АнимациЯ

AnimatsiYa / АнимациЯ Published: October 22, 2016 AnimatsiYa (АнимациЯ; translates to “animation,” with an emphasis on “I” in the Russian) is a Russian rock group that was formed in 2000 in Chistopol, Tatarstan. They’re considered to be a heavy metal/hard rock band. According to their own definition in their record-label biography, they play something called “clean rock … uniting all the traditions of quality Russian rock.” Their songs describe and investigate contemporary Russian life and the fate of man—they’re deep and meaningful. The group’s members, following a long Chistopol tradition, are self-made poets. Konstantin Kulyasov (Константин Кулясов; vocals, guitar, songwriting) founded the band, but there wasn’t a single consistent membership until sometime in 2001: Kulyasov, Artyom Karpov (Артём Карпов; percussion), Vitaliy Belov (Виталий Белов; bass guitar), Aleksey Ivanov (Алексей Иванов; guitar), Dmitry Mausov (Дмитрий Маусов; vocals, guitar), and Andrey Chugunov (Андрей Чугунов; keyboard).The group’s first album was finally released in 2008. Called Strange Person (Странник), it became popular in Boston, of all places. The second album, Interference On the Air (Помехи в эфире), was only released online, in 2009. After that, they began appearing at more rock festivals and touring in Tatarstan. The group’s present-day form actually didn’t arise until around 2009—according to the group’s VK site, this first group was barely even the same band as today’s version, as they searched for and changed their sound with each new member. The various changes in membership are difficult to trace, they’ve been so convoluted; today the band consists of Kulyasov, Aleksey Saleev (Алексей Салеев; guitar), Dmitry Dolonin (Дмитрий Долонин; bass guitar), Emil Suleymanov (Эмиль Сулейманов; percussion), Georgiy Malanchev (Георгий Маланчев; sound direction and production), and Vitaliy Averyanov (Виталий Аверьянов; technical work, stage design). The band’s popularity grew with their third album, Made in China? (Сделано в Китае?), one of whose songs, “Vanka” (“Ванька”), won an online musical competition. They later released a cartoon music video to accompany the song. In 2012, their fourth album, Ё Time (Время Ё), was released, and one song, “Homeland” (“Родина”), finally approached the top of Russian charts. The song was also chosen as part of the soundtrack of the film Messenger from Paradise (Курьер из рая), which the group seems quite proud of. A few years later, “Vanka” was featured in the film “Moscow, Russia” Express (Скорый “Москва-Россия”). The group released their most recent album, Crossroads (Распутье), in 2015. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.