Bold creative experiment

Musical publishing house “Zvuk-M” presents Alla Boychenko's album!

The middle of summer will be marked by the emergence of an extremely interesting and original musical project, the main driving and creative force of which is a talented performer with a very powerful and beautiful voice - Alla Boychenko.

The EP entitled “Maryam” is a bold experiment in which the wise Caucasus, the mysterious East and the modern West are closely intertwined. The album is full of fresh ideas and unusual solutions, both vocally and in terms of arrangement.

The creative compilation of the singer's ideas included 6 compositions in 5 languages: Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Balkarian and Chechen. Despite this, from the very first notes, so confident, strong, and somewhere even naively touching, sung by Allah, you involuntarily catch yourself thinking that you stop paying attention to what language the songs are played with. After all, the album, on the creation of which she worked for more than four years, is filled with sincerity and warmth.

“Since childhood, I was surrounded by national music, which, imperceptibly for me, was absorbed into my lifestyle and became somewhat second nature to me. At the same time, I always liked foreign music: Etta James, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and many others. So, when it came to my own creativity, there was no question about style and direction - the love for such seemingly different music organically gave rise to the symbiosis of ethnic music with various modern popular genres,” says Alla.

The music for the EP tracks was written by the singer’s friend and colleague - Alexandra Akmanova, with which they studied at GITIS. And the Moscow arranger and musician Maxim Cherkasov helped them to record and arrange the project.

“The track “Atly Barad” (“Horseman”) initially included elements of flamenco, but after mixing it acquired a completely different sound - keyboards began to predominate in the overall sound palette and the duduk took first place, in addition to vocals. I liked the old version, but many people liked the song in the new interpretation,” comments Boychenko.

The album's track-list includes both remakes of folk songs and author's songs, in which the singer has invested her own emotional experiences: “Save Song” is especially dear to me. I wrote the words for it back in the distant 2014 year. In my life it was a period of upheaval, and I fully tried to reflect my emotions in verse. It turned out pretty deep and touching text. It is a pity, but for the record, solely for creative purposes, it had to be cut, the track turned out a bit long.

Another original song is “Sounds of the City”. A duet that we perform together with Tengiz Gabaev. I wanted to write something uniting for all the cities of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, and at the same time make the track sound interesting, so we decided to make it more modern, and even a little danceable,” explains the artist.

The name of the album “Maryam” was chosen not only because it is one of the most popular hits of the performer, but also because that is the name of Alla’s mother: “The album is dedicated to my parents, he is Russian-Balkarian. My dad is Russian, and my mother is Balkar, her name is Maryam. This is another reason why the song of Omar Otarov “Maryam” I like so much. Working on a remake, we took as a basis the melodiousness of the original, added a guitar, percussion and, of course, an accordion. The track began to play with new colors and fell in love with my audience. I, so to speak, re-opened it for her.

Another cover present in the album is “National Mix” - the idea was to collect several folk songs in different languages ​​into one track. Initially, it was a musical project that three girls and I recorded as graduates of GITIS. Subsequently, I began to perform this song myself, changing it a little.”

The most interesting is that the album "Maryam" could not be. The singer lost her voice for almost a year, and doctors told her that he might not return. But, despite the not consoling diagnosis, the actress defeated the disease and brought the matter to the end.

“The album in many ways became an experiment, a kind of challenge to my creative abilities. I want to make a reservation right away, there are no songs here that demonstrate all my vocal capabilities,” the singer modestly adds. “It is rather intended for easy listening. I plan to release powerful vocal compositions a little later. I really like what I do and I think it’s unfair that ethnic music is now forgotten by many. With my work I wanted to bring innovation to this area. Show how you can make such music interesting and in demand. I hope I succeeded."

Now Alla starts shooting videos for all 6 tracks included in the album. And you can judge for yourself how well the singer managed to realize her ideas in life, because the album can already be listened to and downloaded on the largest music services, including iTunes, google play, Apple music, Music Beeline and Yandex Music.

Listen to the album "Maryam" by Alla Boychenko