Singer, actor, composer, novice of the monastery - how can all this be contained in a not very long human life? This can be learned from the example of Pavel Evgenievich Smeyan.
Pavel Smeyan was born in 1957 in Moscow. The whole family of the future musician and actor was associated with art: grandfather and grandmother were musicians, parents worked in the film industry. Paul had a twin brother, Alexander, so his childhood was not lonely. The brothers were brought up according to the classical canons, and by family tradition they were sent to a music school.
Pavel recalled that they often used their absolute similarities: they passed exams for each other and went to classes. In general, they were ordinary boys: hooligans, fought and argued.
They also listened to music. At first, it was a classic that was constantly heard in the Smeyanov house. Pavel especially listened to Debussy and Slonimsky - he loved complex works. And when I grew up a little, I heard rock music. Neighborhood boys carried portable tape recorders into the yard with recordings of English and American rock bands, which soon became the idols of Pavel and his brother. This determined his further creative biography.
As a teenager, Pavel played in an amateur ensemble at the local palace of culture, and quite successfully. They had decent instruments at their disposal, so the guys played with pleasure, including rock.
Creative biography
After school, the Smeyan brothers were together again: they entered "Gnesinka" at the pop faculty (saxophone). And they created their own group "Victoria", which was quite popular. Thanks to this, Pavel and Alexander got a job at the Mosconcert.
In the early 80s, Victoria was auditioned at the Lenkom theater: director Mark Zakharov needed a musical group for the rock opera Death of Joaquin Murieta, and the Smeyanov team was advised to him. The commission also included Nikolai Karachentsov and Alexander Zbruev, and all three of them liked the performance - the group members were hired to join the Rock-Atelier group.
Pavel liked the theater - he could improvise, give out random remarks during the performance, even walk around the stage with an instrument. During one of these passages, Zakharov drew attention to Pavel - to his artistry, plasticity and charisma.
And when the rock opera "Juno and Avos" by Alexei Rybnikov was staged at the theater, a separate role was introduced for him - the narrator. They say that they still cannot find a second such performer. And the song "I will never forget you" performed by Pavel Smeyan became a hit.
There was an unusual event in his biography: he spent a whole year as a novice in a monastery on Valaam, and then returned to Lenkom again.
In the mid-eighties, Pavel leaves Lenkom to study music. However, he still continues to perform in entrepreneurial musical productions in various theaters, and everywhere he has great success. At that time, rock operas were very popular, and the artists toured the country a lot, Pavel also traveled a lot around Russia.
By the beginning of the nineties Smeyan was able to come to grips with music: he played in rock bands, with the "Apostol" ensemble he recorded an album of his songs. He was also invited to record music for the films "The Trust That Burst" and "Mary Poppins, Goodbye!" In total, Smeyan performed about 20 songs for films.
In recent years, Pavel has worked on his rock opera "Word and Deed". This work was based on the novel by Alexei Tolstoy "Prince of Silver".
In 2009, Pavel Evgenievich was diagnosed with cancer, died from the same year, and was buried in the Khovanskoye cemetery. His artistic legacy, in addition to performances and music for films, is more than 100 songs.
Personal life
The first wife of Pavel Smeyan, at a young age, was the singer Natalia Vetlitskaya. It was also a creative union - together they recorded the song "Bad weather". After three years, the couple broke up.
A little later, Pavel met Victoria, an actress of the puppet theater, and lived with her in a civil marriage for five years.
In 1996, Pavel Smeyan married again - Lyudmila, an actress, became his chosen one. In 2009, they had a child - a son, Macarius. In the same year, the singer died, despite the help of comrades and treatment abroad.
