Твой папа - фашист (Телевизор cover)
March 19, 2024
Where to listen:
Information
On December 22, 2023, one comrade heard Szysztof's music for the first time, namely the song "Ничей не агент", and pointed out the similarities with the Televizor band citing the song "Your Dad is a Fascist" as an example. This is how, in turn, Szysztof heard both the band and the song for the first time.
The idea to do a cover came in March 2024, and it was implemented then. It was originally planned to release the cover on March 17, but the work took two days more.
Szysztof did not even try to imitate the Televizor's style with keyboards and electronic drums. Instead he played the song in his usual style, without keyboards at all and with imitation of real drums.
While searching for something new to add to the song, Szysztof remembered the anti-fascist march in Germany, which Szysztof accidentally witnessed in October 2023, and published as a video on Telegram. From the audio track of this video was turned* into the sample which the cover begins with and which accompanies the most of it. An excerpt of the video itself can be seen at the beginning of the clip.
In addition, the bridge of the song always seemed kind of incomplete to Szysztof, like it left too much room for interpretation. It is not the essence of the ideas which is important, but those "who stood behind them"**, eh? Such a controversial statement. But what interpretation of it could Szysztof agree with?
It was at this moment that an excerpt from Georgiy Dimitrov's report at the 7th World Congress of the Communist International, known as "Dimitrov's definition of fascism"***, came into mind: "Fascism in power <...is...> the open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperialist elements of finance capital"... So we found someone who is behind the ideas! And in this case, it's really "not so important"** how exactly the ideas are formulated: which lands are declared "historical", which nation is declared to have a "special path", what values are declared "traditional", what criteria are used to create the image of the enemy. Even the name of the ideology can be different: fascism itself, national socialism... or, suddenly, some kind of democracy, or even "the fight against fascism"! If there is an open terrorist dictatorship of finance capital in power, it "can drive away", "can kill" and certainly "will oppress"**. This is where Borzykin**** and Dimitrov coincided, perhaps unintentionally! That's why an excerpt from the report was added to the song cover.
While the quotation from Dimitrov's speech was added purely rationally, the quotation from Rachmaninoff's music was added purely intuitively. Later, Szysztof, of course, came up with a rational justification for himself, but it is too far-fetched to voice it here. It was really just a desire to add a bass guitar solo at the end of the song. And while this solo was being composed, associations with Rachmaninoff's famous Prelude in C sharp minor began to arise. As a result, the solo bass guitar smoothly moves from improvisation (based on the Dies irae sequence and an excerpt from the melody of the song's verse*****) to playing the melody of the end of this prelude (but in C minor, so as not to deviate from the key of the song). At the very end, the guitar joins in to add the final chords of the prelude as well. The sequence Dies irae was not used by chance, but precisely for the smoothness of the transition to Rachmaninoff, who was very fond of this sequence and often used it in his works.
Filming took place in Germany, mainly in Dresden. Why Dresden? For the same reason why the publication date should have been March 17, 2024!
The bass guitar solo at the end of the song was recorded directly during the filming, since a free-tempo performance is almost impossible to accurately recreate while listening to a pre-recorded track. And editing would not only be difficult, but also too noticeable, since ripples on the water are visible in the frame.
Camera operator - Ovoschendo.
The author of the thumbnail wants publicity even less.
* In addition to the usual procedures such as changing the speed and frequency filtering, there was also an unusual one. Due to the poor sound quality, it was necessary to mix the voices of the march participants with 28 tracks, where Szysztof pronounces the same motto in his own voice, but quietly (some of the tracks are even half-whispered) and with emphasized articulation. In this way, it was possible to restore the sibilants (Ts, S) and partially the R sound. ^
** Words in italics and in quotation marks are the direct quotes from the song lyrics translated to English. 1 2 3
*** Although in fact this definition is the result of collective efforts. ^
**** Mikhail Borzykin is the author of the song, founder and permanent member of the Televizor band. ^
***** By the way, this excerpt evoked yet another association with Russian romantic music, namely with the overture of the opera "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky. But there were no rational justifications for this! ^