Chizh & Co

Did You Know?

• The band's full name is 'Chizh & Company', derived from Sergey Chigrakov's nickname 'Chizh', which is the Russian word for the Eurasian siskin.
• The nickname 'Chizh' refers to a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
• The 'company' in the name refers to the rest of the band.

Band's history

In March 1993, Sergei Chigrakov, then playing in the band Various People, received an offer from Igor Berezovets and Andrei Burlaki to record a solo album. With support from Boris Grebenshchikov, he traveled to St. Petersburg and recorded the album Chizh on the label OsoAviAkhim, assisted by musicians including Grebenshchikov, Sergey Berezovoy, Nikolay Korzinin, Alexander Brovko, and Mikhail Chernov. That fall, Chigrakov performed concerts in St. Petersburg with a band featuring guitarist Rodion Chikunov, bass guitarist Alexey Romaniuk, and drummer Alexander Kondrashkin. Encouraged by the reception, he left Various People, moved to St. Petersburg on 1 May 1994, and began forming his own group. A month later, he assembled Chizh and Company with Romaniuk and drummer Vladimir Khanutin; Mikhail Vladimirov joined shortly after. This lineup recorded the live album Live, the band's debut, and later that year released the first studio album Perekrestok. Kondrashkin continued collaborating as a percussionist. The band's first producer was Elena Karpova, who promoted them until 1996.