What's the "Salt": pop stars go on a rock and roll spree on REN TV
The pavilions of Glavkino once again smell of hot lamps, scorched pyrotechnics and human ambitions. On the set of the new show "Salt. The Legend of REN TV channel stars of the pop scene Polina Gagarina, Klava Coca, Irina Dubtsova, Denis Klyaver, Victoria Daineko, Uma2rman, Amirchik and many others went to the territory of Russian rock — dangerous, noisy and extremely honest. About how Olga Buzova's hit was shifted to a guitar riff, why their technical director sat behind the drums of Jane Air, and what prize the participants are fighting for — in the Izvestia article.
A test of honesty
The idea of the project is very clear and almost hooligan. Artists who have been registered in the pop charts for a long time are leaving their comfort zone and trying themselves in Russian rock. Two dozen performers, 10 fierce battles and only three songs for each participant — a legendary hit, a rock version of his own track and a cover of a song by one of the jury members.
In the first issue of the project, Polina Gagarina and Lucy Chebotina will face off in a musical duel.
— I am a musician and I really like experiments. For me, rock is honest, strong energy, powerful timbres and drive," said Polina Gagarina. — I only agree to projects where I feel a professional, musical interest and an inner challenge. The Salt project. Legend" is exactly like that.
She admitted that the risk and the inner challenge made her agree to participate. The audience will see how the pop music diva will rethink the hits of "Aria" and "Agatha Christie".
During the filming, the Glavkino pavilions resembled not a TV studio, but a huge music hangar where a rock festival was about to begin. Cables snaked across the floor, technicians checked tons of equipment, and stage managers erected a giant set in the shape of a red and black electric guitar. The main prize of the project is also a guitar. Only white and made of pure steel. It's impossible to break it even if you want to.
For Vadim Samoilov, the founder and frontman of the cult group Agatha Christie, the project became a kind of return of faith in the genre.
— This project is a balm for wounds. Someone keeps saying that rock is dying. But any genre lives on: it goes into the shadows, it returns. And rock music has long been an academic art. And the fact that pop artists are turning to rock is wonderful. It's a self—exploration," the musician told Izvestia.
Punk without a mat and Olga Buzova's hit
Among the participants are Klava Coca, Irina Dubtsova, Denis Klyaver, Victoria Daineko, Uma2rman, Lesha Svik, Amirchik, Mary Gu and other artists whom the audience is used to seeing in a completely different musical reality.
Sometimes the result is so unexpected that it feels like someone spilled whiskey in the control room. For example, one of Olga Buzova's songs suddenly sounded like a stadium rock action movie from the early noughties.
ST, who represents a kind of alternative opinion of a new generation in the project, admits that he is most attracted to artists' attempts not to copy, but to rethink the material. After one of the performances, the rapper stated that he was ready to help Anton Tokarev write the lyrics for his future hit.
But for the soloist of the "Jesus" project Vladislav Kozhukhov, what is happening still looks like a dream.
— When I arrived in Moscow in 2016, I was looking for a part-time job. One of these was the participation in extras on a similar musical project. And now we're performing on such a cool stage ourselves," he told Izvestia.
The musician explains the choice of the song briefly and in a punk way - it was necessary to have something beautiful and without a mat. So the decision fell on the track "Heat" by Yulia Chicherina.
Before going on stage, the musicians were honestly warned: there would be plenty of pyrotechnics in the show.
— I knew there would be a fire here. But at some point I felt like a grilled chicken. It really smelled burnt," laughs Jane Air frontman Anton Lisov.
Backstage, it turned out that the guys were sorely short of time to prepare, and the main drummer had gone on a honeymoon altogether. As a result, the technical director of the team sat down for the installation. But it seems that it is in such light chaos that rock feels its best. For Anton Lisov, rock has long ceased to be just a genre and has become a lifestyle.
The Age of AI versus Live Guitars
The jury of the project is a separate rock band with its own characters and conflicts. In addition to Vadim Samoilov, Viktor Drobysh and others, invited guests will evaluate the performances: Sergey Galanin, Yulia Savicheva, Basta, Sergey Bobunets, Yuri Muzychenko, Ant from 25/17, Yelka, Sergey Burunov and others. Moreover, the conversations here are not only about music.
— The more real and natural there is on television, the better off we all are, — says Sergey Galanin. — Because in this age of numbers, AI ghosts and other things, it is difficult to find the present. And in the "Salt" just everything is in the palm of your hand.
Viktor Drobysh traditionally plays the role of a man who is not going to pat anyone on the head. The producer will praise those who feel the compositions, but he does not intend to give out any advances.
— No one wants to listen to criticism. An artist does not come for an honest opinion, but to hear how he will be praised. But I've noticed that the more musical an artist is, the easier he takes criticism," he confessed to Izvestia.
An important part of the project is young alternative groups. Before the start of the show, the organizers held an All-Russian selection, and the best beginner bands had the opportunity to perform on the same stage with the stars. The mission of the project sounds almost old—fashioned - to make the country hear real music again.
But that's exactly why "Salt. Legend" does not look like an ordinary television contest, but like an attempt to bring live electricity back on the air. Without plastic, sterility and safe intonation. Because rock, as it turned out, has not disappeared anywhere. He was just waiting for someone to turn the amps back up to maximum.
The show is broadcast every Friday at 20:30 on REN TV.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
