Books & Arts

On June 17 Serzh Tankian will have a concert in the Krakus City Hall of Moscow. Before his concert he gave an interview to the Russian edition of the Rolling Stone journal.

- Whose image did inspire you to grow a beard?

- Both Lenin and Tolstoy. Great people; I have always wanted to be like them. Even though I am very far from being Tolstoy.

- Do you spend much time on looking after it?
 
- To be honest I don’t make many efforts on it. Sometimes I go to the hairdresser’s and while I am watching the “Southern garden” on TV, the stylist is doing a magic on my beard.

- Does anybody call you “Serzh jan” like usually Armenians call the people they like?

- Of course. But many people don’t know what it means and are using this word without a reason as they have heard it somewhere.

- Does the fact that you re-issued the Elect The Dead album with the symphony orchestra mean that next time you may sing in the hall of the Conservatory?

- Maybe, but I will not turn to classic music eventually. This work simply helped me to evaluate my ability as a composer, and I can say that during the past 10 years I have grown much as a professional. At least I have learnt what score is.

- Classic musicians usually sing much. Have you had problems with that when working on the Elect The Dead Symphony?
 
- By the way, I have heard such stories about the Russian orchestra only. Maybe it is a problem for them, but unfortunately in my group there has not been any Russian musicians.

- What alcohol drinks do you prefer?

- It is a strange question. Of course wine. Because I am Armenian.

- What can you slap a man for without thinking twice?

- It is better to make them come down with words or a smile rather than slap. Besides that, I am a very polite young man, don’t you think so?