If you look for the closest neighbours of Oblachny Kray in Arkhangelsk rock, Svyataya Luiza comes first — and the closeness rests on two people: the vocalist and lyricist Vladimir Budnik and the bass player Andrey Ilyichev. Of Ilyichev Bogaev wrote: "our good friend… a like-minded person — I always liked the way he plays".
The voice Bogaev found
Budnik had long been known in Oblachny Kray. In April 1982 he joined the recording of "Selkhozrok", and in November of the same year he sang all the vocals on "Velikaya Garmoniya": his voice is piercing, as if about to break, and the lyrics suited him. The best-known story is about 1984. Oleg Rautkin was studying in another city, and Tropillo and Bogaev were looking for a vocalist for "Ubluzhya dolya". Bogaev remembered Budnik, flew to Arkhangelsk, woke him up — and took him to Leningrad, to the studio. Budnik recorded the vocals in most of the songs and sang some together with Bogaev. His voice was quite unlike Rautkin's, but in energy, as Bogaev says, it was in no way inferior.
The bass that briefly became "Kray's"
With Ilyichev it went differently, but brighter. In the spring of 1987 he played bass in Oblachny Kray: together with Dmitry Leontiev he stepped onto the stage of the first Arkhangelsk festival and, on 25 April, at the open Moscow audition of "Melodiya" (here is how it went); "Moskovsky Komsomolets" named his profession — electrician. Then his place was taken by Andrey Lukin. Ilyichev also has a page of his own on the site.
And Luiza itself?
According to the connoisseurs quoted by "Pravda Severa" (5 February 1988, the issue with the talk with Bogaev: a fragment is on our site), it is "the subtlest, most refined art rock" with "exquisite and capricious" melodies. The signature number is "Ministr pechali" ("The Minister of Sorrow"); the leader and lyricist is Vladimir Budnik. The author of the essay does not count herself a connoisseur and does not undertake to judge, but does not hide how struck she was: "what a noise just three people made!". Another view comes from Alexander Kharev: "What signature music Vladimir Budnik had! By the way, they never finished a music school".
Further on, the band's traces turn up here and there. In 1985 Svyataya Luiza played at the away "session" in Permilovo (in Nikolay Kharitonov's film Budnik sings while the clowns listen to him attentively). It, like many, was recorded by Bogaev on his tape recorders. Artemy Troitsky (designated a foreign agent in Russia) called it "a living hard symbol of Arkhangelsk rock". In 2012 Budnik sang in "Arkhangelsky rok-n-roll" — the composition that the "Arkhangelsk all-stars" recorded for the tribute to Oblachny Kray.
What is known about the band itself
By a note of the community "Podtankovskaya Gvardiya", which refers to N. Antonyan's article in "Pravda Severa" of 5 February 1988, the band has existed since 1980. Its core is Budnik (guitar, vocals) and Ilyichev (bass); the other musicians changed over time: at various times Konstantin Orlov, Alexander Firsov, Alexander Kharev and Vladimir Kolpakov played. The music is "from progressive to hard rock", mostly instrumental.
In 1985 Svyataya Luiza recorded a magnetic-tape album (it has not survived), and at the turn of 1989–1990, at the studio of the band San Cardinala, "Ministr pechali". This is from a later archive post, not an independent check, so we pass it on with that reservation (the post retelling the article). Vladimir Budnik also writes poetry; the community quotes his "Osen": "The winds will tear off the leaves… Sleep will stop life… The angel of sorrow will take hold of everything again…". He was born in 1962 and is also called a talented artist. Andrey Ilyichev also played in Blues-Inspector (1986–1987) and in Andrey Korelsky's Kamera (1990–1991).
There is also a photograph of 1995: Svyataya Luiza at the festival "Belomor-Bugi". The caption names the line-up — Valery Zhuravlev (drums), Vladimir Budnik (guitar and vocals), Andrey Yudintsev (bass) and Alexander Firsov (guitar); the date and caption are given as in the archive publication (the original post). And on 26 December 2015 the band played at "Rokyolka" in the cultural centre "Luch" in Arkhangelsk.
Used here: Bogaev's memoir (chapters 7, part 1, 7, part 2, 5, part 2); Pravda Severa, 5 February 1988; A. Kharev's interview (a newspaper of the late 1990s) and the description of the film "Concert at Permilovo 1985" ("Podtankovskaya Gvardiya").
