At a concert in Moscow, Alena Sviridova sang with the “physicists” and her youngest son
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Alena Sviridova managed to fit unexpectedly a lot into her small (in terms of the size of the hall) concert at the City Hall. In addition to the signature set of hits and several new songs, the audience was offered a small choir, as well as the appearance on stage of people who most likely were not in the event script.
At the very beginning of the performance, Alena Sviridova admitted that her voice was showing character today, so she would need the help of the audience. In such cases, it is not always clear where the line between the true state of affairs and artistic performance lies, but the audience immediately expressed a desire to sing along. And everyone’s voices were clearly heard.
The compact size of the hall and the acoustics that the singer proposed suited each other perfectly. Two guitars, a piano, a double bass and drums sounded very cozy, all the spectators were clearly visible, so the atmosphere was pleasantly intimate. Alena began playing acoustically together with her musicians in 2016, and since then this program has been brought to an almost ideal form in which it is already possible to improvise.
“Even if suddenly, by the way, this happened, something happened and the electricity was turned off, it would not affect us in any way,” Alena Sviridova noted a few days before the concert during a broadcast from the MK press center. “We’ll just move a little closer to the edge of the stage and continue our performance in the same way.” My voice is enough even without amplification; an acoustic guitar, double bass and drums will also sound great without electricity. We are sometimes asked: “You don’t have anything written down at all, but are there any backgrounds or interesting sounds?” I say: “No, what we play is what it sounds like. So there’s a real sense of freedom.”
We were lucky with the electricity this time and everything worked without a hitch. Things worked out with the backing too, sometimes in improvisation mode. “Here in the chorus we need a choir, I can’t do it alone, so help,” Alena noted before “I’ll Come to Your Help.” And by the chorus, a girl and a young man appeared on stage, whom the singer clearly did not expect. The spontaneous backing vocalists were singer Anna Romanovskaya, known from the group Cream Soda, and now a solo vocalist performing under the name Anna, and Grigory, Sviridova’s youngest son. Usually impromptu performances are carefully rehearsed, but not this time, and the informal flair made a pleasant impression on the audience.
Another guest appearance turned out to be much more staged, so, of course, it was prepared. According to the singer, some time ago she saw a performance by the Higgs Bosons group on the Internet. Those who don’t think of physics as a weird school subject that should be immediately forgotten probably know that the Higgs boson is an indivisible particle that is responsible for the mechanism by which other elementary particles have masses. The existence of the boson was suggested back in the sixties by British physicist Peter Higgs (hence the name), and in 2012 the particle was discovered during research using the hadron collider. The Higgs boson is sometimes called the God particle, a comparison that perhaps provides a bridge between physics and popular culture.
The members of the sixtet “Higgs Bosons” (they call themselves a vocal-research ensemble) have nothing to do with physics, but they definitely break down various hits into atoms and then assemble them using vocals and beat-boxing. A short acquaintance on social networks between Alena and vocal researchers was quite enough for a joint performance, during which “Pink Flamingo” received another incarnation. Not just a song, but ideal material for experimentation. The collab Alen + “Higgs Bosons” came out a little comical, completely out of step with what is now considered fashionable, and because of this filled with some kind of fresh breath.
In addition to the main hits, the program also included new items. “Roses-Frosts” was recently released as a single, and “Champagne” is currently only played at concerts, but it is expected for the warm season, when the song about sparkling in the morning as a means of surviving a breakup will be more in keeping with the weather. It must be admitted that in the fourth decade of her practice as an author, Alena Sviridova still writes difficult songs with the same ease. Her melodies are traditionally intricate, the lyrics are very atmospheric, and it all sounds as if in spite of thunderous beats and bass. But the singer’s experience (backed up by streaming statistics) suggests that quiet songs are not lost among the loud ones.
“I remember when I was at school, we were taken on an excursion to a confectionery factory. It was the dream of any child, when you come, see the workshop, chocolates, sweets, and you can eat as much as you like. Of course, everyone was full. And when we left, I wanted pickles. I think now acoustics and the simplest, quiet arrangement are like a pickled cucumber that you really want after a sickly sweet thing. That is, after the thunder of fashionable arrangements, show-offs, sparkles, all this invented cool-promoted life,” says Alena, “I write about the feelings that every person experiences. People understand this, they can listen and say: “Yes, I had this too.”
At the end of the concert, “Winter Just Ended” was sung. Considering that everything happened at the end of February, the lines of the chorus took on a truly ritualistic sound. The audience sang along intelligently, but passionately and dreamily, and did not spare the flashlights of their mobile phones, and what was happening was not reminiscent of a concert of a pop star, but rather something indie songwriter, informal, absolutely not pretentious, guitar-tube. “She’s just our Joni Mitchell,” one lady remarked already in the wardrobe. And such a comparison is not far-fetched.
Newspaper headline:
Lyrics and physics
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