Roadside Picnic developed into Stage Picnic. The musicians of the famous Russian rock group chose the name for it under the influence of the work of the Strugatsky brothers. This book, as you know, impressed Andrei Tarkovsky as well. The director shot the film "Stalker" based on the work. The musicians did not begin to recreate the storyline of the book, but only brought into their work the mystery and mysticism characteristic of "Roadside Picnic".

This is probably why many fans of rockers are sure that the leader is fond of magic. After the concerts, Edmund Shklyarsky is given not only applause, but also books with spells and descriptions of various rituals. The singer does not dissuade the audience, but, as he admitted in an interview with MK.RU Vladivostok, he gets rid of the presents. In fact, Edmund is not a magician, and he is afraid of spiritualism. These are just a couple of interesting facts about Picnic. We will enclose the rest of the surprises in a canvas of biographical and creative references.

Biography of the "Picnic" group

"Picnic" - group, based on the basis of the Polytechnic Institute of Leningrad. The team was formed in 1978 from university students. Cooperation with the amateur theater of the institute began, and in 1989 the first serious performance at the student festival took place. Here the musicians got a taste of success and began to give underground concerts. They took place not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Moscow.

However, 1981 is considered the official date of the band's founding. Then the musicians were joined by the permanent frontman and ideological inspirer Edmund Shklyarsky. It was he who inspired the guys to experiment with electronic music. Computer samples made band songs "Picnic" special . In addition, it was in 1981 that the collective performed on the stage of the Leningrad Rock Club, in the creation of which the musicians actively participated.

We started with a perky rock and roll. By the mid-90s, they came to a special style, the originality of which is expressed, as a rule, in a non-standard selection of instruments. They use not only traditional Russian rock drums, guitars, keyboards, but also folk instruments, as well as symphonic techniques. What are they? Consider discography as an example. There are a lot of albums, because the collective operates to this day.

Discography of the group "Picnic"

The team has 21 albums. The first of them was released a year after the opening of a rock club in Leningrad. The magnetic plate was named "Smoke". The song of the same name was written by Shklyarsky. He became interested in oriental culture, which was reflected in the ambiguity of the texts and the use of national instruments of Asia.

In studio albums of the "Picnic" group also includes "Dance of the Wolf" from 1984. This time Edmund was the author of not several, but all the songs on the disc. The result is compositions in the medieval style, close to the Gothic. Such an unusual rock caused heated discussions and added to the group of fans.

In 1986, the album "Hieroglyph" was released. Soloist of the group "Picnic" created 12 tracks. First, they recorded their live version, then the studio version, and in 1987 they changed the order of the tracks and their duration. So, it turned out 3 versions of one disc.

1988 was marked by the release of the album "From Nowhere". This disc was sold not only in Russia, but also in Sweden. But the next album of 1992, "Harakiri", remained within the country, although it was recognized as one of the leaders in the discography of the group.

In 1994 rock group "Picnic" pleases fans with the disc "A Little Fire". Rocker "fire" in the compositions is really a little. The lyrics are accompanied by organ music, the standard keyboards are replaced by a grand piano. The sounds are ascetic, but sublime.

In 1995, the team was inspired by the story of Count Dracula. The album "vampire songs" appeared. They are diverse, since they were written not only by Shklyarsky. But the texts of "Zhen-Shen" 1996 only by Edmund. But, at concerts, these compositions almost do not sound. There is a lot of electronic music in them, which is difficult to recreate live, and this is exactly how it plays group "Picnic".

Photo on the cover of the next album "Glass" resembles a stylized eye. This is a symbol of a look inside the soul, the desire to know being and convey its fragility. In 1997, Shklyarsky still adds mystery to his work, calling the next disc "Drink Electricity" and co-writing a certain sect of Mo. Later, Edmund confesses that this is a fictional organization.

In 2001, again in the spotlight group "Picnic". "Egyptian"- an album discussed not only by fans, but also by all Russians. The disc became the calling card of rockers, because it featured the song "Violet-Black", which hit most radio rotations. This also applies to the composition "Egyptian".

The 2002 album "Alien" has become traditional for "Picnic" - the songs are slow and melodic. The record “speaks and shows” of 2003 brought the early, but never released songs of the group to the world. I was also surprised by the "shadow of a vampire" of 2004. On this disc, Vadim Samoilov from Agatha Christie plays along and sings along to the musicians.

The 2005 album "Kingdom of Curves" showed the world the song of the same name, which became the soundtrack to the popular TV series. In 2007, the disc "Obscurantism and Jazz" was released and ... again became the symbol of the series. The film is called The Law of the Mousetrap. The sound track to it is called "From the Mousetrap".

"Iron Mantras" of 2008 were accompanied by as many as 8 clips. In 2010, the Theater of the Absurd was released, consisting of 11 compositions. In 2011, “Three Fates” went on sale, and in 2012, “Singer of Decadence”. This is how the rock group celebrated its 30th anniversary. After an important date, the album "Stranger" was released. Bye, this is the last album that has released group "Picnic". 2015-th year is devoted to concert activities. Let's talk about its features.

Concert activities of the "Picnic" group

"Picnic" concert always presented as a kind of theatrical performance. Musicians try to do shows, not just sing songs. Tours to the cities of Russia and abroad are carried out almost after each album. Therefore, in many cities, rockers have been met more than once. For example, the team travels to Primorye almost every year. True, Edmund Shklyarsky does not favor fans. He personally admitted this in several interviews. "We are from different worlds" - said the artist. “Those who like our work are rarely close to me in spirit,” added the singer. Do his colleagues agree with him? We will find out this, and at the same time, the full composition.

The composition of the "Picnic" group

Shklyarov's associates include 3 people: Leonid Kirnos, Stanislav Shklyarsky and Marat Korchemny. The first sings and plays the guitar. Edmund's son is a vocalist and keyboardist. Marat is in charge of the bass guitar. All three, like the leader of the band, are slightly removed from the audience. But, this adds mystery to the creators, and it is she who is one of the reasons for the popularity of rockers.

Finally, let's say a few words about the past group "Picnic". The game the collective in different years was decorated with the participation of almost 30 musicians out of the list. All of them are former members of the band. He, like most groups, changed the composition more than once and even completely disintegrated. But, for now, "Picnic" like a phoenix, always rises from the ashes.

It arose in September 1978 at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute on the wreckage of the locally popular "ORION" In the composition: Sergei Omelnichenko (guitar, vocals), Evgeny "Jacques" Voloschuk (bass), Alexei Dobychin (vocals), Nikolai Mikhailov (flute) and Alexander Matskov ( drums), the last two months later was replaced by Alexander Kondrashkin.

For some time, the group successfully collaborated with the amateur theater of the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, where it took part in staging the musical performance "The Lay of Igor's Campaign."

In March 1979 "PIKNIK", whose composition was reinforced by Mikhailov's classmate Yuri Danilov (flute, clarinet), made its debut at the annual festival "Spring at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute", where he was immediately noticed. Soon he parted with the theatrical stage and over the next two years was one of the most active participants in the underground rock scene of Leningrad, and also visited Novgorod and Moscow. The repertoire of "PIKNIK" during these years was based mainly on the songs of Dobychin and Omelnichenko - energetic rock and rolls or beats with cute melodies and innocently reflexive lyrics in the spirit of the popular "TIME MACHINE" (several numbers of this period were preserved in the recording on debut album "PICNIC" "Smoke"). The ranks of the group were visited by various musicians, among whom should be noted Pavel Kondratenko (later "DEMOKRITOV KOLODETS" and "ALICE") and Petr Troshchenkov. At the beginning of 1981 "PIKNIK" took an active part in the creation of the Leningrad rock club, and in the same autumn the original line-up of the group disintegrated: Danilov went to "TAMBURIN", Omelnichenko to "ORNAMENT", Troshchenkov began to play with "AQUARIUM", Mikhailov became a member of the board rock club, and in 1982 was elected president. Voloschuk and Dobychin put together a new version of the group, which included members of another rock-club group "LABYRINTH" Edmund Shklyarsky (guitar, piano, vocals) and Alexander Savelyev (guitar).

Edmund Shklyarsky (p. September 26, 1955, Leningrad) grew up in a family with strong musical traditions, learned to play the violin, but his acquaintance with rock and roll put an end to his academic career. In the fall of 1972, he rehearsed for several weeks with Boris Grebenshchikov, then a sophomore at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics at Leningrad University (the legendary "AQUARIUM" then existed more in his imagination than in reality), but in the end he chose to go his own way.

A year later, he entered the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, and in the fall of 1973 he organized his first group "SURPRISE" there. The following spring, the group took part in the third festival of groups of the Polytechnic Institute, having received a special jury prize for E. Shklyarsky's song Dilizhans - despite the prevailing fashion in the rock movement for English-speaking standards, from the very beginning he wanted to sing in Russian and only his own songs.

In the mid-70s, Shklyarsky did not play for long in "ORION", then rehearsed with the future founder of "STRANGE GAMES" Viktor Sologub and, finally, became a member of the group "LABYRINT", with which he was admitted to a rock club, and after its collapse he got in "PICNIC".

Regularly changing drummers and improving the equipment (on which almost most of the rock club's concerts took place in the first half of the 80s, including its 1st festival), PIKNIK gradually made its way into the number of the most popular groups in the club. In 1982, at the studio of Andrei Tropillo, they recorded the album "Smoke", which discovered Shklyarsky as a strong melodist and gifted poet. In the spring of 1983, PIKNIK parted with Dobychin (he returned to an academic career and an unfinished dissertation) and took third place at the rock club festival, and a year later split in two: Shklyarsky and Savelyev left for the professional stage, leaving behind the name PIKNIK , and Voloshchuk and Sergei Shepel (guitar, piano) and Leonid Kirnos (drums), who were playing in the group at that time, organized the short-lived "CONTINUATION FOLLOWS".

At the end of 1984, Shklyarsky and Savelyev, with the support of session musicians Viktor Sergeev (keyboards), Vladimir Sizov (bass) and Alexander Fedorov (drums), recorded their second album "Dance of the Wolf" - perhaps the best work in the history of "PIKNIK", full of dark images and dramatic plots inspired by the gothic stories of Edgar Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and musically close to the aesthetics of baroque rock.

Best of the day

Thanks to the recordings spreading across the country, the popularity of "PIKNIK" grew, although the group practically did not exist during this period. Only in 1986 was its new composition formed: Shklyarsky, Savelyev, a former member of the ZERKALO group Sergey Voronin (p. March 29, 1956; keyboards), Yuri Klyuchantsev (keyboards, saxophone), Viktor Evseev (bass, vocals) and Vadim Ponomarev ( rhythm box). The latter was replaced a year later by Leonid Kirnos (p. 28 August 1957), who had once played in the amateur "PICNIC" and the group "CONTINUED FOLLOWS".

In September 1988 "PIKNIK" for the first time in several years performed with a solo program in front of an audience of thousands and was enthusiastically received by the audience. Firm "Melodia" one after another released two of their discs.

In January 1989, the group almost collapsed: an attack of personal ambitions caused by popularity led to the departure of Yevseyev and Klyuchantsev, who gathered the ZAMOK ZO group with Andrei Shatalin and Pavel Kondratenko, who had left ALISU under similar circumstances. The bass guitar was again picked up by the veteran Sizov. In this composition, in September 1989 the group performed at the rock festival of the same name organized by Alexander Zhitinsky and Andrey Tropillo under the auspices of the Aurora magazine, where fragments of their new program were performed. By March 1990 "ZOZOK ZO", having recorded a single album and made several tours, fell apart, and "PIKNIK" restored its 1988 line-up.

After a long break, "PIKNIK" returned to the studio and recorded a powerful and musically convincing album "Harakiri" (1992). Savelyev by this time left the stage, becoming the director of the group. Later he transferred this post to the former PIKNIK drummer, Alik Bakhtiyarov. To fill some vacuum in stage arrangements, guitarist Andrey Merchanskiy was invited to "PIKNIK" (again, from "CONTINUATION FOLLOWS" and a modernized version of Rekshan's "ST. PETERSBURG"). He remained in the group until the spring of 1994, after which he left music and later emigrated. The only work of the group released during this period was the "Collector's Album", which featured the best numbers from the group's repertoire for 1982-90.

It seemed that "PIKNIK" was doomed to the fate of many bands, the peak of their popularity came in the days of the underground and the euphoria that followed in the late 80s, but the group surprised everyone by finding the strength to change the stereotype of their music as a pretext for nostalgia. The album "A Little Fire", released after a long pause in 1995, confidently confirmed that Shklyarsky's melodic gift does not diminish over the years, and his ability to fit his melodies into the modern musical context, without changing a single note in them and without changing the chosen style, is admirable.

In 1996, a new disc appeared - the eighth (or ninth, if we add the collective collection "Vampire Songs", in which the music of "PICNIC" occupies the central place) disc "Ginseng" "decorated with illustrations by Shklyarsky, which once again demonstrates the versatility of his talent).

Not without losses. In the fall of 1994, the drummer, and then the director of the group, Alik Bakhtiyarov, died in a car accident. In the summer of 1996, Evseev and Klyuchantsev left the group for the second time. This time, their place was taken by Alexander Rokin, who was not known until that moment (b. April 5, 1963). PICNIC continues to perform and record.

Great!!!
Panbex 17.01.2006 02:17:57

it's good that the Picnic is coming on February 14 to Yekaterinburg, I will definitely go, because I'm just a fan of them, I know all their songs by heart ... this is the best thing in the world, thanks to the group for being there !! !

Help make a sick child happy
Helena 11.08.2015 06:58:59

Dear group management and musicians, help :)

Guys, I don't know where to write. The story is ... there is a girl, Nastya Trusova, she is 14 years old. This year it was found out that she is sick, with lymphoma. The child is super well done, he is holding on as he can! I don’t ask for money, I don’t need any help, we are coping with friends and acquaintances. But here is the point, I do my best to please the devoule and find all the ways for this. So, she is madly in love with the Picnic group, wants a T-shirt with the symbols of the group .. a T-shirt is not a problem, I bought it and that's it .. but I thought that happiness would be to see her autograph ... tell me how this can be done? Where to go?

History of the group "Picnic"

1978-1981

The group was founded in September 1978 in Leningrad from the students of the Polytechnic University, who played in the amateur group "Orion". In 1981, the first team of "Picnic" broke up - Evgeny Voloshchuk and Alexey Dobychin were left alone. Voloshchuk invited a member of the Labyrinth group Edmund Shklyarsky (vocals, guitar, piano) to fill the vacant position as a guitarist. Edmund did not come alone, but together with Alexander Savelyev (acoustic guitar) and Ali Bakhtiyarov (drums). E. Shklyarsky's debut took place at one of the concerts of the Leningrad rock club.

1982-1983
In 1982 "Picnic" recorded its first magnetic album "Smoke" at Andrey Tropillo's studio. The original version of the album included "Disc-Jockey" and "Who is Silent Much", which were excluded in later re-releases. For various reasons, "Bicycle", "For the Innocent Murdered" (released later in the album "Little Fire") and some other songs did not get into "Smoke" for various reasons. The name of the album was suggested by Andrey Tropillo and was adopted without much discussion. The order of the compositions was determined by a simple alternation of "fast-slow" and "from strong to weak." Initially, the album did not include a cover, not even a "virtual" one. In 1993 "Smoke" was not only re-released on CD, but re-recorded in the studio by specially assembled musicians of the first line-up.
In autumn 1982 - the first public presentation of the recordings in the "Phonograph" club in the Leningrad Palace of Youth.
In 1983 "Picnic" became a laureate of the Leningrad Rock Club festival (along with "Aquarium", "Zoo" and "Russians"). Leonid Kirnos comes to the group to replace the drummer. The first version of the song "Giant" is being recorded, which for the first time in the musical history of the group hits the hit parade of the newspaper "Smena" under the heading "In modern rhythms".


1984-1987
In 1984, a split occurs in the group. "Picnic", which includes Shklyarsky and Savelyev, leaves the Leningrad rock club. After that, for two years the group has no permanent composition.
In late autumn at the same studio A. Tropillo, Shklyarsky and Savelyev, with the support of session musicians Sergey Voronin (keyboards), Vladimir Sizov (bass guitar) and Alexander Fedorov (drums), recorded their second album "Dance of the Wolf". The album turned out to be full of dark images and dramatic plots, inspired by the gothic stories of Edgar Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and musically close to the aesthetics of baroque rock.
Since 1985, the group has been actively touring. In LDM the group shows the program "Dance of the Wolf" live. For the first time, the “Electric Mouth” appeared on the scene, which sometimes travels with the group today.
"Picnic" falls into the "black lists" of groups that are prohibited from being replicated in recording studios. The group is under attack by the party and Komsomol press, especially for songs such as "Opium Smoke."
The first version of the song "Holiday" was recorded (for the first time a computer is used), which is played on the air of the New Year's program "Discs are spinning" on Leningrad TV.
In 1986 the song "I am almost Italian" was recorded using the same computers. The group acquires a stable line-up: E. Shklyarsky, A. Savelyev, former member of the Zerkalo group Sergey Voronin (keyboards), V. Evseev (bass, vocals), Y. Klyuchantsev (keyboards, saxophone), V. Ponomarev (rhythm box ). The first version of the album "Hieroglyph" is being recorded, including the work of JS Bach.
With the help of Vladimir Voronetsky, Lev Levinson and Mikhail Sadchikov, "Picnic" in a protracted battle with the artistic council gets the right to tour activities and at the end of the year the group goes on its first tour to Tallinn and Donetsk.
During the New Year's concerts in the Kapranov Palace of Culture, a video sequence for the song "Hieroglyph" is filmed. With the light hand of M. Sadchikov, the group has the opportunity to release their songs at the Melodiya recording company. The second version of the album "Hieroglyph" is recorded in four days in the studio of the House of Composers. A few months later, one of the first albums of domestic rock musicians released on a vinyl disc appears in the country's music stores.
On the disc "Meeting Place - Disco" the song "I am almost Italian" appears with the author's comments by Artur Makariev, who later became the initiator of the recording of the second vinyl record. In the spring of 1987, Leonid Kirnos re-joins the team.

1988-1990
In 1988 in Moscow, at the Melodiya firm, the album “Come from Nowhere” was recorded. Svyatoslav Obraztsov works with the group on tour as a sound engineer. In the summer for the program "Morning Mail" in Yalta, a video for the song "Holiday" is shot. In September, the SKK them. Lenin (Leningrad) three solo concerts in a row.
In 1989 V. Sizov became the bass-guitarist of the group, who, like Sergei Voronin, took part in the recording of the album "Dance of the Wolf". In the spring "Picnic" goes on tour with the French group "Dirty Side", and in the summer it participates in the festival of the Baltic cities in the Polish city of Sopot. In December Klyuchantsev and Evseev leave the group.

In 1990, "Picnic" has its own symbol, which is now present on all discs and stage decorations. In May, a video for the song "Let yourself be ripped off" is shot. Evseev and Klyuchantsev return to the group. In this composition, the Picnic flies to Japan, to the city of Osaka, to the Expo-90 festival.


1991-1995
1991. Mikhail Shemarov recorded the album "Harakiri" at Lenfilm. Ali Bakhtiyarov returns to the group as director. In the summer, E. Shklyarsky and S. Voronin take part in a walking pilgrimage to the Pope in the Polish city of Czestochowa.
In 1992 the penultimate vinyl of "Picnic" "Harakiri" was published, first designed by E. Shklyarsky (on the label "Matuzalem"). There is devaluation in the country, and for a concert in Minsk the group receives a bag of money (their "million in a bag"). Another attribute of the show appears - the "pointing finger".
1993. The picnic takes part in the "live filming" of the program "Ad Libitum" and the concert "The Other Side of the Moon" in the recreation center "Gorbunova". At the end of the year, with the assistance of Oleg Kruglov, the first CD of the group, a remake of the Smoke album, was released on the Aura label.
On February 16, 1994, at the Oktyabrsky Big Concert Hall, with a two-year delay, the group celebrated the 10th anniversary of the birth of the Smoke Magnetic Album. In the spring, the second CD of the Picnic - "A Little Fire" appears. The last flash of "vinyl" (A. Savelyev on the label "Anthrop" releases the original version of the album "Dance of the Wolf"). During a joint concert in Alma-Ata with the "Nautilus Pompilius" group, an acquaintance with Vadim Samoilov takes place. Ali Bakhtiyarov dies in a car accident in autumn.
In early autumn 1995, E. Shklyarsky met Viktor Gritsaenko, who became the director of the group, and on December 6, at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall, he held his first action-presentation of the new program “Vampire Songs”. For the first time, the miracles of the eruption of fire are demonstrated by Alexander Yarovoy. The album "Vampire Songs" was recorded together with Andrey Karpenko.
1996-2000
In 1996, after a tour in Nizhny Novgorod, Evseev and Klyuchantsev left the group. Alexander Rokin becomes the bass-guitarist. On September 26, the video "Face" is shot in the "Vatrushka" club. The album "Ginseng" was recorded and soon published. In the summer, the Soyuz label publishes the Picnic anthology on eight discs with an annotation book by Andrei Burlaka.
Year 1997. On the label "Aura" the album "Glass" is released. For the first time (on the backing vocals in the song "Two Giants") E. Shklyarsky attracts his children: Alina and Stas. The first stage instrument, the "live cello", was constructed for the song "Eyes are outlined in charcoal" (the first appearance of the cello was Oksana Semenova).
1998 added another musical offshoot to the Picnic anthology - the electronic album "Drink Electricity", recorded together with the group "Sect MO" ("Sect of Magic Objects"). In the same year V. Gritsaenko left the group and returned to the radio business.
In 1999 a compilation of songs "Picnic" and a program of the same name "The Best" were released. The presentation of the program took place in St. Petersburg on March 7. With a delay of 2 years, in the State Concert Hall "Russia", on May 3, the group celebrates the 15th anniversary of "conscious" life. For a short time Stas Dremov joins the group, who, however, managed to organize a tour of the Picnic from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok and create a video for the song "Sharmanka". In May, Svyatoslav Obraztsov replaced A. Rokin as bass-guitarist. The beginning of the century, New Year's Eve on December 31, the Picnic was celebrated with a percussive concert on the square near the Kazan Cathedral, at 4 o'clock in the morning.
2000. Three Ukrainian heroes - Viktor Shpak, Oleg Lyashko and Yuriy Gora initiated the creation of a joint program of the Picnic and the Zaporozhye String Orchestra conducted by Vsevolod Madan. In autumn - "Picnic" takes part in the concert "XX Years of the Rock Club".
2001-2005
In 2001, the album "Egyptian" was released on the "Grand" label. For the title song, a "New Egyptian instrument" is created, and a pyrotechnic sign appears in the group's show (in the song "Violet-Black").
On February 15 in Zaporozhye and on March 15 in St. Petersburg, the idea of ​​joint concerts of the group with the Zaporozhye String Orchestra, followed by a video version of the action, is finally being implemented.
On February 24 in Moscow, Picnic shows a new program "Violet-Cherny", and the song itself gets into the rotation of FM stations throughout the country.
In the spring, Picnic starts cooperation with the MZCreative team. On October 29, the first "material" result of this cooperation was the official website of the group: http://www.piknik.info.
At the beginning of 2002, Picnic took part in gala concerts of the most ambitious "real" TV show of that time, "The Last Hero", performing his new song "Speaks and Shows." On the label "Grand" the album "Alien" is released, consisting of two equal parts - 5 new songs and 5 songs previously only performed at concerts or not included in previously released discs.
In August, at the Nashestvie 2002 festival in Ramenskoye, Picnic shows fragments of its new program Wild Games. The performance is attended by the theater of Doctor Yes - "BlackSkyWhite". The PIKNIK program is shown in full in September in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Minsk. These concerts were attended by: Alexei Mogilevsky (saxophone), Sergei Hasanov (sitar) and the theater of the Vasiliev brothers. The St. Petersburg concert was recorded on video for later publication.
In January 2003 the group visited the German cities of Hamburg and Osnabrück with concerts.
In March, "Grand" released the album "Says and Shows", the title track of which is "Silver !!!" for a long time he was practically at the top of the Chartova Dozen charts, yielding only first place to the Kipelov group. And the album itself was one of the five "most demanded" albums in the spring of 2003.
April 2 at the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky, the premiere of the concert program "Speaks and Shows" took place in Moscow, where Vadim Samoilov, Alexei Mogilevsky, Utah and the violinist Irina Sorokina took part. Literally a few days later, during the Ural tour, Svyatoslav Obraztsov appeared on the stage for the last time ...
On August 2 at the "Invasion-2003" "Picnic" presented its "chamber" program. In September, together with Vadim Samoilov (Agatha Christie), the group began recording a new album - "Shadow of the Vampire".

October 18 at the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky with the PIKNIK group took the stage Valery Kipelov. The songs "Forest-Mountains" and "On the edge of the earth" were performed together.
On November 15, the famous director Vitaliy "Mukha" filmed a track from the upcoming album - "The torture does not end."
On December 11, the new program "Shadow of the Vampire" "Picnic" and V. Samoilov were shown at the Moscow Art Theater.
On February 15, 2004, the official release of the "Shadow of the Vampire" album took place. For the first time in the discography of the group, the animated "Story Pro" was included on the disc. The concert in support of the release took place at the Yubileiny Sports Palace, where, together with V. Samoilov, songs from the new album and greatest hits were performed in a special arrangement.
On April 28, at the Central House of Artists (Moscow), the shooting of the concert program "Frescoes" took place. In May, at the invitation of the German band Ostrov Ded, the PIKNIKs toured German lands. At the end of the tour, taking advantage of a geographically convenient opportunity, the band's musicians made a pilgrimage to Senor Stefano Donatti.
In the summer, the song "Kingdom of Curves" was recorded and at the same time the shooting of a video for this glorious track began. In October "Picnic" was marked by an unusual project - "Transformation", which was released a month later on a medium called DVD. The unusual thing was that E. Shklyarsky used a synthesizer instead of a guitar, and S. Voronin played the guitar.
In December, the group celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of the album "Dance of the Wolf" with a concert in the company of Nikolai Gogol and the Grand Inquisitor.
The beginning of 2005 was marked by the completion of work on the video "Kingdom of Curves" and its subsequent premiere at the Central House of Artists. A little later, in April, in the same hall, the release of the album "Kingdom of Curves" was marked with two sold-out concerts.
Meanwhile, in parallel in St. Petersburg, keyboardist of the Alisa group Dmitry Parfenov was finishing work on the New Egyptian Songs album. The disc includes techno versions of the hits of the "Picnic" group. The vocals in the track "Night" were performed by Konstantin Kinchev. The disc was released in September.
In August, Edmund Shklyarsky took part in Mikhail Kozyrev's venture - the creation of a Russian-language soundtrack to the famous creation by Tim Burton "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Edmund sang for the vampire chorus. The text of the chant was corrected on the fly. The result was shown on the TNT channel on October 31st.
In the fall of 2005, the most ambitious in the modern history of "Picnic" tour, the name of which was again "Kingdom of Crooked", started in Kiev. The spectacular part of the tour was brought to life by Irina Ponomareva and Alexander Zatsepin. The main concert of the tour took place in St. Petersburg on November 7. Thanks to the good man Bogdan Drobyazko, this performance of "Picnic" was filmed and later released on DVD.

In December, Vitaly Mukhametzyanov created a video clip for the song "The shaman has three hands" for the group, and Edmund Shklyarsky recorded a track for Vitaly Mukhametzyanov's album.

2006-2008
On January 12, 2006 in the Central House of Artists, the Piknik group plays the Harakiri concert program, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the release of the album of the same name.
On February 5, with the support of Nashe Radio, the youth TV channel O2 TV and the Music Box music channel, the Kingdom of Crooked DVD is released.
On March 29, the Central House of Artists is hosting a concert dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the release of the album "Zhen-Shen", on which the songs "Silent Cinema", "Slide on the Ground", "Their Elastic Names" and other tracks from this album are performed. performed by the group live. A special show has been prepared for detailed visualization of the performance.
From May 24 to May 27, a concert tour "Picnic" takes place in the cities of Germany. Then the group went to the Far East with three more concerts.
On July 29 "Picnic" performs at the "Wings" festival, on August 4 - at the "Baltic Storm" festival in Kaliningrad, on August 6 - at the "Invasion - 2006" festival (the presentation of the new song "Obscurantism and Jazz" is also taking place there).
In October, in the St. Petersburg Big Concert Hall "Oktyabrsky" the premiere of the concert program of the jubilee tour "XXV" takes place, which "Picnic" will soon take to cities. For the first time, the Surround FX system is used, with the help of which it was possible to "liven up" the sound effects. On the song "Obscurantism and Jazz" Mr. Jazz Obscurantist performed a solo on bare high-voltage wires. In addition, there was an impromptu performance of shadow theater.
Andrei Burlaka and Yuri Shevchuk honored the anniversary concert with their visit. The first said that he was preparing for publication the most complete book of knowledge about Russian rock and roll, and Yuri Shevchuk sang an "autumn-spring" song.
On November 26 live on the "First Youth TV Channel O2TV" within the framework of the special project "Kommunalka" the apartment block "Picnic" is taking place.
On December 6, 2006, Sergey Voronin, the group's keyboard player, passed away.
In January 2007, Edmund Shklyarsky recorded the soundtrack for the film "The Law of the Mousetrap" directed by Alexander Yakimchuk.
In early February, the band's new album is released, which is called "Obscurantism and Jazz".
On February 24, 2007 "Picnic" plays the Big Jubilee Concert in Luzhniki. Such groups and musicians as Agatha Christie, Valery Kipelov, BI-2, Kukryniksy were invited to the anniversary of the Picnic. In addition to the four permanent members of the group, Irina Sorokina, Natalya Voronina and Stas Shklyarsky played on the Luzhniki stage.
From 10 to 23 April, the jubilee tour "XXV" takes place in the cities of Ukraine.
On April 27 in the city of Tula and on May 3 in the Moscow Central House of Artists "Picnic" and Vadim Samoilov are giving a performance called "Vampire Songs". In addition to the tracks of the corresponding album in
the program included classic songs "Picnic", which the group performed together with Vadim.
On May 4, at a concert in the Central House of Artists, musicians Inna Zhelannaya and Sergey Kalachev performed on stage with the group. The set-list of the concert includes several works performed for the first time for a wide audience.
The end of June was marked by the release on the screens of the Ukrainian TV channel "1 + 1" of the television series "The Law of the Mousetrap" - a product of cooperation between E. Shklyarsky and director Alexander Yakimchuk.
In the first half of July, a DVD with a Picnic concert at the SKK (Leningrad, 1988) and TV footage (1987) will be released.
In the fall of 2007, the group embarks on a large "Obscurantism and Jazz" tour across the country. December 10, 2007 - a concert in the city of Gomel (25 years after the first concert in this city). On December 21 and 22, 2007, two concerts took place at the Central House of Artists - "The Best" and "On the Ray", respectively.
October 1, 2008 from the city of Murmansk began a new tour of the country "Picnic" - "Full Moon".

300 rebounds, of which 3 this month

Biography

Although the newspaper epithet "amazing fate" has long become a commonplace and is hardly able to reflect the real state of affairs, the fate of "Picnic", one of the most popular bands born of the music scene of St. from the flesh of the local rock culture, he went through all the typical paths for it and experienced all the influences inherent in the musicians of his generation, on the other hand, he always went his own way in everything.
The history of "Picnic", like the history of most bands that started in the 70s and survived this decade, is confusing and full of contradictions. If any researcher of St. Petersburg rock and roll one day dares to draw on paper the roots and branches of his family tree, he will no doubt despair to discover how long and closely intertwined they are. Suffice it to say that the "Picnic" existing today is one hundred percent different from the group that first took this name in March 1979.
However, the history of the group began much earlier. The leader, singer, guitarist and author of the entire current repertoire of "Picnic" Edmund Shklyarsky (born 26.09.55 in Leningrad) grew up in a family with strong musical traditions (one of his cousins, Yaroslav, by the way, was the lead guitarist of the well-known at the beginning 70s group 2001), became interested in music in his school years, easily mastered the guitar and piano, played music in the family quartet, however, acquaintance with rock music turned him away from an academic career. In the spring of 1973, Yaroslav introduced Edik to LSU sophomore Boris Grebenshchikov and his friend Anatoly Gunitsky (their "Aquarium" existed at that time, rather, as an idea and rehearsed at point 2001), but after several rehearsals he preferred to go his own way.
In the same summer, Shklyarsky entered the Polytech (where from time immemorial the traditions of student amateur performances were strong and the local rock scene flourished), and at the end of 1974 he organized his first group "Surprise" there. The following spring, "Surprise" took part in the III Festival of Polytechnic groups "Spring Rhythms", having received a special jury prize for Shklyarsky's song "Stagecoach" - contrary to the prevailing fashion, which valued the performance of Western hits close to the original higher than his own creativity, from the very beginning I wanted to sing in Russian and only my own songs.
And a little earlier, in the spring of 1972, in one of the schools of the Petrograd side, the Orion group was born, which was organized by the eighth-grader Yevgeny Voloshchuk (b. 26.05.57 in Leningrad). Two years later, she was joined by a strong singer Alexei Dobychin (b. 5.12.54 in Leningrad), who composed his own (moreover, quite mature) songs and was also a student at the Polytechnic. Influenced by his propaganda, two Orion members followed suit upon graduation.
In the mid-seventies, groups from the Polytechnic Institute were famous throughout the city. From its walls came "Renaissance", "Bronze Horseman", "Lel", "Lesnoy Prospect", "XXX century", "Kaleidoscope", "Voskhozhdenie" and at least two dozen more teams, the names of which today belong only to stories. Sooner or later, the musicians of "Orion" and "Surprise" inevitably had to meet and meet, and in January 1977, after the participants of the latter abandoned guitars and drums on the eve of their diploma, Shklyarsky became the pianist of "Orion", with whom he won the fifth prize. "Spring Rhythms". Alas, they were never given a well-deserved prize in the form of a trip to one of the People's Democracies (GDR or Poland), which noticeably cooled their emotions, so with the beginning of the holidays the alliance collapsed.
In the next season, Shklyarsky tried to form a new group, in which the former Orion drummer Ali Bakhtiyarov (b. 7.10.54 in Leningrad) and the bass guitarist of another group from the Nizhny Bief Polytechnic (by the way, the future founder " Strange Games ") Victor Sologub, however, this in principle curious triumvirate never went beyond rehearsals.
Meanwhile, "Orion" continued to travel around the city and the region, slowly but surely gaining experience and professionalism, however, in mid-1978, after a trip to Novgorod that ended deplorably for the group (local officials sent a complaint to the institute about an "ideologically harmful" group, as they said then, "rolled the cart", which entailed an official ban on the very name "Orion"), were forced to leave.
A helping hand was given to them by the student theater of the Polytech, which in those years staged several interesting and rather daring performances (including a stage version of the novel by then-beginner Alexander Zhitinsky "The Verb Engineer"). In the fall of 1978, the theater began work on one of its most ambitious projects - a musical performance based on "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" - for which he urgently needed a full-fledged group. Its original line-up included three former Orion members: Alexey Dobychin, vocals, Evgeny "Jacques" Voloshchuk, bass and Sergei Omelnichenko (b. 31.10.56 in Leningrad), guitar, as well as saxophonist-flutist Nikolai Mikhailov (b. 28.03 .53 in Leningrad) and an experienced drummer Alexander Matskov (b. 24.07.54 in Leningrad) - ex-"Mania", "Rainbow", etc.
In December 1978, the group, together with the theater, attended a student amateur competition in Moscow. Shortly before that, Matskov was replaced on drums by Alexander Kondrashkin (born 26.11.56 in Leningrad), who before that had only modest experience of playing on suburban dance floors (including with the ZA group), but an extremely erudite musician ready for any experiments.
As expected, the theatrical framework turned out to be narrow for the group, and when on the eve of "Spring Rhythms 79" the question of a new name arose, someone remembered the recently read story "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatsky brothers. The proposal was accepted, but the end of the phrase fell off immediately. So in March 1979 "Picnic" was born.
April 10, 1979 "Picnic", the composition of which was reinforced by Mikhailov's classmate at the music school and flutist of the "Tuesday" group Yuri Danilov (born May 19, 1956 in Leningrad), together with "Zerkal" and "Kakadu" played in the recreation center "Energetik", and May 13 officially debuted in his native Polytechnic as "Picnic". Having met there an extremely warm welcome, he soon parted ways with the theatrical stage, and for the next two years was one of the most active members of the rock underground, regularly playing the seishens, in suburban clubs (Rakhya, Murino, Gorelovo), etc.
The repertoire of "Picnic" during these years was based mainly on the songs of Dobychin and Omelnichenko - energetic rock and rolls, blues or beats with cute melodies and reflexive texts in the tradition of the popular "Time Machine" (several numbers of this period were preserved in the recording on debut album "Picnic" "Smoke").
By the beginning of the eighties, "Picnic" from the club in the village of Gorelovo (where his creative method was ripening) moved to the city, changing several more dance floors along the way and continuing to collect suitable musicians: in September 1979, Kondrashkin, who left for the "Mirage" (not the one!), Was replaced by Alexander Evseev, and on New Year's Eve 1980 - the famous Nikolai Korzinin ("St. Petersburg", "Big iron bell", "Risk about!"), And then Pyotr Troshchenkov (b. 6.11.61 in Leningrad); in the spring of 1980, the future founder of "Alisa", keyboardist Pavel Kondratenko (born July 29, 1960 in Gomel), who was soon replaced by an adult music school teacher Alexei Malkov, flashed through the "Picnic"; finally, in the fall of 1980, a veteran of the seishen of the 70s, a former member of at least a dozen groups ("Laymen", "Rassvet", "Raduga", "Mania", etc.), vocalist Mikhail Panaev (born on 29.12. 50 in Leningrad), and Troshchenkov's place for another four months, before leaving again - this time, to the "Aquarium" - was again taken by Kondrashkin. The sound engineer of the group during these years was Mikhail Shepelev, also a former member of Orion.
At the beginning of 1981, the participants of the "Picnic" took an active part in the organization of the Leningrad Rock Club. They were the ones who opened the very first concert of the club on the stage of LMDST on March 7, 1981; May 5 - together with other stars of the Rock Club of the first convocation ("Argonauts", "Myths", "Aquarium" and "Stagecoach") - successfully performed at a mini-festival in the recreation center "Nevsky", however, three months later, the group essentially the case fell apart when six of the nine then-participants left one after another.
Actually, this is the end of the history of the original "Picnic", however, the history of the "Picnic" of the modern one begins. As for the veterans of its first composition, Kolya Mikhailov entered the Rock Club Council, and from 1982 to 1988 was its permanent president; Danilov co-founded Tamburin in December 1981, where he played until 2005; Omelnichenko went to "Ornament", and later took up management; Troshchenkov and Kondrashkin at different times went through the "Aquarium" - Peter later played in the "Reserve", "Trefoil" and with his project "Trail", and Sasha during the era of the Rock Club was perhaps the most interesting and active drummer in the city, leaving traces in "Tambourine", "Strange Games", "Object of ridicule", "Jungle", "Standard", "Avia", "Club of the Glitch Cavalier", "Chizh & Co", etc. Unfortunately, in the spring of 1994, having received while touring in Germany, serious injuries, he left music, and in July 1999 he died of a stroke caused by their consequences.
Shklyarsky also became a member of the Rock Club from the first days of its existence, but as a member of the "Labyrinth" group, which was assembled in 1976 by guitarist Alexander "Sava" Savelyev (born on June 14, 1953 in Polyarnoye, Murmansk region). Like "Picnic", "Labyrinth" tirelessly toured the clubs and dance floors of the region, performed its own material and disbanded in the summer of 1981.
At the end of the same August, Shklyarsky and Savelyev united under the name "Picnic" with Voloshchuk and Dobychin. Troshchenkov initially remained in the squad, but in November he replaced Kondrashkin at the Aquarium. The updated "Picnic" debuted on stage on November 28, 1981 in a concert with "The Russians" (Sharif Abdula from "Strange Games" was on the drums).
In March 1982, "Picnic" performed at the anniversary of the Rock Club (this time Viktor Morozov from "Myths" was drumming with them), and in May, on an open area in the Yekateringof park (at that time, the "30th anniversary of Komsomol") at participation of Bakhtiyarov. It was at these concerts that the group first demonstrated to the public their program "Opium Smoke", which opened Edmund Shklyarsky as one of the most powerful and extraordinarily thoughtful authors of the then rock scene. "Opium Smoke" could not fail to attract the attention of Andrei Tropillo, at whose studio in the House of Young Technicians on Okhta the tape recorded in detail all the best that appeared in the St. Petersburg rock and roll. Album "Smoke" (the first word was removed for security reasons) was released in the fall of 1982 and at one moment scattered across the country, immediately making "Picnic" famous.
Methodically changing drummers (ninth on their list - in October 1982 - Leonid Kirnos became By the beginning of 1983, Savelyev left the guitar and moved to the console, and in March, at the Korabelka festival "Spring on Lotsmanskaya", Dobychin sang with "Picnic" for the last time, who decided to resume his scientific career.
By this time it became clear that the new "Picnic" was, first of all, a testing ground for the realization of Shklyarsky's musical ideas. In the composition: Shklyarsky, Voloshchuk, Kirnos, Savelyev (at the console) plus recruits Vadim Lebanidze (formerly keyboardist of the Polytech group "Brig") and guitarist Sergei Shepel (previously played in "Cardinal" and rehearsed with "Exhibition") "Picnic" shared third place (with "Russians", "Tambourine" and "Strange Games") at the 1st Festival of the Rock Club in May 1983. Nevertheless, this stage in the history of the group was coming to an end.
In the spring of 1984, during the period of feverish preparations for the II Festival, a split occurred in the ranks of "Picnic", and the group, in fact, ceased to exist: Shklyarsky and Savelyev, taking with them a loud name, left, and Voloshchuk brought the assembled group to the festival stage in a hurry, not without a hint calling it "To Be Continued"; alas, from her speech in the memory of eyewitnesses, only the smoke, pungent like tear gas, which was let out by his pyrotechnics, in a matter of minutes drove all the first rows out of the hall, remained in the memory of eyewitnesses!
Shklyarsky and Savelyev, meanwhile, added fuel to the fire by getting a job at Lenconcert, the city's official concert organization, which at the time was viewed in rock circles as an unthinkable sacrilege. Fortunately, not everyone was orthodox and dogmatic, and in the same year Tropillo helped "Picnic" to record its second and - according to some experts - the best album "Dance of the Wolf", in which the baroque fragility of melodies was combined with the sophistication of art-rock arrangements and hard, hard rhythm, and the lyrics evoked the Gothic stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Poe. The recording of the album was attended by session musicians - Victor Sergeev and Sergey Voronin, keyboards, Vladimir "Vavila" Sizov (born on July 26, 1957 in Leningrad), bass (played in "Q 69") and Alexander Fedorov, drums.
The next two years became a troubled time for "Picnic": endless tours of the country as part of semi-anonymous philharmonic ensembles, in the program of which one or two songs of their own could be inserted from time to time, outright persecution in the Komsomol press - especially the Moscow "Komsomolskaya Pravda" and the St. Petersburg "Smena" - the skeptical attitude of the former comrades-in-arms in the underground. But "Picnic" went its own way, perhaps not in the most direct, but certainly the right way - and survived.
In February 1985 "Picnic" merged with its second part - the group "Continuing Follows" (Voloshchuk, bass, Kirnos, drums, Viktor Evseev (born 26.08.60 in Leningrad), guitar, bass, vocals and Kirill "Kiron" Shirokov, keyboards), but their enthusiasm was enough for only one spectacular theatrical performance at the Palace of Youth, after which "Continuation" sank into oblivion, leaving Evseev's "Picnic" inheritance as a bass player.
The formation of the working staff ended only after in October 1985, Yuri "Donald" Klyuchantsev, a graduate of the local music school who had moved to St. Petersburg from Murmansk, came to the "Picnic" At the beginning of the next year, Sergei Voronin (born May 6, 1956), a former member of "Pro et contra" and "Mirrors", another rock-club stars of the first draft, became the second keyboardist, already familiar from "The Dance of the Wolf".
Again, contrary to the canons of the genre (although, admittedly, not from a good life) "Picnic" during this period did without drums (there was no suitable one, and I did not want to take random people), playing to the rhythm computer, which was manipulated by Vadim Ponomarev ... In 1986, this line-up recorded the third album of the group "Hieroglyph", which included songs written between 1984 and 1986. Two years later, when the ideological bastions finally collapsed, this album formed the basis of the first album "Picnic", released by Moscow " Melody ". In the spring of 1987 the group found its own drummer: from the third call Leonid Kirnos became it.
In September 1988 "Picnic" - for the first time since the rock-club times - performed large solo concerts and confirmed its status as one of the most popular Russian bands. An intensive tour of the country began, "Picnic" traveled abroad several times, however, unlike many heroes of the rock of the 80s, he never tried to speculate on the "red wave", rightly believing that its listener lives, rather, in Kupchino, rather than the Bronx. In 1989, the fourth album "Picnic", "From Nowhere", was released, which became a sign of a change in the musical orientation of the group - to a less heavy, but more dynamic and lively pop-rock (although, on the contrary, heavy metal was in vogue: many groups hastily grew hair and dressed in leather riveted on all sides).
In January 1989, "Picnic" almost collapsed: an attack of personal ambition caused by popularity prompted the departure of Yevseyev and Klyuchantsev, who gathered the Zoot Zo group with Andrei Shatalin and Pavel Kondratenko, who had left "Alisa" under similar circumstances. The bass guitar was again picked up by the veteran Sizov. In this line-up in September 1989 the group performed at the Aurora magazine's rock festival, organized by Alexander Zhitinsky and Andrey Tropillo, showing fragments of their new program there. In early 1990, after recording an album and making a couple of trips, "Zoye Castle" broke up, and "Picnic" returned to the composition of the 1988 sample.
In May 1990 "Picnic" took part in a grand concert at the SKK in memory of the legendary Petersburg group "Russians", which broke up in 1984, having lost their leader Zhora Ordanovsky under dramatic circumstances. At the same time, the album "Harakiri" was recorded (although it was released two years later), in which Shklyarsky mixed the gothic images of "The Dance of the Wolf" with oriental images and plots.
Savelyev by this time became the director of the group. Later he gave his post to another former musician of "Picnic", Ali Bakhtiyarov (here is a curious pattern!), And to fill the vacuum in stage arrangements, guitarist Andrei Merchansky was invited to "Picnic" (from "Continuation follows" and the current version of "St. Petersburg "). He played in "Picnic" until the spring of 1994, and then left music and emigrated to the United States. The only work of the group published during this period was the "Collector's Album" released on the disc and CD, which presented the best numbers from her repertoire for 1982-1990.
It seemed that "Picnic" was doomed to the fate of many groups, the peak of their heyday fell on the times of magnetoizdat and the euphoria of the late 80s that followed, however, he surprised everyone even here, finding a way to change the stable stereotype of the perception of his music as a reason for nostalgia for the times rock and roll fraternity, underground seishen and cheap port.
The album "A Little Fire" (1995), created after a long pause by the Aura company, confidently confirmed that Shklyarsky's melodic gift does not diminish over the years, and his ability to fit his songs into the current musical context, without changing a single note in them and without changing his recognizable style , worthy of kind envy and admiration.
Not without losses. In the fall of 1994, the drummer, and then the director of the group, Ali Bakhtiyarov, died in a car accident. In August 1996 "Picnic" left Yevseev and Klyuchantsev for the second time. The first of them took up studio work and teaching vocals, and the second became a member of the "Russian Museum" group. This time, their place was taken by Alexander Rokin, previously unknown in the rock community (b. 5.04.63 in Leningrad). In the same year, the next (eighth or ninth - if we count the collective collection "Vampire Songs", in which the songs of "Picnic" occupy a central place), the album "Zhen-shen" was released. In parallel, the company Aura began to reissue the group's music archive (it is symbolic that the albums of "Picnic" with songs by Shklyarsky the author are usually decorated with illustrations by Shklyarsky the artist).
In the second half of the 90s "Picnic" continued to perform successfully and record new albums, and their annual solo concerts on March 7, the anniversary of the opening of the Rock Club, became a good tradition. In 1997 Aura released the album "Glass". A year later, it was followed by the experimental electronic work "Drinking Electricity" (published under the name "Picnic" & "Sect Mo"), and in 1999 the results of the twenty-year history of the group were summarized by the collection "The Best".
Meanwhile, on January 30, 1998, a nostalgic concert of the "old" "Picnic" (Dobychin, Omelnichenko, Voloshchuk and Mikhail Soloveychik, another veteran) took place in the former premises of the Rock Club at 13 Rubinshteina (where at that time there were occasional musical events). Orion "70s). Almost the same line-up took part in the retro-program "Old Rock on New Year's Eve", which was shown in December 1999 at the Dzerzhinsky Palace of Culture.
In 1999, Rokin, who was engaged in sound engineering, was replaced by a new bass-guitarist Svyatoslav Obraztsov (b. 25.11.53 in Leningrad), who in the 70s played with the groups "Pride", "Labyrinth" and "Union of Music Lovers" Rock ".
In early 2001, Shklyarsky decided on another curious experiment, combining on stage "Picnic" with a Ukrainian string orchestra from Zaporozhye. On March 4, the premiere of this program took place in Zaporozhye, moreover, several songs (including, "Present days", "Romance", "Eyes are outlined by coal", "Night", "There, at the very end of the earth", " We Are Like Quivering Birds "and" The Giant ") were recorded for a supposed live album. On March 15, the program was presented in St. Petersburg.
On March 26, 2001, the Grand company (which replaced Aura Records as the publishers of "Picnic") released a new album by the group "Egyptian", which was based on the material accumulated over the previous three years - among its best songs, in addition to the title song, "Million in a Bag "," Neither yours, nor mine ", and also" Violet-black ". The latter, by the way, gave the idea of ​​the title to the collection, which was published almost simultaneously by Real Records. The program shown by "Picnic" on October 12, 2001 at the St. Petersburg Lensovet Palace of Culture bore the same name. For the song "Egyptian" a special "New Egyptian" instrument was invented, and for the song "Violet-Black" - a trademark pyrotechnic sign. In the fall, another collection saw the light: this time, Grand recognizing the importance of the group, including a selection of its songs in his "Encyclopedia of Russian Rock".
The year 2002 was marked by the appearance of "Picnic" in the TV show "The Last Hero" (with the song "Speaks and Shows"), the release of the album "Alien" (it was composed of five new and five previously unreleased songs of different years), the first visit to Israel and the presentation of the Wild Games program at the Ramenskoye Rock Festival. In September "Picnic" celebrated twenty years since the release of the album "Smoke" by giving concerts in Moscow ("Meridian") and St. Petersburg ("Jubilee") - ex-saxophonist "Nautilus Pompilius" Alexey Mogilevsky, famous the sitarist Sergei Hasanov and the Wasil Brothers theater - and the fans presented the group with a gift in the form of a star named after her.
The following winter, Picnic paid a visit to Germany; shortly after that, the album "Speaks and Shows" was released, presented on the legendary stage of the Moscow Art Theater. On the song "Silver" one more exotic instrument was tested - this time, a light one. Unfortunately, the work of the group was interrupted by the serious illness of Slava Obraztsov, who died of cancer on August 7, 2003.
Life, however, did not stop there, and in the same autumn bass-guitarist Marat Korchemny came to "Picnic" (r. 23.10.67 in Lipetsk); before that he played in several Lipetsk bands, including Napoleon Bonaparte. The new line-up was tested on the "Shadow of the Vampire" album, recorded by "Picnic" with the participation of their old admirer Vadim Samoilov from "Agatha Christie" - his name was even put on the cover. The lyrics of two songs on the album belonged to Shklyarsky's daughter Alina - she, by the way, became the co-author of the biography "Picnic", published in 2003 by the publishing house "Nota-R" (compiled by Alexey Rybin).
The cult status of the group was confirmed by the release of a tribute album (2003), which was prepared by Mystery of Sound: the songs of "Picnic" were performed by different age, style and geography "Torba-na-kruche", "Suede", Pavel Kashin, "Nastya" , Olga Arefieva, Yulia Teunikova, "Cabernet Deneuve", etc.
For the song from "Shadow" "The torture does not end" studio "Fly" shot an interesting video, and Shklyarsky, as a true inventor and innovator, came up with another new instrument, a kind of harp, put on a dancer's head. Around the same time, the violinist from Lipetsk Irina Lavrina began performing with "Picnic", which brought new colors to the stage arrangements of the band's songs.
By the end of 2004, "Picnic" finished work on its next album, one of the songs of which, "Kingdom of Crooked", gave the title to a detective television series (directed by Alexander Yakimchuk), which began showing on the NTV channel on May 3, 2005. DVD release is on the way (concert 09/22/02), the experience of an acoustic program (in the Moscow Central House of Artists), as well as a personal exhibition of Shklyarsky's paintings (ibid.).

The beginning of 2005 was marked by the completion of work on the video "Kingdom of Curves" and its subsequent premiere at the Central House of Artists. A little later, in April, in the same hall, the release of the album "Kingdom of Curves" was marked with two sold-out concerts.

Meanwhile, in parallel in St. Petersburg, keyboardist of the Alisa group Dmitry Parfenov was finishing work on the New Egyptian Songs album. The disc includes techno versions of the hits of the "Picnic" group. The vocals in the track "Night" were performed by Konstantin Kinchev. The disc was released in September.

In August, Edmund Shklyarsky took part in the venture of Mikhail Kozyrev - the creation of a Russian-language soundtrack to the famous creation by Tim Burton "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Edmund sang for the vampire chorus. The text of the chant was corrected on the fly. The result was shown on TV on October 31 - on the eve of the Catholic holiday of Halloween.

In the fall of 2005, the "Kingdom of Crooked" tour started in Kiev. The spectacular part of the tour was brought to life by Irina Ponomareva and Alexander Zatsepin. The main concert of the tour took place in St. Petersburg on November 7. Thanks to Bogdan Drobyazko, this performance of "Picnic" was filmed and later released on DVD.

In December, Vitaly Mukhametzyanov created a video clip for the song "The shaman has three hands" for the group, and Edmund Shklyarsky recorded a track for Vitaly Mukhametzyanov's album.

On January 12, 2006 in the Central House of Artists, the Piknik group plays the Harakiri concert program, dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the release of the album of the same name.

On February 5, with the support of Nashe Radio, the youth TV channel O2 TV and the Music Box music channel, the Kingdom of Crooked DVD is released.

On March 29, the Central House of Artists is hosting a concert dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the release of the album "Zhen-Shen", on which the songs "Silent Cinema", "Slide on the Ground", "Their Elastic Names" and other tracks from this album are performed. performed by the group live. A special show has been prepared for detailed visualization of the performance.

From May 24 to May 27, a concert tour "Picnic" takes place in the cities of Germany. Then the group went to the Far East with three more concerts.

On July 29 "Picnic" performs at the "Wings" festival, on August 4 - at the "Baltic Storm" festival in Kaliningrad, on August 6 - at the "Invasion - 2006" festival (the presentation of the new song "Obscurantism and Jazz" is also taking place there).

In October, in the St. Petersburg Big Concert Hall "Oktyabrsky" the premiere of the concert program of the jubilee tour "XXV" takes place, which "Picnic" will soon take to cities. For the first time, the Surround FX system is used, with the help of which it was possible to "liven up" the sound effects. On the song "Obscurantism and Jazz" Mr. Jazz Obscurantist performed a solo on bare high-voltage wires. In addition, there was an impromptu performance of shadow theater.

On November 26 live on the "First Youth TV Channel O2TV" within the framework of the special project "Kommunalka" the apartment block "Picnic" is taking place.

In January 2007, Edmund Shklyarsky recorded the soundtrack for the film "The Law of the Mousetrap" directed by Alexander Yakimchuk.

In early February, the band's new album is released, which is called "Obscurantism and Jazz".

On February 24, 2007 "Picnic" plays the Big Jubilee Concert in Luzhniki. Groups and musicians such as Agatha Christie, Valery Kipelov, Bi-2, and Kukryniksy were invited to the anniversary of the Picnic. In addition to the four permanent members of the group, Irina Sorokina, Natalya Voronina and Stas Shklyarsky played on the Luzhniki stage.

On April 27 in the city of Tula and on May 3 in the Moscow Central House of Artists "Picnic" and Vadim Samoilov are giving a performance called "Vampire Songs". In addition to the tracks of the corresponding album, the program included the classic "Picnic" songs, which the group performed together with Vadim.

On May 4, at a concert in the Central House of Artists, musicians Inna Zhelannaya and Sergey Kalachev performed on stage with the group. The set-list of the concert includes several works performed for the first time for a wide audience.

The end of June was marked by the release on the screens of the Ukrainian TV channel "1 + 1" of the television series "The Law of the Mousetrap" - the product of cooperation between E. Shklyarsky and director Alexander Yakimchuk.

In the first half of July, a DVD with a Picnic concert at the SKK (Leningrad, 1988) and TV footage (1987) will be released.

In the fall of 2007, the group embarks on a large "Obscurantism and Jazz" tour across the country. December 10, 2007 - a concert in the city of Gomel (25 years after the first concert in this city). On December 21 and 22, 2007, two concerts took place at the Central House of Artists - "The Best" and "On the Ray", respectively.

On October 1, 2008, from the city of Murmansk, a new tour of the "Picnic" group across the country began - "Full Moon" viewers would love to see and hear at the upcoming concerts. And a month later, another album of the group called "Iron Mantras" was released.

Discography of the "Picnic" group at the end of 2008:

1982 - Smoke
1984 - Wolf Dance
1986 - Hieroglyph
1988 - Comes from nowhere
1991 - Harakiri
1994 - A little fire
1995 - Vampire Songs
1996 - Zhen-Shen
1997 - Glass
1998 - Drink electricity
2001 - Egyptian
2001 - Concert with the Zaporozhye Chamber Orchestra
2002 - Alien
2003 - Speaks and shows
2003 - Tribute
2004 - Kingdom of Crooked
2005 - Shadow of the Vampire
2005 - New Egyptian Songs
2007 - Obscurantism and jazz
2008 - Iron Mantras

Group composition for 2008:
Edmund Shklyarsky (guitar, vocals, music and lyrics)
Leonid Kirnos (drums)
Marat Korchemny (bass guitar)
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The official website of the group: www.piknik.info

The musicians believe that a professional and full-fledged group was formed in 1981, when Edmund Shklyarsky became the leader of the group.

The band's music, which has its roots in Russian rock, has progressed into an original, unusual style using symphonic, keyboard and exotic folk instruments.

According to Shklyarsky, “the usual environment of the group is the Russian-speaking audience. It makes no sense to sing in other languages. In Poland, they sing in Polish, in England - in English, and we - in Russian. And that's okay! "

1978-1981

The group was formed in September 1978 in Leningrad from the students of the Polytechnic University, who played in the amateur group "Orion". In 1981, the first composition of "Picnic" broke up - Evgeny "Jacques" Voloshchuk (bass guitar) and Alexey Dobychin (vocals) were left alone. Voloshchuk invited a member of the Labyrinth group Edmund Shklyarsky (vocals, guitar, piano) to fill the vacant position as a guitarist. Edmund did not come alone, but together with Alexander Savelyev (acoustic guitar) and Ali Bakhtiyarov (drums). Edmund Shklyarsky's debut took place at one of the concerts of the Leningrad Rock Club.

1982-1983

In 1982 "Picnic" recorded its first magnetic album "Smoke" at Andrey Tropillo's studio. The original version of the album included the songs "Disc jockey" and "Who is silent a lot", which were excluded from the track list in the re-releases. Also, for various reasons, such songs as "Bicycle", "For the Innocent Murdered" (released later on the album "Little Fire") and some other songs did not get into "Smoke" for various reasons. The name of the album was suggested by Andrey Tropillo and was adopted without much discussion. The order of the compositions was determined by a simple alternation of "fast-slow" and "from strong to weak." Initially, the album did not include a cover, not even a "virtual" one. In 1993, "Smoke" was not only reissued on a CD, but also re-recorded in the studio by specially assembled musicians of the first line-up.

In the fall of 1982 - the first public presentation of the recordings in the "Phonograph" club in the Leningrad Youth Palace.

In 1983 "Picnic" became a laureate of the Leningrad Rock Club festival (along with "Aquarium", "Zoo" and "Russians"). Leonid Kirnos comes to the group to replace the drummer. The first version of the song "Giant" is being recorded, which for the first time in the musical history of the group hits the hit parade of the newspaper "Smena" under the heading "In modern rhythms".

1984-1987

In 1984, a split occurs in the group. "Picnic", which includes only Shklyarsky and Savelyev, leaves the Leningrad rock club. After that, for two years the group has no permanent composition.

In late autumn, at the same studio of Andrey Tropillo, Shklyarsky and Savelyev, with the support of session musicians Sergey Voronin (keyboards), Vladimir Sizov (bass guitar) and Alexander Fedorov (drums), recorded their second album, Dance of the Wolf. The album turned out to be full of dark images and dramatic plots, inspired by the gothic stories of Edgar Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, and musically close to the aesthetics of baroque rock.

Since 1985, the group has been actively touring. In LDM the group shows the program "Dance of the Wolf" live. For the first time, an "electric mouth" appeared on the scene, which sometimes travels with the group today.

Also in the same year, "Picnic" falls into the "black lists" of groups that are prohibited from being replicated in recording studios. The group is under attack by the party and Komsomol press, especially for songs such as "Opium Smoke."

The first version of the song "Holiday" was recorded (for the first time in the history of the group a computer is used), which is played on the air of the New Year program "Discs are spinning" on Leningrad TV.

In 1986 the song "I am almost Italian" was recorded with the help of the same computers. The group acquires a stable line-up: Edmund Shklyarsky (vocals, guitar), Alexander Savelyev (guitar), former member of the Zerkalo group Sergey Voronin (keyboards), Viktor Evseev (bass guitar, backing vocals), Yuri Klyuchantsev (keyboards, saxophone) and Vadim Ponomarev (drums). The first version of the album "Hieroglyph" is being recorded, including a work by Johann Sebastian Bach.

With the help of Vladimir Voronetsky, Lev Levinson and journalist Mikhail Sadchikov, "Picnic" in a protracted battle with the artistic council gets the right to tour activities, and at the end of the year the group goes on its first tour to Tallinn and Donetsk.

During the New Year's concerts in the Palace of Culture named after Kapranova filmed a video for the song "Hieroglyph". With the light hand of Mikhail Sadchikov, the group has the opportunity to release their songs at the Melodiya recording company. The second, classic version of the "Hieroglyph" album is recorded in four days in the studio of the House of Composers. A few months later, one of the first albums of a domestic rock group released on a vinyl disc appears in the country's music stores.

On the disc "Meeting Place - Disco-3" the song "I am almost Italian" appears with the author's comments by Artur Makariev, who later became the initiator of the recording of the second vinyl record "Picnic".

In the spring of 1987 drummer Leonid Kirnos joined the band again.

1988-1990

In 1988, in Moscow, at the Melodiya firm, the album "Comes from Nowhere" was recorded. On tour, Svyatoslav Obraztsov works as a sound engineer with the group. In the summer for the program "Morning Mail" in Yalta, a video for the song "Holiday" is shot. In September, the SKK them. Lenin (Leningrad) three solo concerts "Picnic" are held in a row. In December, Evseev and Klyuchantsev leave the group.

In 1989 Vladimir Sizov became the bass-guitarist of the group, who, like Sergei Voronin, took part in the recording of the album "Dance of the Wolf". In the spring "Picnic" goes on tour with the French group "Dirty Side", and in the summer it participates in the festival of the Baltic cities in the Polish city of Sopot.

In 1990, "Picnic" got its own graphic symbol, which is now present on all discs and stage decorations. In May, a video for the song "Let yourself be ripped off" is shot. Evseev and Klyuchantsev return to the group. In this composition, "Picnic" flies to Japan, to the city of Osaka, to the Expo-90 festival.

1991-1995

In 1991, Mikhail Shemarov recorded the album "Harakiri" at Lenfilm. Former drummer Ali Bakhtiyarov returns to the group as director. In the summer, Edmund Shklyarsky and Sergei Voronin participate in a walking pilgrimage to the Pope in the Polish city of Czestochowa.

In 1992, the penultimate LP "Picnic" "Harakiri", first designed by Shklyarsky himself, was published on the Matuzalem label. There is devaluation in the country, and for a concert in Minsk the group receives a bag of money (their "million in a bag"). Another attribute of the show appears - the "pointing finger". In the same year, Ivan Okhlobystin's film "The Arbiter" was released with a soundtrack by the "Picnic" and "Obermaneken" groups, which received the "Kinotavr" award in the "Films for the elite" category.

In 1993, "Picnic" took part in the "live filming" of the program "Ad Libitum" and in the concert "The Other Side of the Moon" in the Palace of Culture named after Gorbunov. At the end of the year, with the assistance of Oleg Kruglov, the first CD of the group, a remake of the Smoke album, was released on the Aura label.

On February 16, 1994 at the Oktyabrsky Big Concert Hall, with a two-year delay, the group celebrated the 10th anniversary of the birth of the Smoke magnetic album. In the spring, the second CD of "Picnic" appears - "A Little Fire".

The last flash of "vinyl" (Alexander Savelyev on the label "Antrop" releases the original version of the album "Dance of the Wolf"). During a joint concert in Kazakhstan (the city of Alma-Ata) with the Nautilus Pompilius group, they meet Vadim Samoilov. Ali Bakhtiyarov dies in a car accident in autumn.

In early autumn 1995, Edmund Shklyarsky met Viktor Gritsaenko, who later became the director of the group, and on December 6, at the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall, he held his first action-presentation of the new program “Vampiric Songs”. For the first time, the miracles of the eruption of fire are demonstrated by Alexander Yarovoy. The album "Vampire Songs" was recorded together with vocalist Andrey Karpenko (also known as Henri Alf).

1996-2000

In 1996, after a tour in Nizhny Novgorod, Evseev and Klyuchantsev finally left the group. Alexander Rokin becomes the bass-guitarist. The album "Ginseng" is being recorded and soon published. In the summer, the Soyuz label publishes the Picnic anthology on eight discs with an annotation book by Andrei Burlaka.

In 1997, the next album, Glass, was released on the Aura label. For the first time (on the backing vocals in the song "Two Giants") Shklyarsky involves his children in the recording: Alina and Stanislav. On September 26, a video for the song "Face" is being shot in the "Vatrushka" club.

The first stage instrument, the "living cello", was constructed for the song "Eyes are outlined with charcoal" (the first appearance of the cello was Oksana Semyonova).

In the same year, director Viktor Gritsaenko left the group and returned to the radio business.

In 1999 a compilation of songs "Picnic" and a program of the same name "The Best" were released. The presentation of the program took place in St. Petersburg on March 7.

On May 3, at the Rossiya State Concert Hall, again with a delay of 2 years, the group celebrates the 15th anniversary of its "conscious" life. For a short time Stas Dremov joins the group, who, however, managed to organize the "Picnic" tour from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok and create a video for the song "Sharmanka".

In May, Svyatoslav Obraztsov replaced Alexander Rokin as bass-guitarist.

The beginning of the new century, New Year's Eve from December 31 to January 1, "Picnic" celebrates with a percussion concert in St. Petersburg, on the square near the Kazan Cathedral, at 4 am.

year 2000. Three Ukrainian heroes - Viktor Shpak, Oleg Lyashko and Yuriy Gora - initiated the creation of a joint program "Picnic" and the Zaporozhye String Orchestra conducted by Vsevolod Madan.

In autumn "Picnic" takes part in the concert "20 years of the Rock Club".

2001-2005

In 2001, the album "Egyptian" was released on the "Grand Records" label. For the title song itself, a "New Egyptian instrument" is created, and a pyrotechnic sign appears in the group's show (in the song "Violet-Black").

On February 15 in Zaporozhye and on March 15 in St. Petersburg, the idea of ​​joint concerts of the group with the Zaporozhye String Orchestra is finally realized, followed by a video version of the action, as well as an audio version (concert album).

On February 24 in Moscow "Picnic" shows a new program "Violet-Black", and the song itself gets into rotation of FM radio stations throughout the country.

In the spring "Picnic" starts cooperation with the "MZCreative" team. On October 29, the first “material” result of this cooperation is the official website of the group: http://www.piknik.info.

In early 2002, "Picnic" took part in gala concerts of the most ambitious "real" TV show of that time, "The Last Hero", performing its new song "Speaks and Shows."

On the label "Grand" the album "Alien" is released, consisting of two equal parts - 5 new songs and 5 songs, previously only performed at concerts or not included in previously released discs.

In August, at the festival "Invasion-2002" in Ramenskoye, "Picnic" shows fragments of its new program "Wild Games". The performance is attended by the theater of Doctor Yes - "BlackSkyWhite". The full program "Picnic" is shown in September in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Minsk. These concerts are attended by: Alexei Mogilevsky (saxophone), Sergei Hasanov (sitar) and the Vasiliev Brothers Theater. The St. Petersburg concert is recorded on video for later publication.

In January 2003 the group visited the German cities of Hamburg and Osnabrück with concerts.

In March, the label "Grand" publishes the album "Says and Shows", the first track of which is "Silver !!!" for a long time it has been practically at the top of the Chartova Dozen hit parade, yielding only to the Kipelov group. And the album itself is one of the five "most demanded" albums of the spring of 2003.

April 2 at the Moscow Art Theater. Gorky, the premiere of the concert program "Speaks and Shows" is taking place, where Vadim Samoilov, Alexei Mogilevsky, Utah and guest violinist Irina Sorokina took part.

On April 5, a performance takes place in the St. Petersburg Sports Palace "Yubileiny" as part of the VII Fuzz Award ceremony. Picnic is nominated for the Best Live Group Award.

Literally a few days later, during the Ural tour, Svyatoslav Obraztsov appeared on the stage for the last time. Later he was replaced by Marat Korchemny.

On August 2 at the "Invasion-2003" "Picnic" presents its "chamber" program. In September, together with Vadim Samoilov ("Agatha Christie"), the group starts recording a new album - "Shadow of the Vampire".

On October 18 at the Moscow Art Theater, together with the "Picnic" group, Valery Kipelov appears on the stage. The songs "I would run for the forest-mountains" and "There, at the very end of the earth" are performed together.

On November 15, the famous director Vitaly Mukhametzyanov (also known as Mukha) will film a track from the upcoming album - "The torture does not end."

On February 15, 2004, the official release of the album Shadow of the Vampire took place. For the first time in the group's discography, the disc includes the animated "Story Pro". The concert in support of the release takes place on March 2 at the Yubileiny Sports Palace in St. Petersburg, where, together with Vadim Samoilov, songs from the new album and “greatest hits” are performed in a special arrangement.

In May, at the invitation of the German group "Ostrov Ded" "Picnic" makes a tour of German lands. At the end of the tour, taking advantage of a geographically convenient opportunity, the band's musicians make a pilgrimage to Senor Stefano Donatti.

In the summer, the song "Kingdom of Curves" is recorded and at the same time the shooting of a video for it begins. In October "Picnic" is celebrated with an unusual project - "Metamorphosis", which will be released on DVD a month later. The unusual thing is that Edmund Shklyarsky uses a synthesizer instead of a guitar, and Sergei Voronin plays a guitar. Also absent is drummer Leonid Kirnos, and in the background the group is accompanied by the so-called small "orchestra" under the direction of Denis Vasiliev.

In December, the group celebrates the 20th anniversary of the release of the album "Dance of the Wolf" with a concert in the company of N. V. Gogol and Mr. Grand Inquisitor.

The beginning of 2005 was marked by the completion of work on the video "Kingdom of Curves" and its subsequent premiere at the Central House of Artists. A little later, in April, in the same hall, the release of the album "Kingdom of Curves" is celebrated with two sold-out concerts.

Meanwhile, in parallel in St. Petersburg, keyboardist of the group "Alisa" Dmitry "Donkey" Parfyonov is finishing work on the album "New Egyptian Songs". The disc includes techno versions (that is, electronic processing) of the hits of the "Picnic" group. The vocal part in the track "Night" was performed by the leader of "Alisa" Konstantin Kinchev. The disc was released in September.

In August, Edmund Shklyarsky took part in Mikhail Kozyrev's venture - the creation of a Russian-language soundtrack to the famous creation by Tim Burton "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Edmund sang for a whole chorus of vampires. The text was corrected on the fly. The result was shown on the TNT channel on October 31.

In the fall of 2005, the most grandiose in the modern history of the "Picnic" tour, whose name is, again, "Kingdom of the Crooked", started in Kiev. The spectacular part of the tour was brought to life by Irina Ponomareva and Alexander Zatsepin. The main concert of the tour took place in St. Petersburg on November 7. Thanks to Bogdan Drobyazko, this performance of "Picnic" was filmed and later released on DVD.

In December, director Vitaly Mukhametzyanov made a video clip for the song "The shaman has three hands" for the group, and Edmund Shklyarsky recorded a track for the film by Vitaly Mukhametzyanov.

2006-2010

On January 12, 2006 in the Central House of Artists the "Picnic" group plays a concert program "Harakiri" dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the release of the album of the same name.

On February 5, with the support of Nashe Radio, the youth TV channel O2TV and the Music Box music channel, the Kingdom of Curves (Live!) DVD is released.

On March 29, the Central House of Artists is hosting a concert dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the release of the album "Ginseng", on which the songs "Silent Movie", "Slide on the Ground", "Their Elastic Names" and other tracks from this album are performed. previously not performed live by the group. A special show has been prepared for detailed visualization of the performance.

From May 24 to May 27, a concert tour "Picnic" takes place in the cities of Germany. Then the group went to the Far East with three more concerts.

July 29 "Picnic" performs at the "Wings" festival, on August 4 - at the "Baltic Storm" festival in Kaliningrad, on August 6 - at the "Invasion-2006" festival. According to the musicians, the presentation of the song "Obscurantism and Jazz" was supposed to take place at this festival, but in fact the presentation of this song took place at a traditional autumn concert in the St. radio". (It should be noted that "Obscurantism and Jazz" became the first song of the "Picnic" group, which appeared at the top of the "Chartova Dozen". It was on November 24, 2006.)

At the same concert, the premiere of the program of the jubilee tour "25" ("XXV"), which "Picnic" will soon take to the cities, takes place. For the first time, a Surround FX-system is used, with the help of which it was possible to "liven up" the sound effects. On the song "Obscurantism and Jazz" Mr. Jazz Obscurantist performs a solo on bare high-voltage wires. In addition, there is an impromptu performance of shadow theater.

Andrei Burlaka and Yuri Shevchuk honored the anniversary concert with their visit. The first said that he was preparing an extensive rock encyclopedia for publication, and Yuri Shevchuk sang an "autumn-spring" song.

On November 26, live on the O2TV channel within the framework of the Kommunalka special project, the "Picnic" apartment block is taking place.

In January 2007, Edmund Shklyarsky recorded the soundtrack for the film "The Law of the Mousetrap" directed by Alexander Yakimchuk.

In early February, the band's new album is released, which is called "Obscurantism and Jazz".

On February 24, 2007 "Picnic" plays a big anniversary concert in Luzhniki. Such groups and musicians as Agatha Christie, Valery Kipelov, Bi-2 and Kukryniksy are invited to the anniversary of the Picnic. Also, in addition to the four permanent members of the group, invited musicians play on the Luzhniki stage - Irina Sorokina, Natalya Voronina and Stanislav Shklyarsky (who later became the group's keyboard player).

On April 27 in the city of Tula and on May 3 in the Moscow Central House of Artists "Picnic" and Vadim Samoilov are giving a performance called "Vampire Songs". In addition to the tracks from the corresponding album, the program includes the classic "Picnic" songs, which the group performs together with Vadim.

On May 4, at a concert in the Central House of Artists, musicians Inna Zhelannaya and Sergey Kalachev will perform on stage with the group. The concert set-list includes several pieces performed for the first time to a wide audience.

The end of June is marked by the release of the TV series Law of the Mousetrap, a product of cooperation between Edmund Shklyarsky and director Alexander Yakimchuk, on the screens of the Ukrainian TV channel 1 + 1.

In the first half of July, a DVD with an archival concert "Picnic" in the SKK im. Lenin (Leningrad, 1988) and TV filming (Saratov, 1987).

In the fall of 2007, the group embarks on a large "Obscurantism and Jazz" tour across the country. December 10, 2007 - a concert in the city of Gomel (25 years after the first concert in this city). On December 21 and 22, 2007, two concerts took place in the Moscow Central House of Artists - "The Best" and "On the Ray", respectively.

In 2008 the new album "Iron Mantras" was recorded and released.

In April 2008 the group embarks on a Ukrainian tour with the Obscurantism and Jazz program, where they perform in Donetsk, Poltava, Simferopol, Kharkov, Cherkassy, ​​Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa, Kherson and Kiev.

October 1, 2008 from the city of Murmansk began a new tour of the country "Picnic" - "Full Moon".

Also in 2008, the song "Nautilus Pompilius" "Gentle Vampire" was recorded for a two-disc tribute to this band, authored by Vyacheslav Butusov and the group "U-Peter" - "Nau Boom".

In the fall of 2009, "Picnic" participates in the "Nashe Radio" project "Salt", within the framework of which famous rock musicians perform Russian folk songs. "Picnic" records the song "Lyubo, brothers, lyubo" for this project.

In February 2010 the group embarks on an "early spring tour" around the cities of the Volga region. February 13 "Picnic" performs at the "Petersburg" sports complex at the "Chartova Dozen" festival.

Since 2011

In 2011, the group completes the Theater of the Absurd tour and begins to create a program for a new, anniversary tour, 30 Light Years, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Picnic. The album "Three Fates" was released, on which folk songs of the war and pre-war years were performed.

In the spring of 2012, DVD and Blu-Ray will be released with the recording of the anniversary concert "30 light years" at the Ice Palace (St. Petersburg).

At the end of May, three joint concerts with Vadim Samoilov are held in Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar, where the Vampire Songs program is played.

The beginning of work on the album "Singer of the Decadence" is announced and a new concert program "Decadence" is announced, starting on October 5 with a concert in Moscow.

In addition, for the first time in its thirty-year history, the group has planned a trip to Canada and the United States, where the 30-light-years anniversary program will be presented to viewers in a number of cities.

On September 27, 2013 in the city of Ukhta a new "Picnic" tour called "Morse code" will start.

On September 9, 2014, the new album "Outlander" was released. The tour called "Outlander" started in Moscow on October 5, 2014 and ended on May 21, 2015 in Vladivostok.

In the fall of 2015, the group will present a new program "The Big Game".

Composition of the group

• Edmund Shklyarsky - vocals, guitar, author of music and lyrics (since 1981)
• Leonid Kirnos - drums (1983-1984, from 1987)
• Marat Korchemny - bass guitar, backing vocals (since 2003)
• Stanislav Shklyarsky - keyboards (since 2007)

Invited participants

• Vladimir Safronov - keyboards (2007-2008), now the director of the group
• Viktor Evseev - keyboards (2007)
• Irina Sorokina - violin (2003-2008)
• Irina Ponomareva - "live cello"
• Igor Vasiliev - stage images, dances
• Viktor Dombrovsky - sound engineer
• Alexander Yarovoy - fire shaman, tambourine, dancing (1995-2005)

Previous line-ups

• Alexey Dobychin - vocals (1978-1983)
• Sergey Omelnichenko - guitar, vocals (1978-1981)
• Evgeny Voloshchuk - bass guitar (1978-1984)
• Nikolay Mikhailov - flute (1978-1981)
• Alexander Kondrashkin - drums (1978-1981) †
• Yuri Danilov - flute, clarinet (1979-1981)
• Alexander Savelyev - guitar (1981-1990)
• Ali Bakhtiyarov - drums (1981-1983) †
• Victor Morozov - drums (1982)
• Vladimir Sizov - bass guitar (1984, 1989-1990) †
• Victor Sergeev - keyboards (1984)
• Sergey Voronin - keyboards (1984, 1986-2006) †
• Alexander Fedorov - drums (1984)
• Victor Evseev - bass guitar, backing vocals (1986-1988, 1990-1996)
• Yuri Klyuchantsev - keyboards, saxophone (1986-1988, 1990-1996)
• Vadim Ponomarev - drums (1986-1987)
• Andrey Merchansky - guitar (1992-1994) †
• Alexander Rokin - bass guitar (1996-1999)
• Svyatoslav Obraztsov - bass guitar (1999-2003) †