Russian pop's mad perfectionist

Among the hundreds of weird characters in Russian rock and pop, Yury Chernavsky is one of the weirdest. Weird feature number one: he is an absolute professional.I've known plenty of geniuses here, guys with prophetic messages and cosmic energy, but few could actually play music. Born in Tambov in the late 1940s, Chernavsky studied classical violin, but got bored and switched to jazz saxophone. After playing and touring with top Soviet big bands, he got bored again and discovered rock 'n' roll. He joined -- as keyboardist and arranger -- The Merry Guys, the most popular Soviet "official" rock combo, and then formed Dynamic -- the biggest Moscow rock act of the early 1980s.His restless, creative mind couldn't bear the commercial rock routine, and in 1983 he recorded an "underground" tape called "Banana Islands," a milestone of Soviet popular music. It was the first Russian language rock recording that was played well, had proper sound, and didn't feel out- dated. It was also recorded with a two-track machine.When I met Chernavsky for the first time he made a funny impression: a big man with movements like a grown-up Pinocchio and a voice reminiscent of an old unoiled door. Behind this grotesque appearance was a man with a great sense of humor and an insatiable urge to learn new things and create new musical patterns.Banana Islands revealed a lot -- Chernavsky was the first Russian to rap (eight years prior to Bogdan Titomir) and he used synthesizers in more ways that just imitating strings and horns. His lyrical approach was also unusual, totally outside of both pop blandness and messianic socially-driven rock. Each song represented an ironic absurdist sketch about strange characters in strange circumstances -- probably the closest thing to a Russian musical version of Monty Python. The album quickly became a hit, and was blacklisted by the Ministry of Culture.Chernavsky quit his band and built a recording studio in his communal flat -- another unique deed. In the following years he wrote and recorded plenty of hit songs for almost every local pop star, including Alla Pugacheva and Valery Leontiyev. He started the first pop enterprise, called "Pop Music Studio Rekord." Rekord featured everything the industry needed -- from a gym to keep artists in perfect physical shape, to a pavilion for shooting videos. In spite of instant commercial success, he sold the studio in 1989 and went to live in West Berlin."My developments have never had anything to do with career, fame, or even money," he said in explaining his sudden departure. "All I ever wanted to do was to create perfect working conditions for myself. I thought that a big, well-organized studio would make my recording work easier, but it didn't. Instead of concentrating on music, I wasted time on administration. And I still lacked the contacts with high-level professionals, those I could really learn something from. I think I exhausted the local resource, so I decided to go to the West."In Germany, where Yury brought his whole family -- wife Tanya and two teenage sons -- he started from scratch, but his know-how has gradually taken him to the top of Berlin's pop world. In his recording studio he produces local dance and rap artists (most of them British and American ex-pats) and writes songs for pop stars -- Tina Turner among them.Just like in Russia, he continues his electronic experiments in his spare time, around 4 am. Some of such works -- both beautiful ambient music and crazy radical dance tracks -- are featured on Chernavsky's new solo album, "Beyond the Banana Islands" by Gogol Records, available on CD only."I haven't emigrated from Russia," he says, "I've just found a more convenient working place."Now, he's planning to work in the United States. Where next? Banana Islands?