Tabula Rasa is one of the most poetic and melodic Ukrainian rock bands, founded in 1989. The Abris group needed a vocalist.
Oleg Laponogov responded to an ad posted in the lobby of the Kyiv Theater Institute. The musicians liked the young man's vocal abilities and his outward resemblance to Sting. It was decided to rehearse together.
The beginning of a creative career
The group began rehearsals and it immediately became clear to everyone that his new frontman would be the leader of the group. Oleg immediately began to write texts for the already finished material and brought several of his songs.
Laponogov made the sound of the band more melodic and suggested changing the name. The starting point in the history of the Tabula Rasa group is considered to be October 5, 1989.
Musically, the band gravitated toward synthetic indie rock. The musicians added elements of fusion, nu-jazz and other styles to the traditional guitar sound.
The band's debut performance took place at the Yolki-Palki festival in 1990. The audience really liked the band's music. The Tabula Rasa group took part in the Polish festival "Wild Fields", and in the Dneprodzerzhinsk festival "Bee-90" became the "Discovery of the Year".
Immediately after the team gave several performances, the young people decided that it was time to record an album. Moreover, there was a lot of material. The debut album was called "8 runes", which was warmly received by the public.
The band continued to perform at important festivals. In 1991, the team eclipsed everyone at the Vivih concert, and at the legendary Chervona Ruta festival they became the second.
After a busy touring activity, the musicians entered the studio to record their second album, Journey to Palenque. After the release of the album, a film-concert was filmed, which was broadcast on the air of one of the central channels of Ukraine.
Change in the composition of the Tabula Rasa group
In 1994, the composition of the Tabula Rasa group changed. The team said goodbye to Igor Davidyants, who decided to play other music.
The second founder of the group (Sergey Grimalsky) left the band to focus on his career as a composer. Then the last founder Alexander Ivanov also left. Only Oleg Laponogov remained. The group has changed its concept.
Oleg began to collect a new composition. Alexander Kitaev joined the group. The bassist was previously in the Moscow teams "Game" and "Master". Keyboardist Sergey Mishchenko joined the group. The team relied on Russian-language texts and a more melodic sound.
The album “Tale of May” was being prepared, its title song “Shayk, Shey, Shey” appeared in the rotations of major radio stations, and the video clip for this song was played on television.
The band took advantage of the lost popularity and began to tour extensively again. The experts of the Golden Firebird national award called the Tabula Rasa group "the best group of Ukraine".
A year later, the band's musicians began recording the fifth numbered album "Betelgeuse". The record is named after a star from the constellation Orion. The album contains musicians Brothers Karamazov, Alexander Ponomarev and other artists.
sabbatical
The album brought the Tabula Rasa group to the peak of popularity. Video clips were created for several songs. The group was rotated as much as possible on radio and television. But Oleg Laponogov decided to leave the stage on a sabbatical.
Until 2003, only fragmentary information appeared about the musician, many of which turned out to be fake.
The musician himself told his fans that he was just tired and wanted to rest. The exit from the protracted vacation occurred in 2003. A new composition "April" was recorded, for which a video clip was shot. The group returned to the stage.
In 2005, the musicians recorded the disc "Flower Calendars" and shot a video clip for the title track "Vostok". The presentation of the new album was a resounding success.
Many fans came to support the return of their favorite team. The group resumed touring activities and filmed several important video clips.
The music of the Tabula Rasa group is noted not only by the fans of the musicians, but also by numerous music critics. The charisma of the band's frontman Oleg Laponogov, the melody and poetics of the songs are the main criteria for the group's popularity.
They also note the concert energy of the group, which is one of the best on the Ukrainian rock scene.
Most of the group's compositions are performed in an aggressive style, but at the same time they are melodic. Oleg Laponogov often catches himself thinking that he cannot express in words what he wants to convey to the audience. Therefore, sometimes he prefers to invent a new language that fits perfectly with the chords of his guitar.
The band's latest album at the moment is "July", which was released in 2017. Video clips were filmed for several songs.
If initially, musically, the songs of the Tabula Rasa group resembled a combination of The Cure, Police and Rolling Stones, today they have become even more melodic. The musical "handwriting" of the team can be easily recognized. But isn't this the most important thing in the work of any musician?!
