Edmund Shklyarsky is a famous Soviet and later Russian musician, composer, songwriter and artist. He is the founder and permanent leader of the "Picnic" rock group.
Biography
In September 1955, on the 26th, the future musician Edmund Mechislavovich Shklyarsky was born in the Soviet city of Leningrad. The artist's father was a Pole by birth, which is why Edmund spoke his native Russian and Polish languages from childhood. From an early age, the boy had a genuine interest in music, studied the piano at school, but did not receive a diploma in music education. After several years of study, he dropped out of music school. After he became interested in playing the violin, but his academic career was cut short by Edmund's acquaintance with rock music. Impressed by the hits of such groups as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, he began to master the guitar on his own.
Despite his passion for heavy music, Edmund graduated from a higher educational institution and received a full education in the specialty "Construction of nuclear power plants".
Career
He began to take his first steps in creativity as part of the cult group "Aquarium". Together with Boris Grebenshchikov, he recorded the first records and performed on the rock scene as a guitarist. But over time, the artist realized that he could not limit himself only to playing the guitar and decided to create his own project, which was called "Surprise". A little later, having met Yevgeny Voloshchuk, he joined his Orion team. The group did not last long under this name, and thanks to the influence of Edmund, changed the name to "Picnic".
With an established lineup and a new name, the group in March 1981 took part in a concert timed to coincide with the opening of the famous Leningrad rock club. In 1982, Picnic released their first album, Smoke. The work was included in the book of the famous journalist Alexander Kushnir "100 Magnetic Albums of Soviet Rock".
Two years later, the album "Dance of the Wolf" appeared, and in 1984 the disc "Hieroglyph" was released, which brought great popularity to the collective. Over the entire existence of the group, more than 20 numbered albums have been recorded. In 2003, a tribute band appeared in the recording of which other famous rock musicians took part, including Olga Arefieva, Utah, Vadim Samoilov and others.
Personal life
Edmund Shklyarsky is married, his chosen one is Elena. The couple have two adult children who are actively involved in their father's project. Shklyarsky often uses the lyrics of his daughter Alina to record new songs. Son Stanislav since the age of seventeen has been playing keyboards in "Picnic". In 2014 he founded his own project "Incognito", the style and sound of the group are very similar to his father's "Picnic", but the young musician is experimenting and looking for his own style.
Recently, Shklyarsky has been actively exploring various crowdfunding platforms for recording new albums. Shareholders have a unique opportunity to receive new works on a physical medium with the group's autographs, as well as manuscripts, sketches and paintings by Edmund Mechislavovich.
