The musician wrote it almost 40 years ago but performed it publicly only a few times. It was preserved by the daughter of the former Swedish Consul General in Leningrad, writes Meduza.
Collector Sergey Chubraev discovered a recording of an almost unknown song by Viktor Tsoi, the leader of the band Kino, titled "Children of Minutes" (Дзеці хвілін), which the musician wrote in 1988.
The cassette with the recording, made on June 24, 1988, in Leningrad, was kept for many years by Sara Åkerlund, the daughter of the former Swedish Consul General. This was stated in Chubraev's interview with "Sobaka" magazine, published on June 21, Tsoi's birthday, and in a 17-minute documentary film "Hello Carl Gustav" released by the Soyuz Music label. The song itself plays in the final part of the film.
Chubraev said he found the lyrics to "Children of Minutes" in the archive of Alexander Lipnitsky, bassist of the band Zvuki Mu, who died in 2021.
"Viktor Tsoi sang it only for close friends, forbade recording it on tape, and said he wasn't ready to perform it publicly," Chubraev shared.
According to him, it was initially believed that only the song's lyrics had been preserved – Tsoi wrote the words at Lipnitsky's request.
Lipnitsky himself recounted in his 2008 film about Kino that he first heard "Children of Minutes" in 1988 when Tsoi performed it in Moscow. "To my question if it would be included in the new Kino album, he answered no: 'No way. It will offend many people,'" Lipnitsky said.
Chubraev said he began searching for the song's recording among foreigners who visited Leningrad in the 1980s. "And quite quickly I found Sara Åkerlund, the daughter of the Swedish Consul General in Leningrad. She came here [to Leningrad] for holidays and quickly befriended the underground scene. Including Tsoi. I started corresponding with her and told her I was looking for 'Children of Minutes,' to which she replied: 'I recorded it on my player!'"
Åkerlund made the recording at a party hosted by musician Georgy Guryanov, a member of the band Kino. "Vitya sang his favorite songs for us several times, like 'When Your Girlfriend Is Sick' (Когда твоя девушка больна), 'Brotherly Love' (Братская любовь)," Åkerlund recalled. "And suddenly he decided to sing a new song for us. He was a little shy, unsure, but it really felt like he wanted to sing it. I had my Walkman, a player, with me, and I recorded it."
In the recording, Tsoi is heard telling his friends that the song might have lost its relevance and notes that the lyrics contain many quotes from other musicians' songs: "There are many quotes. It's hard to understand because it's like a polemic with other bands. Because there are so many of their lines."
Sergey Chubraev added that the cassette also contains other songs that no one had ever heard in acoustic versions, including "Pack of Cigarettes" (Пачка сигарет) and "Love Is No Joke" (Любовь — это не шутка). "I hope in the future we will also upload them to the internet," the collector noted.
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