Culture

New Year's journey through countries and eras

At the very beginning of the year, on 6 January, the stage of the Cultural Centre "Mir" will host a festive concert "Around the World New Year" performed by the most famous multilingual group in Russia Elena et les garcons. The goal of the project is to preserve foreign traditions and culture in the musical programme, to immerse listeners in the unique atmosphere of different countries.

The founder and soloist of the musical group Elena Lipaeva is a polyglot. She was born and lived in Europe and since childhood she has devoted a lot of time to studying languages. That is why Elena is fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Georgian and Russian. And the combination of mentalities of the different countries in which the singer lived is also reflected in the musical sound and repertoire of the group.

On the eve of the festive event, Elena answered our questions and shared what awaits the audience at the concert.

Elena, the uniqueness of your group is in its multilingual repertoire. How do you manage to sing songs in so many languages without making mistakes?

- I'm surprised myself! But seriously, it's probably the knowledge of the languages I sing in that helps. Because when you understand the meaning and know how a particular sentence will sound and be grammatically correct, you have something to rely on. Of course, no one is immune from a "blank slate", when suddenly there is just emptiness in your head and you have forgotten all the words, this happens in your native language, too. But this is already the cost of live performances. Nevertheless, of course, if you know the language and nothing unexpected happens on stage, it is unlikely that you will sing a strange set of sounds and words instead of the text. In the worst case, you will come up with some new meaningful sentence to replace it.

It is gratifying that you return to the Cultural Centre "Mir" with a concert. This time, will the programme feature songs in all seven languages?

- It will be a kind of festive musical kaleidoscope and in this programme, audience will really hear songs in seven languages. By the way, we have several more New Year programmes, entirely in French, Italian or Russian.

But this time, we will try to convey the spirit of the holiday as it is felt in different countries, we will perform both traditional New Year melodies and simply popular hits from different countries. Moreover, many New Year songs will be performed in a language other than the one they were written in. It gives them a new, fresh sound and makes the programme unusual. I hope that together we will create a real atmosphere of magic and celebration.

What New Year songs will you definitely include in the programme?

- We will perform such well-known and beloved New Year songs as Jingle Bells, but as a medley in six languages, Santa Claus is coming to town in French, Happy new year in two languages at once and many other interesting things. Of course, we will not do without New Year songs from Soviet cinema, they create a special festive atmosphere, just like the films themselves that we watch every year during this holiday period. In addition, we traditionally added several lesser-known winter songs to the programme so that the audience can hear something new for themselves and perhaps, include these songs in their holiday playlist in the future.

Who will be on stage with you this festive evening?

- Our permanent band will perform on stage - pianist Nikolay Khomenko, guitarist Alexander Kuchin, bass guitarist Mikhail Lutskov and drummer Valery Dedov. Those who were at our last concert in Dubna are already familiar with the musicians and I hope, they have already become loved by our listeners in this wonderful city. In Moscow, each of them has their own fans that are always happy to see the musicians on stage. In addition, we sometimes invite musical guests, perhaps this time, you will be pleasantly surprised.

December is always a month full of performances for artists, many even celebrate the festive night on stage. And which New Year do you remember the most?

- Indeed, this is a typical situation for artists - to celebrate the New Year with a concert, or even more than one. But there is a certain charm to it and sometimes, a fair amount of adrenaline.

For example, this is what happened to us in 2019. On 30 and 31 December, we had evening concerts scheduled at the Krasnoyarsk Philharmonic and afterwards, we were offered to perform at a city venue in Moscow, on Tverskaya Street in the city centre, right after midnight, as soon as 2020 arrived.

And we agreed, deciding that the time difference between the cities would be just enough for us to fly. However, in winter, especially in Krasnoyarsk, the weather may not be suitable for flying and on New Year's Eve, a lot of people want to get to Tverskaya and we can spend a very long time getting to our stage. So, of course, we were nervous. But nothing ventured, nothing gained on New Year's Eve. Fortunately, everything went well, we played the concerts and celebrated the New Year first in the sky on the way from one performance to another and later, in the centre of Moscow.

On 1 January, we repeated everything in reverse order - we performed on Tverskaya and ran to the airport, because in the evening, we were already starting our tour of the Urals with our first concert in Yekaterinburg. But there is definitely something to remember.

You will be greeted by a very festive New Year's Dubna. Did you manage to get to know the city during your last visit?

- Yes, then we enjoyed walking around the city, along the embankment. We really liked some cozy streets just near the Cultural Centre "Mir" and the atmosphere of the city in general. But the best are the citizens of Dubna, the concert was a real pleasure, because the audience in the hall was intelligent, open and responsive. I hope that our sympathy is mutual and at this concert, we will see familiar faces in the hall.

The pre-New Year period is a time of miracles, warm words and faith in the best. Elena, what would you like to wish to your future audience?

- With all my heart I want to wish you a magical New Year, health, fulfillment of all your wishes and bright impressions in the new year. May there always be music in your home and joy in your heart. See you at our concert, we will be happy to share the festive mood with you!

Eleonora YAMALEEVA, Member of the RF Union of Theatre Workers,
photo by Valentin MONASTYRSKY