More precisely, a small part of them, unexpectedly for dad, came to congratulate him on his solo concert. As it turned out later, there are already eight of his offspring living in the world, which Yarik carefully keeps silent about. And, judging by the latest data, the artist is not going to stop there.
Very little is known about the singer’s personal life, although he assures that answers to all questions can be found in his songs. Each album is a piece from the story of his life.
Yarik had several wives and, it seemed, each one tried to tie him to themselves in the old proven way - with children. But Maly is not the kind of person who agrees with conventions. Therefore, when his last official wife gave birth to a daughter, he still filed for divorce a couple of months after this pleasant event. What to do - love occupies a special place in the lives of creative people. If it is not there, then there is no inspiration.
By the way, the singer shows himself as a caring and attentive father. He does not shy away from responsibility and provides for his children. It’s just a pity that he doesn’t like to brag about their successes and achievements.
The children of Yaroslav Maly, Luka, Eva and Solomon (what names!), ended up on solo concert father is not accidental. True, no one thought that this fact would lead Yarik into such confusion. Of course, he could not avoid curious fans who were filming the happy dad both on stage and behind it. It is important that the guys prepared not only flowers for him, but also congratulations. A good reminder about yourself, right?
They danced backstage, periodically ran out onto the dance floor of the fan zone and, according to others, sang all the songs that their father performed that evening.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find out anything about the other five guys. Still privacy, Yaroslav Maly guards with enviable stubbornness.
That is why, once again, we turn to you, our beloved readers. If you know the names of the children, what they do and how they live, share this information with us and everyone else. Comments are provided for this case.
Recently, the famous Moscow group “Tokio”, led by its leader and soloist Ya. Maly, came to visit us. However, why Maly, when he is two meters tall?.. And why visit when Maly himself, almost every Monday and Thursday, visits the homeland of his ancestors. Rather, not as a visit, but as a visit to your dacha...
And why, how to go to the dacha?.. - a Krivoy Rog Jew named Yaroslav picks up the tone. - How to go home! Actually, not even HOW to go home, but simply - home!
- What do you perceive as the most “homely” thing here?
This one ancient land and my proud people, walking along it with their heads held high. What could be more beautiful - to wander somewhere for years, and then find yourself here again, on your own land!
- Do you have a favorite place?.
Of course, Jerusalem! I dream about this city at night when I am away from it. I cannot even convey the feelings that the spirit and peace of holy Jerusalem gives birth to in my soul.
I read the everyday rider of the “Tokio” group, published on your official website, and felt that it could be used as a basis for making a stylish program for the “Beautiful Life” TV channel. I especially liked the obligatory whiskey with ice in the dressing room...
The guys did their best! This means they need it. If we are talking about me, then I can do without it - I personally don’t drink alcohol at all. And the team partners - maybe they’re used to it at home, drinking a glass in the evening for inspiration and tone. When you travel a lot on tour, fly from place to place, you always want to feel at home. A simple human desire, reflected in the Tokyo rider. Nothing special!..
You once said that in your younger years you loved to have a meal in a good restaurant and disappear from there, not only without saying goodbye, but also without paying...
In my youth, they used to do this... Now it’s scary to remember! On the other hand, who lived this period of their life without sin? You might think that fifteen or twenty years ago you weren’t naughty...
Moreover, I’ll tell you - I still play pranks to this day! But sneaking out of the “tavern”, in English... This is fraught... Aren’t you ashamed now?
Don't be ashamed! Because then I always came back myself and returned the money for lunches and dinners.
- By the way, it sounds like a hint to the producers...
Fortunately, we don’t have producers! We are responsible for ourselves, both organizationally and creatively. We write songs about how we live and create music the way we feel it. This is boundless happiness, if anyone doesn’t know, to do in creativity what your heart desires.
Since our conversation involuntarily centered around the topic of creativity and money, why do Russian “stars,” unlike, say, Western ones, behave rather modestly in the field of charity?
What do you mean?
Everything from helping the poor and disadvantaged to the adoption of HIV-infected children from Ethiopia and Cambodia.
It’s hard for me to say, I haven’t dived deep into this story. Just imagine - taking someone else's child into your home. You still need to be able to approach this correctly... In charity, the most important thing is to clearly understand for whom and why you are doing certain things, and not just participate in various events, as they say, “for show.” A colossal level of responsibility is required for the same adoption; we simply are not yet mature enough for this.
The musicians of your group have such native Russian names, I’m not even afraid of the word “epic” names: Demyan, Yaroslav... It’s even somehow strange that you are called “Tokio” and not, for example, “Yaroslavl”...
My Jewish name- Moshe Pinchas!..
Yes, I saw with my own eyes such captions on a video clip of your interview, posted on one of the largest Israeli Internet news portals, Ynet. Thought you were making fun of the local aborigines.
No! ( laughs!) I am Moshe Pinchas, Demyan is David, and Roma is Reuben!
- Okay, then the group should definitely be called not “Yaroslavl”, but rather “Yerushalayam”, or, better, “Kfar Chabad”.
By the name "Tokyo" we do not mean the Japanese capital. "Tokio" is currents, a flow of charged particles, inexhaustible energy. The whole point is moving forward!
- Is it true that you are seriously engaged in studying the Torah?
Absolute truth.
- Did you manage to learn something new for yourself?
Would you be surprised if I told you that this is a very serious book? Every time I open it, I manage to learn something new. The Most High gave us this Book, putting boundless love into its pages. You read just a little, and you see everything around you completely differently. I have a spiritual teacher - Vladimir Iosifovich Slutsker, who helps me comprehend the wisdom of our world through awareness of the deep wisdom of the Torah.
They say that you want to divide yourself between music and cinema, to make a film about the adventures of thought in a person’s head. Imagine that now the command “Motor!” was heard, and the camera rushed in pursuit of the thoughts in your mind. What are you thinking about right now?
Oh happiness! I am simply overwhelmed with happy thoughts, ideas and reasoning. That soon I will go on stage again and be together with hundreds and thousands of my beloved spectators. And that somewhere very close is my Jerusalem.
Interviewed
Dmitry Aizin
Photo by Alex Lerner
2002-2012 Boot. Original material: http://www.boti.ru/node/47833
Yaroslav Maly: “If I have a concert on Shabbat, then I don’t get paid for it
Yarik Maly is the founder and leader of the Tokyo group, one of the most popular domestic rockers of 2006. But he became famous not only for the soundtracks to The Ninth Company. Maly is the organizer of a rally in support of Israel. “The band’s second album has just been released, it’s called “Plus Two Hundred.” On January 13, we had a concert in London on Trafalgar Square on the occasion of the Old New Year, for some reason the British call it the Russian New Year,” says Yarik. “Soon we are going to go on a big concert tour of Russia and Europe. I am writing music for Fyodor Bondarchuk’s new film “Inhabited Island” based on the book by the Strugatsky brothers and for Roman Prygunov’s film about “indigo” children. Continuing the conversation about cinema, I’ll add that our music is heard in Bondarchuk’s “The Ninth Company” and the film “Heat,” which was released at the end of December. Now we are already working on our third album, it will be released in two versions: in Russian and English languages", he says to Daniil Tunin, a correspondent for the newspaper Country Hillel. Today the Jewish Journal presents to you full version interview with Maly.
It’s very cool to play a street concert in London, but the capital’s audience is also looking forward to meeting the Tokyo group. When will people be able to hear you in Moscow?
- On February 17 we will have big concert in the club "B 1". This is the new big one concert venue with very good sound and light, up to three thousand people can be there. In my opinion, this metropolitan club can be safely called a beautiful, correct and the first European stylish place. Almost immediately after the Moscow concert, tours begin, first Russian, then European.
Tell us a little more about your European tour. Which countries are you planning to visit and who to meet?
- In Moscow, we get on a bus with all the equipment and equip it as a studio. I don’t know everything about the details yet; the route is still being finalized. For example, on the way from Moscow to Paris we record a new song right on the bus. We stay in Paris for three or four days, give concerts there, negotiate with local producers, and this new song ends up on one of the local music radio stations. Then we drive to Berlin and on the way we hear ourselves on the radio. The main feature is that we will be filmed by television cameras during the trip. I hope that everything will be fine and this tour will be shown on television with the support of MTV as a reality show. The idea is that everything is in your head, there are no boundaries and you can do anything you want if you want. Also during this trip we plan to meet our friends and hang out at some closed parties. In Paris with Monica Bellucci, in London with Age, in Spain with Almadovar. I think we can do it interesting trip. Some time after returning from Europe, we will go on an Asian tour, we have Japan and other countries in our plans. But it’s too early to talk about this in more detail, because the trip is planned for late spring or early summer.
- A lot has been said about you and the Tokyo group over the past few years. What happened before that?
- I was born and raised in Krivoy Rog in Ukraine. My first music teacher's name was Igor Semenovich Beer, and he brought me by the ears to a music school. First I learned to play the balalaika, then I entered the music school for the conducting department, and in my third year I was expelled from there. And at the age of seventeen I came to Moscow; the year was 1991. At first I tried to make music that no one needed. Then I had my own clubs and agencies related to music, but by and large this was not interesting to me, because I always wanted to make music. Everything in my life changed dramatically after meeting Gosha Kutsenko. I was going through a kind of transitional period in my life at that time, I was thinking in which direction to move next. Gosha said a lot of good things about me, his words were very important to me then. And I gave up everything, deciding to devote myself to music.
- Tell me how you met Gosha Kutsenko?
- I dated a girl who studied with Gosha on the same course. And I had the idea to shoot a video for one song. Shortly before this, Gosha starred in the film “Mom, Don’t Cry” and was very popular. I called him with an offer to star in my video. Gosha agreed, despite the fact that I did not have money to pay him. That's how our friendship began.
You were one of the organizers of the rally in support of Israel on July 31, 2006. What prompted you to take such an active part in this?
- We were in Europe then and saw constant highlighting in the press, statements of politicians and conversations ordinary people Israel as an aggressor, occupier and enemy of all humanity. After talking with different people about the Israeli-Lebanese war, I realized that it was necessary to show and voice a different point of view. The purpose of this rally was to support the Israelis, not the government. People came out not only because everyone criticized Israel. Everyone smart people It is clear that Israel did not receive any benefit from the summer war with Lebanon. I then called my friends and said that we needed to express our point of view. And we decided to get together, talk and support Israel. About a hundred people came to the rally, I thought there would be no more than 20-30 of us. There were not only Jews there, people were really worried, some were reading psalms and the prayer “Shema, Israel”; different points of view were expressed. On the eve of the rally, I received strange calls from some Jewish organizations. They demanded that everything be cancelled, because there could be provocations, everything needs to be organized and carried out differently, everything needs to be discussed, the deadlines must be rescheduled. I told them that I have an idea that I will implement now, not later. We submitted an application to the Moscow mayor's office, received permission, and everything worked out great for us.
In recent years, in various Jewish circles it has become common to talk about a systemic Jewish crisis in the post-Soviet space. Do you share this point of view?
- You need to understand what it means to be a Jew. When you are standing against a wall with your hands raised and declaring your love for the Most High, and at that moment someone comes up to you, tugs on your sleeve and asks for money, then this becomes a problem. In my opinion, all the problems happening in the world today are related to the fact that Jews cannot understand that they must turn to the Almighty. This is the most important thing, and no one interferes with doing business, politics, or creativity. It’s great that we can realize ourselves in life, we just need to understand who provides it to us. It is obvious that it is impossible to talk about love for a woman without hugging her, without kissing her, without feeling her scent... It is useless to talk about these things if you do not understand with what love the Lord created this world. I have visited many synagogues, different cities and countries. There are almost no young people there.
And if they appear there, they pursue some interests. It happens that people come who want to immerse themselves in Judaism, but, seeing the atmosphere there, they merge from there without really lingering. Today is a completely different time than 15 years ago, when Jewish life and the awakening of Jewish self-awareness were just gaining momentum. You need to be active, mobile, communicate with the world without withdrawing into yourself, and begin to love the All-Him. If you do all this, then wisdom will come. If you have become wise, then you understand how everything works and you can influence it. We need to understand how much God loves us, and without Kabbalah this is impossible. It is known that Jews are united either by some big problem, or great love for the All-him. And right now this moment is coming, to love Him, I feel it very clearly. We cannot isolate ourselves from the world; our time begins now. But you need to feel it, believe it and live it. Jews simply cannot agree on anything with each other.
-When and where did you start studying Kabbalah?
- I independently read and collected books on the Jewish tradition, visited many places, communicated with various Jewish educators, by the way, among them there are a lot of idle talkers and charlatans looking for a simple and quick profit from Jewry. This continued until I met my teacher and spiritual mentor Vladimir Slutsker. He finds the right words for each of your students. I have been studying with him in yeshiva for two years now. The main thing I learn there is love. This place has gathered wonderful and very beautiful people, I see there something that is not found anywhere else in the world, and I have been and am in so many places on planet Earth. I see there a very special attitude towards teachers, towards books, towards wisdom, towards prayer and towards each other. After these classes and communication, new songs are written beautifully, and interesting and bright thoughts come to mind.
- To what extent do you adhere to the canons of Jewish tradition?
- I keep kosher and celebrate all Jewish holidays. If I have a concert on Shabbat, then I don’t get paid for it. But on the phone on Saturday I say that the Torah does not say that it cannot be used. By the way, it is on Saturday that the best good concerts. Now is XXI and we need to be open to the world, Moshiach is coming and we need to really act. At the same time, I take the commandments very seriously, trying to observe them as much as possible. A Jew without a creator is not a Jew.
- What message can you give to those who want to understand themselves, their Jewishness and take the right path in life?
- One of my friends, his name is Misha Pelik, once told me the following: “Don’t doubt and move on your own path.” You have to turn your head on and analyze. And you shouldn’t think that it is possible to feed yourself at the expense of Jewry. We must live beautifully, but without love this is impossible. Don’t doubt and look for love in this world, there is enough for everyone.
Text and photos: Jewish Magazine: Original material
The lead singer of the group "Tokyo" and "Machete" Yarosav Maly, after 8 years of marriage with actress and singer Natalya Simakova, filed for divorce. After a long period of discord in the family, the couple came to a mutual decision to separate. The couple have been living separately for several months now.
From her marriage, Natalya has a daughter, Michelle, who was born just a few months ago. As Heat.ru learned from close circle Yaroslav, she will stay with her mother, and Yaroslav himself promised that Natasha and Michelle will not need anything. Just recently, Maly posted photos of himself with his daughter and seemed very happy. He does not give any comments about the divorce.
They wrote a lot about the high-profile romance between Maly and Simakova and with great enthusiasm. Young, eccentric, in love - this is how most friends and fans spoke about them. Yaroslav always said in his interviews that love comes first for him. And Natasha admitted that Yarik is the love of her life. The plans of the then newlyweds were to create a large, strong family with 6 children.
By the way, in Yaroslav’s work everything sounds much simpler: in his lyrics he asks listeners - “no matter how strong you are, do not part with your loved ones.”
Over 8 years of marriage, the Maly - Simakova couple has become one of the most beautiful and stable in show business. The couple constantly appeared together at various film premieres and screenings. But a few months ago the situation changed dramatically. The guy began to appear alone while Natasha was busy with her creativity. And the artist categorically refused to answer questions about his wife and personal life.
Besides, music label Machete Records terminated the contract with the group Siberia - the project of Natalia Simakova. From February 1, his wife will be free from any contractual obligations. Now the Machete Records label includes only two musical projects: the groups "Tokyo" and "Machete".
Yaroslav Maly was born in 1973 in Krivoy Rog (Ukraine). As a child, he was not much different from his peers - he also played football, skipped classes and participated in various boyish squabbles. Before entering school, the boy was found to have extraordinary musical abilities, so the parents insisted on additional education in music school.
Biography
Although he was reluctant to study musical notation, ran away from exams and concerts, teachers could not help but notice that he was growing genius musician. The musician remembers his first music teacher, Igor Semenovich Beer, with warmth. At music school, he first had to study the balalaika, then the piano.
After finishing his studies at school, Yaroslav Maly decides to continue music education, so he enters the music school in Kyiv, the conducting department. But his studies did not bring him joy or inspiration. He was more interested in the free life of students, visiting nightclubs and using drugs. For the reason large quantity Absenteeism, a student, although talented and showing great promise, is expelled from the school in the third year of study. In order not to return to his native Krivoy Rog, Yaroslav plans to go to Moscow. A seventeen-year-old boy sets out alone to conquer a huge city. It was a difficult year in 1991, but the musician decided that the economic situation in the country could not affect his plans.
In Moscow, he occasionally writes music, visits nightclubs, and meets people associated with rock music. Soon clubs and agencies became interested in him, allowing him to perform in front of the public. According to Yaroslav Maly, his work at that time did not bring him pleasure, so he is organizing night clubs and entertainment centers. He is reluctant to talk about this decade in his life, since during this period he begins to take drugs. A real revolution in the musician’s life was his acquaintance with Gosha Kutsenko. The actor managed to get money to organize and promote the Tokio group. In 2002, the group made its presence known for the first time by performing at the festival. Two years later, the musicians released their debut album. After this event, the lead singer of the group began to have problems with illegal drugs. But after lengthy treatment and rehabilitation, Yaroslav returned to his former life.
The musician is a soloist in two groups of different directions (rock and rock mixed with pop). Each of Maly’s projects is successful and is happily received by fans of his work.
In 2014, Yaroslav Maly radically changed his life and moved to Kyiv. He was deeply impressed by the events in Ukraine. He actively participates in mass rallies, speaks at concerts and calls for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. In Kyiv, the musician participates in various show programs and is a teacher for new young musicians. In the filming of his videos, he often acts as a screenwriter and director. He experiments, creates new projects and is an advocate for the Jewish community in Ukraine.
Personal life
Yaroslav Maly is an amorous person who does not tolerate restrictions and boundaries. During the conquest of Moscow, there were many girls in the young man’s life. He was looking for mutual understanding, support and confidence in his feelings. He met his first wife in a recording studio. One day a girl came into the studio wearing the same shoes as the musician. This attracted Yaroslav's attention, and he immediately met her. The girl's name was Natalya Simakova, she was an actress, played in films and theater. The couple got married and had a daughter, Michelle. But after eight years of marriage, the couple separated. The musician dedicated to his first wife best songs.
Very soon Yaroslav appeared in public next to new lover named Olga. They met on the plane during the flight. Yaroslav claims that at first sight he realized that this woman would become his true love. He often appears with her in public, gives interviews and talks about his relationship. His lover is involved in organizing concerts, as well as other issues regarding the work of groups in Ukraine and the United States.
Yaroslav, like other creative people, is alien to conventions. If love leaves a person’s life, it means there is a need for new feelings. Now the musician has eight children from different women, he treats each of them with care. Maly does not shy away from responsibility and often takes them on his trips to other countries. Occasionally, photographers manage to capture a happy dad with his children.
The musician plans to continue working on his work in Ukraine and the USA. Yaroslav sees his future surrounded by children in a house somewhere in Israel.
On Beit Shabbat in Holon:
An exclusive concert of the leader of the group “Tokyo/Machete” Yaroslav Maly in Israel, in a club format. With the participation of Moishe Yankovsky. Acoustic set, new songs, the opportunity to personally communicate with the musician. May 25 at 20:00.
Then we all go together to celebrate Lag Baomer on Meron.
Reservation of seats by phone. 0526940770
https://www.facebook.com/events/863286387151561/
Nine in the morning. A small cafe in the center of Kyiv. The entrance is well disguised. An establishment "for its own people". At a table, a man and a woman drink Americano coffee from the same cup. We could order a second one, but they like to split everything between two people. The waitress asks if the guests will have breakfast, and they answer her: “Yes, everything is as usual for us.” Once every 10-15 minutes, one of the visitors comes up to their table and greets them in a friendly manner. These two have already become “at home” in the Ukrainian capital, although they moved less than a year ago. The man's name is Yaroslav Maly, he is known to music lovers as the frontman of the group "Tokyo" and the creator music project"Machete". For film buffs - as the author of soundtracks for Fyodor Bondarchuk’s films “The 9th Company” and “Inhabited Island”. For gamers - as the author of the music for the game Need for Speed Shift. The woman sitting next to him is his wife and part-time director, Rachel-Ora.
Get out of Moscow
Until recently, they were prominent figures in Russian show business- one of those who can afford to start something grandiose without lacking money and government support. What's it worth? international festival alternative music Red Rocks, founded by Yaroslav and his company Machete Records. He didn’t just gather celebrities like the bands Brainstorm and Okean Elzy and invite world stars like the British Morcheeba, he sent them to remote provinces where most people didn’t even know what alternative sound was: Kemerovo, Barnaul, Ulan-Ude, Chelyabinsk etc. In a word, he systematically increased the level of musical literacy in the vastness of the federation, and reputable financial institutions, such as Sberbank of Russia, gave money for this. During his presidency, Dmitry Medvedev personally patronized one of the events organized with light hand Yaroslav Maly.
It is impossible to be in Russia now. There are fewer thinking people. Many are leaving. Those who remain live under such severe information pressure that the brain does not have time to process the information in order to draw the right conclusions. People who used to communicate with me, their parents and spouses, sit in front of their TVs, watch news on the Internet and believe that children are being crucified in the Donetsk region. They don’t understand how I can live in Ukraine, and it’s useless to explain. Firstly, I am outraged by the lies pouring out from television screens. Secondly, and this is perhaps the most important thing, I feel good here. He hardly showed up at social gatherings, but was constantly at the center of discussion in the Moscow glamorous crowd. IN last year the Tokyo leader was talked about especially a lot, and most often with bewilderment. He did something strange modern Russia act - he moved to Ukraine, moved his wife and four children to Kyiv, and also completely abandoned concert activities in the Russian Federation. The last time he was in Moscow was three months ago and he claims that he was counting the hours until his departure.
"Blessed are You, Lord, who desires the return"
Of the eighteen blessings of the Jewish prayer "Amidah"
A year and a half ago, when buying an apartment in Kyiv, he did not yet know that he would call it home. Yaroslav simply liked the Ukrainian capital with its leisurely flow of life, quiet streets of the old center and friendly residents. When Maidan began, he also did not think about moving. I just saw on the Internet photographs of students beaten by police officers and decided to support the protesters.
“We made the decision to perform on the Maidan together,” wife Rahel joins the conversation. “We haven’t yet talked about taking a position in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, and we haven’t seen a conflict as such, we just wanted to express solidarity with people defending their rights. Many Moscow acquaintances did not understand us then, and do not understand us now. Generally for lately We have seen enough of how connections between people are destroyed, friends disperse and families break up.
Beautiful is far away
On Maidan, Yaroslav Maly experienced his own internal revolution. I was imbued with the atmosphere of the protest movement and dedicated many songs to it: “Fight”, “Freedom and Love”, “ New hero". These compositions were played at a recent Kiev concert. The audience happily sang along: “The hero must return home,” suggesting that it was about the heroes of the Revolution of Dignity. Only people who knew Yaroslav personally understood what he meant in these lines double meaning. He sang not only about those whom he saw on the Maidan, but also about himself, about what was beginning in his life. new stage- return period.
Maly was born in Ukraine, but from childhood he knew that he would leave. I looked at the horizon and imagined thousands amazing places, where you had to come, see and win. Small Motherland— Krivoy Rog was too small for an energetic boy with grandiose dreams. IN music school he also “didn’t fit.” He was expelled from his third year. When Yaroslav’s father asked the head teacher why his son was expelled, the answer was short and succinct: “For everything!” This did not upset Maloy Jr. at all; he was not going to waste time in boring classes and wanted to quickly plunge into the real world. adult life. It was 1991, Soviet Union fell apart.
The old rules and foundations were losing force, and new ones had not yet arisen. Almost immediately after his expulsion, Maly went to where, as he believed, he could taste freedom and begin his “great voyage” - to Moscow.
“I didn’t think about getting rich or achieving fame,” the musician recalls. “I just set sail from the shore, not really knowing what would happen next.”
As for what happened next, there are different versions. Most media describe Maly's success story as a male version of the Cinderella fairy tale. A guy from the outback without money or connections, but with hard work and talent, came to conquer Belokamennaya. He was noticed, given a chance, and now he is already receiving the “Discovery of the Year” prize at the “Maxidrom-2003” festival, then prestigious award MTV Music Awards, albums released in hundreds of thousands of copies and music videos on YouTube, collecting more than a million views in the first three days.
What remains behind the scenes is that Yaroslav came to Moscow at the age of eighteen, and organized the Tokyo group at twenty-eight. He is reluctant to talk about this decade; he only says that he opened nightclubs. He doesn’t share details and, apparently, not without reason, it happened in the 1990s. Journalists also, as a rule, do not mention the fact that he took drugs from the age of sixteen. Although Maly himself does not hide this.
Way back
In conversation, Yaroslav is stingy with stories about his biography. But he easily turns on when it comes to creativity, love, God, revolution. He frowns, clenches his fists and raises his voice when talking about the Russian war. But when I try to find out how the real Moscow he arrived in differed from the one he imagined when leaving Ukraine, he instantly distances himself, the tone becomes indifferent, the phrases become formulaic.
In the end, clearly wanting to close the unpleasant topic, he says in a tired voice:
- Well, as it usually happens... People unite around general idea. They are moving somewhere together. You trust those whom you have chosen as travel companions, you believe that you are on the same wavelength. And then one day you see that they changed direction long ago for the sake of money or some other interests, and all this time you were walking with them, going in the wrong direction.
— Didn’t like being rich and famous?
— Fame dealt blows to the psyche. You go to the pharmacy and everyone looks at what medications you buy. You can go crazy this way. I wanted to hide somewhere. Therefore, for some time the Tokyo group was not visible at all. The worst thing is that we seem to have achieved what we wanted, but the dream come true did not bring any joy.
— Did returning to Ukraine bring you joy?
“Before, I was always fighting for something, running somewhere. Now all the fights and races are over, it’s as if I live outside of time. I have time to read, write music, and communicate a lot with my family.
A boyish smile appears on my interlocutor’s face.
“I just got wiser over the years, I’m already over forty, and this is largely thanks to my other half,” he turns to Rachel and takes her hand, “well, our beloved city, of course, matters.”
It cannot be said that after the move Maly had less work. He regularly gives concerts, updates the Tokyo repertoire, and develops the Machete project, which has already officially become Ukrainian. The Machete production center is about to open in Kyiv. In addition, Yaroslav and Rachel are busy with the new English-language project HAVAKKUK. The first compositions have already been recorded - in Brussels. In addition to Yaroslav, six more musicians from different countries Europe. One of them, Vladi Mind, first violin of the Royal Brussels Orchestra, performs his parts on the legendary Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu instruments.
— Now there are three groups instead of two, you work simultaneously in Ukraine and Belgium, but you claim that you have more free time?
Yaroslav smiles condescendingly and says with the intonation of a mentor:
- When you do exactly what God wants from you, the world bends under you, and time stretches and contracts exactly as you need.
Call me Moishe-Pinhas
It was no coincidence that the musician spoke about God. Over the past few years, he has made not one, but two important returns: to Ukraine and to the faith of his ancestors. By origin Small Jew, and the name new group HAVAKKUK is associated with the name of the prophet Havakkuk (in Orthodox sources, Habakkuk). The name comes from the Hebrew word "hibuk" ("embrace") and literally means "one who is embraced twice."
It is believed that he died shortly after birth and was resurrected with the help of the prophet Elisha. "Hawakkuk" means that after the first embrace, the mother's, there was a second - the embrace of the prophet. Some Tanakh commentators see this as a hint of a second chance - an opportunity to start life anew. The musician liked this idea. Maly was born into a family of Soviet Jews, grew up in a secular environment, he recently discovered the religious world and believes that from that moment his second life began.
The name Hawakkuk is now borne not only by the group, but also youngest son its leader. And lately he himself introduces himself less and less as Yaroslav. In the middle of the conversation, my interlocutor suddenly announced that he had taken the Hebrew name Moishe-Pinchas. Then he admitted that he had never really been an atheist. Most of his songs are non-canonical prayers, desperate attempts to address God in his own words. Now Maly addresses himself every day in the form prescribed by the Jewish prayer canon.
It is impossible to be in Russia now. There are fewer thinking people. Many are leaving. The rest live under severe information pressure
It started back in Moscow, when Yaroslav, out of curiosity, went into a local synagogue and saw two religious men emotionally discussing some issue from the Talmud.
“I understood almost nothing from their discussion, but I was struck by the very tone of the dialogue.” They argued heatedly, but without the slightest hostility, with love and respect for each other. No one humiliated anyone or tried to assert themselves at the expense of their interlocutor. It seemed that even proving that they were right was not the main thing for them; it was more important to get to the bottom of the truth. How very different this debate was from those I had seen before. I even regretted that I couldn’t participate. I wanted to read some Jewish books, and the more I read, the more clearly I understood: they contain something important for me.
Gradually he learned to pray; on Saturdays and Jewish holidays does not use transport, electrical appliances, money and observes many other religious restrictions. He eats and drinks only what is permitted by kosher laws, which is why we met in a kosher cafe. Set aside at least an hour every day from your busy schedule to study Torah. And at the same time he claims that Judaism has made him much freer.
Doesn't sound very plausible. As well as the fact that time stretches and contracts at his will. I might consider it a fantasy creative person. I could have suspected Yaroslav of posing when he said that he did not at all regret the earnings that he lost by giving up concert activities in Russia, and money and fame do not matter to him.
But here’s the thing - as soon as Yaroslav starts talking about his two returns, that special smile appears on his face, which only happens to completely happy people. You certainly can't fake it.
Photo: Ukrinform, from personal archives
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