Sergey Nikolaevich Starostin
Encyclopedia
Sergey Nikolaevich Starostin (Russian: Сергей Николаевич Старостин; born January 1, 1956 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

) is a Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 composer and performer, famous for his modern interpretations of archaic Russian (as well as Lapps and Tuva
Tuva
The Tyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subject of Russia . It lies in the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders with the Altai Republic, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, and the Republic of Buryatia in Russia and with Mongolia to the...

) folk music. In his compositions, he sings, plays folk flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

s (kalyuka
Kalyuka
Kalyuka is a Russian and Ukrainian overtone flute, lacking playing holes. Traditionally, Kalyukas were made form hollow plants stems, such as Motherwort, or Angelica...

 overtone flute
Overtone flute
Overtone flute refers to a type of a flute which lacks playing holes, and so can only produce notes from a natural scale. Lacking holes, the tube of such a flute has much higher resonance Q factor than a tube of standard flutes, and so can produce dozens of upper harmonics , making it possible to...

, svirel
Svirel
Svirel is an old folk Russian wind instrument of the end-blown flute type. In the Old Rus’ this instrument was made either of hollow reed or cylindrical wood branches. A legend says that Lel', son of the Slavic goddess of love Lada was a svirel player. In spring he would make his svirel of birch...

, pyzhatka
Pyzhatka
Pyzhatka — Russian folk musical instrument, a wooden flute, traditional for the Kursk Oblast.Pyzhatka is made of a wooden tube, 15–25 mm in diameter and 40–70 cm long, one side of which is closed with a wad...

), reed instruments (clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, zhaleyka, berben) and gusli.

In his early childhood, Starostin started to sing in a boys choir lead by Vadim Sudakov. He started to play clarinet in school, and later graduated from Merzlyakov college of music, and then from the Moscow Conservatory
Moscow Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory is a higher musical education institution in Moscow, and the second oldest conservatory in Russia after St. Petersburg Conservatory. Along with the St...

. After graduation, he abandoned academic music for a while, completely switching to traditional folk instruments, tunes and non-tempered scales. By mid-90s, however, he started to collaborate with jazz musicians Mikhail Alperin
Mikhail Alperin
Mikhail "Misha" Alperin is a Ukrainian jazz musician.Alperin was born in Kamenez Podolsky, Ukraine and grew up in Moldavia, where he was classically trained. In 1980, he formed one of the first Moldavian jazz ensembles. He moved to Moscow in the 1980s and founded the Moscow Art Trio there with...

 and Arkady Shilkloper, forming a Moscow Art Trio group, and mixing together jazz and ethic (Russian and Balkan) music. In his ethno-jazz compositions Starostin avoids harmonizations, staying within certain scales rather than sticking to chord patterns, which makes jazz played this way more "compatible" with traditional folk music. As of year 2011, however, Starostin is gradually moving from jazz and rock compositions back to more authentic folk traditional performance.

Works of Sergey Starostin are rooted in various folk traditions of nations inhabiting modern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. He participated in folk music research expeditions, and recorded several thousands tracks of authentic songs and instrumental compositions. In 1991 Starostin produced a series of TV programs called "World Village", and as of 2008 runs a different program named "Wanderings of a musician" at the Russian TV channel "Kultura". In 2006 he worked as a musical producer for the animated feature film "Prince Vladimir"
Prince Vladimir (film)
Prince Vladimir is a 2006 Russian traditionally-animated feature film loosely based on the story of Prince Vladimir, a historically important figure who converted Kievan Rus' to Christianity a thousand years ago...

. Sergey Starostin also collects, and makes himself, traditional musical instruments; reads lectures, and gives master classes on history and theory of Russian traditional musical culture.

While many CDs and concert programs feature Starostin playing "Rozhok", it worth mentioning that actually he plays not the folk wooden trumpet, known as (Vladimirsky rozhok), but a "Tverskoy Rozhok", which is a reed instrument, also known as zhaleyka.

At different stages of his musical career Starostin also collaborated and recorded together with Mari Boine
Mari Boine
Mari Boine, previously known as Mari Boine Persen, is a Norwegian Sami musician known for having added jazz and rock to the yoiks of her native people...

, Djivan Gasparyan
Djivan Gasparyan
Djivan Gasparyan is an Armenian musician and composer. He plays the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is known as the Master of the duduk.-Biography:...

, Angelite - The Bulgarian Voices, Volkovtrio, Leonid Fedorov, Sirin folk ensemble and others.

Selected Discography

  • Fly, Fly My Sadness (1996) - together with Angelite - The Bulgarian Voices, Huun-Huur-Tu
    Huun-Huur-Tu
    Huun-Huur-Tu is a music group from Tuva, a Russian Federation republic situated on the Mongolian border....

     and Mikhail Alperin
    Mikhail Alperin
    Mikhail "Misha" Alperin is a Ukrainian jazz musician.Alperin was born in Kamenez Podolsky, Ukraine and grew up in Moldavia, where he was classically trained. In 1980, he formed one of the first Moldavian jazz ensembles. He moved to Moscow in the 1980s and founded the Moscow Art Trio there with...

  • XIX98 (1998) - with Mikhail Alperin
    Mikhail Alperin
    Mikhail "Misha" Alperin is a Ukrainian jazz musician.Alperin was born in Kamenez Podolsky, Ukraine and grew up in Moldavia, where he was classically trained. In 1980, he formed one of the first Moldavian jazz ensembles. He moved to Moscow in the 1980s and founded the Moscow Art Trio there with...

    , Arkady Shilkloper and Sergey Volkov
    Sergey Volkov
    Sergey Volkov may refer to:*Sergei Volkov , Russian footballer*Sergey Alexandrovich Volkov , Russian cosmonaut*Sergey Nikolayevich Volkov , Soviet figure skater...

  • Prayer (1998) - with Mikhail Alperin
    Mikhail Alperin
    Mikhail "Misha" Alperin is a Ukrainian jazz musician.Alperin was born in Kamenez Podolsky, Ukraine and grew up in Moldavia, where he was classically trained. In 1980, he formed one of the first Moldavian jazz ensembles. He moved to Moscow in the 1980s and founded the Moscow Art Trio there with...

     and Arkady Shilkloper
  • Much Better (1998) - with Volkovtrio, Arkady Shilkloper, Igor Butman
    Igor Butman
    Igor Butman is a jazz saxophonist born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1961. He is considered to be a virtuoso saxophonist, and a skilled bandleader. American saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr. was instrumental in introducing Igor Butman to American audiences by featuring the Russian saxophonist on...

    , Kaigal-Ool Khovalyg
    Kaigal-ool Khovalyg
    Kaigal-ool Khovalyg is a Tuvan throat singer and co-founder of the Tuvan music group Huun-Huur-Tu.A self-taught overtone singer, Khovalyg worked as a shepherd until the age of 21. His musical career began when he was invited to join the Tuvan State Ensemble. He settled in Kyzyl and started teaching...

     and others
  • Once There Was Sun (2000)
  • Neath The Moon So Bright (2001) - with Sergey Volkov
    Sergey Volkov
    Sergey Volkov may refer to:*Sergei Volkov , Russian footballer*Sergey Alexandrovich Volkov , Russian cosmonaut*Sergey Nikolayevich Volkov , Soviet figure skater...

     and Svyatoslav Kurashov
  • DOM concert (2007)
  • Душеполезные Песни На Каждый День (2008) - with Andrey Kotov, Sergey Volkov
    Sergey Volkov
    Sergey Volkov may refer to:*Sergei Volkov , Russian footballer*Sergey Alexandrovich Volkov , Russian cosmonaut*Sergey Nikolayevich Volkov , Soviet figure skater...

     and Leonid Fedorov
  • Хождение по Лукам (2009) - with Vladimir Volkov
    Vladimir Volkov
    Vladimir Volkov is a Serbian footballer who plays for FK Partizan. Mainly a left back, he can also operate as a left winger.-Club career:...

     and Svyatoslav Kurashov

External links

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