January
03.02.2004 - Moscow city council to file an inquiry about Tatu to the office of public prosecutors.
In the next few days the deputies of the Moscow city council will address the office of public prosecutors with a request to look into the fact whether Tatu are promoting the usage of drugs. This was announced by the chairman of the Moscow city council's commission of health-care and protection of public health, Lyudmila Stebenkova. She emphasized, that the subject of the investigation will be a fragment of Tatu's documentary film "Anatomy of Tatu", which was broadcasted on the channel STS, in which one of the group members shared her experience in using drugs.
11.01.2004 - t.A.T.u. will practice politics in Podnebesnaya!
The reality-show t.A.T.u. in Podnebesnaya will be launched on January, 17. The press service of the broadcasting channel STS revealed a few details of this project. In the shows on January, 17 and 18, the TV watchers will see first two parts, which will be based on the documentary clips, presented as a long video show. The clips will feature t.A.T.u. celebrating a New Year Eve and their Japanese Tour. Marianna Maximovskaya is intended to visit Podnebesnaya and interview Yulia and Lena about politics: this idea is connected to the announcement of t.A.T.u.’s about their plans to run for the Presidential elections. Many other Russian celebrities promised to visit t.A.T.u. in Podnebesnaya too. The first two shows will give a detailed portrait of the group’s producer Ivan Shapovalov. The show will be directed by Vitaly Mansky. Vitaly made his first film in 1989 and since then has directed 23 films. His pictures took part in more than 200 different festivals: in Cannes, San-Sebastian, Oberhausen, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Munich, Montreal, Turin, Tampere, Krakow, Sheffield, Rio De Janeiro, etc. His pictures won more than 30 awards, among which the Award of New Documentary Films, established by the European channel SAT, and many other significant awards. The first part of the show t.A.T.u. in Podnebesnaya is to be transmitted on January, 17, at 20.00 Moscow time.
15.01.2004 - Lena Kiper is going to live on t.A.T.u.’s money
As IMPR (the official representative of group Nichya on the internet) informs, the soap opera with its head title “Lena Kiper versus t.A.T.u.” has ended up. Lena Kiper has been trying to defend her rights to the songs Ya Soshla S Uma (All The Things She Said) and Nas Ne Dogonyat (Not Gonna Get Us), during past several months with the help of her lawyer Alexey Shulga. During this period of time, there were seven court sessions scheduled, where more than half of them were cancelled. The file was filled up with the documents where the authorship for the album 200 Po Vstrechnoy (200 km/h In A Wrong Lane) fare was mentioned. The sum specified was 2 250 000 USD. This very sum was meant to be received by the group’s management last spring to pass to the authors, in accordance with their contract clauses, but the management failed to do it. Having received the payment, the group’s management kept it. The last court session took place on December, 29 2003 and ended up with nothing. That forced Kiper’s lawyer to recommend an aggressive method and sue Neformat for the swindle, having based such claims on the received documents. Only after that, Lena Kiper was offered a significant sum of money, which is apparently waiting for Miss Kiper at a notary. All Miss Kiper needs to do now is to visit the notary, receive the money and drop her charges.
Thinking of the fact that her Nichya project has her only financial support, it’s not that difficult to figure out that the probability of that Miss Kiper will drop the charges is near 100%.
IMPR presented scans of the documents, enclosed to the court file that can be viewed here and here.
20.01.2004 - Tatu in “Podnebesnaya”: Were there girls?
The new reality show “Tatu in Podnebesnaya” just started on STS.
One of my friends said, that he will watch the reality show on one condition: if he’ll actually be able to spy on the group members. Meaning that they won’t just show moments of them eating, watching television, talking on the phone, but everything: from morning shower to evening sex. Otherwise it’ll not be a reality show, but a boring staged performance with bad actors in main roles.
The new project of Tatu in Podnebesnaya started rather suddenly. The girls were not shown in the first episode! Lena and Julia appeared near the ending, to change their clothes into white and have a quarrel with the photographer. The rest of the time, the audience was entertained by producer Shapovalov. He tediously explained, that being in “Podnebesnaya” is not being in the sky, and not being on the earth either, but being somewhere in the air, although in actually in the air at the same time... Singer Penkin who came in for a visit, seemed as though he had now clue why he was invited. The heads of STS – Podnyansky and Tsekalo – were also in the dark. Tsekalo sadly inquired: where are the girl, the girls are supposed to be here? To which Shapovalov disarmingly replied: the girls are not here! They also showed some unknown people after that, who were laughing and talking about something. Why didn’t they warn us, that “Tatu in Podnebesnaya” – is just a meditating project of Shapovalov, in which he will inform us about his observations?
22.01.2004 - Tatu in Podnebesnaya: The girls couldn’t split the money with their producer
In the next broadcast of “Tatu in Podnebesnaya” the viewers will be informed how much Tatu girls earn while working in “Podnebesnaya”. Channel STS, which started the broadcasting this reality show for one reason only, discovered and intends to let its viewers know the financial position of this girly duo. The thing is, Tatu are the only Russian project that earned a lot of money in the West. They sold nearly 7 million albums, sell out tickets to huge arena’s in capitals all over the world, and after a successful breakout in the East their earnings will only increase. According to “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, currently Tatu have earned over 300 million dollars!
STS reports, that the viewers will find out the secrets of the Tatu phenomenon, which allows them to earn the money. According to the producers, they can discover a lot of this from the project on how to earn money in show-business: about contracts, author rights, renting of huge arenas for concerts and hotels.
But this is not the only intriguing part of the next episode. According to “KP”, the young Tatu girls are going to “leave” their producer Ivan Shapovalov! As we all know, money is able to start a fight even between the best friends. In seems as though the dilemma about «whether it’s possible to split 300 million dollars and remain partners» was resolved negatively by Tatu. It’s very likely that the money was the reason why the girls had a fight with their inspiration and teacher and threatened him that they want to find another “leader”. Whether the clever and tricky Ivan Shapovalov be able to change the girls’ mind and put them on the right track, the viewers will find out in the next episode of the reality show.
23.01.2004 - Ivan Demyan has joined the recording of Tatu’s next album.
As we all know, Tatu’s and Ivan Demyan have one producer – Ivan Shapovalov. Reporter from “Our Radio” called Ivan Demyan into the studio of Tatu, where he helps the girls and takes part in shooting of the reality show “Tatu in Podnebesnaya”. This is what he said about working with the world famous Russian pop-duo and the song he wrote for "The song fell out from my suitcase, and the girls together with Shapovalov just loved it. When you hear the song, you’ll understand why. We will sing this song together as a country. You, me and Tatu, we will all sing it. If they will like singing the song, please, take it.
23.01.2004 - Tatu in Podnebesnaya: There is no danger of Tatu’s project in Podnebesnaya to result in a failure!
Channel STS will continue to broadcast Tatu reality show “In Podnebesnaya” this weekend, which is dedicated to the recording of Tatu’s next album live. The next broadcasts are on 24th and 25th of January at 8:00pm. Rumors about troubles with the project surfaced after the first broadcasts on 17th and 18th of January. In the Saturday broadcast the girls from Tatu appeared on the screen for no more then five minutes – had a fight with the photographer and left, on top of that, according to some sources, this incident was recorded a long time ago when nobody even planned the reality show yet. Most of the program showed Tatu’s producer Ivan Shapovalov, thoughtfully discussing irrelevant topics. On Sunday, 18th of January, "Tatu in Podnebesnaya" wasn’t broadcasted at all, replaced by Vitalyi Mansky’s documentary film about the group “Anatomy of Tatu”. As Tatu’s press-attachй Aleksandr Tityanko informed InterMedia, that happened only due to technical problems: the films prepated for the second broadcasting of the show were of bad quality, and they were decided not to be shown. According to Tityanko, there are some problems in the relationship between Shapovalov and managers of STS, but "there are not conflicts that can end the project". It’s just that Shapovalov and the management of STS have different views on how Tatu’s reality show in Podnebesnaya should be like. What their arguments lead them to can be seen in the next broadcasting of Tatu’s reality show this weekend. Julia and Lena, most likely, will appear a bit more this time, since they do visit Podnebesnaya two to three hours every day. "This is a very unpredictable project,” - says Aleksandr Tityanko. – “Nevertheless, the album is being recorded, and potential authors are arriving". One song is almost ready, and the sons author is not one of the contestants who sent in the lyrics, but the leader of group “7B” – Ivan Dimyan. The composition was not intended for the duo, but producer Ivan Shapovalov decided that it suite the girls after having a listen of it.”
24.01.2004 - Tatu girls want to switch bodies
The girls from the Russian pseudo-lesbian duo Tatu, Lena Katina and Julia Volkova, were recently offered to pose nude for the American magazine Playboy. Producer of the group, Ivan Shapovalov, was overjoyed, but Julia and Lena refused to pose nude. But Shapovalov quickly found a solution to the problem.
Producer of Tatu had a genius idea: to use models’ bodies during the photo-sessions. Beautiful girls were invited to audition in hotel “Pekin”, writes “Zheltaya Gazeta”. There they were met by a young man named Igor, who introduces himself as Tatu’s administrator. He asked the girls to show him their portfolios and then announced.
"You are invited to a big photo-session for the American magazine Playboy. You will be photographed absolutely naked, but don’t worry: in the magazine your faces will be changed to those of Lena and Julia. And all of this will only be published in the American edition. The girls who will be suited for this photo-session will receive 200 dollars", - said Igor. One of the girls who took part in this weird audition shared her thoughts: "The young man took notice of me right away. Igor and his assistant noticed my tattoo which is similar to the one Julia has. I was immediately offered to take my clothes off and become “Julia’s body”. I refused to do that. Because I sensed that something wasn’t right. As a result of the audition, Igor and his assistant chose three models whose body shaped resembled those of Julia and Lena the most."
30.01.2004 - t.A.T.u. didn’t "get accustomed" in Podnebesnaya
The reality-show t.A.T.u. in Podnebesnaya started on the television channel STS on January, 17. The organizers of the show promised, that it won’t be boring: unrevealed details, distinguished guests, communication with the fans, the process of the material selection and the new album recording - all this was planned to happen in front of the TV - audience. Nevertheless, the t.A.T.u.-girls haven’t managed yet to start the recording of the disk, since there’s not enough material. As for meeting the celebrities, the girls are simply not enough organized. For example, when Joseph Kobzon was about to visit “the inhabitants” of Podnebesnaya, Yulia and Lena weren’t simply there. The idea to socialise with their producer Ivan Shapovalov instead didn’t appeal to him.
Recording of the album isn’t going that smoothly either: Yulia and Lena admitted that they are not ready to begin the recording yet. To rescue the situation, the girls had to record “Zashishatsya Ochkami” , which is the song of the singer of group 7B Ivan Demyan. “Everything that we have is very raw yet. To bring the material to the right condition, we need more time. It’s possible that even the airing time won’t be enough. We hoped to find talented poets and composers, that could make some money on their material but we could choose only a few suggestions out of a thousand. They weren’t super either. We’ll continue looking for”, said t.A.T.u.
“The leading of STS and Ivan Shapovalov failed to reach any consensus when it comes to the way the show should look like”, writes Tsvetnoy Televisor magazine. “No, they didn’t reach it at the end. Apparently, the concept of the project is an absence of the mutual opinion. Anyway, the TV-audience is still left a chance to follow an attempt to record the album. That’s right, “an attemp”, because I’m not sure that the album will happen at the end. Shapovalov has announced that the album will be ready on March, 14. Thus, the group has 52 days to complete it. If there’s enough material, this period is enough, but only if it will be worked on every day”, told Vitaly Mansky, a documentary director, who has been working with t.A.T.u. for several years now.
Mansky also says that he’ll be participating in the show only if everything in it will be sincere: “When Shapovalov got this idea of the reality-show t.A.T.u. in Podnebesnaya, he didn’t seem to realise that it would be that hard. Nevertheless, he still assures that there won’t be any tricks made for the show, only the truth of the life. So we’ll see. Otherwise I’ll leave the project”.
February
03.02.2004 - Moscow city council to file an inquiry about Tatu to the office of public prosecutors.
In the next few days the deputies of the Moscow city council will address the office of public prosecutors with a request to look into the fact whether Tatu are promoting the usage of drugs.
This was announced by the chairman of the Moscow city council's commission of health-care and protection of public health, Lyudmila Stebenkova.
She emphasized, that the subject of the investigation will be a fragment of Tatu's documentary film "Anatomy of Tatu", which was broadcasted on the channel STS, in which one of the group members shared her experience in using drugs.
04.02.2004 - Tatu are going to Singapore to attend the “MTV Asia Awards 2004”
Tatu were invited to the 3rd annual “MTV Asia Awards 2004”, which will take place on 14th of February, on the Valatines Day, in the “Singapore Indoor Stadium”.
Tatu were nominated in two categories: "The Favourite Breakthrough" and "The Favourite Pop Group". Possibly, Lena Katina and Julia Volkova will also present the award to one of the 19 MTV Asia Awards nominees.
The filming crew of Tatu's reality show "Tatu in Podnebesnaya", which is currently broadcasted on STS, will also go to Singapore with the girls. Fragments of Tatu's visit to Singapore will be included in one of the upcomming episodes.
07.02.2004 - Universal Music Russia releases a unique edition of the first compilation of Remixes
At the end of February, Universal Music Russia is going to release a unique edition of the first compilation of Remixes. The similar edition was released in Japan at the end of the last year, where it caused a furore among the fans of Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina. Three version of this new edition will simultaneously be released in Russia. The Remixes will also contain famous in the world compositions Prostye Dvizhenia (Simple Moves) and Ne Ver, Ne Boisya (Don’t Trust, Don’t Fear). The exclusive version will consist of three discs – 2 audio CD, 1 DVD and a unique booklet with the t.A.T.u.’s autographs. This version of the edition is limited!
18.02.2004 - Shapovalov is in Podnebesnaya, not Tatu
Group Tatu decided to break off from their producer Ivan Shapovalov. Having accused Shapovalov of all of the mortal sins on their reality show "Tatu in Podnebesnaya", the girls of the duo Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina stood up to their words. They sent a fax to OOO "Neformat", informing us about their will to break the contracts. At the present time, Tatu girls spend a lot of time talking to their lawyers, who provide them with juridical support. According to Alexandra Tityanko, "Neformat's" media agent, Tatu's lawyers will need to do a lot of work to succeed in what they attempt to do. The conditions of the current contract are such that in case they leave, the girls cannot claim the title of "Tatu" (Neformat owns these rights) nor the profits from album sales. According to Tityanko, OOO "Neformat" has to respond to the notification made by Volkova and Katina within 60 days. Neformat's executive director, Sergey Bobza, is working on this response already.
Overall the situation seems quite complicated. Tatu girls do not talk to Shapovalov and absolutely refuse to show up in Podnebesnaya, their studio in the penthouse of Peking Hotel. Thus, the name of the STS show "Tatu in Podnebesnaya" has practically lost its meaning: the studio is usually occupied by Ivan Shapovalov, his partners and other artists, working with Neformat - Ivan Demyan, Katya Nechayeva and some new projects, etc. A collection of songs called "Podnebesnaya" is being made which will include songs of Tatu, 7B, Katya Nechayeva and other unknown groups who sent their songs for the second Tatu's album. Meanwhile, Elena Katina went to Singapore's MTV Asia Awards. What's interesting is that she was accompanied by Sergey Bobza, the executive director of Neformat, the company which Tatu girls seemingly want to leave. Yulia Volkova refused to fly to Singapore. Nevertheless, both girls keep in touch with Neformat, except for its general director Ivan Shapovalov. How long this situation of "neither peace, nor war" is going to last, no-one can say.
Meanwhile, the show "Tatu in Podnebesnaya", filmed by Vitaly Mansky, is set to continue. As Alexandra Tityanko said, "STS [is not disapointed by] what is going on around the group." In this conflict Mansky sees a reflection of real life, which is interesting to broadcast on TV. Apart from filming Shapovalov's team in Podnebesnaya, the crew is now filming practically every step of Yulia and Lena. They film them at home and on the street. Later, the director arranges the footage to reflect the positions of the two - barely - opposing sides.
19.02.2004 - Tatu will sing with Rammstein
Director of group Tatu Sergey Bobza is now negotiating with famous German group Rammstein to record a song. Germans have shown interest to Tatu girls after having seen their performance at Eurovision. The musicians liked Lena and Yulia so much that it gave them the idea of a joint project.
"The representative of the German group will arrive this week to show us a song that they suggest to record in common. It has not been played anywhere and i don't know what it sounds like. I only know that the composition is about Moscow." Members of group Rammstein have imagined all the details, composed the song and then sent it to Tatu's management, newspaper "Life" writes. Negotiations should take place next week, but the trip of Lena Katina and Sergey Bobza to Singapore could change the schedule. Let's remind that group Tatu has won the "Breakthrough of the year" award at MTV Asia Awards in Singapore. The names of the nomination and the winner will be engraved on a figurine that will arrive in Moscow in approximately a month.
27.02.2004 - Tatu will show the forbidden clip
The series will use material rejected by producer Ivan Shapovalov
Tomorrow's episode of "Tatu in Podnebesnaya" on channel STS will dot the i's. (phrase for "explain things")
Several weeks ago in reply to a question about how the series would end, the director of the show Vitaly Mansky only shrugged and said: "I'm more likely to predict the end of times than what the participants of this show will do."
A couple of days before the end of the show, the answer to this question is barely clearer.
"We will show to Ivan Shapovalov the video of a song recorded by the girls in "Podnebesnaya"," the director declared. Material from the documentary "Anatomy of Tatu" has been used to create the video of the song. More precisely, the material that Shapovalov had forbidden to include in this sensational film for unclear reasons.
"After all those events, maybe Ivan will react positively, but it could also be the opposite. In any case, spectators will see it all. They will also see the discussion about the future of the band."
"What about the promised album from Tatu?" I asked the director.
"Yes, we said that the new album will be released on 14 March. If everything goes well, it will actually happen."
"And if it's not the case?"
"Then on 14 March we will show a Tatu "virtual world tour". Why "virtual"? Because material from last year's world tour of the girls will be used. The songs of course will be those from the first album. A retrospective of the group Tatu which no longer exists..."
March
03.03.2004 - Tatu have left Shapovalov for Kirkorov
The members of duet Tatu known for their scandals have broken off the contract with their producer Ivan Shapovalov. The disagreement began several weeks ago and viewers could see all the details of this scandal in the reality show "Tatu in Podnebesnaya". Now Yulia and Lena are looking for a new producer. Phillip Kirkorov may be the one they choose.
When Tatu girls started to argue with Ivan Shapovalov before television cameras, very few people believed in the sincerity of this "revolt". All considered that it was the latest publicity stunt of the talented producer.
But Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova really don't want to have anything to do anymore with Ivan Shapovalov. Now the girls are busy searching a new producer and don't intend to leave show business.
Tatu girls became friends with Phillip Kirkorov during "Eurovision", Kirkorov went to the competition as part of Tatu's "support group". Besides Kirkorov already has experience in this area. His protegee Nastya Stotskaya has released new videos and recorded new hits, while under Shapovalov's management Tatu were unable to record their second album.
Tatu girls have addressed Kirkorov's director Leonid Dzyunik and have asked him to become the intermediary in the negotiations. Lena and Yulia could not meet Kirkorov personally as he has a very busy tour schedule. The girls have let Kirkorov know that they want to meet him and discuss a possible cooperation, newspaper "Life" writes. The answer that Kirkorov will give is not known yet.
06.03.2004 - Podnebesnaya after t.A.T.u.
The finale of Tatu’s reality show “Tatu in Podnebesnaya” will take place on the 11th of March in the penthouse of “Pekin” hotel. The viewers will be presented with Tatu’s new songs, which were recorded for the second album of the group, as well as with the collection of songs “Podnebesnaya”. As was reported by the press-centre of Neformat, initially the reality show “Tatu in Podnebesnaya” had only one intent – the recording of the group’s album. But as the show went on, it gave rise to some new projects, on top of that Tatu were in a quarrel with their producer Ivan Shapovalov, and so along came the idea of the song collection “Podnebesnaya”. Each artist that contributed to the song collection will perform his/her song during the presentation.Ivan Shapovalov’s five new projects of will be introduced, all of which already have signed contracts. Their names and the titles are not going to be revealed before the presentation, but during the press-conference Ivan Shapovalov and his artists will be ready to answer any questions. It starts at 22.00 (Moscow local time). Information can be obtained by calling the following tel.: 8-903-545-3375, 299-4950/5689 (Alexantra Tityanko, PR-manager of “Neformat” co.)
10.03.2004 - Tatu girl Yulia conquers America
Member of scandalous duet Tatu Yulia Volkova has received an offer from an agent of a known Hollywood film studio. While the other Tatu girl Lena Katina intends to seriously study to become a lawyer, Yulia doesn't want to leave show business and has gladly accepted the Americans' offer.
After Yulia and Lena broke off their contract with Ivan Shapovalov, they had a lot of free time and the girls used it to deal with their problems. Lena Katina bought an apartment, and Yulia Volkova has been working on her career plans, newspaper "Life" writes.
Yulia got many offers to participate in musical projects, but she didn't want to take fast decisions and gave no final answers to anyone.
But when Tatu girl was offered a role in a new big project, she gave her agreement after two days of negotiations.
In this new Hollywood film which will resemble Quentin Tarantino's last movie "Kill Bill", Yulia Volkova should play a reckless girl from time to time reincarnating in [don't know that word] character.
Yulia took this decision herself and didn't discuss it with anyone. Neither Ivan Shapovalov nor the manager of the group knew anything about this. Even to friends and relatives, Yulia has only said that she will go to the USA for a month to do the shooting.
Next to the Tatu girl, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Salma Hayek and other celebrities may appear in this movie. At least, they've been contacted for a part but it's unknown if any of them has agreed to participate in the project.
11.03.2004 - I. Shapovalov vs L. Kiper: Another court session took place
Another court session on the matter of breaking by Neformat financial conditions of the authorship contract with Lena Kiper took place on March, 9. We’ll remind that the author claims her rights to terminate the contract on the basis of non-fulfilment by Neformat of the contract conditions: to present the reports and payment of the author's reward during the year. Besides, Alexey Shulga (L. Kieper’s attorney), officially placed another reimbursement claim – for breaking the rules of moral rights of the author, honour and business reputation connected to the fact of accusation of group t.A.T.u., its management and authors in the drugs’ propaganda, paedophilia and inappropriate behaviour, by chairman of the Moscow city council's commission of health-care and protection of public health, Lyudmila Stebenkova. By all that, L. Kiper’s attorney declared the authors being not privy to creation of such an image and underlined her resistance to such accusations. Similar claims were placed by Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina’s attorney Yakovlev & Co. The corresponding documents, witnessing the fact of breaking the rules by Neformat towards not only the authors but the singers of t.A.T.u. by putting them into the circumstances, that discredit the singer’s integrity and honour, were submitted both to the Moscow city council and the court of law.
The matter got an unexpected turn then – the representatives of Neformat didn’t appear for the court session. Besides, it’s unclear at the moment, if such a company still exists. At the moment, the chairman of the Moscow city council's commission of health-care and protection of public health, Lyudmila Stebenkova, addressed the office of public prosecutors and the committee of drug usage control with the accusations towards Neformat and its head director I. Shapovalov in breaking the law. Y. Volkova and L. Katina, with the help of their lawers, are changing the management and terminate the contract with the former producer. The new management offers L. Kiper to work with the group’s second album. The next court session is scheduled on March, 17.
13.03.2004 - "Tatu in Podnebesnaya": the end of the game
On 11 March, Ivan Shapovalov, former producer of scandalous group Tatu and creator of the show Tatu in Podnebesnaya, had invited all the participants in the project, some guests, and journalists in hotel Peking. The occasion was that the project Tatu in Podnebesnaya had come to an end, but without the Tatu girls themselves.
Ivan Shapovalov had invited both unknown and famous people, not related to music. For example, writer Edward Limonov and artist Oleg Kulik who were invited by Shapovalov have never been really interested in Tatu's music. As usual with Ivan Shapovalov and as he proudly announced at the beginning of the evening, everything happened with no prepared scenario. Holding a microphone, he joyfully talked about the absence of present, past, future and time in general. Then, followed closely by a cameraman, he went from guest to guest in Podenebasnaya and abruptly asked them questions like "Who are you?" or "Are you engaged?" The faces of the persons interrogated, sometimes replaced by Space-TV staff, were shown in close-ups and projected directly on the walls of Podenebasnaya.
Once the first part of the guests was interrogated, Ivan Shapovalov called a small break: he wanted to present to the guests a song from the Podnebesnaya collection that was recorded during Tatu in Podnebesnaya. The first track of the collection was the immortal monologue of the call-guy from Robert Rodriguez's film From Dusk To Dawn", set in music. The song turned out energetic enough. Then the presentation of guests continued, among them were many journalists, including some foreigners, and some young musicians. The second track of the Podenebasnaya collection is a song by Tatu about bunnies and squirrels, obviously recorded before the quarrel between the girls and Shapovalov. Ivan did not make any comments on the absence of the Tatu girls except to say "Only stupid viewers need the girls". Only one foreigner who didn't understand the event mentioned the girls though.
While i was in Posnebesnaya everything followed the same pattern: presentation of guests alternated with demonstration of the musical creations of the participants in the collection. Some songs were very bright and catchy, some visitors were amusing and direct. All in all i did not have the time to get bored, maybe because I left Podnebesnaya early enough. On the other hand, the most interesting from Shapovalov could happen later. For example, the presentation of the long-awaited Tatu's second album.
All hopes lie on the TV now: on 14 March at 23:00 channel STS will show the ending of Tatu in Posnebesnaya. I think, it will be interesting.
28.03.2004 - Elena Kiper offered partnership to the new management of group Tatu
Elena Kiper offered the new management of Tatu a brilliant concept for the second album as well as for the new hit-single. The details are not known yet.
Meanwhile a court case took place during which it came to light that “Neformat” passed on the author rights of Elena Kiper to the songs of Tatu on their album “200 po vstrechnoi”, to a company called EMI in May 2003. Publishing department of company EMI was ready to sign a contract with Tatu and give them back the rights, if company “Neformat” will promise not to fight over them. Still “Neformat” broke their promise and provoked long lasting quarrels between the authors of the original songs and the translators. The point of the quarrel is: the translators of the album to English wanted a big part of the author rights – 66%. And company “Neformat” gave it’s permission – and by doing so agreed upon terms which are much worse then the terms used world-wide (translators get at most 33% of the author rights).
All the author rewards are currently concentrated in author communities around the world, and won’t be distributed to the authors until the fights are over.
Company “Neformat” is yet again in debt to all the authors of the album, and broke all the rules and regulations about the payments to the authors as well as the reports on album sales.
Right now the court is waiting for comments from EMI, the representatives of which will have to come to Moscow in the next few days. The next court date is scheduled to the 7th of April 2004.
