An excerpt from the incredible and true story of the group (18+)

We are publishing an excerpt from the book, in which the writer and journalist, friend of Sergei Shnurov, Maxim Semelak tells the story of the legendary musical group.

“Leningrad” works with such vibrations that, in principle, are designed for a certain omnivorousness - its abuse is initially area-based, it is a sweepstakes group. Having turned “Leningrad” into a kind of Russian search system, Shnurov accepted the need to respond to requests, which is why at concerts he so insists on all this orchestrated applause, sing-alongs, bows and lights in the hall (lately it has gotten to the point where he forces the audience first sit down and then jump up sharply while singing the old song “Supergood”). The success of “Leningrad” is, strictly speaking, not praise or appreciation for it, it is rather an innate property, without it these songs simply lose their meaning, they were written for exactly this purpose. That’s why they usually listen to them for a long time and a lot, to the point of nausea. In the Russian concert space, “Leningrad” has gained a functional advantage, intertwining the features of a traveling circus, stadium rock and pleasure ship disco. The energy of “Leningrad” is based on completely fossil fuel - the group’s concerts are extremely archaic, everything is driven by a drive of purely animal origin, but of an ambiguous nature, corresponding to Shrunov’s motto “it’s good that everything is bad.”

Leningrad LLC rests on three principles - wit, stupefaction, social science. “Leningrad” is funny, wild and precise - the combination of these qualities makes it practically invulnerable to criticism: it is difficult to approach it with serious standards, and at the same time, it is impossible to make fun of it, because the group itself will do it for you. In the songs of "Leningrad" you can hear a lot of things, from rude to stupid, but there is no dirt and complacency in it. “Leningrad” is, again, the Venedikterofey sphinx, its riddles, as was said, with pig overtones, but on the whole it works rather according to Herzen’s formula - “debauchery in Russia is not deep at all, it is more wild and greasy, noisy and , rude, disheveled and shameless than deep.” Everything is so, and the meaning of “Leningrad” is in the mood they once tamed and still retain, which Shnurov himself calls eschatological delight. As Mamardashvili, whom Shnurov valued, said, “What worries me most is the lack of tragic joy.”

“Leningrad” has privatized the very feeling of the holiday, this is its trademark, the shares of which are rising - the fewer reasons for the holiday, the more relevant the Leningrad institution. This paganalia is consistent with Russian literary traditions - it is a celebration of a generally small person (which is most clearly captured in the video “Drinking in St. Petersburg”). Shnurov was accused of mocking people, although he transformed the inertia of the usual local self-criticism into the energy of jubilation; and his notorious Louboutins also, funny as it may seem, came out of Gogol’s overcoat. In Mamleev's old story this is called - playing around in squalor.

In Moscow, on a stretch near the Fili station, graffiti once appeared - a huge word FUCK, in which clouds, sky, forest, people were written in detail. This is Leningrad. Shnurov contained within himself this enveloping energy of barbarism, but in the same way as Lyn Khejinyan wrote about barbarism: “The figure of the barbarian poet I propose in no way implies romantic complacency. I do not intend to resuscitate or re-appeal the image of the pampered, self-indulgent, anti-intellectual pompous persona in the spirit of romantic clichés. In fact, the barbarian is a completely “ordinary” person creating a “new picture”. It is not a marginal language, but an agent (and conductor) of tangibility, as well as a medium of self-multiplying connections. It is the logic of these new connections that gives poetry its endless flexibility and ability to transform.” Shnurov turned into an agent of tangibility, and it was the logic of new connections that led to the fact that 2016 became the year of “Leningrad” - many groups here broke up and gathered again, but no one managed to return and rise to a higher level. Of course, there is a great temptation to assume that Shnurov is, as it were, Putin - well, since the Medvedev era coincided with the “Ruble”, and when Putin returned, “Leningrad” returned (although Shnurov met Medvedev, but not Putin). Although, after Trump’s incident, they began to see in “Leningrad” a global biopolitical tendency towards simplification and the aforementioned barbarism, and some person on Instagram compared him to the young Hitler (really a little similar). Shnurov himself explained all the speculation by saying that “Leningrad” had become an epic - with wide space for staging: “You cannot be successful, because Putin is successful, and these 86 percent do not give them rest - if you are successful, then you are playing on Putin’s aside, it's automatic. Although they themselves understand perfectly well that Shuvalov and I are not of the same breed, that we grew up here and exist not thanks to, but in spite of, and claims against us arise equally from Orthodox activists and systemic liberals. But discussing us is the same as presenting the Australian band AC/DC with something about the Aborigines.”

Once, leaving the Moscow station, I noticed three mugs in a kiosk - Putin, Vysotsky, Shnurov. It seemed that other people were no longer depicted on the mugs. Shnurov, however, rather followed Utesov’s line - everything is fine, a beautiful marquise. There is such a term - “conservation status: causing least concern”. This is what they say about wolves, for example. On the one hand, this, of course, is about “Leningrad” - I don’t really believe that it will be possible to cope with it in a censorship-repressive manner; today it is really a big and seasoned beast. According to Yandex polls, the main memes of 2016 were “Louboutins” and “drink in St. Petersburg.” One night we sat at the Probka restaurant in the Gazprom building, where, as you know, the lights are turned off at one in the morning. We sat for two hours by candlelight - Andromedych sat down at the phono, Florida sang about boobs, then Shnurov got tired of it, at three o'clock in the morning he called the general director of Gazprom A. Dyukov, and the lights were turned on. It seems that it is difficult for Leningrad to get into the distribution, since it itself is traditionally on the distribution. However, like any newsman and individual worker who came from nowhere, he walks a strange fine line - both the authorities and the people seem to love him, but within the framework of the existing logic of the absurd - when there is a law on swearing and posters of “Leningrad “- no one ever guaranteed him anything, and he never had and doesn’t have any formal patrons. When the law was adopted, just three days later “Leningrad” performed at Urgant with a fresh song about the fiasco and an unnamed intercourse, and that same week an extremely closed corporate event took place at the Mikhailovsky Theater for very powerful mandarins, where Shnurov at the end of the curtain wished the audience: “Love and good luck, we’ll steal the rest!”

On the other hand, its snowball was gradually gaining mass - the public organization “Orthodox Union” called on people not to swear at concerts in Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar, Novosibirsk activists wrote a denunciation to prosecutor Yuri Chaika, at the end of November someone called the police three times because Shnurov was fined several times for swearing on stage. In the fall of 2016, he was overwhelmed by filming on Channel One - he took up hosting a talk show, citing reasons of creative safety - no one canceled parliamentary requests, and it would be more difficult for someone from Channel One to close a concert. In addition, “Leningrad” undertook to shoot its most pompous video for the song “Kolshchik” for 25 million rubles, with director Ilya Nightshuller, and also appeared in the fourth season of “Fizruk” - the most notable serial story of our time. Stas Rostotsky described it this way: “The Leningrad group arrived on the set with a truncated lineup - and in absolutely blissful ignorance of what they actually fit into: at that moment, the members of the group were most occupied with the new Metallica album and a couple of fresh compositions by Alla Pugacheva, analyzed by Shnur quickly, biasedly and philologically impeccably (he was especially upset by the rhymes). As in “Election Day,” “Leningrad” had to perform from the screen not its own song, but another stylization of itself, this time with the striking refrain “We need a match, everything has gone to HIV.” And suddenly they looked at each other, took the instruments and began to play House of Rising Sun. Their "Home" rising sun“made an absolutely stunning and magical impression - even despite the buffoonish “Give me some money!” barked by the Cord on the final chords.”

Before the next Leningrad concerts at the Barvikha Luxury Village, Shnurov and I went to wander around the shops, which are uninhabited in these parts, like some kind of cabinet of curiosities of consumerism. The local Prada boutique is reminiscent of the Texas installation Prada Marfa, which actually depicts a retail store in the middle of the desert. That evening it got colder, Shnurov wandered around the store, like that same dashing man in the icy desert, the saleswomen silently followed him. In the end, he chose an astrakhan fur coat for himself: “The real end of the empire!” They asked one and a half million for the fur coat. The test purchase did not happen right away - there were only two fur coats in the world, no one at the head sales office believed that anyone in a sane Russian mind could purchase it, so the saleswomen almost called Miuccia herself for approval of the transaction. While Shnurov was looking at his reflection, talking about Baskov’s recent concert and praising the group “Mushrooms,” a composition by Asmus Titchens from 1983 suddenly started playing in the store. Outside the window, Sevich and Parygin paraded like two frozen angels - they recently formed the group “MAX” with a song about Fedul. And this vacuum store, and Shnurov in this fur coat, and Asmus Titchens, and this imperially final price - everything was filled with such crystal absurdity and at the same time iron logic that the entire semantics of possible worlds shone around and around. We were given an incentive bottle of champagne and a huge bag of clothes, it seemed that we had bought not a fur coat, but an entire country. We headed to the hotel to drop off some purchases, and besides, Shnurov needed to take medicine for his ligaments. I drank champagne, and Shnurov drank his potion, and we hurried to the concert. Already in the elevator he said: “ Lately I feel a strange feeling - it’s like everyone has been defeated, but what the fuck?”

“Miss Universe” will take an AIDS test in Moscow

Natalya Glebova, the most beautiful woman planet, flew to the capital from Canada yesterday. The purpose of the visit is to take a blood test for HIV infection and thereby encourage every Russian to do the same. After all, becoming “Miss Universe” means not only to show off your beauty, but also to take upon yourself important mission. Since 1998, every first beauty on the planet, along with the crown, also receives the title of UN Goodwill Ambassador on HIV/AIDS.

The first thing Natalya did upon arrival was to meet people living with this terrible disease, to support them and just to chat. And then, as expected before an AIDS test, I went for a consultation, which, according to the law, everyone who decides to be tested must undergo. At this consultation, it is explained that the result of the analysis, against all expectations, may turn out to be positive, and the person must take this step consciously or refuse it.

Last year, 23-year-old Natalya Glebova represented Canada at the Miss Universe pageant. She was born in Russia, in Tuapse, but her parents emigrated when the future star was 12 years old. Natasha claims that she remembers the Russian language perfectly, but she still preferred to give an exclusive interview to MK in English.

I am glad that I am continuing the work started by my predecessors. I know what a terrible misfortune this is, and not from books, but from real life. After all, dealing with the problem of AIDS is my professional responsibility.

A beauty contest among HIV-infected people was recently held in Russia. The winner, Svetlana Izambayeva, a hairdresser from Cheboksary, suffered a lot after it: they literally pointed fingers at her, clients refused her services...

Of course, it is very difficult to openly admit your diagnosis. This requires courage. It's sad that many, without really knowing anything about AIDS, draw quick and erroneous conclusions. Until everyone clearly understands for themselves what HIV is, why it is dangerous and how it is transmitted, such situations will be repeated. That's why I came, to set an example for others. I would love to meet this courageous girl, hug her and show others that there is nothing wrong with her.

- You will publicly take a blood test for HIV. What if, God forbid, it turns out to be positive? Are you ready to confess?

Certainly! I will not hide. If the test really comes out positive, I am simply obliged, as a goodwill ambassador for HIV-AIDS, to admit it.

- Do you have infected friends?

Among those who mean a lot in my life, there are also those who, unfortunately, are sick.

-Are you ready to marry an HIV-positive man?

To be honest, not really.

- At the very beautiful girl Surely the most amazing boyfriend in the world?

But no. There is none. The Miss Universe job takes a lot of time. I haven’t had a free minute in a year, so I simply don’t have time to start a serious relationship with anyone.

- What kind of men do you like?

Kind, with a sense of humor, open, educated, harmonious. It is best if they are tall, with dark hair and eyes.

- How do you feel about women who endlessly change their partners?

This is their choice. There is nothing wrong with this - as long as they engage in safe sex with their chosen ones. I think to myself that it's mine real love(when I meet her, of course) will be forever.