Maxim Leonidov’s Alphabet: Beloved Songs, Traditions, and Home

Maxim Leonidov’s Alphabet: Beloved Songs, Traditions, and Home

Musician, actor, poet, and TV host, one of the founders of the bit-quartet “Secret,” whose concert will take place in Minsk on November 3, shares his literary, musical, and cinematic preferences.

A – Arkady Raikin

He should be spoken of not only as a satirical variety artist but also as a man of incredible integrity. I associate him with this rule: to play a drunk or a boorish person, one must be intelligent and sober because when a boor plays a boor, it is not art.

B – “Beware of the Car”

This wonderful film from my childhood features amazing actors: Yuri Nikulin, Evgeny Evstigneev, Olga Aroseva, and Oleg Efremov. Quotes from this movie fill our daily lives: “This leg belongs to the one who should have it,” “If you don’t know, then don’t say,” “Yura, I’m with you,” “Pour them our signature beer.” “Where did you come from? Your mother is so nice, she sings about steam engines” – my favorite phrase. Eldar Ryazanov’s film is a perfect example of Soviet comedy.

G – “The Count of Monte Cristo”

I recall this novel with endless tenderness because it embodies my youth. It is a book I read with a flashlight under the blanket, unable to put it down. Many people had “The Three Musketeers,” but I had “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

D – “Home” – a song by the group “Secret”

I wrote this song on the way from Krasnodar to Leningrad. We boarded a plane after quite lengthy southern tours. “Home!” – it echoed in my mind and resonated in my heart. And the line was born: “Home! There, the heart of the northern mountains beats so sweetly…”

Z – Winter Palace

This place is located in the very center of St. Petersburg, in its golden triangle. It holds many memories for me because my youth was spent there. I lived on the embankment of the Moika River in house No. 14, where Ivan Pushchin once lived. And in house No. 12, the last apartment belonged to Alexander Pushkin. From there, it was just a stone’s throw to the Palace Square, literally a 10-minute walk. And there I studied at the choir school at the Leningrad Academic Capella (now the State Academic Capella of St. Petersburg). The school stands almost on the Pevchesky Bridge. We walked, played pranks, and begged for chewing gum from foreigners there. The Winter Palace is practically a second home.

N – New Year!

In our post-Soviet life, Russian and Belarusian, unfortunately, there are few traditions. And perhaps one of the most wonderful, which is alive and well, is the New Year. New Year is a heartfelt time when we decorate Christmas trees and adorn our homes. And truly, a fairy tale comes into our lives, which happens rarely.

O – Oh! Darling

A song from the Abbey Road album – one of my favorites. In childhood, when I first heard it, I tried with all my might to imitate Paul McCartney’s incredible scream. In fact, Paul McCartney is a unique vocalist because his voice combines incredible tenderness when he uses falsetto and unimaginable expressiveness when he starts screaming. In “Oh! Darling,” he screams! Legend has it: when McCartney recorded the song, special handrails were made for him to hold onto during the performance because the height and passion in the song are unparalleled. In my opinion, this is an example of rock vocal. And nothing cooler exists in principle.

P – Paul McCartney is The Beatles

And The Beatles are love from almost childhood. Paul McCartney is a completely unique person and, perhaps, the most famous and prolific composer-songwriter of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. Paul McCartney is 75 years old. He is still active, popular, and constantly starting new projects – this commands incredible respect. This musician opened the theme of pop music and, in his time, closed it: everything that happened or happens after The Beatles is the development of one or another “golden vein” that they discovered.

T – Tom Petty and his group The Heartbreakers

Tom is one of my favorite artists. He is an absolutely unique musician, one of the pillars of American guitar music. Alongside Tom Petty, one can place Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne. One of my favorite albums, where Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison play together, is called The Traveling Wilburys.

Recorded by Natalia Gantievskaya

Photo from personal archive

With the assistance of “Berin Art Management”