"Blue Bird" is an ensemble whose songs are known to virtually all residents of the post-Soviet space according to memories from childhood and adolescence. The group not only influenced the formation of domestic pop music, but also opened the way to success for other well-known musical groups.
Early years and hit "Maple"
In 1972, a VIA of seven talented musicians began its creative activity in Gomel: Sergey Drozdov, Vyacheslav Yatsyno, Yuri Metelkin, Vladimir Blum, Yakov Tsyporkin, Valery Pavlov and Boris Belotserkovsky. The team successfully performed at local events, became popular and soon reached the all-Union level already under the name "Voices of Polesie".
For the group "Voices of Polesie" 1974 was marked by the transition under the control of the Gorky Philharmonic. The artists became part of the Sovremennik VIA, which already included the brothers Robert and Mikhail Bolotny. As well as Evgenia Zavyalova, who previously performed as a soloist in the Rosner Orchestra.
In the same year, the Moscow studio "Melody" released the composition "Maple" (Yu. Akulov, L. Shishko) on one of the records. The composition gained tremendous popularity - critics called it the mega-hit of the decade. And the records with the record diverged in significant circulation.
In the fall of 1975, the artists moved to Kuibyshev for rehearsals at the local Philharmonic. At the same time, Robert Bolotny came up with a new name for VIA - "The Blue Bird" - a symbol of fabulousness and happiness.
The first full-length album "Mom's Record" was released only in the winter of 1985. A year later, the artists first appeared on the big stage in Tolyatti. The date of the event is February 22 and is now considered the day the team was created.
Awards and the collapse of the Blue Bird team
The year 1978 was marked for the Blue Bird group by receiving an award from the USSR pop artists competition and a major tour of Soviet cities. A year later, VIA went to the Czech festival Banska Bystrica. Then he received an award at the prestigious Bratislava Lira music competition. In 1980, the ensemble had the honor to demonstrate their talent to the guests of the Olympics.
July 1985 was very hot for VIA. The ensemble began to perform in major cities of Afghanistan, even in African countries. A year later, the Blue Bird group was included in the list of participants in one of the most prestigious Czech rock festivals.
Since 1986, VIA has performed in Europe and Afghanistan. In 1991, the musicians even performed with a number of performances in the United States. But this was the end of the work of the team in its main composition - from 1991 to 1998. The Blue Bird group disappeared from the stage and did not appear at the studio.
Until 1991, the musicians managed to record 8 full-length albums, 2 collections of songs and more than a dozen minions. The total circulation of the sold records amounted to over 1 million copies.
Return to the stage
The soloist of the group Sergey Drozdov, left without fellow musicians, plunged into solo studio work for a long time. In 1999, he first tried to revive the team, but the attempt was not very successful.
It was possible to assemble a full-fledged new composition of the Blue Bird group only in 2002. After that, the group immediately began active studio and touring work, giving several concerts in the CIS countries and beyond.
Many hits of the Blue Bird group were re-recorded after the gathering of the new line-up. During the "remastering" the musicians tried to be as careful as possible about the author's style of the band. And they did not seek to add anything new to the sound.
In 2004, the Blue Bird group began collecting trophies again - VIA was awarded the Best of the Best statuette. In addition, the musicians applied for participation in the large-scale TV project Our Songs. And also appeared in other popular TV shows.
Sunset of the career of the Blue Bird group
In 2005, the team celebrated its 30th anniversary. Then the group included Sergey Levkin and Svetlana Lazareva. A year later, the team performed in St. Petersburg with a major personalized concert. And literally 5 days after him, the media was shocked by the news of the departure of Sergei Lyovkin from life.
In 2012, the founder and soloist of the group, Sergei Drozdov, died. The musician died at the age of 57 as a result of a long illness. Drozdov's vocals gave the group a recognizable style that experienced "fans" recognized among hundreds of others.
Songwritership and critics' opinion
Most of the songs of the Blue Bird group were written by the Bolotny brothers. But a significant part of the collective's repertoire belongs to the pen of famous Soviet and Russian composers - Yu. Antonov, V. Dobrynin, S. Dyachkov, T. Efimov.
The versatility of the authors, according to many music critics, has formed another specific feature of the VIA, distinguishing it from dozens of similar ensembles.
Another feature of the band is that it has developed through record sales to a greater extent than through TV broadcasts. Unlike other popular ensembles of its time ("Pesnyary", "Gems"), the Blue Bird group did not appear on television screens so often. The team occupied the top of the musical Olympus, relying on significant circulation of records, which fans bought up from store shelves at one moment.
