“I am your god, my name is love” in the mid-2000s was heard by every Belarusian who turned on the radio or TV at least once. The Mantana and Merry Poppins groups, created by Alesya Berulava and her sisters, climbed in turn to the peak of popularity and suddenly disappeared without a trace. In the spring of this year, just as unexpectedly, the musicians decided to break the ten-year silence, and on October 15 they will give big concert In Minsk. TUT.BY met with Alesya and found out how her life turned out after leaving show business and what is the reason for her return to the stage.

“At that time we were probably the most popular Belarusian band”

The father of Alesya, Marina and Lyudmila Berulava was a military man, and during his service he changed several registrations in different countries. Alesya was born in the Czech Republic, studied at schools in Moldova and Germany, and came to Belarus when she was 16 years old to enter the university. She says that she has become attached to the country with her soul. Here she entered the Institute of Culture and founded the Mantana group, which in the early 2000s was considered one of the most popular in the country. In 1999, “Chill” sounded from all windows, and a couple of years later “Because” and “Manicures” could be heard on all local radio stations several times a day.

“I am a burnt-out cosmopolitan, I have no homeland. Where there is family, there is home. Now she is in Moscow. But it’s not a fact that I won’t run anywhere again.”- the artist laughs. Alesya recalls a week-long kayak trip along Narochanka and Viliya, which made her fall in love with her new place of residence.

This was the first thing I did when I arrived in Belarus. I always went hiking, but when I saw the local nature, I fell in love with this country and will never stop loving it.

The singer recalls how she did not like physics at school, so in the 10th grade she had to memorize a textbook so that she would not get a deuce in a year, which would cross out the possibility of entering the Belarusian University of Culture.

They were just not interested in teaching. I got a deuce in a year, I asked the teacher how I could help myself. It looked something like this: “Maybe I should learn a physics textbook by heart?” - "Let's!" - "Oh, why did I say that ...". I crammed it for two weeks out of principle and learned it. The physicist was surprised and put a five for a quarter. It was then that I first became interested in physics.

But most of all Ales was interested in creative subjects. This was facilitated by teachers who urged the future vocalist of Mantana and Merry Poppins to write.

At the music school in the city of Dnestrovsk, I studied to be a pianist and sometimes did not finish my work. Wrote in class on the go. I had a wonderful teacher Olga Arutyunova. She never fired me. Listened and said: “This is what you will play out of competition, but still learn the etude for the exam”. Ekaterina Zakharovna, a teacher of Russian language and literature, always supported my versification. I even wore them in the newspaper to be printed. It was in Transnistria, the newspaper "Young Power Engineer". I wrote at night, because of this I did not get enough sleep.

Once on one of the camp sites there was a piano. Alesya sat down at the keys and gathered all the tourists around her. She really liked such attention, so when the mother of the aspiring singer bought herself a guitar, Alesya, without hesitation, decided to master it too.

You can't take a piano with you, so I asked one of the teachers to teach me one song on the guitar. I chose the one with as many chords as possible in order to learn everything at once. She became "Let's exclaim" by Bulat Okudzhava. Maybe after that I decided that rock music is close to me.

After graduating from the Institute of Culture, Alesya left for Germany for several years, where she studied vocals and sang in clubs. In 1998, she returned to Minsk, and a year later the Mantana group was founded. The first concert in Minsk took place at the Titanic club as an opening act for the Leprikonsy group. Alesya recalls that fantastic reception by the public and says that the next morning she felt famous, and the Lepricons were offended by them.

There was also a concert in Svetlogorsk, which I will never forget. It was city day. A chic stage was installed in the center, a very good sound, they brought "real" artists, including from Moscow and some foreign ones. And on the river, without any advertising, with two kilowatts of sound, the Mantana group. And we have five thousand people! At us the sound was cut down, then the light. The bass player broke the thickest string. And all this was only a plus, like a show. People were tearing down fences. We were transferred door to door from the bus into a police UAZ, because people began to break through the windows. It was a sensation. Even UNESCO became interested in us. Then Svetlogorsk was a problematic city, and we rocked it. Very bad sound, very bad light and awesome concert. It was made by people who for some reason left the city center for us. At that time, we were probably the most popular Belarusian band.

Attention! You have JavaScript disabled, your browser does not support HTML5, or an older version of Adobe Flash Player is installed.

Alesya explains her success in three words: "Apparently, the songs are good." The artist admits that she composes for herself and loves to sing only her own songs, although she also has the experience of performing strangers. She calls it the exception to the rule.

I never compose when I have Bad mood. It's taboo. Music, like smells, always reminds me of an era. If I'm in a bad mood, I don't listen to music. I'm selfish, I do everything for myself, so that it's high. I didn't want to be in show business. And now I don't do it. I just sing songs. The end of the 90s was the most favorable time in music. The good things that appeared immediately reached the ears of people, and did not move. You can call it a magical portal into which we managed to jump. Even Zemfira appeared when we had already released the album. Although the Soyuz was very slow.

Very soon, "Mantana" moved to Moscow, where in the studio of a major Russian label "Soyuz" she recorded singles and the first album "Manicures".

We arrived, left the Belorussky railway station, got into a taxi and went to the apartment rented by Soyuz. By the time we arrived, everyone had red eyes and everyone was coughing. Unaccustomed to smog, exhaust gases ... We just arrived sick and realized that it would be like this all the time, you have to get used to it. There were sleepless nights in the studio when we mixed songs, then remixed them again. I remember sleeping face down. Just passed out. I woke up and kneaded my face for a long time. Then the smell of the old sofa was forever remembered.

“There is art, but there are boobs for the sake of boobs”

At the peak of Mantana's popularity, Alesya and Marina Berulava went to work in Japan for six months. There they taught Japanese vocals, and it was a great opportunity to get to know the country, which at that time was not so easy to get into.

We managed to teach more than a dozen people to sing. I learned Japanese in two months. The more languages ​​you know, the easier it is for the next one. As a child, I spoke Russian and Czech. There we lived not in the garrison, but in the city and communicated with the Czechs. The brain has learned to easily perceive another language. By the way, since then I have not visited the Czech Republic, although I really want to. And in Japan, I hardly slept during my weekends, but I traveled all over the island of Honshu, I was in Kyoto several times and saw Fujisan. It was very interesting for me.

Six months of life in the country rising sun greatly influenced another project of the Berulava sisters - Merry Poppins, which appeared immediately after their return. Alesya says that this is not due to the fact that she has exhausted herself in Mantana. She just wanted a radical change.

We brought synth-pop and visual kei from there. Black crowns, skirts, wide-toed shoes - all from Japan. "Mantana" has not disappeared, it has become Merry Poppins. If you have exhausted yourself, then there was nothing. I fell out of love with rock, fell in love with synth-pop. And then I fell out of love with show business.

Attention! You have JavaScript disabled, your browser does not support HTML5, or an older version of Adobe Flash Player is installed.

The new team, like Mantana, was very popular in Belarus. The single of the same name with hits "Pictures", "My name is love" became the best-selling in Belarus in 2006. The director of the video "My name is love" was Roman Vasyanov. Alesya says he is proud that she was his first directorial work. Now Vasyanov is one of the ten best operators in Hollywood, is one of the Oscar jury members. Especially for filming, Berulava's sisters learned to dance striptease. The overall success of the group fueled and candid photo shoots in glossy magazines Playboy, Penthouse and Mahim.

It's like skydiving, experiencing the unknown. It was three days, three magazines, and after filming I walked so proud. I thought I could move mountains. When we did a photo session of Mantana with Soyuz, we were told: “We need to be sexier ...” - “What? Goodbye! We are rock! They wore green T-shirts with a star and a portrait of Mao on the badge. Then came Merry Poppins. Marina and I learned how to dance striptease for a month. Unfortunately, little was included in the clip "Love". Not because we were bad at it. Vice versa. We have been doing this before ballroom dancing, and there was a bust.

We thought: since we evoke such feelings, why not use it somehow? Everything was beautiful, we really enjoyed it. True, in one of the photo shoots, the black background ate all our tan and volume. We tried so hard, sunbathing, but it turned out white and thin.

The parents of the artists approved of the nude photo shoot, and eight pages were devoted to them in Playboy magazine.

My daddy looked and said: "Very beautiful." I expected such a reaction. My mother is an artist, and from childhood she instilled in us a taste for beauty. And what could be the most beautiful? Of course, female body. But not vulgarity, but with an application for art. There is art, and there are boobs for the sake of boobs. In Playboy we were photographed by a famous old photographer. He wrote a book and even took our photos there. With each photo session, he wanted to say something and somehow present a woman. It was felt. And Kostya Mokhnach was in Maxim, he just followed us, gave us freedom and it turned out very well. My Marinka had already photographed (later she became a famous photographer, but she got tired of it), when the photo session was over, she took a camera and asked to take pictures. Mokhnach looked and said: “Today you made the best shot.”

“Now I can’t imagine how I could not sing for so long”

Photo from the archive of Alesya Berulava

Unexpectedly for many, Merry Poppins repeated the path of Mantana and also disappeared without a trace. Alesya says that this is due to the fact that a constant external locus of control began to put pressure on her psyche. In addition, working in Moscow meant even greater returns. The sisters, for whom music was more of an entertainment, did not enjoy this.

At some point I did not understand how I feel. I could always look at myself from the side and one day I realized that I was looking at myself from the side all the time. Everything that I like, that I really want, has been pushed in. We played concerts in Moscow for a year. Universal offered us a contract, ORT offered a contract for 10 years, but I understood that they could not be signed. I couldn't "brick" my sisters. Under the contract, everything belonged to the labels. I did not want any contracts, especially after not very successful communication with the Soyuz. Maybe it would be successful if I were more experienced. But I was being too honest, and they weren't.

“I am your god, my name is love” in the mid-2000s was heard by every Belarusian who turned on the radio or TV at least once. The Mantana and Merry Poppins groups, created by Alesya Berulava and her sisters, climbed in turn to the peak of popularity and suddenly disappeared without a trace. In the spring of this year, just as unexpectedly, the musicians decided to break the ten-year silence and on October 15 they will give a big concert in Minsk. TUT.BY met with Alesya and found out how her life turned out after leaving show business and what is the reason for her return to the stage.

“At that time we were probably the most popular Belarusian band”

The father of Alesya, Marina and Lyudmila Berulava was a military man and during his service he changed several registrations in different countries. Alesya was born in the Czech Republic, studied at schools in Moldova and Germany, and came to Belarus when she was 16 years old to enter the university. She says that she has become attached to the country with her soul. Here she entered the Institute of Culture and founded the Mantana group, which in the early 2000s was considered one of the most popular in the country. In 1999, the song “Chill” sounded from all windows, and a couple of years later “Because” and “Manicures” could be heard on all local radio stations several times a day.

“I am a burnt-out cosmopolitan, I have no homeland. Where there is family, there is home. Now she is in Moscow. But it’s not a fact that I won’t run anywhere again.”, the artist laughs. Alesya recalls a week-long kayak trip along Narochanka and Viliya, which made her fall in love with her new place of residence.

— It was the first thing I did when I arrived in Belarus. I always went hiking, but when I saw the local nature, I fell in love with this country and will never stop loving it.

The singer recalls how she did not like physics at school, so in the 10th grade she had to memorize a textbook so that she would not get a deuce in a year, which would cross out the possibility of entering the Belarusian University of Culture.

“They were just not interested in teaching. I got a deuce in a year, I asked the teacher how I could help myself. It looked something like this: “Maybe I should learn a physics textbook by heart?” - "Let's!" "Oh, why did I say that..." I crammed it for two weeks out of principle and learned it. The physicist was surprised and put a five for a quarter. It was then that I first became interested in physics.

But most of all Ales was interested in creative subjects. This was facilitated by teachers who urged the future vocalist of Mantana and Merry Poppins to write.

- At the music school in the city of Dnestrovsk, I studied to be a pianist and sometimes did not study the pieces. Wrote in class on the go. I had a wonderful teacher Olga Arutyunova. She never fired me. Listened and said: “This is what you will play out of competition, but still learn the etude for the exam”. Ekaterina Zakharovna, a teacher of Russian language and literature, always supported my versification. She even carried poems to the newspaper to be printed. It was in Transnistria, the newspaper "Young Power Engineer". I wrote at night, because of this I did not get enough sleep.

Once on one of the camp sites there was a piano. Alesya sat down at the keys and gathered all the tourists around her. She really liked such attention, so when the mother of the aspiring singer bought herself a guitar, Alesya, without hesitation, decided to master it too.

“You can’t take a piano with you, so I asked one of the teachers to teach me one song on the guitar. I chose the one that had as many chords as possible in order to learn everything at once. She became "Let's exclaim" Bulat Okudzhava. Maybe after that I decided that rock music is close to me.

After graduating from the Institute of Culture, Alesya left for Germany for several years, where she studied vocals and sang in clubs. In 1998, she returned to Minsk, and a year later the Mantana group was founded. The first concert in Minsk took place at the Titanic club as an opening act for the Leprikonsy group. Alesya recalls that fantastic reception by the public and says that the next morning she felt famous, and the Lepricons were offended by them.

- There was also a concert in Svetlogorsk, which I will never forget. It was city day. A chic stage was installed in the center, a very good sound, they brought "real" artists, including from Moscow and some foreign ones. And on the river, without any advertising, with two kilowatts of sound, the Mantana group. And we have five thousand people! At us the sound was cut down, then the light. The bass player broke the thickest string. And all this was only a plus, like a show. People were tearing down fences. We were transferred door to door from the bus into a police UAZ, because people began to break through the windows. It was a sensation. We were even interested in UNESCO. Then Svetlogorsk was a problematic city, and we rocked it. Very bad sound, very bad light and awesome concert. It was made by people who for some reason left the city center for us. At that time, we were probably the most popular Belarusian band.

Attention! You have JavaScript disabled, your browser does not support HTML5, or an older version of Adobe Flash Player is installed.

Alesya explains her success in three words: "Apparently, the songs are good." The artist admits that she composes for herself and loves to sing only her own songs, although she also has the experience of performing strangers. She calls it the exception to the rule.

I never write when I'm in a bad mood. It's taboo. Music, like smells, always reminds me of an era. If I'm in a bad mood, I don't listen to music. I'm selfish, I do everything for myself, so that it's high. I didn't want to be in show business. And now I don't do it. I just sing songs. The end of the 90s was the most favorable time in music. The good things that appeared immediately reached the ears of people, and did not move. You can call it a magical portal into which we managed to jump. Even Zemfira appeared when we had already released the album. Although the Soyuz was very slow.

Very soon, "Mantana" moved to Moscow, where in the studio of a major Russian label "Soyuz" she recorded singles and the first album "Manicures".

- We arrived, left the Belorussky railway station, got into a taxi and went to the apartment that Soyuz rented for us. By the time we arrived, everyone had red eyes and everyone was coughing. Unaccustomed to smog, exhaust gases ... We just arrived sick and realized that it would be like this all the time, you have to get used to it. There were sleepless nights in the studio when we mixed songs, then remixed them again. I remember sleeping face down. Just passed out. I woke up and kneaded my face for a long time. Then the smell of the old sofa was forever remembered.

“There is art, but there are boobs for the sake of boobs”

At the peak of Mantana's popularity, Alesya and Marina Berulava went to work in Japan for six months. There they taught Japanese vocals, and it was a great opportunity to get to know the country, which at that time was not so easy to get into.

— We managed to teach more than a dozen people to sing. I learned Japanese in two months. The more languages ​​you know, the easier it is for the next one. As a child, I spoke Russian and Czech. There we lived not in the garrison, but in the city and communicated with the Czechs. The brain has learned to easily perceive another language. By the way, since then I have not visited the Czech Republic, although I really want to. And in Japan, I hardly slept during my weekends, but I traveled all over the island of Honshu, I was in Kyoto several times and saw Fujisan. It was very interesting for me.

Six months of life in the Land of the Rising Sun greatly influenced another project of the Berulava sisters - Merry Poppins, which appeared immediately after their return. Alesya says that this is not due to the fact that she has exhausted herself in Mantana. She just wanted a radical change.

- We brought synth-pop and visual-kei from there. Black crowns, skirts, wide-toed shoes, all from Japan. "Mantana" has not disappeared, it has become Merry Poppins. If you have exhausted yourself, then there was nothing. I fell out of love with rock, fell in love with synth-pop. And then I fell out of love with show business.

Attention! You have JavaScript disabled, your browser does not support HTML5, or an older version of Adobe Flash Player is installed.

The new team, like Mantana, was very popular in Belarus. The single of the same name with hits "Pictures", "My name is love" became the best-selling in Belarus in 2006. The director of the video "My name is love" was Roman Vasyanov. Alesya says he is proud that she was his first directorial work. Now Vasyanov is one of the ten best operators in Hollywood, is one of the Oscar jury members. Especially for filming, Berulava's sisters learned to dance striptease. The overall success of the group was fueled by candid photo shoots in the glossy magazines Playboy, Penthouse and Mahim.

“It's like skydiving, experiencing the unknown. It was three days, three magazines, and after filming I walked so proud. I thought I could move mountains. When we did a photo session of Mantana with Soyuz, we were told: “We need to be sexier ...” - “What? Goodbye! We are rock! They wore green T-shirts with a star and a portrait of Mao on the badge. Then came Merry Poppins. Marina and I learned how to dance striptease for a month. Unfortunately, little was included in the clip "Love". Not because we were bad at it. Vice versa. Before that, we were engaged in ballroom dancing, and there was a bust.

- We thought: since we evoke such feelings, why not use it somehow? Everything was beautiful, we really enjoyed it. True, in one of the photo shoots, the black background ate all our tan and volume. We tried so hard, sunbathing, but it turned out white and thin.

The parents of the artists approved of the nude photo shoot, and eight pages were devoted to them in Playboy magazine.

“My daddy looked and said: “Very beautiful.” I expected such a reaction. My mother is an artist, and from childhood she instilled in us a taste for beauty. And what could be the most beautiful? Of course, the female body. But not vulgarity, but with an application for art. There is art, and there are boobs for the sake of boobs. In Playboy we were photographed by a famous old photographer. He wrote a book and even took our photos there. With each photo session, he wanted to say something and somehow present a woman. It was felt. And Kostya Mokhnach was in Maxim, he just followed us, gave us freedom, and it turned out very cool. My Marinka had already photographed (later she became a famous photographer, but she got tired of it), when the photo session was over, she took a camera and asked to take pictures. Mokhnach looked and said: “Today you made the best shot.”

“Now I can’t imagine how I could not sing for so long”

Unexpectedly for many, Merry Poppins repeated the path of Mantana and also disappeared without a trace. Alesya says that this is due to the fact that a constant external locus of control began to put pressure on her psyche. In addition, working in Moscow meant even greater returns. The sisters, for whom music was more of an entertainment, did not enjoy this.

“At some point, I didn’t understand how I felt. I could always look at myself from the side and one day I realized that I was looking at myself from the side all the time. Everything that I like, that I really want, has been pushed in. We played concerts in Moscow for a year. Universal offered us a contract, ORT offered a contract for 10 years, but I understood that they could not be signed. I couldn't "brick" my sisters. Under the contract, everything belonged to the labels. I did not want any contracts, especially after not very successful communication with the Soyuz. Maybe it would have been successful if I had been more experienced. But I was being too honest, and they weren't.

“Besides, I noticed that my sisters are not doing their job. Marinka liked to take pictures, now she melts glass. Lucy is a psychologist. And now she generally loves to make cakes and sweets. She has a whole mini bakery. When we sang here, they had fun playing it. It was very good here. There it was necessary to strain more, and they began to cool down. And since they are dearest to me, I just let them go. You couldn't let them go and be alone in Merry Poppins.

Attention! You have JavaScript disabled, your browser does not support HTML5, or an older version of Adobe Flash Player is installed.

After leaving the stage, Alesya decided to do what she had dreamed of for a long time - she made natural perfumes. According to her, they were in such demand among acquaintances that she had to put up incredibly high price tags so that there was no queue.

“Smell is the most important thing for me. In perfumery, I am guided by the principle: like it or not, just like in music. When someone tells me what to do, I will not be responsible for it. I can only do what I like. If you don't like it, it's better not to take it at all. At least once every six months I went away for a week or a month to different countries. I did not plan to make music, I had other plans. In 2013, the guys found me and by 2016 quietly persuaded me to return. Now I can’t imagine how I could not sing for so long.

Attention! You have JavaScript disabled, your browser does not support HTML5, or an older version of Adobe Flash Player is installed.

"Mantana" returned with the single "Songs to sing". In two weeks, the clip has gained about 150 thousand views on YouTube. Alesya says that now albums are not the main thing for her. She wants to make story clips. Now it's a reference to films directed by Robert Rodriguez. The next clip will be on a different story.

- We will release the album, but it will not be the main thing. I always wanted to do things in a way that would not limit myself and not be bored.

Belarusians have previously appeared on the pages of Playboy. In 2005, our compatriot Irina Belyakova even became the girl of the year of the Russian edition. But the Belarusian musical group got into Playboy for the first time.

In the absence of domestic versions of the famous glossy magazines, the Berulava sisters triumphantly walked through the Ukrainian ones. First they appeared at Maxim, then at Penthouse. But, as Vlad Fisun, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Playboy, Vlad Fisun, told Salidarnasts, even colleagues from those editorial offices believe that the Playboy photo session turned out to be the best. Yes, and Fisun himself liked it very much: “Very artistic, fun, in general, as always!” As for Alesya and Marina, they are now in Moscow, so they will share their impressions a little later.

New photo shoots of Playboy publications are sent to all countries where national versions of this famous magazine are published. There are twenty of them in the world. Vlad Fisun does not rule out that Merry Poppins may appear in other editions of Playboy. For example, in Japanese - after all, it is known that Alesya and Marina worked in the Land of the Rising Sun for a long time.

And the Ukrainian edition of Playboy is ready to consider proposals from other Belarusian performers. True, as Vlad Fisun admitted, he has little information about the Belarusian show business: “Merry Poppins are now storming the Ukrainian media market. And we don’t know and don’t see anyone else, except for the Syabry group.”

Alesya Berulava(Yasnaya Polyana, Tula region, RSFSR) - Belarusian and Russian singer, producer, composer, songwriter, actress, founder and leader of the rock band Mantana (1999-2003, 2016-present) and the synthpop group Merry Poppins (2004-2008).

Biography

Born in Yasnaya Polyana(Tula region) in the RSFSR, according to other sources - in Czechoslovakia.

• Father is a military man (paratrooper).
• Mother is an artist.
• The younger sister is Marina Berulava (member of the rock group "Mantana" (1999-2003) and the synthpop group Merry Poppins (2004-2008), artist, photographer.
• The younger sister is Lyudmila Berulava (member of the synthpop group Merry Poppins).

The Berulava family, like many military families, moved many times. Therefore, Alesya Berulava studied at different schools. They lived in Russia, Czechoslovakia, Moldova, Germany. Alesya began to compose songs as a child. She gave the first song she wrote to a classmate for her birthday. That's how it all started! Alesya arranged performances from the 4th grade, then her spectators were her parents and classmates.

In Dnestrovsk (Moldova) Alesya graduated music school piano and ballroom dancing. Thanks to her hobbies, Alesya participated in many all-Union competitions. Then the Berulava family moved to Germany.

In 1989, in Germany, she graduated from high school general education school. In the same year, Alesya went to Minsk to enter the Belarusian University of Culture at the faculty of directing mass holidays, later transferred to the faculty of pop vocals. After graduation, Alesya went to Germany to study vocals, sing in clubs and on the streets of the world folklore and own songs, accompanying on the guitar. In Germany, she also worked as a fashion model for the youth magazine Yo Yo.

Creation

In early 1998, Alesya Berulava returned to Minsk and a year later (April 22, 1999) founded the rock group Mantana. As part of the group, she recorded the single "Because ..." (2000) and the album "Manicures" (2001).

In 2004, Alesya, together with her sister Marina Berulava, created the synthpop group Merry Poppins. During the existence of the group, she recorded the maxi-single Merry Poppins (2006) and the album Do svidania ... (2008). Alesya Berulava is a soloist, leader, composer and songwriter in both groups. She is also the author of a number of unreleased songs relating to different periods her creativity.

Alesya Berulava in the period from 2001-2008 was engaged in acting work. As an actress, she starred in 3 video clips of the rock group "Mantana" and 4 video clips of the synthpop group Merry Poppins, in several television projects and a film.

Since 2016, she has been the vocalist and leader of the revived rock band Mantana.

Discography

Mantana

• 2000 - Because ... (single) (Union).
• 2001 - Manicures (album) (Union).

Merry Poppins

• 2006 - Merry Poppins (maxi-single) (Gloria Media).
• 2008 - Do svidania... (album) (Vigma).

Unreleased songs

• "1,2,3,4,5" (words and music: A. Berulava).
• "Gypsy" (words: A. Berulava; music: S. Buglak).
• “Because (Eastern)” (words and music: A. Berulava).
• "Colored dreams" (words: N. Olev; music: M. Dunaevsky).
• “Once again” (words and music: A. Berulava).
• “Because (first version)” (words and music: A. Berulava).
• "Scarlet Flower" ("Mantana") (words and music: A. Berulava).
• "New Year's" ("Mantana") (from the movie " New Year's adventures or Train No. 1") (words and music: A. Berulava).
• “I promise” (words and music: A. Berulava).
• “Why are you not sleeping” (lyrics: A. Berulava; music: S. Buglak).

The unreleased songs of Alesya Berulava can be conditionally attributed to those written before 1999 (“Gypsy” and “Why are you not sleeping”) and all the rest to those created during the existence of the rock group “Mantana” (1999-2003).

Songs on soundtracks

• In the TV movie "New Year's Adventures, or Train No. 1" you can hear the songs: "This is not me" (at the beginning of the film) and "New Year's" (at the end of the film).
• In the Russian television series "Three from Above" the song "Cupids" sounds. All 198 episodes begin and end with this song.
• In the television series "Kamenskaya 5" songs are heard: "Manicures", "Scarlet Flower" and "Charming Girls".

Filmography

• 2002 - "New Year's Adventures, or Train No. 1" (New Year's TV movie).
• 2005 - "At the crossroads of Europe" (TV show).
• 2007 - "I'm a detective" (TV series).

Awards

• "Single of the Year" for the Merry Poppins maxi-single at the 2006 Mystery of Sound Awards (based on sales) (with Merry Poppins).
• Laureate of the music radio award "Golden Ear" of the radio station "Alpha Radio" in 2006 (as part of Merry Poppins).

- Alesya, can you call it a return to musical life Belarus?

Of course, return! Belarus has a permanent residence in my heart. As I fell in love with her at the age of 16, I will never stop loving her. In addition, Belarus is the birthplace of Mantana.

I am so grateful to the musicians with whom I now play - it was they who came up with the idea to find me and pull me out of my cozy swamp. I am very glad that I got involved in this adventure.

I will introduce everyone to the musicians on October 15 at a performance. We still have a lot of discoveries ahead, because each person in the group influences its sound, arrangement and style! But anyway, Mantana is rock music.

- Why is the concert planned in a bar?

My friends are organizing the concert, and I trust them. It seems to me that the bar with the name "Coyote" is straight, as if from our new clip "Songs to sing". Very suit. Yes, and not a place paints a person, but music and light ( laughs).

- What are the plans of Mantana?

Our plans are like a ladder that does not exist, but when you take a step, a step appears under your foot. Then the next...

- You have not been heard for eight years. Where have you been all this time and what have you been doing?

At some point, there was a satiety with show business, including its not the most pleasant sides. I realized that I wanted to “quit everything” and allowed myself to do it.

All this time I tried to just live. I made spirits, and played mafia (later I led it), practiced Argentine tango, traveled ... And I also learned to fly a sports plane and perform aerobatics - Nesterov's loop, "barrel", diving ... Learn to fly was a childhood dream: I remember every flight as if it had just happened. I also went skydiving.

Now I understand the phrase from the movie "Indecent Proposal": if something is very dear to you, let it go, and if it comes back, it's yours. Mine came back to me: I sing and write songs again.

- “Resurrection” by you of “Mantana” made me remember the Merry Poppins group, which triumphantly tore the charts in 2007. Waiting for the return of curly red-haired sisters?

The sisters found themselves in other, no less beautiful areas of life. Marina is an artist. She melts glass, paints pictures, and now she is also interested in ceramics. She says she's not into show business.

And Lucy is a certified psychologist. True, now she is engaged in the manufacture of sweets with unusual combinations of flavors ...

But in Mantana we play some Merry Poppins songs. For example, "Butterfly". And, of course, Love.

The second and last album of Merry Poppins was called Goodbye. Why was it decided to suspend the work of the group? After all, the project was certainly commercially profitable ...

I don't mean Zhenya Kolmykov ( ex-producer "Lyapisov", director creative association"Children of the Sun" - approx. ed.), with him in the first place we always had friendship, and only then some roles. In fact, he just helped me along with Seryoga Mikhalok. They believed in us and would have continued to help, but life has changed.

I didn't want to be in show business anymore. And the sisters had to be released. They realized that this was not their life's work. Everything went to a standstill. And I'm a master at cutting Gordian knots.

- How did the members of its first team react to the revival of Mantana?

Concert director Anton Azizbekyan, sound engineer Andrey Bobrovko and guitarist Pavel Tretyak from the first line-up of Mantana are now working in Brutto. Keyboardist Denis Vorontsov is now in Moscow, writing music for films and TV, bass player Oleg (Paganini) Ustinovich writes poetry and publishes books...

Brotherly and sisterly relations remained with everyone, everyone blessed my new Mantana, they are very happy for me and, like relatives, follow our progress.

- Part of your team is now in Brutto. Do you listen to their music yourself?

Of course I'm listening! Brutto is an awesome project. It's a pity they are now far away and it's not so easy to meet them.

Seryoga ( Sergei Mikhalok, ex-Lyapis, soloist of Brutto, ex-husband singers - author's note) to me as an older brother, a native person. I will always be for him.

Is the opinion of Evgeny Kolmykov and Sergey Mikhalok, with whom you worked at the beginning, about the new Mantana important to you? creative career?

I'm always interested in their opinion. It's probably already a habit.

Only at the beginning of my creative career, I still did not work with anyone. When Zhenya decided to produce my songs, they were already playing on the radio. But it was not Mantana yet, but simply Alesya Berulava.

I recorded my first songs in Hamburg, with German and Belarusian musicians. No one has ever needed to invent something for me. But everyone who heard our first songs then helped.

Seryoga at the beginning of my creative career was not at all up to me. But gradually he also got involved ( smiling).

The debut of "Mantana" happened at the concert of the "Lepricons", who first let us go to their point, and then to the concert. Seryoga found Anton Azizbekyan for me. He became the concert administrator of Mantana, and together we assembled a team. He was then 18 years old, we learned everything together, experienced and rejoiced. It was a big family: "Lyapisy", "Mantana" and another team of KVN BSU, whose sound engineer was our keyboardist Denis Vorontsov. And we had everything for real.

"Mantana" has always been a rock band: what 15 years ago, what now "

Are there artists left in Belarus with whom you keep in touch - who would you call friends?

Well, of course, the Trubetskoy group, Yan Zhenchak, the Lavonnes, Ray, maybe they forgot someone else. I like many artists as people. In the near future I promise to listen to all their new songs ( laughs).

- How much do you think show business has changed in Belarus over the years of your absence?

Regarding show business in Belarus, I can say: dear artists, appreciate each other - you are much better than you think! In Moscow, by the way, now in general everyone really likes Belarusian bands.

Sometimes there are real musical finds - just unique options and combinations that you will not find anywhere else. So there is show business in Belarus. I hope to find out more about how things are going very soon.

I have not had a TV set for a very long time, but I follow the musical novelties of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine equally. There are discoveries everywhere.

And what about the haters? The Internet brought artists not only new fans, but also a headache: does Mantana have ill-wishers on the network?

Sometimes there are. But more often than not, we simply respond to such remarks in a funny way ( smiling). If a person is completely inadequate, we ban him - why PR at our expense? But this has happened a couple of times.

In the clip "Songs to sing" you appear in a recognizable "Mantanavian" style. Does this mean that the bet on sex appeal, which is remembered by Merry Poppins, will fade into the background?

At Merry Poppins, the rate depended on clips, songs and an increase in the composition. For example, after the video shot by Roma Vasyanov for the song “My name is love”, we continued the line you are talking about ( smiling).

But when Matvey Saburov shot a video for the song "Pictures", we turned into puppets. By the way, the idea, like the dance, came up with Marinka and I. But the script was written by Matthew. Images for us were created by our friend Ivan Aiplatov, who played the role of one of the robotic musicians in the video.

But Zhenya Kolmykov, our producer, never invented anything for us ( smiling), he was usually not up to us at all. He and Seryoga Mikhalok gave us money and freedom, for which we are very grateful to them!

Our style changed very often. When the three of us started performing (our youngest Lucy had just finished school), Marinka and I decided that it was time to introduce our listeners to synth-pop music, the Gothic & Lolita style, and, in general, to Visual Kei.

We got hooked on all this a long time ago when we lived in Japan ... But in Belarus it was still too early for this.

Nevertheless, we rewrote the song "My name is Love", Alexey Terekhov made his own video for us, the very one that won a number of awards at various European festivals.

But "Mantana" has always been a rock band: that 15 years ago, that now. And it's always fun rock! But now, of course, there will be some metamorphoses. New composition, new songs, new me...