Little Tragedies

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Little Tragedies
Origin Flag of RussiaKursk, Russia
Genre(s) Progressive Rock, Art-rock, Symphonic rock
Years active 1994–present
Label(s) Boheme Music (2000)
Musea Records (2001)
MALS (2001-present)
Website Littletragedies.com
Members
Gennady Ilyin (Composer, Keyboards, Vocals)(1994-present)
Oleg Babynin (Bass guitar)(1994-present)
Yuri Skripkin (Drums)(1994-present)
Alexander Malakhovsky (Guitar)(2000-present)
Aleksey Bildin (Saxophone)(2000-present)

Little Tragedies (Russian: Маленькие Трагедии-Malenkiye Tragediyi) are a Russian language progressive rock, Art-rock and Symphonic rock band from Russia. Arguably the most important Russian progressive rock band.[1]

Contents

[edit] Style

The band described its style as "a battery of keyboards - drums - bass; hard rhythm section support and soloing keyboards". Little Tragedies has their very own style, influenced by classical music and heavy art-rock. The music of Little Tragedies is very melodic and always features a keyboard solo with an improvisation accent.[2]

[edit] History

"Little Tragedies" were founded in 1994 by the graduate of St. Petersburg Conservatory, composer Gennady Ilyin, in the city of Kursk. The group's first recording, 1, was never recorded as an album. It exists only on an amateur videotape made from the group's only concert at that moment.

Since 1995 the band was a trio: Gennady Ilyin - keyboards; Yuri Skripkin - drums; Oleg Babynin - bass. With such a line-up the group played till 2000.

After visiting Paris, Gennady Ilyin started working on his first "Paris Symphony". Although the this symphony was recorded in a professional studio in Moscow and more than once was presented by the group in music schools and concert halls, it remained unrecognized.

1997 - the beginning of 1998. It took G. Ilyin a month to compose a fairytale ballet "Magic Shop" about a little girl's Christmas adventures. He practiced it with the band, and it was performed on the stage only two and a half years later.

In the year 2000 the band released two first albums, The Sun of Spirit and Porcelain Pavilion, on the record label Boheme Music. The albums were recorded in 1998-1999, with the additional musicians Igor Mihel (Guitar) and Yevgeniy Shukin (Audio engineering).

In summer 2000, Alexander Malakhovsky (guitar) and Aleksey Bildin (saxophone) joined the trio. With the new line-up, in 2001 the group created the last album of the trilogy to the poems of N. Gumilev, Return (the first were The Sun of Spirit and Porcelain Pavilion). The album was first released by the French label Musea Records. At the same time the band signed with the record label MALS, the biggest progressive music label in Russia, and the album also became available for the Russian public.

In 2003 the band released their fourth album, New Faust, a double concept album which was written back in 1997-8. In this album Faust is not only the character of a national drama who is conflicting with the society, but he is also a man of the universe seeking ways to clean his soul and acquire a spirit.

In 2006 the band released a fith album, The Sixth Sense. At the same year the band opened the second day of the InProg 2006 festival.

In 2007 the band released the first and later the second part of their sixth album based on Russian translations to Chinese poetry, Chinese Songs, with the main theme of the album being the relationship beetwen man and nature. At the same year the band's record-label MALS re-released The Sun of Spirit and Porcelain Pavilion, with bonus-tracks.

In 2008 the band released Cross, which was recorded already back in August 2007.

[edit] Discography

  • The Sun of Spirit (2000, Boheme Music)(2007, re-release, MALS).
  • Porcelain Pavilion (2000, Boheme Music)(2007, re-release, MALS).
  • Return (2001, Musea Records)(2001, MALS).
  • New Faust (2003, MALS. DOUBLE ALBUM).
  • The Sixth Sense (2006, MALS).
  • Chinese Songs (2007, MALS. DOUBLE ALBUM).
  • Cross (2008, MALS)

[edit] Trivia

  • The name Little Tragedies is taken from a title of a book by Alexander Pushkin.
  • The concept album New Faust, which was released in the year 2003, was written already back in 1997-8.
  • In 1988 Gennady Ilyin tried to form a band named Paradox, but that didn't work-out.[3]
  • Before founding Little Tragedies in 1994 Gennadiy Ilyin lived a few years in Germany.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Interviste
  2. ^ Little Tragedies
  3. ^ Маленькие трагедии
  4. ^ Маленькие трагедии

[edit] References

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