Alexei Khvostenko

Infobox musical artist
Name = Alexei Khvostenko ( _ru. Алексей Хвостенко)


Img_capt =
Background = solo_singer
Birth name = Alexei L'vovich Khvostenko
Nickname = Khvost ( _ru. Хвост)
Picture =
Born = birth date|1940|11|14
Origin = Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), USSR
Died = death date|2004|11|30
Moscow, Russia
Genre = Bard
Occupation = Singer, poet, artist, singer-songwriter, songwriter
Instrument = Vocals, guitar
Years_active = 1970-2004
Label =
URL =
imdb_id = nm1992003

Alexei Khvostenko ( _ru. Алексей Львович Хвостенко), November 14, 1940 – November 30, 2004, was a Russian avant-garde poet, singer-songwriter, artist and sculptor. Khvostenko is also frequently referred to by the nickname Khvost ( _ru. Хвост), meaning "tail".

Biography

Alexei Khvostenko was born on November 14, 1940 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). He soon moved to Leningrad where he grew up. He studied at the the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinematography. In 1963 he published through samizdat his first book, "Podozritel'" (translates, roughly, as "He, who suspects"). While in Leningrad, together with Henri Volohonski, Khvostenko founded an avant-garde literary group "Verpa". [K. K. Kuzminsky and G. L. Kovalev (editorss), "The Blue Lagoon Anthology of Modern Russian Poetry", Blue Lagoon, TX, vol. 2A, 1983, pp. 226–390 and vol. 2B, 1986,pp. 679–735.] [Maxim D. Shrayer (editor). [http://books.google.com/books?id=8a392rarhCsC&pg=PA942&dq=VERPA+Khvostenko&ei=46Z2SLzYMIXUjgHPo73qDg&sig=ACfU3U3R0y1AxtQhT_ghYtolXU73pfzv_g An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature.] M. E. Sharpe, Inc. January 2007. ISBN-13: 9780765605214; page 942.]

In 1968 Khvostenko moved to Moscow and became an active figure in the Russian underground literary circles publishing his poetry and songs through samizdat. [by Dmitrij Severjuchin; Vjačeslav Dolinin. "Samizdat Leningrada: 1950-e - 1980-e: literaturnaja ėnciklopedija" (in Russian). Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, Moscow, 2003. ISBN 5-86793-216-8.] Khvostenko became a prominent figure in the revival of the avant-garde movement in the Soviet literature and art, that became possible during Khruschev's "thaw" after the death of Stalin. He is sometimes referred to as "grandfather of Russian rock". [ [http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2004/01/22/51987.html Singer Alexei Khvostenko receives Russian passport in Paris.] Pravda.ru. January 22, 2004.Quote:"Khvostenko, 63, is often referred to as "grandfather of Russian rock."] Khvostenko co-wrote the song "The Golden City" ("Город золотой") that later achieved an iconic status in Russia when it was sang by Boris Grebenschikov in the 1987 film "Assa". [ Mikhail Epstein, Aleksandr Genis and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover. [http://books.google.com/books?id=5qjzj3JwaoIC&pg=PA482&vq=Khvostenko&dq=%22Alexei+Khvostenko%22&source=gbs_search_s&cad=5&sig=ACfU3U1qUSEOeNQOmYFk8fkwm5r-btGS4A Russian postmodernism: new perspectives on Post-Soviet Culture.] Berghahn Books, New York, 1999. ISBN 1-57181-028-5; page 482.] Apart from literary works, Khvostenko was also an accomplished painter and sculptor (although his work was not officially exhibited), known for his innovative collages. [Hilton Kramer. [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0712F93D59137A93C1A8178BD95F438685F9 1917--The Russian Revolution--1967; Small Avant-Garde in Soviet Art Departs From Official Socialist Realist Style.] New York Times. October 13, 1967; page 24. Quote:"Though he has produced some respectable abstract paintings, his forte is collage, and he has been much influenced by Robert Rauschenberg and the earlier Dadaists. In his collages, images from magazines, newspapers, and other printed materials, either pasted or transferred to the page by the technique known as frottage, generate a sense of speed and disaster."]

Although he did not consider himself to be a political dissident, Khvostenko was regularly harassed and persecuted by the Soviet authorities, accused of vagrancy and at one point was put in a psychiatric hospital [http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/10/28/101.html Underground Man.] Moscow Times. October 28, 2005.] (a tactic commonly employed by the Soviet authorities for punishing the political dissidents).

In 1977 Khvostenko was forced by the Soviet authorities to emigrate. He ended up settling in Paris. There Khvostenko, together with Vladimir Maramzin, launched a literary journal "Echo" ( _ru. "Эхо"). [ Mikhail Epstein, Aleksandr Genis and Slobodanka Vladiv-Glover. [http://books.google.com/books?id=5qjzj3JwaoIC&pg=PA488&vq=Khvostenko&dq=%22Alexei+Khvostenko%22&source=gbs_search_s&cad=5&sig=ACfU3U1N1pm89Vx938LpRLJYhZcfRIsjfw Russian postmodernism: new perspectives on Post-Soviet Culture.] Berghahn Books, New York, 1999. ISBN 1-57181-028-5; page 488.] [Arnold McMillin. [http://www.jstor.org/pss/3731572 "Exiled Russian Writers of the Third Wave and the Emigre Press".]
The Modern Language Review, Vol. 84, No. 2 (Apr., 1989), pp. 406-413.] Khvostenko became a leading figure of the Russian literary community in France. His Paris studio became "a kind of club, where many famous groups and singers performed". [ [http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2004/01/22/51987.html Singer Alexei Khvostenko receives Russian passport in Paris.] Pravda.ru. January 22, 2004.] While living in France, Khvostenko recorded a number of song albums, including several albums in the 1990s with the Russian rock group Auktzion (АукцЫон). [Birgit Beumers. [http://books.google.com/books?id=Hix8AyteLN8C&pg=RA1-PA224&dq=%22Alexei+Khvostenko%22&ei=o4x2SL7MO4ecjgHdk8WNBA&sig=ACfU3U2lLuHTEf05EuYhoL4idxqvjE4vJg Pop Culture Russia!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle.] ABC-CLIO, Inc. June, 2005.ISBN-13: 9781851094592; page 224.] [ [http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/850/49/215674.htm Death of Russian Rock Postponed.] Moscow Times. January 22, 1994.] His songs became widely popular in Russia, particularly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

In 2004, after a personal appeal to President Vladimir Putin, Khvostenko regained his Russian citizenship. [ [http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2004/01/22/51987.html Singer Alexei Khvostenko receives Russian passport in Paris.] Pravda.ru. January 22, 2004.] [ [http://www.echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/25276/ Interview with Alexei Khvostenko.] (in Russian). Echo of Moscow, April 4, 2004] Subsequently he divided his time between Paris and Moscow. Alexei Khvostenko died from a heart failure on November 30, 2004 in a Moscow hospital. [ [http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=2230&highlight=Alexei%20Khvostenko Chernov's Choice.] The St. Petersburg Times. December 3, 2004]

A year after his death Alexei Khvostenko's friends published his collected literary works in an anthology called "Verpa", - a word "invented by Khvostenko to describe his literary credo".

References

External links

* [http://magazines.russ.ru/nlo/2005/72/hv18.html "Никакое трагическое мироощущение мне не присуще..."] The last interview with Alexei Khvostenko (in Russian). "Русский журнал. Рабочие тетради". November 22, 2004.
* [http://www.pbase.com/perfil/alexei_khvostenko_live_in_moscow Alexei Khvostenko live in Moscow] , a photo gallery from a Moscow concert