This is an article I wrote for a magazine a couple of months ago, about the legendary Russian singer Boris Grebenshikov and his free concert [1] in the Royal Albert Hall in London which took place at the end of May. The article never got published, so here it is...

You can always rely on Boris Grebenshikov for a koan-like allegory in the course of an interview; for example, comparing music to an ocean. "I just venture into the ocean and follow the waves.", he remarks. Over a music career spanning 35 years, following those waves has raised him to household name status in his native Russia, where he is considered by many to be the founding father of Russian rock music. This is no mean feat, when you consider half of those 35 years were spent living under Soviet rule, where suppression of innovative music had driven bands underground and limited listening choice to a few government-approved artists. "I always felt this strange feeling when I was listening to music that it means more than people give it credit for", Grebenshikov recalls. "Then in 1964 I was lucky enough to hear the Beatles, and something clicked, and I said, “Oh, now I know!” From then on it was easy."

In the early 1970's Grebenshikov and fellow Leningrader Anatoly Gunitsky founded Aquarium, a "peaceful guerilla" band whose concerts mainly took place in private apartments so as not to attract the attention of the Soviet authorities, and who sometimes had to escape out the window when they did. The story of their rise to fame sounds like a Western record company's worst nightmare; despite being officially banned by the Soviet government, the music of Aquarium spread to all corners of the Soviet Union through pirated tapes, copied and passed on from person to person. It is something that has clearly influenced Grebenshikov's attitude to how music should be distributed; most of the music released by Aquarium over the years can now be freely downloaded from the Internet.

Then came perestroika. As state restrictions were lifted, American eyes turned eastward, hoping to find music acts that would exemplify this burgeoning freedom. The state-run music label were finally induced to release an album by Aquarium; all 200,000 copies were snapped up within hours of release. However like so many artists before him, the crossover into America proved a bridge too far. Struggling with the constraints of the visa terms imposed on him by the Soviet authorities, and the pressures of writing an album in English for the first time, his album 'Radio Silence' failed to live up to expectations. Undaunted, he returned to his Russian roots and songwriting heritage and in the album 'Russian Songwriter', produced some of his finest music to date. Over the years, the sound has changed from album to album, incorporating syles as diverse as reggae and electronic music, and influences from Celtic and Indian culture. The band Aquarium itself has broken up twice and reformed with different members, each time with Grebenshikov as the creative force at the helm.

However, a closer look reveals one unbroken theme through all of Grebenshikov's music; the search for inner meaning, which music at its highest a window into. “It’s a living feeling." Grebenshikov explains. When I sing I just feel alive, only more alive than for example now. Now I’m sort of fifty per cent dormant (laughs), but when I sing that’s when I really live”. From the philosophical wranglings of the earliest Aquarium albums, Grebenshikov has gone on to weave the mystical searchings of other cultures into his songs, being particularly drawn to the spirituality of the East. “The only missing ingredient was meditation", he explains. "As soon as I learned about meditation, it gave me the chance to transform every mundane experience into a great one. The world is a perfect place. The problem with us humans is that we don’t see it, we’re not being taught to see it. I would say that if somehow meditation could be learned and taught at schools, it could make life better for everybody concerned” .

During the 90's, Grebenshikov was a frequent visitor to India and Nepal, spending months at a time in Buddhist monasteries, and translating famous Hindu and Buddhist texts into Russian. One of the most recent albums, 'Fisherman's Songs', was recorded with Indian musicians in Russian and India; another solo project saw Grebenshikov recording Buddhist mantras. The Eastern influence can also be seen in the name 'Purushottama', which can be seen on posters advertising his forthcoming concert in the Royal Albert Hall; it was given to him by Indian spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy [1], whom he met in February 2006, and translates as " the one who goes beyond all limitations ". "There is a great silence inside of everybody, the source of all inspiration, of everything. I always prefer to let music speak for itself, and then the human puppet (gesturing to himself) has no further words”, he smiles.

For his forthcoming concert in London, he has promised to add a couple of specifically-written English songs to his predominantly Russian oeuvre. "I found out a long time ago that I can’t translate a song because a song is written in a specific kind of language and you cannot break the enchantment – it cannot be broken down into logical things." But at the same time he adds, "There are things that are universal enough that every person who listens to it will perk up their ears."

The interview quotes are taken from an interview with Prachar Stegemann on SriChinmoy.tv... [2]