Everything Upside Down...

Vladimir Vysotsky (1938-1980) is one of those usually called cult authors. But such a label is completely unsuitable for him: too pompous, too artificial, too pretentious for his poetry, music, and worldview.

Rodion Kuzmin admits that he truly fell in love with Vysotsky's work back in his school years. At the time, he created jazz interpretations of some songs, but performed these works mainly among friends. Now the time has come to share them with a wider audience, especially since Vysotsky himself once wrote: "When I compose my songs, I very much hope that they will reach my listener." It is impossible to repeat Vysotsky, pointless to imitate him, but to enter into dialogue, to pass it through yourself and breathe it out in your own rhythm - that is creative and humanly honest.

Why is Vysotsky relevant today? Rodion says: “Because even today we talk about pain and unfreedom, about injustice, about people on the edge - just like Vysotsky did in his songs. And this is the opposite of what we were taught as children and what we believed. That is why the performance is also titled after the song “Everything Upside Down”. Some of Vysotsky's texts even sound like prophecies that have come true, and that proves that poets can foresee events many years ahead.”