Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the founder and lead singer of the band Aquarium which has been active since 1972. Grebenshchikov is frequently referred to as BG (; pronounced "Beh-Geh"), after his initials.

Early years (1953–1979)

Grebenshchikov was born on 27 November 1953, in Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. In 1972, he founded the band Aquarium with his childhood friend Anatoly "George" Gunitsky as a postmodern theatrical endeavor that included poetry and music.

He issued another English-language album, Radio London, in 1996, which consisted of demos made in 1990 and 1991.

Returning East (1991–1996)

Grebenshchikov returned to Russia and came out with a Russian album (Russkiy al'bom), backed by the eponymous BG Band, in 1992.

The Aquarium album Favorite songs of Ramses the 4th (Lyubimye pesni Ramzesa IV) was mostly filler, and Archive vol 4 was all outtakes. The band's next three albums are effectively Grebenshchikov's solo albums published under the band's brand. Navigator, Snow lion (Snezhniy lev), and Hyperborea have a stylized Russian feel.

Back to basics (1997–2019)

His 1997 album Lilith is still mostly Russian in lyrical theme but is recorded by way of a chance meeting with his idol Dylan's former backing group, The Band.

His 1999 album Psi features an interpretation through a post-modernistic lens with use of keyboard samplers. His 2002 album Sister Chaos (Sestra Haos), 2003 album Fisherman's songs (Pesni rybaka), and 2005 album ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM had Armenian, Indian, and African influences respectively, particularly from Jivan Gasparyan.

In 2014 he released Salt, "one of the best albums of Grebenshchikov’s long career, an astonishing, visceral piece of work that more than lives up to its moniker: earthy, vital, biting, life-enhancing".

Radio "Aerostat"

Since 2005, Grebenshchikov has had a weekly radio program on Russian radio station Radio Rossii titled Aerostat (Russian: Аэростат). It is presented as "author's program of Boris Grebenshchikov" and he is the creator and speaker. Aerostrat is about alternatives in music and the music not played on today's radio despite its artistic value and originality. Grebenshchikov states that it is mostly independent music which would "otherwise would not be played at all." Songs played on Aerostat vary from 1960s and 1970s rock (e.g., The Beatles, Bob Dylan) to reggae, new wave, alternative rock, electronica, punk, world music, jazz, classical, and avant-garde. As of April 2019, more than 700 shows have been created and broadcast, each approximately 46 minutes long. The track lists and the scripts of all programs are available at official site of Aquarium and Grebenshchikov. Grebenshchikov was later declared a foreign agent by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

In March 2026, it became known that Grebenshchikov had received British citizenship.

Production

Over the years of his career, Grebenshchikov has written more than 500 songs. Additionally, he has recorded cover albums on material from Alexander Vertinsky (Songs of A.Vertinsky (Pesni A.Vertinskogo)) in 1994 and Bulat Okudzhava's (Songs of B.Okudzhava (Pesni B.Okudzhavy)) in 1999, two albums of mantra music with Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors, (Refuge in 1998 and Bardo in 2002), and an album of electronica versions of Aquarium songs from late 1970s – early 1980s with the Russian duo Deadushki.

Albums

Prehistory albums of BG and Aquarium

  • Temptation of the Holy Aquarium (1974)
  • Minuet to the farmer (1974)
  • Parables of Count Diffuser (1975)
  • On the other side of the mirror glass (1976)
  • All brothers are sisters (1978) with Mike Naumenko

Aquarium Studio and Live albums

  • Blue album (1981)
  • Triangle (1981)
  • Electricity (1981)
  • Acoustics (1982)
  • Taboo (1982)
  • Radio Africa (1983)
  • Ichthyology (1984)
  • Silver Day (1984)
  • Children of December (1986)
  • Ten Arrows (1986)
  • Equinox (1988)
  • Black Rose Is an Emblem of Sorrow, Red Rose Is an Emblem of Love (1990)
  • Archive (1992)
  • Feudalism (2007)
  • Our life from the point of view of trees (2010)
  • Notes on Flora and Fauna (2010)
  • Dates and prices (2012)
  • The Secret History of Beekeeping (2012)

Aquarium 2.0

  • Library of Babylon (1993)
  • Favorite songs of Ramses IV (1993)
  • Sands of St. Petersburg (1994)
  • Kostroma mon amour (1994)
  • Navigator (1995)
  • Snow Lion (1996)
  • Hyperborea (1997)

Aquarium 3.0

  • Ψ (1999)
  • Territory (2000)
  • Sister Chaos (2002)
  • Songs of a fisherman (2003)
  • ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM (2005)
  • Careless Russian tramp (2006)
  • White horse (2008)
  • Pushkinskaya, 10 (2009)
  • Day of Joy (2010)
  • Arkhangelsk (2011)
  • Aeronautics in the company of sphinxes (2012)
  • Aquarium + (2013)

Aquarium 4.0

  • Songs of the Unloved (2016)
  • Grass Doors (2017)
  • Thor (2020)
  • House of All Saints (2022)

Solo albums

  • Russian Album (1991)
  • Songs by Alexander Vertinsky (1994)
  • Chubchik (1996)
  • Lilith (1997) with The Band
  • Boris Grebenshchikov and Deadushki (1998) with Deadushki
  • Refuge (1998) with Gabrielle Roth
  • Songs by Bulat Okudzhava (1999)
  • Bardo (2002) with Gabrielle Roth
  • No words (2004)
  • Salt (2014)
  • Vremya N (2018)
  • The Sign of Fire (2020)
  • Hear me, good one (2020)
  • Tribute (2021)

English albums

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!rowspan="2"| Title

!rowspan="2"| Album details

! Charts

|-

!style="width:3em;font-size:85%;"|US

|-

| Radio Silence

|

  • Released: 1989
  • Label: Columbia
  • Format: LP, CD

| style="text-align:center;"| 198

|-

| Radio London

|

  • Released: 1996

| style="text-align:center;"|

|}

Singles

{| class="wikitable"

!rowspan="2"|Year

!rowspan="2"|Title

!colspan="4"|Chart positions

!rowspan="2"|Album

|-

!US Hot 100

!US Modern Rock

!US Mainstream Rock

!UK

|-

| 1989

| "Radio Silence"

|align="center"| –

|align="center"|7

|align="center"|44

|align="center"| –

| Radio Silence

|}

References

Bibliography

  • Гаккель В. Аквариум как способ ухода за теннисным кортом. – М.: Сентябрь, 2000.
  • Гребенщиков Б. Б. Правдивая автобиография Аквариума. (Письмо Артемию Троицкому, 1980 год.)
  • Гребенщиков Б. Б. Краткий отчёт о 16-ти годах звукозаписи. – 1997.
  • Рыбин А., Кушнир А., Гребенщиков Б., Соловьёв-Спасский В. Аквариум. Сны о чём-то большем... – М.: Нота-Р, 2003.
  • Троицкий А. Рок в Союзе: 60-е, 70-е, 80-е… – М.: Искусство, 1991. – 203 с – .
  • Tomi Huttunen: Russian rock: Boris Grebenschikov, Intertextualist
  • Aquarium website
  • This article borrows from the "Short history of Aquarium", which seems to be public domain.
  • Boris Grebenshikov Concert – Site for Grebenshikov's concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.
  • Aquarium Bookshelf with Buddhist materials translated to Russian by Grebenshchikov
  • The Bodhisattvas of Babylon, an English-language fan site