Peter Nalitch has become famous in Russia after the publication in 2007 on YouTube of the clip of his song "Gitar" (where he makes fun of himself with broken English lyrics and dubious film editing qualities).[1] In about three years, more than 8,000,000 people had watched it. Interviews and articles about Peter followed in some Russian papers. The song "Gitar" is most popular in Greece, Germany and Slovakia.[2]
Peter Nalitch and Friends
Peter Nalitch on stagePeter Nalitch's musical collectivePeter Nalitch (centre)
Beginnings
In 2007 Peter already had about 40 songs written down, all available on his website for free.[3] The band took the name Peter Nalitch's Musical Collective – "Muzykalny kollektiv Petra Nalitcha" ("Музыкальный коллектив Петра Налича") or more simply "MKPN" ("МКПН").
Success
Over the following two years, in addition to the Moscow venues, MKPN went on tour, performing in Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and other large Russian cities. The band released their first album in 2008 – "Radost Prostykh Melody" ("Радость простых мелодий" – translated as "The Joy of Simple Melodies" on their website). They also released a DVD of the footage of a concert in Moscow – "MKPN v B1 Maximum" ("МКПН в Б1 Maximum" – "MKPN at the B1 Maximum") and an EP, "More" ("Море" – "The Sea"). In 2009 the band was one of the headliners at the "Sfinks" festival in Antwerp (Belgium).[4]
Peter Nalitch sings in Russian, English (the latter with a Russian accent, which he refuses to hide), Italian ("Santa Lucia"),[8] French ("Il pleut toujours", on the EP "More") and Baburi, an invented language.
In the wake of this idea of self-promotion on the web, the band has given, on September 17, 2009, an acoustic concert from their own flat, broadcast live on RuTube (a local videohosting and live broadcasting site).[9] On October 30, 2009, they broadcast another show live on RuTube, this time a real concert in Moscow.[10]
