Mikhail Zhukov

Note:For the conductor, please use Михаил Жуков (2). Mikhail Zhukov is a Russian drummer and percussionist, one of the "shadow leaders" of Moscow underground scene in the 1980s, who currently lives in Germany. Zhukov established the unique Uneasy Music Orchestra in the middle of the 1980s. Many interesting musicians participated in the ensemble over the years, including his brother Andrey Zhukov on sax, percussionist Igor Zhigunov (later played in Megapolis), drummers Aleksey Pavlov (Zvuki Mu) and Dmitry Tsvetkov (Nikolay Kopernik), Egor and Sergey Letov. He had been playing with a legendary post-punk band Zvuki Mu, Mamonov and Aleksey duo, Mark Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble, Pop-Mechanika, and Moscow Composers Orchestra. With guitarist Igor Grigoriev, Zhukov released two highly innovative and original experimental jazz albums Asphalt and Ensemble "Roof" – New Music in 1990. Later he played in the Russian-German Documenta Band (1992-1993). As a multi-percussionist, Zhukov collaborated with various notable musicians, such as Sergey Kuryokhin, Vladimir Chekasin, Boris Grebenschikov, Dror Feiler, Werner Lüdi, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentina Ponomareva, Valentina Goncharova, and Natalia Pschenitschnikowa. In the 1990s, Mikhail Zhukov started an extensive collaboration with Sainkho. Eventually, he departed from the jazz/avant-garde/free improv field towards ethnic fusion and world music, switching mainly to hand drumming. Some critics saw that as a disappointment, for instance, Andrey Soloviev wrote in his Essay of New Jazz, that "Zhukov's orchestra was a part of the nonconformist scene, but then Zhukov started playing the "Tuvinian card" and it all ended up as an ambiguous bunch of ethnic banalities." Since 1999, Mikhail has been working with Tuvinian shaman and throat singer Nikolay Oorzhak. The artist moved to Germany in 2003 and had been playing with Ersatzmusika and the chamber ensemble Arpeggiato. In 2004, Zhukov performed with Sainkho as a part of Digital Mutations project at the Moers Festival. He is known as a virtuoso drummer and percussionist with unique performance technique, as well as the constructor of DIY percussion instruments (some of his creations ended up in the famous Mark Pekarsky collection).