MUSIC
If You Can Play Jazz, then You Can Play Everything
Elena Rudakova
SUNRISE chief editor,
Blagoveshchensk (Russia)
Maxim Berezinets
Musician,
Blagoveshchensk (Russia)
I m e t M a x i m B e re z i n e t s a n d I l ya
Chervatiuk, who are known to be very famous
jazzmen in our city, on one of the musical
evenings in DO.BRO Coffee shop, when the
guys came to perform covers of popular hits
and their own melodies. The evening turned
out to be really bright and rhythmic! It seemed
that the whole space was filled with the sound
o f i n s t r u m e nt s, a n d l i s te n e r s r e a d i l y
responded to it. It must be admitted that this
was achieved not only thanks to the talented
playing and charisma of the musicians, but
also to the fact that there was a perfect
understanding of each other between them:
they joked, improvised and guessed any
vibration of the music. Maxim played the
guitar, and Ilya played the saxophone and, as it
turned out, they were familiar only for three
months, but, having found their tandem to be
successful, they decided to move on, being in
different musical groups. We spent nearly
three hours talking and did not even notice
how the clock had ticked towards 10 pm. The
guys told me about their creative path, plans
for the future and what this mysterious "jazz"
is all about.
Ilya Chervatiuk
Musician,
Blagoveshchensk (Russia)
course, when I opened it, I understood nothing,
since there was the continuous musical
notation only, but this fact just strengthened
my desire to sort things out. I found a picture
showing which strings to play, which to press. I
cut a fingerboard of a guitar out of a
cardboard sheet and started to imaging
myself playing. My parents saw it and the next
morning I had already been the proud owner of
a real guitar! My mother still cries when
recalling this story.
Ilya: My creative path also started with
playing the guitar. From the age of 13-15 I
started taking lessons and we created a
school rock band, where I was even trying to
sing. Watching it now with no tears is
impossible! (laugh) At the same time I watched
Todorovsky's movie “Hipsters” and I felt a
great desire to stage my own performance
based on it. I studied at School No. 2, and was
lucky to start cooperation with Irina Yurievna
Kalomoitseva; we wrote the script and made
the scenery together. The equipment and
spotlights were bought to us. This project has
i n f l u e n c e d o u r w h o l e f u t u r e l i fe ! T h e
protagonist of the hipsters that I played had
to perform with a saxophone and, as you can
see now, this is not just a hobby for me.
That is so great! Maxim, do you play any
other instruments?
Maxim: Yes, I'm carried away with many
things. Keyboards, drums ... When you are not
limited with your primary instrument only, it
improves mutual understanding between the
members of the musical group.
Maxim, Ilya, let me thank you for the
amazing musical evening and the emotions
shared! Please tell me how long have you been
dealing with the creative work? Since
childhood, since youth?
Maxim: At the age of 13 I started to get
involved in music and I had a desire to play the
guitar. At first, my parents didn't support me;
moreover, I had a «С» in music due to the bad
behavior. They also thought that I would
quickly break the guitar. At the same time,
guys in the yard began to gather to play music
and I liked the way they'd been doing it. I asked
them to show me how to play, to teach me the
basics. Besides, I often went to the musical
instruments store to admire the guitar and
even bought a self-learning tutorial once. Of
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How do you know each other?
Maxim: I decided to write Ilya via
Instagram and to offer cooperation. I myself
am a member of the group called “Artist”,
which has already been existing for more than
10 years. The initial lineup has completely
changed, but the group continues to give the
performances. It was founded thanks to the
cafe where people came to listen to live music.
The guys played their compositions, and later
then started to learn covers of the popular
songs in order to attract more and more
listeners.
Ilya: And I am a member of the Bitcot
group. We could not set up a meeting with
Maxim for more than a month, but when it
happened, we realized that it was interesting
for us to work together. It's easy for us to
exchange ideas. I sent to Maxim my jazz
repertoire, and he gave a positive feedback
about it, despite the fact that there were the
songs far from the most popular ones in
Russia.
February 2019 №2