Kombinaciya is a Russian female pop band. The name means "combination," but the Russian word is a double entendre which also refers to a woman's frilly slip, and at the group's 1988 performance in Moscow they were forced to perform under a different name because "Kombinaciya" was considered too suggestive a band title. As former band member Svetlana Kostyko recalled: "A group with this name just had to make a sensation.".
History
Kombinaciya was co-founded in 1988 by manager/producer Alexander Shishinin and classically trained composer Vitali Okorokov in Saratov, Russia. Shishinin, who reportedly was inspired after viewing a performance of Mirage, recruited six local girls, ages 16 to 20, to form the band. Lead vocalistAlena Apina had trained at the Saratov State Conservatory. The other original members of the group were vocalist Tatiana Ivanova, keyboardist Svetlana Kostyko, guitarist Tanya Dolganova, bass guitarist Olga Akhunova and drummer Julia Kozyulkova. The group underwent various membership changes over the years, with only Tatiana Ivanova continually remaining in the group since its founding. Later band members included Inessa Topiani, Nura Kovaleva, Svetlana Kashina, Elena Molchanova, Galya Lezina, Svetlana Molchanova, Katerina Bolotova and Natalia Pushkareva. Lead singer Alena Apina later recalled Kombinaciya's first major concert, which took place on the big stage of the Sports Palace in Volgograd. "When you come out and feel all the tremendous energy of the seven thousand people. It's an indescribable feeling." In 1990 the group performed two songs in the Soviet film. The band's popularity peaked between 1989 and 1993, with major hits such as "Russian Girls", "American Boy", "Accountant", and "Two Slices of Sausage". The latter was a Russian drinking song initially disliked by the group. As former vocalist Svetlana Kashina recalled later, "It was a huge success at the concerts; the fans were chanting: 'Sausage! Sausage!'...We had to sing it. After each time, I spat." "Accountant", about a woman's love for a simple Russian accountant, seems to have been Kombinaciya's most enduring popular song. A major setback to the group occurred in 1991, when lead vocalist Alena Apina left the band to pursue a successful career as a solo performer. Negotiations were being finalized for Kombinaciya to produce an English album and embark on a tour of America, but with Apina's departure from the group those plans were dropped. Another big setback to the group occurred on March 5, 1993, when manager/producer Alexander Shishinin was murdered, a still-unsolved crime that was rumored to be linked to Russian Mafia influence in the music industry. Without Shishinin's guidance, the band's subsequent new material had limited success, but Kombinaciya continued to intermittently tour using the enduring popularity of its earlier big hits. In 2008, Alena Apina and Tatiana Ivanova reunited for several Kombinaciya 20th anniversary reunion concerts. In 2007, Tatiana Ivanova successfully sued the music distributorBoomba Music for copyright infringement, after the company reissued Kombinaciya albums without paying royalties.
"American Boy"
"American Boy" was one of Kombinaciya's major hit songs, released in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolving and most Russians were experiencing deteriorating living conditions. The song, about an unhappy Russian girl wishing that an American Boy would take her away with him and leave Russia behind, captured public sentiment at that pivotal time in Russian history. The song was mentioned in mainstream American newspapers. Later, scholarly books and journal articles discussed cultural aspects of the song's viewpoint. The verses of the song are in Russian, but the title and portions of the chorus are in English. A 2008 remake by Ukrainian electropop group Stream was sung with English verses. The song captured public attention in 2011 after Russian prime ministerDmitry Medvedev was recorded dancing to it at a university reunion.
