dates its history from September 13, 1983, when the artists Student Theater Moscow State University Alexey Kortnev and Valdis Pelsh decided to create a musical duet.

IN anniversary interview TASS frontman of "Accident" Alexey Kortnev told why he does not allow himself to be "separated" from the group on posters, how one of the main hits was born on a bet - "What did you mean?" - and why their most popular songs The musicians did not want to perform at first.

- Alexey Anatolyevich, on the group’s website in the section for concert organizers it is stated that writing on the poster “Alexey Kortnev and the group “Accident” is unacceptable. Otherwise, the organizers must pay two fees. Whose idea, yours personally or other members of the group?

This was our joint decision and feeling, because I feel extremely awkward in such a situation. We absolutely sincerely profess the principles of theatrical studioism, that is, we do almost everything together. I am the frontman of the group, so I am better known, plus television and film activity. But in the ensemble we really work as equals. It’s just that the amount of work done is not always visible to the viewer: the authors of the song can stand on stage, and the soloist collects all the laurels.

What’s the story with “A Special Case”, where you perform with Sergei Chekryzhov? Are the other group members offended?

They join us from time to time: “Special Case” doesn’t always play together, we also have concerts with three or four of us.

In fact, this was a necessary measure, since quite often the venues where we are offered to perform cannot accommodate the entire ensemble. Relatively speaking, if a concert is for 20 people in a small room, then it is possible to stage six people with drums, with sound amplification, but this means tormenting people with excessively loud sounds.

You have very ironic, often sarcastic lyrics. Did the fact that you grew up in a professorial family somehow influence your creativity and poetry?

I think so, because people who are well educated—namely, educated in the most different areas knowledge - as a rule, a self-ironic mindset is formed. They know very well that they know little. Those who know a lot also imagine the volume of the unknown. I inherited from my parents a self-critical and self-ironic sense of life. And this, naturally, is then translated into lyrics and even melodies.

I've always wondered under what influence the song "What did you mean?" could be written. Have any of your friends inspired you?

No, but it was a very clear case. I was in the office of my friend and part-time man who released several of our first albums, Andrei Feofanov. Andrey came from the presentation of the group's first album " Ivanushki International" - still with a cassette, not even a disk. And so he inserted it into the tape recorder, turned it on and said: “Listen, this is the future of music.” And there are all these “clouds in the sky” and so on.

I can't say I didn't like it, it was solidly done. I say: this is great, but rock and roll will always be there, because it’s like ditties, like rap, like a criminal song - it’s very easy to compose for any reason. You can’t write the song “There are clouds in the sky” about being pushed on a tram. And you will write rock and roll. At that moment, his secretary, who was sitting one and a half meters away from us, was talking to her friend on the phone and said exactly this phrase: “What did you mean?” And Feofanov immediately stood up and said: “Here, write a song about this.” I argued with him and the next day I brought him the finished song, sang it with a guitar in the same office, in the presence of the same secretary.

The most interesting thing is that the guys from “Accident” and I had a long discussion about whether it was worth recording and releasing it at all.

- Why?

Because it was written in 30 minutes, obviously of cabbage content and mood. A joke that is made with the snap of a finger without the slightest effort. And we said quite sincerely: “Well, why?”

It’s interesting that similar debates broke out around almost all the songs that later became popular.

- For example?

- "Generals sand quarries", "If it weren't for you", "Song about Moscow", "Vegetable Tango".

- What didn’t you like about “Generals” and “If You Were Not There”?

Because we didn’t write Sandpit Generals. “If it weren’t for you,” again, because this is the music of Toto Cutugno, this is pop music, French pop music, Joe Dassin. And we - rock and roll - don’t want to sing this. Thank God, every time we didn’t have the brutality to say: “Yes, we won’t publish this - that’s all.” That's why we published these songs, which, in general, bring us the main income.

- I wanted to express my respect to you for the concept of the album "Kranty" -"the soundtrack of a movie that won't happen." This is a real audio play. Whose idea was it?

The idea was mine. We won’t do this a second time, of course. Now we are writing a full-fledged play, which will be called “In the city of False Dmitrov”. We release this musical on February 25th. We're starting to rehearse now, and I'm very excited about it.

As for "Krantov", there was very interesting story. It was a challenge for me. The songs were not written as a soundtrack, they were composed separately. Moreover, I first arranged them in the sequence in which they would appear on the record, even if there were no connections between them. The songs on the disc have the same sequence with minimal variations: hits that definitely should be heard first, then sags, then again something stronger. You alternate between lyrical and entertaining numbers, you can’t put two long minor songs in a row... Therefore, the sequence of songs was built without taking into account any plot. And it was terribly interesting to then connect them with some supposed plot. I really liked this job.

As a rule, I focus on concert experience, because I myself don’t understand anything about it - what will work and what won’t. I love a certain kind of music that is quite complex, and I think that this is how songs written are good. People usually don't like it very much. Therefore, we have been practicing this sequence for many decades: we write songs, play them at concerts, and depending on what we like and what we don’t, we put them on an album.

- You mentioned “In the city of False Dmitrov”. Can you tell us about the plot?

This is such a phantasmagoric story, which has already appeared many times in literature, cinema, and theater. The story of a man who returns to hometown, which he doesn't remember at all. He finds himself in a sealed town from which he escaped 25 years ago. But he doesn't remember what he ran away from. A musician, he went to work in Moscow... Then he was invited to City Day, and only at that moment he remembered that he was from Lzhedmitrov! He arrives there, and chaos begins, because this city is very, very unusual, and it is no coincidence that he ran away from there.

I won't tell you more. Come and see.

- Is this political or more social history?

It seems to me that the social and political cannot now be separated at all, because politics dictates the laws by which society lives. It is political satire and social satire. I hope it will be spicy enough.

It's almost a hermetic work, because almost only "Accident" will be on stage. Plus two artists.

-Who are you calling?

Seryozha Belogolovtsev and Kristina Babushkina from the Moscow Art Theater. Other dramatic roles musicians will play.

- Are the musicians ready for this?

Yes. Everyone is ready for this, except the audience (laughs).

- You personally have a very successful collaboration with the Moscow Art Theater, which was awarded both the Golden Mask and Turandot. Now some joint projects are they planned?

Unfortunately no. After our collaboration with the Moscow Art Theater, we did two, as it seems to me, very significant works.

This is the play "Akbuzat" at the Ufa Russian drama theater- rock opera based on the Bashkir folk epic.

And the musical play "Generation Mowgli" with Kostya Khabensky and his foundation - a charity story with a bunch of kids on stage. They played there interesting people: Kostya Khabensky himself, Diana Arbenina, Timur Rodriguez. Sasha Kerzhakov played Kaa. In our version he was sports coach, who constantly trained banderlogs. I played Sherkhan in line with Gosha Kutsenko. This performance is not currently on, unfortunately. I think it's temporary.

When I called with a question about an interview, the group seemed to be on Far East. How actively do you tour? Where do you perform most often?

Yes, we were in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The schedule is incredibly tight, I can list it for you now. After summer holidays Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk was already there, the next day Pavlovsky Posad, then Perm. There will be Barnaul, a day later - Saratov, Chisinau twice, Moscow, Ulyanovsk, Moscow again - three times. The next day Tomsk, Novosibirsk. Flight to Vladivostok. On October 2nd concert in Sochi...

- Is it because of the anniversary year?

In many ways - yes. We give about 15 concerts in different cities in a month.

- If I understood correctly, not a single Crimean city was mentioned?

No. We are not invited to Crimea. We have some strangely complicated relations with both Ukraine and its former territories.

- Does this offend you?

No, it makes me happy. Otherwise, very difficult ethical decisions would have to be made. Thank God, I am freed from making these decisions.

On the poster anniversary concert Valdis Pelsh is pictured with you in Crocus on November 25. Will he finally decide to return to the group for good?

No, I don't think he'll come back. And the main thing is that I don’t think that he needs it, that we need it. He returns to these anniversary concerts and will travel with us a lot. We filmed a video for these concerts and rejoiced like children. There was a very funny scenario: Valdis and I fought, chased each other... When we meet in these works, we are completely happy. And I don’t want to overshadow this happiness with constant routine work. And then, Valdis has very serious big projects, not related to "Accident". Let's say, after our anniversary concert in Moscow, on the 26th he flies to Antarctica for two months to shoot another documentary film, in which he has clearly found his calling.

I am terribly glad that Vadka and I collaborate from time to time and do something. He and I want to do a conversational performance for two later.

- Without a group?

Maybe yes. Just like actors. About life, about some stories that happened to us, about a quarrel. No, not about a quarrel, but about human jealousy, common problems. Because we have not lived a cloudless life. We are closest friends who have been together for 35 years. During this time a lot happened.

- Some specific plans Are there any deadlines?

Not yet. First we need to release “False Dmitry”, and then, in about a year, we can do work with Valdis.

- The same anniversary poster promises to tell you what you had in mind. So what did you mean anyway?

To do this, come to the concert, where we try to tell you as clearly as possible.

The most important thing we meant is that free people must be free to express their thoughts and feelings. And if they: a) are not afraid; b) they are not hungry, they will be listened to. In 35 years, we haven’t written a single song at the request of the day to suck up to someone. They didn’t write a single song that glorified any political trends in the country or the world. And at the same time we gather “Crocus” - six and a half thousand people! Without being popular group, which is shown on TV and constantly played on the radio... But people want communication, and for me this is extremely valuable.

This is probably what we meant.

Interviewed Anastasia Silkina

The singer, musician and host of the show “Through the Mouth of a Baby” spoke about creativity, family and midlife crisis.

– Alexey, with your comedic roles and “light” songs, you give the impression of a person who does not get hung up on problems, endures life’s hardships effortlessly, like a Buddhist. Is this true or is the impression deceptive?

Deceptively. I can’t say that I tolerate problems easily, but I do. With a certain tenacity. Believe me, the gap between a person and his in a scenic manner great I don’t want to say at all that I’m gloomy and withdrawn, but I’m definitely very reflective and worried. My apparent superficiality is an optical illusion.

– Have you ever felt discouraged when it seemed like you hadn’t done anything special in your profession and you wanted to give up everything? How did you get out of the situation?

Crises happened about once every five years. As a rule, they are connected with the fact that you exhaust some idea and realize that there is no point in doing anything further in this direction. I saved myself by changing the vector of movement, that’s how they appeared musical performances group “Accident” together with the theater “Quartet I”, rock operas, or I completely went into translating musicals. The best way in this situation, it seems to me, I shouldn’t give up everything and become a taxi driver, but change the direction somewhat, remaining true to my business.

– You are the host of the program “Through the Mouth of a Baby.” Think about one of your children's funny sayings.

My favorite is the work of my son Afanasy (Alexey has five children: Artemy (29 years old), Nikita (19 years old), in his current third marriage with Amina Zaripova, Arseny (14 years old), Afanasy (11 years old), Aksinya (6 years old). - Note “Antennas”). He had a lot of family “drivers” - iPhone, Ananasy, and Fantomasy. But somehow, reflecting on his transformable name, Afonya asked: “And if there was no “o” in my name, would my name be Afnya?” From that moment on, he became Afnya and has been in this position for several years.

– Are you a frivolous person by nature, do you let things take their course, or do you prefer to strictly follow the plan?

I prefer to calculate the consequences in advance as much as possible. I don’t like it when they try to force me into a situation that I don’t control: they say, let’s get involved, and then we’ll see.

– Have you ever been on a diet?

– I don’t follow diets, but twice a year my wife and I cleanse our bodies. We drink a course of herbs and roots for 10 days, trying to get by with a minimum of food, and healthy ones at that, after which intestinal function improves. After such a unique detox we feel very good.

– Why did you decide to shave your head at one time?

– I started going bald at the age of 25, receding hairline and bald patches appeared, but I didn’t want to cover my bald spot with backcombing. As soon as I realized that my hair wouldn’t come back, I shaved with ease and pleasure. I was about 30 years old then.

– You wear a ring in your ear. How long ago? Do you change your accessory or is it the only one you have?

– Just recently I was forced to change it. I had to take it off during filming, and I safely lost it. Then a bag with spare rings was taken out of the bins. I wore the previous one for about 10 years. I really don’t care what kind of ring is in my ear. The first one appeared for me in 1987. And now it is rather a symbol of a bygone era.

– Your wife Amina Zaripova is a famous gymnast in the past. Is it easy to live under the same roof with a strong-willed, purposeful woman?

We are both capable of compromise, although, of course, we occasionally squabble and even swear sometimes, but this is all superficial. In fact, our views coincide 95 percent; we don’t really have anything to argue about. There are some issues that Amina decides, and there are things that I am responsible for. And we don't go into each other's territory. Amina takes care of our travels, although we decide where to go together. She deals with tickets and hotels easily; this is a common thing for her. As for leisure, where to go with children, what to do on vacation, what sports - this is more my territory, although it’s nice to discuss this together. But the reading is entirely up to me, since I am a big book lover, in this regard my authority is indisputable. As far as education is concerned, we are of the opinion that the best in this sense is personal example. We don’t particularly theorize on this topic, we just live in love and harmony in front of our children.

– In September, you and your wife will celebrate their 15th anniversary of marriage. This is your third marriage. Have you ever gone through a crisis, what helped you survive?

– Yes, it was about seven years ago, but we overcame it safely. A crisis, in my opinion, is always a loss of purpose. Creative or family have the same origin. When you don’t understand how to develop relationships further, disasters happen. We got through them safely, because we both understood that this was a midlife crisis. That is, the thing is almost chemical. You just need to survive it, go through this time.

– You once said that for long-term family happiness it is necessary for a “fresh” child to appear in the family every three years. Do you still think so?

– And I think so, and Amina, we make plans, but it doesn’t always work out clearly, like in mathematics. But I hope that we will have more children.

– Amina had her birthday on August 10th. How did you please your loved one? What did you give?

– We were on vacation in Bulgaria at that time. big company. And the gift was a joint one - we bought her a bunch of things at the golf store.

– How do you feel about money? Do you make spontaneous purchases or distribute your budget, counting every penny?

Of course, we don’t count pennies, and spontaneous purchases do happen. So a few years ago Amina bought me own initiative very expensive car. But she had to save a year for it. I was touched, but we agreed that we would not do this again. As a rule, our requests do not exceed our capabilities. Therefore, even with unexpected purchases, we do not go beyond the budget. We do not plan it, but we look at the dynamics of our earnings and try to understand whether we have enough, say, to move to new apartment or not. In a couple of weeks we are just about to move into the new walls.

– In the “Through the Baby’s Mouth” program you help adults better understand their children. Do you always manage to find a common language with your own children?

– So far it’s working. I hope no unpleasant surprises await me. But these are people, and complex ones, albeit small ones. Although next to me is my 14-year-old son Arseny, it’s hard to call him small, he’s quite a mature person. Sometimes it's harder to understand. What helps me? My son gives me a hint: intuition.

– How does Aksinya’s upbringing differ from the upbringing of her brothers?

– Aksinya was born when I was already an adult (now Kortnev is 50 years old. – Note “Antennas”). She is the smallest, so we spoil her more. The only girl, it’s also understandable that you get more gingerbread. And, of course, when a girl realizes that she is a girl, she begins to hug more and show tenderness, but I can’t say that this allows her to get more things for herself. But she doesn’t have any big requests. Sometimes he will ask for a doll, but nothing more.

– Did you sing to children when they were little and what songs? Folk, from their repertoire or specially composed something. Are they currently interested in music?

- And this, and the other, and the third. And I’m glad that children now have a varied taste in music. Senka, say, listens to rock from the 70s and 80s, despite the fact that I never forced him to listen to it, he came on his own. The bands Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, but at the same time are on his playlist and contemporary performers. My children have a penchant for music, not for composing it, but the taste is definitely there.