Chizh & Co is a Russian rock band. The musicians managed to secure the status of superstars. But it took them a little more than two decades.
The history of the creation and composition of the Chizh & Co group
At the origins of the team is Sergei Chigrakov. The young man was born on the territory of Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region. In his teenage years, Sergei, along with his older brother, performed as a substitute for various musical groups.
Chigrakov lived for music. First, he graduated from a music school, and then received a school certificate and went to study at a music school. The young man constantly played the accordion, and then mastered the guitar and drums. In addition, he began to write poetry.
The first adult team was the GPD group. For the sake of participating in the project, Sergey even moved to Kharkov. But the sacrifices with the move were not justified. Soon the team split into two parts. Chigrakov joined the team "Different People".
It cannot be said that the “Different People” team enjoyed significant success, but one way or another, the musicians recorded several albums. The collection "Boogie-Kharkov" is completely written by Sergey Chigrakov. At the time of release, the album was not liked by the listeners. But after 6 years, some tracks have become top. Then Chizh wrote the first hits: "Darling" and "I want tea."
In 1993, Sergei "ripened" to release a solo album. Chigrakov was morally supported by the already “promoted” artist Boris Grebenshchikov, and Andrey Burlak and Igor Berezovets inspired the musician to take this step.
The album was released in the same 1993. He received the modest name "Chizh". To record the collection, Chigrakov invited musicians from other rock groups - N. Korzinina, A. Brovko, M. Chernov, and others.
The history of the creation of the Chizh & Co group
In 1994, Sergei began performing as a solo artist. The first performances were in St. Petersburg clubs. A little later, musicians Alexei Romanyuk and Alexander Kondrashkin joined Chigrakov.
The trio created a new team, which was called "Chizh & Co". The warm welcome of the St. Petersburg audience inspired the creation of a rock band of musicians.
The first composition of the new group included: vocalist and guitarist Sergei Chigrakov, bass player Alexei Romanyuk, drummer Vladimir Khanutin and guitarist Mikhail Vladimirov.
Almost immediately after the creation of the band, the musicians presented their debut live album Live, and later the album "Crossroads".
In the late 1990s, drummer Vladimir Khanutin left the band. Vladimir left the team in order to participate in the NOM group. His place was taken by Igor Fedorov, who previously played in the NEP and TV bands.
In the early 2000s, the band's frontman Chizh told the team that it was time to change the director. Instead of Alexander Gordeev, a former classmate, and part-time friend of Sergei, Colonel Andrei Asanov, began to deal with the "affairs" of the rock band.
In 2010, drummer Igor Fedorov left the Chizh & Co group. Igor Dotsenko, a member of the DDT team, was enrolled in his place. Shevchuk did not want to let Dotsenko go, but Chizh begged the drummer to join his team. After Igor's death, Vladimir Nazimov took his place.
Music of the group "Chizh & Co"
In 1995, the band's discography was replenished with the second studio album "About Love". A feature of the disc was that it included cover versions of popular tracks.
Among the tracks there is a cover version of the folk song "Here the bullet whistled." In 1995, another collection was released. The new album has collected the best hits of the band, which they performed at their concert in St. Petersburg.
In 1996, the team replenished their discography with two albums at once: "Erogenous Zone" and "Polonaise". A video clip was released for the song "Polonaise". The musicians filmed the video in America. The audience liked the work, because this is a unique opportunity to see foreign countries and its beauty. In the same 1996, the band was replenished with drummer Evgeny Barinov.
The musicians were not burdened by the harsh terms of the contract. They had the opportunity to play in other bands and record solo albums. So, guitarist Vladimirov recorded a worthy solo album, which was called "Wake and in a dream."
In 1997, the musicians decided to pay tribute to their parents. This year a collection appeared that contained cover versions of touching Soviet musical compositions. The group "Chizh & Co" filmed several video clips: "Under the Balkan Stars" and "Bombers". The main hit of the collection was the song "Tanks rumbled on the field ...".
A year later, the group went with a concert to Israel. In addition to a successful concert, the musicians released a new album, New Jerusalem. The hits of the album were the songs: "For two", "Russomatroso" and "Phantom". In the same 1998, the album "Best Blues and Ballads" was released.
US tour
In the fall, the Chizh & Co group set off to conquer the United States of America. The performance of the musicians took place in the Astoria nightclub. They then performed an acoustic concert specifically for the BBC radio show. A little later, this recording was included in the live album "At 20:00 GMT".
The musicians spent the whole of 1999 on a big tour. Most of the performances were held on the territory of the CIS countries. They traveled abroad twice - to the United States of America, where they performed at the festival with such masters of rock music as: Crematorium, Alice, Chaif, etc., and in August. The team went to Latvia. The musicians took part in a popular rock festival.
The band continued to tour extensively in the early 2000s. Performances of musicians were in Russia, Israel and the USA. In addition, each of the group members was engaged in solo work, for example, Sergey recorded a joint collection with Alexander Chernetsky.
2001 Sergei Chigrakov released his solo album "I'll be Haydno!". This collection is unique in that Chizh did not involve musicians, producers and arrangers in the recording of the collection. He recorded the record on his own from "A" to "Z".
The team continued to perform. The musicians tried to increase the audience of fans. They visited with their concerts not only in large, but also in small cities. After the performances, the artists signed autographs, answered questions and exchanged "energy" with fans.
Chizh & Co in the Arctic
In 2002, the Chizh & Co group surprised the public - the musicians went with their performance to the Arctic. The area surprised the soloists of the group. A new hit "Blues on Stilts" appeared here.
In autumn the team went to the United States of America. The concerts of the Russian group were attended not only by compatriots who lived in a foreign land, but also by Americans who respect Russian rock.
A year later, the Chizh & Co group went to Canada to conquer the locals. It is interesting that here the team did not perform at full strength. The reason is simple - not everyone received a visa to enter the country.
2004 was declared the year of acoustics by the musicians. The guys went on the next tour without the accompaniment of their favorite instrument - electronic guitars. The group again went to conquer the whole world. The musicians even recorded some blues tracks with black Americans in America. In addition, the rockers went to the East for the first time, giving a concert in Singapore.
In the same 2004, the team celebrated its first solid anniversary - 10 years since the creation of the Chizh & Co group. In honor of this significant event, the musicians held several concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In addition to the band, the audience saw other legendary rock bands on stage.
And then came a break, which was associated only with the work of the rock band. Each of the musicians was engaged in his solo project. Celebrities performed less and less under the name "Chizh & Co".
Interesting facts about the Chizh & Co group
- Sergei Chigrakov once a year rested in the Kirov region, on the territory of the sanatorium "Kolos". It was in this sanatorium that the musician saw those very 18 birches: “Outside my window there are 18 birches, I myself counted them, as the raven considers,” to which he dedicated the musical composition.
- Sergei Chigrakov learned to play the accordion at a music school (by the way, he graduated with honors) at the Leningrad Institute of Culture, and played drums at the jazz studio of the Leningrad Conservatory.
- Music critics and fans praised the album "About Love" very much, which is filled with love ballads.
- The musical composition "Polonaise" Sergei Chigrakov wrote while playing with his daughter. According to the soloist of the group, it was the little daughter who came up with the beginning: “Let's break the snow and find at least one dream ...”.
The Chizh & Co team today
The last studio album was released by the musicians back in 1999. Fans are still waiting for at least a hint of replenishment of the discography, but, alas ... The soloists of the Chizh & Co group are actively working on solo projects and rarely get together to perform at festivals or concerts.
Chizh did not officially announce the dissolution of the group, but did not confirm that it was worth waiting for video clips, songs or new collections. In February 2018, he wrote the music for the song "Love Tired in Secret".
In 2019, the group "Chizh & Co" celebrated the 25th anniversary of the creation of the team. The musicians secured this event with a big tour. In addition, fans were waiting for another joyful event.
The group promised to release a collection within a year after a 20-year break, - the band leader Chigrakov said at a press conference at the Invasion rock festival.
Obviously, the album will be released in 2020. In the meantime, the musicians managed to please with a spring concert and an online performance in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.
Chizh & Co Group in 2022
In the period 2021-2022, the team actively toured the territory of the Russian Federation. In rare cases, artists have taken a break amid restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
On June 6, 2022, it became known about the death of Mikhail Vladimirov. He died of a hemorrhagic stroke.
