Bi-2

Infobox musical artist
Name = Bi-2
Background = group_or_band
Origin = flagicon|Belarus Babruysk, Belarus
flagicon|Russia Moscow, Russia
Genre = Russian rock, Alternative rock
Years_active = 1988–present
URL = [http://www.bdva.ru/ BDva.ru/]
Current_members = Lyova
Shura

Bi-2 ( _ru. Би-2) is a Russian rock band, formed in the 80's. It was one of the most successful with many sales and chart-hits in Russia. Bi-2 was awarded MTV Russian Music Awards for Best Rock Act in 2007.

History

Pre-history

The band was formed in 1988 in Babruysk, Belarus SSR by two teenagers, Aleksandr "Shura" Uman and Yegor "Lyova" Bortnik, who were amateur actors. Initially the band's name was "Bratya po Oruzhiyu" (Brothers in Arms), then "Bereg Istini" (Shore of Truth), which resulted in abbreviation BI-2. This word Lyova and Shura begun to use as their scenic names, and Shura eventually changed his passport surname to Bi-II.

In the beginning of the 90s the two moved to Israel and as Jews recived citizenship, but in 1993 Shura moved to Australia while Lyova remained and served in the Israel Defense Forces. During this time, Lyova and Shura continued to compose music together, exchanging their records and tabs via Internet and phone. In Australia Shura, together with Dino Molinaro and Michael Aliani, former members of Ikon, formed the darkwave band Chiron. In 1998 Leva moved to Australia and joined Chiron as well, but the two left the project in less than two years to continue with their own band.

Modern history

Bi-2 moved back to Russia, where they previously tried to release their already recorded album "Bespolaya i Grustnaya Lubov" (Genderless and Sad Love, 1998), but their plans were ruined by Russian financial crisis of 1998, which affected the record business. As of 1999, the band consisted only of two men, but the lineup soon was increased by sessional musicians. The band went up to popularity only in 2000, recording the score for popular Brother 2 movie by Aleksei Balabanov. Several score songs, included in Bi-2 eponymous debut album, shook rock radio charts, including the influential Nashe Radio chart.

Bi-2 continued with "Meow Kiss Me" (2001) and "Inomarki" (2004), both sold gold in Russia. Each of their albums included duet records with other rock musicians from such bands as Splean, ChayF, Nochniye Snaiperi, Zemfira, and others. Videos for Bi-2 songs often appear at MTV Russia. In 2005 the double CD "Nechetny Voin" was released, which consisted completely of duets and collaborations.

Discography

"This list includes only the official albums released on real record-labels and doesn't include the albums the group self-released before being signed in a music label".
*Genderless and sad love (1998).
*Bi-2 (2000).
*Fellini tour (a live album recorded with Splean and Thomas) (2001).
*Meow Kiss Me (2001).
*drum [a] (a remix album) (2002).
*Unplugged@16tons (unplugged album) (2003).
*Inomarki (2004).
*BGL (a re-release of the 1998 album with new songs)(2004).
*Uneven Soldier (a Bi-2 led project including Nochnye Snaipery, Agata Kristi, Brainstorm and many other artists) (2005).
*Seventh Day (soundtrack)(2005).
*Milk (2006).
*Raritetniy (rare songs)(2006).

Links

* [http://www.bdva.ru/ Official Website] (Russian)
* [http://www.music4u.ru/bi2history.htm History of the band on another web-site] (Russian)
* [http://www.russmus.net/band.jsp?band=Bi-2 Russmus info on Bi-2, including English translations] (English)
* [http://www.last.fm/music/%D0%91%D0%B8-2 About the band at last.fm] (English)