Andrey Vinogradov

Born in 1959 in Ekaterinburg (Northern Ural), Andrey Vinogradov
has studied and been exposed to a variety of musical genres, everything from
classical jazz to jazz-rock. He has now settled down in folky niche, where he
creates his classic but unique blend of sounds.
He graduated with highest honors from the Moscow Gnessin Music College and
completed his education at Gnessin Academy of Music. Later, as part of
well-known Russian jazz-rock group The Arsenal, directed by revered saxophonist
Alexei Kozlov, he recorded two LPs, The Second Wind and Pulse 3, which were
later released on the CDs Time-scorched III and Time-scorched IV (1997-1998).
Ever since his youth, Andrey's goal has been to create innovative unions between
the most diverse of musical genres by combining elements of classical, jazz and
folk music.
In 1996 he composed a series of songs to the verses of Russian modernist poets
Soloviov, Blok, Voloshin, and Akhmatova among others. The result was a CD
entitled Dryad's Songs featuring the vocals of Galina Lipina and Ivan Smirnov's
guitar playing.
Since Andrey became interested in Russian traditional folklore, he has restored
a lot of unique recordings of anonymous rustic musicians. The immersion into the
depths of the Russian traditional music culture inspired him for an attempt to
blend the authentic folklore samples into keyboard-driven electronic-based
ambient textures in the Sokol project.
In the CD Iliya Murometz Andrey combines old Russian tunes into neo-traditional
compositions, drawing new life from ancient tones. Here he appears both as an
arranger and performer of Russian traditional folk tunes, playing rylia (Russian
hurdy-gurdy traditionally used by strolling beggars).
In 2003 Ethnomirages project was created. It is penetrated with various musical
intonations: Arabian, Turkish, Tuvinian as well as Serbian, Celtic and Armenian
threaded into modern ethno-techno tissue.
The project Daylight Breath - several preludes for piano & strings - was
inspired by Andrey's Scandinavian journey in 2005. Its music is both fascinating
and soothing.
The latest project Russian Hurdy-Gurdy Tunes is dedicated to kolesnaya lyra
(organistrum, hurdy-gurdy) - an old musical instrument used by strolling beggars
throughout Ukraine, Byelorussia and some regions of Russia. This project
containes traditional tunes, songs, and sacred chants from various regions of
Russia, arranged and performed by Andrey Vinogradov (voice & hurdy-gurdy).