Sergey Starostin

Russian folk/jazz composer and performer

Russian folk
jazz

Occupation(s)Musician, composerInstrument(s)

kalyuka
overtone flute
svirel
pyzhatka
gusli

Musical artist

Sergey Nikolaevich Starostin (Russian: Сергей Николаевич Старостин; born 1 January 1956 in Moscow) is a Russian folk and jazz composer and performer of Sámi and Tuvan folk music. He sings and plays the kalyuka, overtone flute, svirel, pyzhatka, reed instruments and gusli.^[1]^[2]

Biography

In his early childhood, Starostin sang in a boys choir led by Vadim Sudakov. He started to play clarinet in school, and later graduated from Merzlyakov college of music, and then from the Moscow Conservatory.^[3] After graduation, he switched to playing folk instruments. By mid-90s, he collaborated with jazz musicians Mikhail Alperin and Arkady Shilkloper, forming a Moscow Art Trio group, and mixing together jazz and traditional music. In his songs, Starostin avoids harmonising, staying within certain scales rather than sticking to chord patterns, which makes jazz played this way more "compatible" with traditional folk music.^[4] As of 2011, Starostin moved from jazz and rock compositions back to traditional folk performances.^[5]

He participated in folk music research expeditions, and recorded thousands of songs.^[6] In 1991, Starostin produced a series of TV programs called World Village,^[7] and as of 2008, runs a different program named Wanderings of a musician on Russia-K.^[8] In 2006, he worked as a producer for the animated feature film Prince Vladimir.^[9]

While many CDs and concert programs feature Starostin playing "Rozhok", it worth mentioning that actually he plays not the folk wooden trumpet, known as a Rozhok, but a "Tverskoy Rozhok", which is a reed instrument,^[10] is also known as zhaleyka.^[11]

Selected discography

Fly, Fly My Sadness (1996) - together with Angelite - The Bulgarian Voices, Huun-Huur-Tu and Mikhail Alperin
XIX98 (1998) - with Mikhail Alperin, Arkady Shilkloper and Vladimir Volkov
Prayer (1998) - with Mikhail Alperin and Arkady Shilkloper
Much Better (1998) - with Volkovtrio, Arkady Shilkloper, Igor Butman, Kaigal-Ool Khovalyg and others
Once There Was Sun (2000)
Neath The Moon So Bright (2001) - with Vladimir Volkov and Svyatoslav Kurashov
DOM concert (2007)
Душеполезные Песни На Каждый День (2008) - with Andrey Kotov, Vladimir Volkov and Leonid Fedorov
Хождение по Лукам (2009) - with Vladimir Volkov and Svyatoslav Kurashov

References

^ Startostin at Voklov-Trio page
^ Вечера на хуторе близ Крымского Вала - "Ведомости", 16.01.2007, 5 (1779), Михаил Визель (in Russian)
^ Starostin on dic.adacdmic.ru
^ Aнтон Веселов, "Для меня рояль был самым фальшивым инструментом на свете", Континент Сибирь, 16 августа 2002, № 28 (307)
^ Елена Коновалова, интервью с Сергеем Старостиным: «Меня все больше тянет к первоисточнику», «Вечерний Красноярск» № 29 (270) (Russian)
^ Profile at Transart project (in Russian)^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Page of Sayanskoe Koltso musical festival^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Программа "Странствия музыканта" на телеканале Культура Archived 2011-01-05 at the Wayback Machine (Russian)
^ Official site of the film "Prince Vlarimir" (in Russian)
^ "ПОЛНЫЙ ДЖАЗ #33 Сергей Старостин в мировой деревне". www.jazz.ru. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
^ "Questions". top4top.ru. ^{[dead link]}