#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The path to non-classical musical instruments Andrey Bobrikov, leading specialist of the Information Technology Department at Nornickel Shared Service Center, began with a guitar. He started at the age of 19, studied it on his own, and later turned to a tutor. Just a year later, he was playing Tibetan bowls.
He says that he loves music since childhood, but over time, he decided to grow from a listener to a performer – albeit not a pro, and later discovered non-classical instruments. Today Andrey has a whole collection of them (12 instruments), which is available to everyone who wants to master it:
“Anyone can come to me, I show the instruments and how to play them. People try to find a melody and they succeed right away. These instruments sound unusual, beautiful.
He himself most often now chooses the handpan, or hang, – a percussion instrument consisting of two connected metal hemispheres. The tool was purchased in Voronezh, in a workshop.
“I was led to the Hangs by my interest in yoga, philosophy, meditation. I’ve mastered the guitar at a relatively good level. Among the unusual instruments, Tibetan bowls were the first to appear at my home. Next was the handpan. Among yogis and esotericists, it was such a cult instrument, everyone dreamed of getting it and playing it. I also had such an idea, and in 2015 the first instrument appeared”, Andrey shared. “I call them musical-meditative instruments, intuitive, you can play them even without knowing music. Hang, by the way, is not a super rare instrument – there are a large number of virtuoso musicians who play it and give concerts. I am now on vacation and am planning to visit one of them”.
The hobby grew rapidly, and Andrey began to expand his collection of instruments. Today he plays several percussion instruments. For example, djembe – he learned it from his friend Vazha Choniashvili (djembe is a West African drum in the form of a cup with an open narrow bottom and a wide top, on which a leather membrane is attached).
In the process of communication, the people introduced each other to new instruments. Thanks to Vazha, Andrey bought a rabbast (Rabbast, or RAV Vast, is an innovative musical instrument that combines the idea of hang and reed drums).
“Last year I performed at the Corporation of Stars festival as a member of the duet Another Sound and the trio AOVa – the name is based on the first letters of the participants’ names – Andrey Bobrikov, Olga Vinogradova, Valery Savitsky. Norilsk is a small city, and the circle of its musicians is even smaller, so it is easy to meet those who share similar hobbies. Most often, concerts and competitions in the city are held in a classical format, so we play in yoga classes, hold meditation classes, get together at home, and get to know each other there”, the musician shares.
The Winter Awakening composition, presented for the competition, first existed as a musical sketch, which was given a clearer form. The musicians have a lot of such sketches, says Andrey. Some of them are presented on Instagram.
“There’s lack of time to make a studio recording”, he smiles. However, this is in the plans until the end of the year. There are such opportunities in the city.
Andrey performed at the Stars Corporation for the second time – in 2019 he presented an instrumental performance together with Yevgeny Serebryakov on guitar and hang.
Since the topic of music is vast, he plans to continue educating himself. Moreover, both in the classical direction – this knowledge is necessary, says Andrey – and in ethnic music.
True, most likely, the residents of Norilsk will be able to hear the result only in social networks – Andrey plans to leave Norilsk next year:
“First to Voronezh, then, perhaps, I will move on. I am an intuitive person, I don’t set big goals”.
Valery Savitsky was the instrumental partner in the AOVa trio. In 2020, he won the Best Instrumental Solo Performance category. This was his fourth participation in the Stars Corporation festival.
Valery calls himself self-taught. He is familiar with the basics of musical composition and is constantly learning.
For the last solo performance, he did not write music on purpose – it was ready, but he had not performed it at the Corporation of Stars before. The composition remained without a name – Valery laughs that it is more difficult for him to give a name than creating the musical row itself.
“What is the inspiration? I cannot name one thing. Sometimes I force myself to write something. Thinking, picking up notes. And sometimes it’s just a good mood, I take a guitar – and the music gets born”.
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