St. Pyotr Mamonov

The information I have is close to nil, but somehow Pyotr Mamonov, who I learned about and listened to (impressed) in the mid-eighties through a friend living in Russia at the time, developed from a cross between a darker and more threatening soviet David Byrne in the 1980s, through his band Zvuki Mu (an amazing band that immediately draws attention to itself in a way that few groups did at the time)...

Zvuki Mu - na telekanale Kultura (1986?) - and more:


Zvuki Mu - "Grubiy Zakat"


... into an incarnation of some demonic figure drawn from the depths of the darkest russian literature performing his heart out in a way that doesn't really need translation.

Pyotr Mamonov - kak ya hotel


Pyotr Mamonov - Blues


In my unheroic quest to rediscover all sorts of artists I only had a fragmentary memory of, through the magic of online video, I learned that this phenomenal musician and actor has left the worldly spotlight and is leading a monastic life in some remote Russian village...

"[He] converted to Orthodox Christianity, left the capital, and settled in a village. He returned to play the lead role in Pavel Lungin's religious film "The Island" (Russian "Остров"), which closed the 2006 Venice Film Festival. His acting in the film was praised by Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow, and won him a Best Actor Nika Award."

This, to me, seems somehow appropriate. It concludes a path: a visible path through which an artist sculpts his own life into a meaningful (if variable) exhibit.

I'll be digging deeper....


Pyotr Mamonov - Tiritomba