author: D. Smolina, the Newspaper "Argumenti uspeha" 2005 №19 (258)
Translated by Michael Inyashev

The folk-rock band “Allegoriya” was founded in Minusinsk town in October, 2002. Later on 16th February 2003 there took place the first concert of this band. The guys sung the “Kupala” song and everybody was amazed. They were showered with new concert offers… But let us not be in hurry and put everything in right order.
I make an interview with the leader of the band Yegor Kosolapov. To be honestly, it is unbelievably interesting to have a conversation with the man who knows music and understands its “soul”.

- Why was your band founded?
- At the beginning there were first open-air role-playing games “Slavyanki”. They were organized with the help of Historical Modeling Club “Citadel” (we were the members of this club) every summer. This games were devoted to various historical periods of Ancient Russia. The time of paganism, Slavonic way of life, myths, folklore… We didn't just play, we lived that life. It has left in our souls and it could not be otherwise! We decided to play the music of this historical period to have more deep and bright feeling of those days.

- Have the list of the band members been changed?
- There were only three mans in it at the beginning: me, Garret and Alexey. It was the core. We played our first songs together. One of the band founders Sergey Salov also helped us. Further there appeared a need of the full lineup because there were something wrong in acoustic sound. We began to search for bassist (at first this role was Sergey's) and drummer.

- Why have you decided to occupy yourself with music? You could fall in love with history or literature…
- Each of us had hid own musical project before “Allegoriya” was founded. Sergey Salov, Garret and Alexey were founders of cosmo-pop band “Shturman Lloyd”. Garret was its leader. I worked alone, wrote solo songs. Songs were young and very raw… It was long ago, but anyway we all were connected with music. Of course, we couldn't start playing together without reason.

- What were your first steps?
- We just replayed other bands' songs and in the same time were searching in books, magazines, Internet for proper information about music of ancient Slavs, what kind of music they had. One bright day we discovered the band “Raznotraviye”. We noticed, that nowadays people play not just folk music, but use ancient materials as basis and get modern sound with folklore musical instruments. And we understood, that we want to play it.

- Are all band members professional musicians?
- No, we don't have professional musicians at all. Our drummer now is receiving musical education as saxophonist. Others were taught by themselves.

- The name of your band means “roundabout expression”. How did this name appear? Who invented it?
- Earlier we called ourselves “Praschurovichi” (Children of Ancestors). We changed the name after the bard-fest “Sayany-2002”. The reason was simple – the emcee regularly misspelled it… So, on the next fest we were renamed in “Allegoriya”. At first this word didn't mean “roundabout”. It was just abbreviation of our names. It was invented by Garret's mother. When there were only three of us in the band, she said: “What if you name your band Allegoriya? Aleksey, Yegor and Ya” (“ya” means “me” in Russian”). When our collective has had grown, the old meaning was vanished. We studied out that the word “allegory” means “roundabout” in Greek. We wanted to change our name, but didn't do this… I think, now this word fits us. We speak about simple things in a different way.

- What are your preferences in music? What styles do you like?
- Of course, this is folk-rock. And moreover there are a lot of styles: rock, jazz, blues, reggae. I can listen everything if it is of good quality and has a meaning. I won't speak for other members of the band. Everybody has his own tastes.

- Have you gained a lot of fans?
- Yes! Very many people who had absolutely indifferent relations with Slavonic culture heard our music and wanted to know more about this culture. We understood that there appeared a lot of people being interested in our work when we came into the “Sayan Ring” fest. There were at least forty men among the audience that were waiting just for us.

- What is the main theme of your songs?
- Now the theme of a road and warriors prevails. Not war, but warriors. We began to realize this only when we have started to review our songs and remember their content.

- Do you create the songs all together or there are certain people writing verses, music and arrangements?
- As a matter of fact there could be completely different approach for each song. There are several ways of work: first – the man writes the text of the song, second – he writes it with the music, third – the verses and the music are written by our co-authors and are presented to us. Arrangements are Garret's business. He is the artistic director of the band. He didn't write the parts for everybody (we endeavor to make everybody able to invent his part himself), but he can hear the whole composition and determine what is necessary and what is not. He mostly guides us during the rehearsals.

- Where do the rehearsals take place?
- We rehearse in the rock-laboratory that has begun to work in Minusinsk not long ago. Today there are about eight bands rehearsing there. This project was ripening for a long time. And finally we succeeded in persuasions and got the money from Krasnoyarsk city and applied it properly.

- How do the rehearsals pass?
- In different ways. Of course, much depends on the mood. Everything can be well and peaceful. We do our best not to bring to the rehearsals anything from outside world. In other case it is very difficult. It is so in any musical band. It doesn't matter what are you playing – folklore, rock or rap… You should work yourself out on the rehearsal put a lot of work and your soul into it. And when one comes having spent twelve hours at his job, being foamy he doesn't has any interest or time for any soul… It could happen that everybody came in bad mood, but after starting playing everything is alright, everybody join the song and is merry. The rehearsal is a success. Of course, sometimes there could be controversies and abuses but it is typical for any band. And after all if there is no disagreement in a collective then there is no development.

- How much time and space do the rehearsals take in your life and creativity?
- In creativity it is the basis, it takes 90% of time. We carefully prepare for each recording or concert. In life it is not so much. The full lineup of the band gathers only twice a week on the official rehearsals. Periodically there are home rehearsals. For example vocalists can play acoustic sound at home, test their voices and parts.

- What are your plans? Maybe, recording a disk?
- Yes. We are preparing the disk now. But it is difficult to record it. There are no good sound-recording studios in Abakan or in Minusinsk. The only way is to record demo-disk. Then we could go with it not only in Moscow, but in Novosibirsk, in Tomsk. Even in Krasnoyarsk we can make a proper recording. And for our region the demo-disk is good enough and could be considered as album.

- What do you think your music bring to the people? Melancholy? Joy? Light? Philosophy?
- It is hard to say about it yet. We have too few songs to consider what we bring to the listeners. I think, it is mainly informative music, the songs about present events but in other language… There is no fixed color or emphasis. On the contrary we try to escape this. One of our songs could have more jazz in it, the other one could have more rock and elements of folklore.

- Have you any favorite song of “Allegoriya”?
- The song itself maybe exists, but we have not processed all material by the moment. There are complete works and we are contented with them, but there are also raw ones. It is not true that fully completed song must be the best one. And it is very likely that there is no only one favorite song for everybody. Even in cohesive band every member has his own taste. So, everybody has his own favorite song.

- Can you divide your audience on the real (that come to listen to your music) and ideal (those for whom you do your music) parts? Does it come up to your expectations?
- To be honestly, we don't think about it while preparing to the concert or being on the scene. We see people of different ages on our concerts. Beginning from 15. People begin to react to our music not just as to strange noise. Average age (from 18 to 30 years old) people catch the essence. Too young people doesn't perceive us at all… Although I met 50-year and 14-year persons seriously valuing our music, not just as “I like it”. It's hard to divide something in this case. Any audience is good.

- What is music for you?
- It's a tool for transmission of feelings. Somebody spread them by writing verses or prose, by creating different programs, by wood-carving and somebody does this with music. It's just a tool for spreading your internal world.

- What is your point of view to the culture and creativity within this context?
- If you are speaking about musical culture itself, I am satisfied with the current situation. Of course, it's a pity that the dependence still exists between the popularity of the band and the money. But I think it's temporary. Anyway, the culture in Russia is reliving. Slowly, but surely. And as for our contribution to the culture, we can't judge. The time should pass and we'll see.

- When can the Abakan's audience enjoy your concert?
- We plan a big solo-concert on the summer. I think it will take place in several cities: Abakan, Minusinsk, Sayanogorsk and maybe Krasnoyarsk. Everything depends on the financial state. Watch the posters and advertisement. Visit our recently opened site: www.allegoriya.ru.