“Bi-2”: “Some kind of chemistry is happening between us and Oksimiron”

History of creation

Many people consider the founders of the Bi-2 group to be brothers, but this is not so. Leva (Egor Bortnik) and Shura (Alexander Uman) met in a Minsk theater studio. Shura was two years older than Leva and interested him with his reading and erudition. In addition, Shura’s uncle, Mikhail Karasev, was a famous musician and composer in Belarus.

Leva and Shura from Bi-2 have known each other since childhood

Gradually the boys became friends and decided to organize a music group. In 1988, a team of a dozen teenagers emerged, which was called “The Shore of Truth.” Lyova was responsible for the lyrics, Shura played the guitar, and a certain Kostyl, recently released from prison, was the soloist.

At first the group was called “Coast of Truth”

The group's first performances were strange performances, which often ended with the arrival of the police. But this didn’t bother the guys, they wrote songs, had fun and considered themselves real punks. A year later, the number of members of the group decreased, Leva took the place of the vocalist, and the name of the group was shortened to the compact “Bi-2”. The musicians recorded the first magnetic album, “Traitors of the Motherland,” but things didn’t go further than that.

"Encyclopedia BI-2". We remember how the popular group was created

1985

Alexander Uman (Shura Bi-2) met Egor Bortnik (Leva Bi-2).
They studied at the Minsk children's theater studio "Rond". Together with their peers, they decided to make productions in the spirit of the theater of the absurd. Then Shura was 15 years old, and Leva was 13. But two years after the next avant-garde production, the theater was closed.

Vadim Sazhin with Shura Bi-2

Vadim Sazhin, musician, composer, head of the exemplary pop studio “Sazhintsy”, member of the group “Sunny Side”. – One day, Shura’s uncle, Mikhail Karasev, told me: take the guys to you, at least teach them notes. And then I worked in the former House of Pioneers, the current House of Artistic Creativity, and directed an orchestra of folk instruments. Shurik played balalaika-double bass in my orchestra for three years. There was also a drummer and guitarist with him. Thus, the very first outlines of a children's independent team appeared in 1983-1985. The guys decided to assemble the first group from among the musicians of our orchestra; only a couple of people were added from other groups.

1988

1987, Myshkovichi. On the left is Shura, on the right is his uncle Mikhail Karasev, Olga Petrykina is sitting on a chair next to him.

The group “Brothers in Arms” appeared. It was organized by Shura, Alexander Fedorov and musicians of the “Chance” group. The composition was inconsistent, it included 15 people, including Lev. He was also the author of most of the texts. The soloist was Diana, the younger sister of Olga Petrykina from the Sunny Side group. “Then they wanted to imitate “Sunny Side” and decided that the timbre of her voice was similar to mine,” Olga recalls. The group also performed this year at the rock festival of the Komsomol city committee in Bobruisk. Later the group changed its name to “Coast of Truth”. “This name was born from the song “Sunny Side” called “Money down the drain,” there is the line “There is another shore of truth,” says Vadim Sazhin, a composer who played in the group “Sunny Side” in the 1980s.

Group "Sunny Side".

Olga Petrykina, soloist of the group “Sunny Side”, methodologist at the Roskvit Center for Additional Education for Children and Youth. In the late seventies, the group played in a restaurant in Myshkovichi. The leader of the team was Shura’s uncle Mikhail Karasev. Olga has known Shura since 1979, she was then 19, and he was 9 years old. “The Shura family often came to visit us in Myshkovichi,” recalls Olga Petrykina. “Shura and his parents stayed at our rehearsals, and he saw this whole process from childhood. It was a kind of creative laboratory: we lived there four days a week, one might say, as a community. Our routine was this: after breakfast we rehearsed until lunch, after lunch we created our songs, then we worked in the restaurant, and after dinner we gathered for tea. While drinking tea they discussed books, films, and theater productions. Mikhail Karasev was interested in Eastern philosophy, theater of the absurd, and Hollywood cinema. Anatoly Simanovsky, our administrator, was very fond of literature and gave us new interesting materials, especially regarding modern foreign prose. Communication was great. And Shura was often with us. I think that in his childhood and youth he absorbed a lot from this communication.

1989

The group became known as “Bi-2”. Leva became the vocalist. At the same time, the band’s first big performance took place at the Mogilev rock festival. For that time it could be called shocking. The show began with a coffin being pulled onto the stage and Leva crawling out of it.

1990

Recording of the first album “Traitors of the Motherland”. By this time, the band had toured almost all of Belarus with concerts. During the same period, the song “Varvara” was written, one of the group’s hits.

1991-1993

Shura and Leva move to Israel. The reason, like most emigrants of that time, was that they saw no prospects in their homeland. At first they worked as security guards at a construction site, but continued to make music. They perform at festivals and club venues. In 1992, “Bi-2” took first place at the Jerusalem Rock Festival.

Read also: “Bi-2 Fest”. Everything you need to know if you are going to a rock festival in Bobruisk

1993-1998

Shura moves to live with relatives in Australia. Leva remains in Israel. There he served in the army, then worked as a computer graphic artist. In 1994, in Melbourne, Shura began his solo project “Shura B-2 Band”. For several years he has regularly performed with various groups. Shura recorded his first debut album. Leva wrote the lyrics for some songs. In 1998, Leva comes to Australia. The musicians are recording a new album, “And the Ship Sails On.” Leva composed most of the songs for him in Israel, and came up with some already in Melbourne.

1999

The first large-scale performance of the Bi-2 group in Russia was at the “Invasion” festival.

At a concert in Bobruisk in 2020.

year 2000

One of the main hits of the group “Nobody Writes to the Colonel” comes out from the sound track for the film “Brother-2”. In the same year, Sony Music released onto the Russian market the album “And the Ship Sails On,” recorded by the group back in Australia. The album sold a record circulation of 400 thousand copies.

Olga Petrykina, Leva, Vladimir Popov, Shura...

2001-2016

Almost every year the group releases a new album: “Foreign Cars”, “Odd Warrior”, “Moloko”, “Lunapark” and others. The musicians actively collaborate with other performers, for example with the group “Splin” and Vadim Samoilov from “Agatha Christie”. The soundtrack for the film “What Men Talk About” was recorded.

Group Bi-2 with Alexander Filyukov

Alexander Filyukov, musician, photographer of the group about Shura: – We started communicating closely around 2010. I worked with Bi-2 as a photographer - I went on tours. Shura has always been a person in love with music; it is of enormous importance to him. This happened several times: in the midst of a friendly get-together, he would invite me to go out and listen to some new song. I also remember Sasha as a hardworking person. And in principle, the guys in the group worked hard and were not afraid to experiment. For example, in Moscow, at the very beginning of their creative career, they needed to somehow declare themselves. Shurik decided to spend the last 400 dollars that was in his pocket in style - organizing a presentation for Moscow journalists. They asked for the keys to Sasha Aivazov's dacha. Upon arrival, they saw a small house, and then the frosts had already begun... Together with the Zhuki group, they ordered Ikarus, took the keys to the dacha, bought a bucket of kebabs and a box of vodka. We gathered all the journalists we could, including MTV, and played a concert in front of them right at the dacha. It was cold there even to sit in a chair, but, as Shura said, “with our frozen hands we somehow lit a fire from apple trees, set up barbecues, poured vodka and started playing songs.” In general, on the way back, everyone on the bus sang in unison, and the next day the Moskovsky Komsomolets published an article “Bi-2 in the garden beds.” This act decided everything then.

Vladimir PIP Popov

“The Godfather” Vladimir PIP Popov Vladimir Popov was known not only as an avid music lover with one of the most extensive music collections, but also as an arranger who was the first to use the digital recording method in Bobruisk. “Pip” literally had a hand in the formation of many groups and performers, including “Bi-2”. In 2014, he took part in the recording of the album of the group “Odd Warrior-3”, and in February 2015 he was awarded the title “Bobruiskian of the Year” following an event organized by Bobruisk producer Valery Alekseev with the support of VB.

2017

“Bi-2” releases its tenth studio album “Event Horizon”. Money for its implementation was collected on the crowdfunding platform Planeta.ru.

2018

On July 6, the atmospheric open-air “Bi-2 Fest” will take place in Bobruisk. Free admission.

“The idea of ​​organizing such a large free festival belongs entirely to Shurik,” says Alexander Filyukov, the group’s photographer. - This is his initiative. I found out about this in April, he then told me that he would organize the same show here as he did in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities.

The entire old company will gather in Bobruisk for this festival. This is both the family and the musicians of the “Sunny Side”. Shura’s mother and his uncle Mikhail Karasev, who instilled in him a love of proper music, will be there.

“Previously, the whole crowd of Bobruisk musicians gathered at Vladimir Popov’s,” says Alexander Filyukov. “Every time Shurik came, we went to see him. We talked and listened to music. Shura might have brought an unreleased album, we listened to it. Vladimir passed away in 2020, and I don’t even know where we will gather now. Corny, probably in a restaurant somewhere. The fact is that for Shura, people are more important, and not some places or locations. When he came to Bobruisk before, he always stopped by his home on Internatsionalnaya Street, visited his neighbor, who maintains a relationship with his mother, and handed over gifts.

And now you can take our test dedicated to the Bi-2 group.

The main stages of creativity

In 1990, the group broke up, and Shura and his family emigrated to Israel. At first there was no time for music - I had to work a lot, and not knowing the language was a serious hindrance. Having adapted a little to the new life, Shura lured Leva over to him, and the friends continued to engage in creativity, trying to stay up to date with the events of the domestic rock scene.

Group "Bi-2" at the beginning of their creative journey

A completely different life began when Shura moved to Australia in 1993. Finding himself in multicultural and vibrant Melbourne, he plunged headlong into the world of music. Shura met a huge number of performers from all over the world, attended concerts of the world's leading stars and, of course, did not forget about his faithful friend, insisting on his moving to Australia. Almost six years passed before Leva finally reached the “green continent”, but within six months the demo version of the new album “And the Ship Sails On” was ready, which included the famous “Varvara” and “Nobody Writes to the Colonel.” The musicians sent the disc to Russia, where it was put into rotation, and soon they started talking about the Bi-2 group as a new discovery of the late 90s.

In 1998 the group reunited in Australia

The public wanted to see their idols, so Leva and Shura had to leave hospitable Australia and return to their homeland. But upon arrival, everything turned out to be not as rosy as it seemed. Despite the fact that their songs were played with all their might on radio and TV, no one was in a hurry to sign a contract with them to release an album and tour. “Nobody writes to the Colonel” was heard in the film “Brother-2”. Everything changed overnight after the premiere of Alexey Balabanov’s film “Brother-2” with Sergei Bodrov, in which three songs of the group were performed and the musicians themselves “lit up”. Sonymusic immediately signed a contract with them, and soon the long-awaited album was released, which sold half a million copies. The team became a welcome guest at prestigious music festivals and began touring throughout the post-Soviet space. Thus, the year 2000 can be considered the official date of birth of the Bi-2 group.

In 2000, the entire post-Soviet space learned about Bi-2

On the wave of success, a year later the musicians released their next album, “Meow Kiss Mi,” and went on a joint tour with the group “Splin.” At the same time, the famous song “The Last Hero” was written, which became a kind of anthem of the post-perestroika generation. Another unconditional hit was the composition “My Rock and Roll”, performed with Chicherina, for which a video was shot with the participation of Ingeborga Dapkunaite. Bi-2 - “My Rock and Roll” 2004 was marked by the release of the next album of the group “Foreign Cars”, as well as a whole fireworks display of collaborations with such famous musicians and groups as “Chaif”, the Latvian rock band “Brainstorm”, Diana Arbenina, Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Zemfira and many others. All these creative experiments became the basis for the side album “The Odd Warrior”, the presentation of which turned into a real event in 2005. All the lyrics for it were written by the group’s permanent author, Mikhail Karasev. Bi-2 and Brainstorm - “Slippery Streets” The next decade was no less fruitful in terms of the number of released albums, big hits and bold musical experiments. Leva and Shura increasingly began to invite other musicians to their concerts and they themselves gladly took part in other people’s projects, introduced new people into the group, and experimented with light and sound.

In the photo: “Bi-2” and “Agatha Christie”

In 2006, the group completely changed its lineup of musicians, after which their fifth album, “Moloko,” was released. The new songs had hints of disco-punk, and the music itself became more electronic.

The concept of the album is inspired by the film "A Clockwork Orange" by Kubrick

The following year, Bi-2 released the disc Odd Warrior-2, recorded and mixed in the London Metropolis studio, known for its collaboration with Radiohead, U2 and Coldplay, and in 2009 they presented the sixth studio album Lunapark to the public. In 2010, “Bi-2” recorded the song “Rivers of Love” together with the artists of “Quartet I”: Leonid Barats, Rostislav Khait, Kamil Larin and Alexander Demidov. It was included in the soundtrack to the film “What Men Talk About”, as well as other compositions from the album of the same name “Bi-2”.

2011 was marked by the release of the third disc from the “Odd Warrior” project, in which Andrei Makarevich took part. Next, the studio album “Spirit” was released, funds for the recording of which were collected through crowdfunding, through the efforts of the group’s fans. For the first time in the history of Bi-2, this album was released not only on CD, but also on vinyl, that is, it became a record in the literal sense of the word. The next album, “16plus” (2014), was also created with the money of fans.

"Bi-2" in full force

In 2020, the premiere of the film “Clinch”, the directorial debut of Sergei Puskepalis, took place. “Bi-2” worked on creating the soundtrack for the film, recording a total of 12 compositions.

The activities of Bi-2 have been recognized by many prestigious music awards, including the World Music Awards and several Golden Gramophones.

Music

In 1998, the musicians recorded their next album. The first title of the album was “And the ship sails on”, but later it was decided to change it to “Bi-2”. In Russia, a collection of new songs by the team was released in 2000. Some of the songs seemed interesting to the program directors of radio stations, and soon the work of Leva and Shura became popular among listeners of Nashe Radio and Radio Maximum, and then “took root” on other waves.

Song "Compromise" by the group "Bi-2"

Shortly before the release of the record, the artists moved to Russia and, adding several musicians to the group, began searching for a producer; they were unable to reach an agreement with famous studios on their own. Meeting Alexander Ponomarev (producer of the Splin group) changed the situation.

It was he who managed to organize the first performances of the group at “Invasion”, as well as the appearance of Leva and Shura on the air of the “Anthropology” program with Dmitry Dibrov. Alexey Balabanov’s film “Brother-2” also played a significant role in increasing the popularity of the group, for which “Bi-2” recorded the composition “Nobody Writes to the Colonel.”

Song “Nobody Writes to the Colonel” by the group “Bi-2”

Joint tours with Alexander Vasiliev and the group “Splin” helped to finally consolidate the success. Leva and Shura also performed the composition “Fellini” together with Vasiliev and shot a video for this song.

Another high-profile duet of that time was the song “My Rock and Roll”, recorded with Yulia Chicherina. A video was also shot for this composition, in which actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite took part.

Song “My Rock and Roll” by the group “Bi-2” and Yulia Chicherina

In 2001, the discography of “Bi-2” was replenished with the album “Meow Kiss Mi”, and three years later Leva and Shura presented the album “Foreign Cars”. The group's list of discs gradually increased. In 2006, the concept album “Moloko” was released. According to the musicians, the compositions of this album reflect the story “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess, as well as its film adaptation directed by Stanley Kubrick.

In 2010, the musicians decided to experiment with arrangements and began giving concerts together with a symphony orchestra. According to the artists, this was the beginning of a new - “mature” - stage of Bi-2’s creativity. 2015 brought fans of the group the “Best of” concert program, in which the musicians collected the best compositions from different years. According to the artists, many of the songs included in the concert set list have not been performed for more than ten years.

Song “Bird on the Windowsill” by the group “Bi-2”

At the end of 2016, another hit “Bi-2” was released, called “Bird on the Windowsill.” Shura and Leva performed this composition together with Diana Arbenina, Vladimir Shakhrin (Chaif ​​group), Nike Borzov and other rock stars. And on December 29, “Bi-2” presented a New Year’s gift to fans by presenting a video for the song “Revolution.”

In 2017, the musicians presented two high-profile tracks together with other performers. First there was the song “Whiskey”, recorded with American John Grant. This composition is heard in the footage of the Quartet-I film “What Men Talk About. Continuation".

The song “It’s time to go home” by the group “Bi-2” and Oksimiron

In addition, Leva and Shura sang together with Miron Fedorov, known as Oksimiron (Oxxxymiron). In the first week, the video for this composition (“It’s time to go home”) received several million views on YouTube.

In the fall of the same year, the album “Event Horizon” was released, immediately after which the musicians went on tour. The new performance was a success: the artists prepared a light show and unexpected special effects.

Collaborations with other artists

• “My rock and roll”, “Until the morning”, “Snow is falling”, “February”, “Forgotten by everyone” - “Bi-2” ft. Yulia Chicherina
• “Knocking on Heaven” – “Bi-2” ft. "Chaif"
• “Slippery Streets” – “Bi-2” ft. "Brainstorm"
• “Slow Star”, “White Clothes”, “Days and Nights”, “Hush and Hush” – “Bi-2” ft. Diana Arbenina
• “The Sky Without End”, “The Soldier Leaves” - “Bi-2” ft. Irina Zhelannaya
• “My Love” – “Bi-2” ft. "Underwood"
• “Everything is as he said”, “I’m losing the light” - “Bi-2” ft. "Agatha Christie"
• “White Sheet” – “Bi-2” ft. "Punk TV"
• “And they sang songs on the radio” - “Bi-2” ft. Andrey Makarevich
• “My Angel” – “Bi-2” ft. Elena Kaufman
• “It was simple” - “Bi-2” ft. Vasily Shumov
• "Coda" - "Bi-2" ft. Igor Zhuravlev
• "Blues" - "Bi-2" ft. Anastasia Poleva
• “Island” – “Bi-2” ft. "Picnic"
• “Blade Runner”, “I’m Coming”, “Angel”, “Captain”, “Book”, “There Will Be One” – “Bi-2” ft. Varya Demidova
• “Paper Kite” – “Bi-2” ft. Anton Sevidov
• “Touching the Earth” – “Bi-2” ft. Nike Borzov
• “Trembling” – “Bi-2” ft. Gleb Samoilov
• "Off-road" - "Bi-2" ft. Masha Makarova
• “Sadness”, “Someday” – “Bi-2” ft. Christmas tree
• “Dark Skies” – “Bi-2” ft. "Semantic hallucinations"
• “It will rain” – “Bi-2” ft. Garik Sukachev
• “Whiskey” – “Bi-2” ft. John Grant
• “It’s time to return home” - “Bi-2” ft. Oksimiron

Group "Bi-2" now

The group continues to regularly delight fans with new creativity. In 2020, the 10th anniversary album “Event Horizon” was released, recorded with the participation of the National Symphony Orchestra of Prague. As part of the album, the track “It’s time to go home” with Oxxxymiron was recorded. Bi-2 - “La-la Poplars” In 2020, the musicians played themselves in the film “What Men Talk About. Continuation”, performing a song on a platform in the Neva waters.

“Bi-2” on the set of the film “What Men Talk About. Continuation"

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