Rondo is a Russian rock band that began its musical activity in 1984.
Composer and part-time saxophonist Mikhail Litvin became the leader of the musical group. The musicians in a short period of time have accumulated material for the creation of the debut album "Turneps".
The composition and history of the creation of the musical group Rondo
In 1986, the Rondo team consisted of the following soloists: V. Syromyatnikov (vocals), V. Khavezon (guitar), Y. Pisakin (bass), S. Losev (keyboards), M. Litvin (saxophone), A. Kosorunin (percussion instruments).
Music critics believe that the first composition of the Rondo group was "golden". The group had a small number of bright characters - vocalist Kostya Undrov (later he left for his native land of Rostov-on-Don and recorded the album “Rostov is my dad” there), guitarist Vadim Khavezon (today the manager of the rock band “Nogu Svelo!”) , drummer Sasha Kosorunin (later groups: Blues League, Moral Code, Untouchables, Natalia Medvedeva's group).
The musical group "Rondo" has always been not against musical experiments. So, at the beginning of creativity, jazz and “light rock” were present in their tracks.
At the end of 1986, Nikolai Rastorguev joined the team. However, the singer did not stay in the team for a long time. He was on creative flights. His plans were to create his own group. Later he became the leader of the Lube musical group.
At the beginning of their creative career, the soloists of the Rondo group played non-commercial music. In fact, the guys were sitting without work. They lacked a fashionable sound, so for a long time their tracks were not in demand.
When a new soloist, Sasha Ivanov, came to the group, the sound of the songs of the Rondo group began to change for the better. The tracks were then fashionable rock and roll and pop rock.
The program presented at the Rock Panorama-86 music festival (with the track Roly-Vstanka, where Alexander Ivanov (professional acrobat) simultaneously performed the track and showed a dance number) recorded the transitional period of the group.
In 1987, it turned out that there were two Rondo groups in Russia at once. Before leaving for the United States, the producer of the Rondo group, Mikhail Litvin, formed a double of the rock group.
This brought him a double profit. The second original composition of the group sued Mikhail and won the case. The second date of birth of the group is 1987.
The creative path of the musical group
Then the musical group "Rondo" used the unique abilities of Alexander Ivanov to perform hard blues and beautiful ballads in a hoarse voice.
In 1989, the Rondo group entered into a lucrative contract with the Stas Namin SNC corporation. Stas Namin wanted to introduce foreign music lovers to the work of the Rondo group.
Namin formed an impressive company to win the love of foreign rock fans - the Gorky Park group, the Stas Namin Group, Rondo. Each team recorded English-language compositions. In 1989, the Rondo group first came to the United States of America with their concert.
Then the musicians performed at the music festival "To Help Armenia". At the end of the tour, the Rondo group presented the Kill Me With Your Love album to fans of their work.
However, in the end, Stas Namin made a bet on the Gorky Park group, which had already signed a contract with Bon Jovi management.
Alexander Ivanov noted that working in the USA brought him good experience. However, the influence of the United States of America on the band, alas, was not limited to this: in 1992, guitarist Oleg Avakov moved to the United States. From that moment on, the composition was reformed.
In 1993, a new soloist, Igor Zhirnov, joined the musical group, and in 1995, guitarist Sergei Volodchenko joined. Actually, this is how the current composition of the group looks like. In addition to the listed participants, the Rondo group included N. Safonov and bassist D. Rogozin.
Since the mid-1990s, the musicians began to create the most vile albums. The album "Welcome to Hell" is dominated by the so-called "glam rock".
If you are in search of the best slow songs of the group, then in this case you are recommended to listen to the album "Best Ballads". By the way, the main hit “I Will Remember” was included in this disc.
In addition, not only blues and rock, but also ballads prevailed in the songs of the Rondo group. From the moment the ballads were released, Alexander Ivanov took up the guitar.
Since 1997, the musical group has performed a lot. Performances of rockers take place in the club and at the stadium. In the memory of fans, the most important performance is the joint concert of the Rondo group with the Gorky Park group, which took place in the summer of 1997.
In 1998, the leader and permanent soloist of the group Ivanov presented his second solo album to fans. Ivanov's colleagues in the group began to remark to him that the recording of the album had a negative impact on the state of the group's repertoire. He agreed, and therefore offered to organize a big tour.
In 1998, the Rondo group went on tour with the Road Show Philips concert program. The concert tour was supported by Philips. After the concert, the soloists advertised the brand's technique and even raffled off valuable prizes.
In the late 1990s, there was a crisis in Russia, so the recording studios did not offer the band the fees that the guys were counting on.
However, the musical group still decided to record 5 tracks. Among them, one should recall the top composition "Moscow Autumn", the words to which were written by the talented bard Mikhail Sheleg.
In 1999, Alexander Ivanov re-released the tracks of one of the most successful records of the musical group "Sinful Soul Sorrow". Fans were delighted with the new sound of long-loved songs.
Ivanov combined the material of the first release with concert recordings that were not included in the first "Sadness" tracks: "Above the Bell Towers", "It's a pity" and "Angel on Duty" from the repertoire of the Russian pop prima donna Alla Borisovna Pugacheva.
For the reissued album, Igor Zhirnov softened the sound somewhat, and this is the main difference between the tracks. As a result, the disc "Sinful Soul Sorrow" became a double album. Despite the fact that the "composition" of the album was not new, from a commercial point of view, the disc was very successful.
In the early 2000s, the musical group "Rondo" presented the composition "Moscow Autumn". This and other compositions Ivanov "placed" in the new album.
The difference of the album, which was released in 2000, was that the collected tracks were dynamic. Ivanov collected different rock styles in the disc.
In 2003, together with the soloists of the musical group, Ivanov presented the disc "Coda", which became the final album of the rock group.
In 2005 Ivanov became the owner of his own label A&I. A year later, he presented the collection "Passenger" to fans of his work.
The talented Alexander Dzyubin became the author of the tracks of the “Passenger” disc. The hits of the collection were the songs: "Dreams", "She's Bluffing", "Permanent Residence", "Birthday", "Fifth Avenue". The album was included in the Golden Collection collection along with two DVD recordings of live concerts and video clips of Alexander Ivanov.
Some interesting facts about the Rondo group
- The soloists of the musical group "Rondo" are one of the first performers who, in Soviet times, tried on the image of rockers. The musicians wore leather clothes, they dyed their hair in various colors and applied dark makeup.
- In the early 1990s, the musicians performed in Thailand. There they had an unfortunate incident. A man who identified himself as the owner of the hotel where the musicians rented a room turned out to be a scammer. He was arrested in front of the rockers. As a result, the members of the Rondo group were forced to testify. According to Ivanov, they miraculously returned to their homeland.
- Before leaving for music and creativity, Alexander Ivanov was closely involved in sports. In particular, the future rock star received a black belt in karate.
- The Rondo group is the first band that started performing glam rock in Russia.
- The author of the song "God, what a trifle" is Sergey Trofimov. Trofimov wrote it in the late 1980s. However, it became a hit in the 1990s, when it was performed by Alexander Ivanov.
Musical group Rondo today
In 2019, the rock band Rondo celebrated its 35th anniversary. In honor of this event, the musical group held a big festive concert, which was attended by representatives of domestic rock. In addition, Ivanov and the Rondo group presented a new video clip for the song "Forgotten".
In 2019, Alexander Ivanov and the Rondo group were visiting Ivan Urgant. On the show "Evening Urgant" rockers performed the top song of their repertoire "God, what a trifle."
The musical group "Rondo" is not going to leave the stage. They tour, participate in music festivals, re-record old tracks in a new way.
