BIO ------------------------------------------------------ Born
in 1959 in Ekaterinburg (Northern Ural), Andrey Vinogradov has studied and
been exposed to a variety of musical genres, everything from classical
jazz to jazz-rock. He has now settled down in folky niche, where he
creates his classic but unique blend of sounds.
He graduated with
highest honors from the Moscow Gnessin Music College and completed his
education at Gnessin Academy of Music. Later, as part of well-known
Russian jazz-rock group The Arsenal, directed by revered saxophonist
Alexei Kozlov, he recorded two LPs, The Second Wind and Pulse 3, which
were later released on the CDs Time-scorched III and Time-scorched IV
(1997-1998). Ever since his youth, Andrey's goal has been to create
innovative unions between the most diverse of musical genres by
combining elements of classical, jazz and folk music.
In 1996 he
composed a series of songs to the verses of Russian modernist poets
Soloviov, Blok, Voloshin, and Akhmatova among others. The result was a CD
entitled Dryad's Songs featuring the vocals of Galina Lipina and Ivan
Smirnov's guitar playing.
Since Andrey became interested in Russian
traditional folklore, he has restored a lot of unique recordings of
anonymous rustic musicians. The immersion into the depths of the Russian
traditional music cultureinspired him for an
attempt to blend the authentic folklore samples into keyboard-driven
electronic-based ambient textures in the Sokol project.
In the CD
Iliya Murometz Andrey combines old Russian tunes into neo-traditional
compositions, drawing new life from ancient tones. Here he appears both as
an arranger and performer of Russian traditional folk tunes, playing
rylia (Russian hurdy-gurdy traditionally used by strolling beggars).
In 2003 Ethnomirages project was created. It is penetrated with
various musical intonations: Arabian, Turkish, Tuvinian as well as
Serbian, Celtic and Armenian threaded into modern ethno-techno tissue.
The project
Daylight Breath - several preludes for piano & strings - was inspired by
Andrey’s Scandinavian journey in 2005. Its music is both fascinating and
soothing.
The latest
project Russian Hurdy-Gurdy Tunes is dedicated to kolesnaya lyra
(organistrum, hurdy-gurdy) - an old musical instrument used by strolling
beggars throughout Ukraine, Byelorussia and some regions of Russia. This
project containes traditional tunes, songs, and sacred chants from various
regions of Russia, arranged and performed by Andrey Vinogradov (voice &
hurdy-gurdy).