Kickin' Up Some Kinomania

His face is familiar even to those who know little about rock music. It?€™s an image worn on the chests of thousands of T-shirted teenagers all over the country ?€” that of Viktor Tsoi, the former leader of rock band Kino who even a decade after his death remains a rock legend.

A generation of musicians have grown up on the music of the darkly good-looking ethnic Korean Tsoi ?€” with its deep-voiced vocals and simple rhythms ?€” but the country nevertheless waited 10 years for the release of "Kinoproby," the first official album of Kino covers. Two companion concerts ?€” one in Moscow, one in St. Petersburg ?€” will also be held.

The idea for the album belongs to an old friend of Tsoi?€™s ?€” Igor Gudkov, also known as "Punker." From the same St. Petersburg neighborhood as Tsoi, the two would jam together in their youth, just two "weird guys who got together for beer and to listen to music" ?€” in the words of Mikhail Kozyrev, programming director at Nashe Radio, the radio station that organized Kinoproby.

Now owner of his own record company, Gudkov approached Kozyrev with the idea of recording a new version of Kino?€™s first album, "45." The idea was then expanded to include well-known bands that would record covers of their favorite Kino classics.

After a series of documentary programs about Tsoi and Kino were aired in October and November on Nashe Radio, the first album ?€” with covers by Mumy Troll, Zemfira and an oft-aired version of Kino ballad "We?€™ve Seen the Night" (Videli Noch) by Zdob si Zdub appeared on the shelves. A second album is due to follow soon.

Appearing in the early 1980s in Leningrad, Kino grew up as rock came out of its Soviet closet, going from playing whispered underground shows in private apartments and basements when rock music was less than legal to playing to audiences of thousands at major arenas during the days of perestroika in the late 1980s.

Early Kino ?€” with its major influences in New Wave bands like Duran Duran and The Cure ?€” were heavier on the eye shadow and lighter on the rock than many of their fans today know. Kino?€™s lyrics are as much an indication of this as any: grim and dour, of the depressed pop star rather than rock variety.

When he sang lyrics like "Changes. We?€™re waiting for changes" (Peremen. My zhdyom peremen) and "If you?€™ve got a pack of cigarettes in your pocket/ That means things aren?€™t so bad today" (Yesli yest v karmane pachka sigaret/ Znachit, vsyo ne tak uzh plokho na segodnyashny den), Tsoi echoed the mood of his Soviet-era audiences.

"Kino was the first group to cross over between rock and pop music in Russia," said Oleg Felyd, lyricist for contemporary pop band Smysloviye Gallyutsinatsii, who play on the first Kinoproby album.

"Because of that crossover, they were popular not only among rockers, but among everyone else," Felyd said.



"Kino was perfect, the perfect rock group for this country," said Kozyrev. "They were just as blindingly bright as a rock group could be ?€” and as dark as a rock group could be."

Tsoi?€™s death at the height of his fame in a car accident on a Latvian highway in 1990 inevitably made him even more popular.

"It?€™s what happens when somebody goes away at the height of their stardom," Kozyrev said. "His legend lives on."

"When we were young, everyone listened to Kino in this country," said Alexander Ponomaryov, producer of wildly popular contemporary pop band Bi-2, whose remake of "Kukushka" will be included on the second album.

The manner of Tsoi?€™s exit from the stage appears to have resulted in covers that treat his songs with a respect that may have resulted in a certain hesitance among the musicians to make significant changes.

But Moldovan ethnic rockers Zdob si Zdub take the other route with their version of "We?€™ve Seen the Night," turning the song from a sad, contemplative number into a rousing, effervescent Moldovan folk pop song ?€” something along the lines of Tsoi redone as the soundtrack to the film "Underground."

Fan reaction has varied from utter hatred of the song to adoration.

The second album of covers will be released later this month with songs from many of the same artists and others, including Leningrad, Akvarium and Bi-2. Also on the album is Va Bank frontman Alexander F. Sklyar?€™s version of Kino favorite "Mama, We?€™ve All Gone Mad" (Mama, My Vse Soshli s Uma) ?€” a much darker cover than even the sullen original. Kozyrev called the version the only other Kinoproby cover that takes as many liberties with the original as Zdob si Zdub?€™s version of "We?€™ve Seen the Night."

One cover that took too many such liberties ?€” Ukrainian rock band Lyapis Trubetskoi?€™s attack on Tsoi campfire classic "Aluminum Cucumbers" (Alyuminiyeviye Ogurtsy) ?€” won?€™t be heard by anyone.

"It?€™s a crazy, freaky song," Kozyrev said, adding that it drew the immediate wrath of Tsoi?€™s widow, Marianna, who retains the copyright to her husband?€™s songs and had the right to veto any cover on the two albums.

"She hated it," Kozyrev said. "She hated the band?€™s guts, as well as their version of that song."

Marianna Tsoi, who worked closely on the project, was especially protective of "Aluminum Cucumbers," a playful song that has its singer planting aluminum cucumbers on a canvas field that Tsoi would only sing on special occasions.

"I loved it," said Kozyrev of the Lyapis Trubetskoi version ?€” which is lively and fast-paced like most of the band?€™s work ?€” adding that there was no way to release it without Marianna Tsoi?€™s approval. Another version of the song, a somewhat less adventurous version by pop band Picnic, was chosen for the album.

"I?€™ll release it as a rarity in 2080," joked Kozyrev of the Lyapis Trubetskoi cover.

The Kinoproby concert takes place at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at 16 Olimpiisky Sports Complex. Metro Prospekt Mira. Tickets are available at city theater kiosks.