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An interview with Leonid Narushevich of Knjaz Mishkin from Belorus...
22.02.2002 * interview by Heather Mount * translated by Dmitri Kolesnik
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The music of Knjaz Mishkin fuses minimalism, ambient/acoustic, lo-fi "rock" and jazz traditions, to create a swirling improvisational sonic mass that takes on new forms and dimensions with each listen. Leonid Narushevich is the helm of Knjaz Mishkin hailing from Belorus, actively promoting notions of and occassions for avant garde and improvisational music locally and abroad. I first came into contact with Knjaz Mishkin at the SKIF (Sergej Kuryokhin International Festival) in St Petersburg, Russia, in 2001, then at the end of the year at the Alternativa Music Festival in Prague. Here is an interview with Leonid, whose first international recording will be coming out later this year on Falcata Galia Records in California:
HM: Tell a little please about how Knjaz Mishkin got started...when? where? how? and how did you choose the name "knjaz Mishkin"?
LN: Everything started with my addiction to improvisation. Somewhere in 1989 together with Valeri Bashkov we both liked to play blues endlessly for a couple of hours time to time... Then Zartipo band appeared. In 1991 we played our first live gig in Minsk Alternative Theatre were we chose name 19-91 for this concert. Knyaz Mishkin entered into our lives suddenly and forever. The shape and the character of Dostojevski's novel 'Idiot' hero prince Myshkin seemed more than defined for us, we just felt it was like a typical Belarussian egghead... We all need to take into consideration now that our first rehearsals took place in a well equipped potato hangar... here are the roots...
HM: What genre do you consider your music? This is a terrible question always and I hate genres, but I do wonder what people call your music in Belarus???
LN: Basically we are not well accepted though there is a definite part of population that keeps the idea of such a free improvisation under constant attention. Personally I get lots of great pleasure out of it. Whatever we name it, intuitive improvisation fits it best.
HM: What is the musical background of you and the others in the band?
LN: As I am the only member of the Knyaz Myshkin project I will respond: Stravinski, Skrjabin, Schostakovich, Schtockhausen, Sesil Talor, jazz in general, folk in particular.
HM: How often and where do you play concerts in Belorus? in Russia or Ukraine? Have you played in (West) Europe or N. America?
LN: We play relatively many gigs in Belarus. We also appeared at some festivals in Russia, Czech Republic and Ukraine. Also experienced TV appearance at the popular Antropologia TV-show, NTV, Moscow where our audience expanded to hundred thousands of people all over the world; it's cool. Festivals : SKIF 5, Syrok 3 and 5, Blues Alive in Minsk 1 and 3, Artishok, Alternativa in Prague and some others.
HM: What are your plans for releasing your recordings?
LN: Falcata Galia Recordings (California) is going to release our CD this summer. Some of our records could be found in the achieve of an MP3 label Broke Bunnie http://broke.servergirl.net/
HM: Tell please what it is like to be independent musicians in Belarus now:
LN: I expect it is the same everywhere: total artistic freedom on the one hand, total public disregard from the other... We are happy to invent festivals and concert activities for ourselves. Every year we organize Sinij Perets (Blue Pepper) Festival for our natural purposes. This year it will happen on the 24th of March in the Theater of Stage, 9th festival in its history.
HM: Do you all have other jobs to make money?
LN: I am a professional copywrighter in the field of radio advertisement. I don't count on music.
HM: How is MP3 culture affecting your music?
LN: At least it doesn't bother... Personally I like the idea of obtaining the huge amount of music found thru web.
HM: Are there some CD stores, and is piracy getting "better" or "worse"?
LN: Pirates save us because I never get assured about whether I buy original copy or bootleg in a shop.
HM: What is the opinion of you guys about "piracy" of Cds? Do you buy pirate copies or real copies, or no copies at all???!
LN: I buy bootlegs and get happy about how cheap they are, though I cannot deny it's a bad practice. Time to time I see our own records released as bootlegs without any involvement from our side. People come up to me for my autograph – it's ridiculous to sign bootlegs. And I cannot resist and sign, I just can't be ignorable towards people who listen to our music.
HM: Where do you take your inspirations to play music?
LN: From a crazy inside of ourselves... basically onstage... it's like an instinct...
HM: What artists, musicians, and thinkers from Belorus and Russia do you most admire?
LN: Old band Pesnjari, grannies from Polesje (Belarus region) that hypnotize with their ancient singing much better than most up-to-dated jazz crap.
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