Igor Matvienko explained the popularity of SHAMAN

Igor Matvienko, People's Artist of Russia and composer, told us what made the audience so hooked on SHAMAN, Honored Artist of Russia. According to VTsIOM 38% of respondents consider Yaroslav Dronov the most popular artist in our country.

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"I perfectly understand why he became a folk hero. Because it was February 22, 2022, when the world completely changed. [Russian President Vladimir Putin] announced that the DNR and LNR were part of Russia. It was at that moment, without guessing anything, that Yaroslav released his song "Let's Stand Up." For some reason it "came down" to him, it was born inside. I have never met such songs in our new history. It was written from the heart, without any calculation for the situation. And then he finished everyone with the composition "I'm Russian", which came out a few months later. And he immediately flew into space," Matvienko said.

Igor Matvienko recalled a case when he had a chance to evaluate the performances of the participants of the Children's New Wave together with a popular artist.

"There are respected people in the audience - Larisa Dolina, Dima Malikov, me. And here comes SHAMAN, and suddenly all the children had hysterics. They chorally sang "I am Russian". After that the show starts, and 13-14 years old girls don't look at the stage, they are interested in SHAMAN. They catch his every look," Matvienko recalls.

In the composer's opinion, SHAMAN has reached an audience of adults and children. And if he got to the children - it's forever.

"They said that SWO would end and SHAMAN would end. It won't. Everything," summarizes the composer.

Read more in Igor Matvienko's exclusive interview with Izvestia:

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