Gunesh - The Sun of the Turkmen Steppes

For this retrospective on Gunesh, I decided to revisit an interview conducted for the site rottersclub which I had the great honor of carrying out in 2011 with Stanislav Morozov, saxophonist, artistic director and key figure of the group alongside Rishad Shafi. At the time Morozov was living in Germany, where to this day he still plays with the same passion and dedication as back then, keeping up his work with the bands mentioned in the interview and also devoting himself to teaching music. This first-hand account offers a personal, in-depth look at the history, struggles and triumphs of Gunesh, told by one of its leading figures.

Hi Stanislav, can you tell us when and how you joined Gunesh?

I joined in 1975. Gunesh had existed since 1970, but they were very little known outside Turkmenistan. I knew a musician from another band who was also a member of Gunesh. It was through him that I joined Gunesh. What impressed me most was that they had very good equipment, the pay was good too, and I didn't have to work too much. Besides, they didn't have that many concerts to play, since their base was Turkmenistan Television.

I know that during the Communist regime every official band had to have a musical director. Were you the musical director of the band?

I took on that role quite late. At the beginning the musical director was a man appointed by the party. This is what allowed the group to get that excellent equipment.

Your first EP was released on the B-side of an Abba album and contains four traditional folk songs. Were you in some way "forced" to play folk music?

No, we weren't forced to play folk music. It was almost the opposite. It was our own choice, though we were still required to play the party's patriotic music celebrating Lenin.

The album "Rishad Shafi Presents Gunesh" doesn't contain all the songs from the first two albums. Why is that?

That album was simply a mix of songs from the previous albums. A sort of "Best Of". I don't know why not all the songs are on it.

I was sorry to learn that Rishad died on November 4, 2009. How did it happen?

He had a heart attack. He was playing on a football team made up of music all-stars and suffered the attack during the match. He died on the pitch. His football team once played in a "world championship" against the Italian singers' national team.

Can you share some memories of Rishad?

The first impression you got of him was always that he was Italian. He had all the character traits of the classic Italian stereotype: temperamental, emotional, talking a lot with his hands, full of life and energy, and with a great passion for music. You could almost say he loved music more than women.

His life was music. He breathed, ate and drank music. He always had new ideas and big plans. On stage he was so energetic and captivating with his music that the rest of the world, with all its problems, simply ceased to exist. For more information I'd recommend the site www.rishad-shafi.ru, but unfortunately it's all in Russian. (Editor's note: the site has since been shut down, but it can still be accessed via web archive)

What were your sources of inspiration during the Seventies?

Our greatest sources of inspiration were Bill Chase, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Keith Emerson, Chick Corea and, later on, Tower of Power. But our biggest inspiration was Bill Chase.

Despite Gunesh's hectic live activity, no live album was ever released. Is there any chance one will ever come out?

We didn't release many albums because it was very expensive. The first album was financially possible because we won a competition. For the second, we had to wait until we'd saved up a lot of money. It took a year and a half to save the money for that album. It's highly unlikely that Gunesh will ever release another album. There are several reasons for this. During Perestroika, the group had to earn money on its own. We would have had to play more concerts and work harder than ever. There wouldn't have been time for recording. In the pre-Perestroika period, our work on TV guaranteed us a steady income. That then ended, and so did most of our goals and more or less our motivation. What's more, our style of music didn't appeal to the new government. It wasn't political, and so it held no interest for the new order. Our music was a little too esoteric for the masses. In Russia, the masses were more interested in new musical styles than in Russian music from the Seventies. There wasn't much of a market for our particular style.

When did Gunesh break up?

Over the years, Gunesh's lineup constantly changed, gradually shrinking until it was down to just two members, myself and Rishad. Obviously, after Rishad's death in 2009 and my emigration to Germany, Gunesh will no longer exist. Shortly before his death, however, Rishad played a few solo shows under the name Gunesh. So, theoretically, we could say that Gunesh's last appearances were in 2009.

Are you still in touch with, and do you still play with, any of the former members of Gunesh?

There are a couple of former Gunesh members here in Munich, and I run into them sometimes, but we don't play together. Otherwise, my contact with the other members is by phone. Without Rishad, the heart of Gunesh is gone. There's no reason to play together anymore.

What's your musical activity these days?

For several years now I've been playing in a group called Pavel Sandorf Big Band. We're the house band for a very popular German TV show called "Fastnacht in Franken". We're also the band for a hugely successful theatrical duo that tours all over Germany.

The Pavel Sandorf Big Band also performs with the singer of that duo (Volker Heissmann) on a TV show called "Das ist Heissmann". Besides that, I have fourteen students I give music lessons to. It's not a lot, but I'm happy with it.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google