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Yegor Letov

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Egor Letov
Егор Летов
Letov in 2007
Letov in 2007
Background information
Birth nameIgor Fedorovich Letov
Also known asEgor Letov
Born10 September 1964
Omsk, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died19 February 2008(2008-02-19) (aged 43)
Omsk, Russian Federation
Genres
Occupations
  • Poet
  • musician
  • vocalist
  • singer-songwriter
  • producer
  • painter
Instruments
Years active1982–2008
Labels
  • GrOb Records [ru]
  • Zolotaya Dolina (on LP 1992–1994)
  • BSA
  • HOR
  • Misteriya Zvuka
  • Vyrgorod
Formerly of
Websitehttp://www.gr-oborona.ru

Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (Russian: И́горь "Его́р" Фёдорович Ле́тов, IPA: [ˈiɡərʲ ˈfʲɵdərəvʲɪtɕ jɪˈɡor ˈlʲetəf]; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008)[1] was a Russian poet, musician, singer-songwriter, audio engineer and conceptual artist, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская Оборона, lit. 'Civil Defense'). He was also the founder of the conceptual art avant-garde project Kommunizm and psychedelic rock outfit Egor i Opizdenevshie. Letov collaborated with singer-songwriter Yanka Dyagileva and other Siberian underground artists as a record engineer and producer.

Biography

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In 1985, the dissident philosophy expressed in Letov's lyrics, as well as his popularity throughout the USSR, resulted in a KGB-initiated internment for three months in a mental hospital, where Letov was forced to take anti-psychotic drugs. On his release, he defiantly wrote a song about Lenin "rotting in his mausoleum".[2]

Letov was one of the first members of the National Bolshevik Party.[3] He ceased contact with the party around 1999 and distanced himself from politics. In his 2007 interview with Rolling Stone Russia, Letov stated: "In fact, I have always been an anarchist—and I still am. But now I'm more into ecological aspects of contemporary anarchism, eco-anarchism, that's what I've been moving toward recently".[4]

Letov died of heart failure in his sleep on 19 February 2008 at his home in Omsk.[5][6] He was 43 years old.

Influences

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In an interview, Letov expressed that his favorite poets were Alexander Vvedensky (1904–1941), one of the OBERIU writers, and the Russian Futurist poets, such as Vladimir Mayakovsky and Aleksei Kruchenykh. At the beginning of his interest in poetry he was influenced by the Austrian poet Erich Fried. He also expressed his interest in Conceptualism, and spoke of his own work in punk music and in creating a public image as a work of conceptual performance art. Letov's favorite writers, who considerably affected his world view and writing style, were Andrei Platonov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Henry Miller, Bruno Schulz, Flann O'Brien, Leonid Andreev, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Kōbō Abe, and Kenzaburō Ōe.[7]

He has said that his music, in part, reflects everything he's heard before.[8]

Legacy

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Poet Elena Fanailova stated that Letov was "[A] really fucked up and really free artist, whose main and only mission was to experience limits of his own freedom" and "certainly large, significant author, who created his own world – which, though, works only in the context of the post-Soviet civilization".[9]

Discography

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Main article: Egor Letov discography

Bibliography

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  • Yegor Letov, Yanka Dyagileva, Konstantin Ryabinov. Russian field of experiments, 1994. ISBN 5-87787-004-1
  • Yegor Letov. I don't believe in Anarchy, 1997. ISBN 5-87109-058-3.
  • Yegor Letov. Poems, 2003. ISBN 5-85929-122-1.
  • Yegor Letov. Autographs. Drafts and drawings, vol. 1, 2009. ISBN 978-5-903718-03-0
  • Yegor Letov. Autographs. Drafts and drawings, vol. 2, 2011. ISBN 978-5-9902779-1-5.
  • Yegor Letov. Poems (second edition), 2011. ISBN 978-5-9056230-1-1.

Film

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  • I Don't Believe in Anarchy, Documentary, RUS/CH 2015, Dir.: Anna Tsyrlina, Natalya Chumakova.
  • Project Egor Letov, Documentary, Medusa 2019.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Yoffe, Mark (22 April 2008). "Yegor Letov". Obituary. The Guardian.
  2. ^ Davison, Phil (26 February 2008). "Yegor Letov: 'Father of Russian punk'". The Independent. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  3. ^ Punk and national-bolshevism Archived 23 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Сорокин, Кирилл Егор Летов. Средства «Обороны». Rolling Stone Russia, July 2007
  5. ^ Cult Rock Musician Egor Letov Died, 19 February 2008
  6. ^ Ames, Mark (21 February 2008). "Punk Legend Yegor Letov dies of heart failure". The eXile. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010.
  7. ^ "Егор Летов. Ответы на вопросы посетителей официального сайта Гражданской Обороны, 24.11.04 / Off-line интервью с Егором Летовым и группой "Гражданская Оборона" – Гражданская Оборона – официальный сайт группы". Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Егор Летов: "Сейчас не имеет смысла заниматься роком" / – Гражданская Оборона – официальный сайт группы". Retrieved 2 December 2016. Well, I can personally say that about 80% of what I've composed was incited by what I'd listened to. But there doesn't have to be a direct connection. I can listen to Dylan and then, influenced by his music, write a hardcore song. So, definitely, if I didn't listen to anything, I wouldn't write anything.
  9. ^ "ГрОб-Хроники – Журнал "Сеанс" № 45/46 — Рок-н-ролл мертв, или Раздражение". Retrieved 2 December 2016.
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