Lyapis Trubetskoy, formed in Belarus in 1990, is one of the strangest bands… Read Full Bio ↴Lyapis Trubetskoy, formed in Belarus in 1990, is one of the strangest bands of the post-soviet show business. In 1998-1999 their songs could be heard on any major radio station, their videos were shown on every top TV channel both in Russia and CIS countries. Until now their legendary hits like “Au”, “Ti kinula” (“You Gave Me Up”), “Zelenolazoye taksi” (“Green-eyed Taxi”), “V plat’ye belom” (“In A White Dress”) and “Yabloni” (“Apple-trees”) are still popular among all Russian karaoke singers. Isn’t it the obvious sign of public acknowledgement? So, for “Lyapis Trubetskoy” the way towards stadium concerts seemed to be open, but…

“We came from the underground and became popular with our pop-culture parodies. One day to my horror I realized that our group has become similar to the objects of our parodies and mockery. We were starting to merge with all those pop-star crowd, but I’m not one of them and never wanted to be,” - Sergey Mikhalok, the band’s leader says. He admits that it wasn’t so easy to give up the show business game and become independent once again.

According to him, “it was very difficult to get our true essence back on top. And the thing wasn’t about any contracts. We had to overcome public opinion and, most importantly, set our own minds free. At first, my internal discomfort from the gap between the authentic “Lyapis Trubetskoy” and its public image was relieved by hard drinking and other stuff, but when my weight peaked at 110 kilograms and my mind was about to collapse, I gave up everything, lost 25 kilograms and started to play the music I like.”

“Capital” is the second independent album by “Lyapis Trubetskoy” after the “Zoloty’ye yaytsy” (“Golden Balls”) created in 2004 under heavy reggae and ska influence. “While working on “Zoloty’ye yaytsy” we didn’t understand what to do with our independence. As a result there were some reflex attempts to score a radio hit with “Rain’ka” or “Pochtal’iony” (“Postmen”), - Sergey Mikhalok says. – But this wasn’t the biggest problem. The whole album was overproduced, we tried to mix too many styles, musical instruments and sounds in it. So, we paid too much attention to the form instead of the essence. We were in need of a real professional who could tell us what was good and what was too much.”

That is why searching for a sound producer was one of the main tasks while working on “Capital”. At some point the band wanted to record their album in London, in the hometown the legendary British ska-band “Madness” (one of Mihalok’s favourites). When almost everything was ready for that, a chance interfered. At a concert in Kiev “Lyapis Trubetskoy” met a famous Ukrainian sound producer Vitaliy Telezin. He worked with “Okean El’zi”, “Brat’ia Grim” and other top Ukrainian/Russian artists. But it wasn’t the thing that attracted Mikhalok and his friends.

“We are from the same generation with him, we had common world outlook, we liked the same music. And it was the music we wanted to record on our new album. I don’t want to offend anyone, but, roughly speaking, for our band he is the first studio guy who didn’t need explanations about what is California wave or how “Green Day” and “Offspring” make their sound,” - Mikhalok says.

And this combination has worked perfectly well. Now it’s already clear that the new album will mean to the band and its fans no less than the legendary “Ty kinula” (“You Gave Me Up”) in 1998 and will give a rise to the new popularity wave for “Lyapis Trubetskoy”. Still, according to Sergey Mikhalok, the ideology of both the new album and the present group is different from what used to be in the years between these two landmarks. He says: “When I started my career I used to write songs that changed me and the world around me, but later I began to create stuff, that didn’t have influence either on me or the world around. At best those songs could be a soundtrack for some wedding or birthday. And what is horrible at some point I even used to be proud of that. But now I have come back to what everything started from – to a mix of biting satire and powerful chords.”

Video clips have played an important role in the album presentation. The first clip for the song “Hare” (“Enough”), a cheerful wedding trash-video, was filmed by a famous actor and new wave director Vladimir Epifantsev. The second clip, animation video “Capital”, which has become a real Internet sensation, was made by Aleksey Terekhov, co-author of the legendary “Au” (1998) and “Rozochka” (1999) videos. "Capital" has hardly appeared on TV, but has already won several prizes and got a lot of nominations on the different video & music festivals in Russia, Belarus, Portugal and so on.

Frontman Siarhei Mikhalok anounced mid-March 2014 that the group would ceased to exist the next 1 September.

offical website
www.lyapis.com
myspace page
www.myspace.com/lyapis

Бесы
Ляпис Трубецкой Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Синяя птица феникс - крылышки из пепла,
Вернулся "Железный Феликс", носферат из склепа.
Боги любят порох, баталии и марши,
Грохнула Аврора - наши бьют наших.

Бесы,
Бесы,
Красавица Магура,

Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Бесы,
Бесы,
Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Царь пушка в наступлении, Царь колокол в куплете,
По щучьему велению, война на всей планете.
Урфин Джюс в наградах, в бою лесные орки,
Салюты на парадах. Виват, Святой Георгий!

Бесы,
Бесы,
Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Бесы,
Бесы,
Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Бесы,
Бесы,
Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Бесы,
Бесы,
Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса. Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Красавица Магура,
Веди нас в бой, принцесса.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Ляпис Трубецкой's song "Бесы" seem to be a call to arms, expressing the idea that war is inevitable and that the gods love battle and conflict. The first verse talks about the blue bird phoenix, illustrating the theme of rebirth and resurrection, which seems to suggest that despite defeat or setbacks, there is always the potential for new life and new beginnings. The next line references "Железный Феликс", which is likely a reference to Felix Dzerzhinsky, a communist revolutionary and founder of the Soviet secret police. The line "боги любят порох" translates to "the gods love gunpowder", hinting at a fascination with weapons and warfare.

The line "грохнула Аврора - наши бьют наших" means "Aurora has fallen - our own strike their own", perhaps referencing a specific battle or civil war in which comrades turned against each other. The repeated chorus of "Бесы" (which means "demons") and "Красавица Магура" (which means "beauty Magura") seems to be a rallying cry, urging Magura to lead them into battle against their enemies. The rest of the lyrics contain references to historical figures and symbols associated with war, such as "Царь пушка" (Tsar cannon) and "Царь колокол" (Tsar bell), as well as mythological creatures like forest orcs and Urfon Juice.

Overall, the song appears to be a celebration of the chaos and violence of war, calling upon both historical and mythical figures to inspire their comrades to fight for their cause.

Line by Line Meaning

Синяя птица феникс - крылышки из пепла,
The blue phoenix bird - wings from the ashes,

Вернулся "Железный Феликс", носферат из склепа.
Iron Felix returned, a nosferatu from the crypt.

Боги любят порох, баталии и марши,
Gods love gunpowder, battles and marches,

Грохнула Аврора - наши бьют наших.
Aurora has fallen - our own hit our own.

Бесы, Бесы, Красавица Магура, Веди нас в бой, принцесса.
Demons, demons, Beautiful Magura, Lead us into battle, princess.

Царь пушка в наступлении, Царь колокол в куплете,
The king is a cannon when advancing, the king is a bell in a verse,

По щучьему велению, война на всей планете.
By pike's command, war is all over the planet.

Урфин Джюс в наградах, в бою лесные орки,
Urfin Jus in awards, forest orcs in battle,

Салюты на парадах. Виват, Святой Георгий!
Salutes at parades. Long live Saint George!

Красавица Магура, Веди нас в бой, принцесса.
Beautiful Magura, lead us into battle, princess.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS

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