Dressed in Music

The first things many foreigners think about whenever they hear the word Ukraine often include Chornobyl, the colour orange, the Klichko brothers, Shevchenko (which one depends on your preferences) Ukrainkas, vodka... Here at What’s On, however, we think that list is going to continue to grow and grow quickly. What is it going to include? Well The Maneken, of course.
The Maneken is actually 26-year old Eugene Filatov from Ukraine who is big into music. He’s sold a number of his records already in Europe and Japan and so he’s definitely a name to watch out for. Having met in his recording studio one day, down around Podil, he is very forthright and offers everything off the cuff.

“The Maneken represents a variety of musical incarnations,” Zhenya says, getting warmed up. “I’m keen on good music, regardless of its genre or style and so I don’t mind being called a producer, a DJ, a musician, or a performer. But at the end of the day, what I want people to know is that I’m really into sound production and music of good quality. It’s like fashion,where, when you’re sad, you wear blues; when you’re in high spirits, you wear funk or jazz. Being The Maneken means that I can constantly change my clothes according to my preferences at that moment.”

Stitching up Sound
While he does switch between this genre and that, as a musical entity, he’s known best for his exquisite electro. His chart-toppers, These Lines, and, Sunbeam Girl, have also given The Maneken leverage, often keeping him on the lips of a number of clubbers. But what many Ukrainians won’t know is that they will have heard his work before without even really knowing it, as he has been readily involved in the sound production of many of our pop stars like Ani Lorak, Svetlana Loboda, Tina Karol and Gaitana. “I’m quite proud of a couple of Gaitana songs,” he offers. “And Jamala. I’m really pumped about the stuff we’re working on with her right now. There are four or five songs already written for her first pop album which has got superb vocal and sound quality. She’s talented and has got amazing pitch, so as a producer I’m super excited to do what I can for her.”
Jamala is a little bit different from the average girl behind the mic and with Soviet pop (granted wrapped up a little differently) still a big seller these days, there has to be a little trepidation there, at least in the financial aspect of it all. “I think she’ll be popular,” he says, however, “And financially successful. Because sooner or later Ukrainians are going to get bored of the same old music they’ve been listening to for decades.”

His Own Threads
About a year ago, The Maneken released his first album, First Look, with the French label Somekind Music. Finding him online through his MySpace site, this Virgin Records affiliate offered The Maneken something he couldn’t refuse and so the record deal was made, making him a name all over Europe and Japan. Using the Ukrainian recording studio, Lavina Music, it didn’t take long before the disc was all over Russia as well, its release presented on 28 May 2009 – Filatov’s birthday.
Including something he calls an i.m. table in his work, Zhenya says, “It’s like a computer that generates sound, but without a monitor, disc drive or keyboard. In the studio I do what is called sampling, assigning certain sounds to come together that play as one when I’m in the club. This phenomenon is unprecedented as of yet in Ukraine,” he says and goes on to explain the 3Dvideo with motion capture technology he also uses when he’s working. This technology is more or less the same as what was used in Lord of the Rings, “Where every movement is tracked in a 360 degree range. The 8-12 cameras that may be working at any given point pick up the infrared transducers that come from every single one of our bodys’ joints and from that, the computer puts together a dancing model of sticks that moves just like I do. Putting the finishing touches on these ‘sticks’, what we get are dancing robots; which is exactly what you see in my video!”

Staying Put
Using this technology as part of an exhibit last year at Moscow’s annual millionaire’s fair, Zhenya says, “This fair was an amazing experience and things I’ve never seen before like bicycles with speed-regulated wheels, some of the most luxurious cars Dubai produces, and a 700,000euro piano made of seashells were just some of the other things on show.” He even had a few oligarchs interested in this i.m. table device, a couple of them joking with him that they’d buy it if it were pink! So give him another few years and it’s quite possible that The Maneken is truly going to rock Ukraine’s technological world. Something, in fact, he must sense because having been distributed and touring the States, hooking up with Jamiroquai while there, and contracting 10 different gigs in Italy recently, he is already living the life of luxury.
Still, regardless of his cosmopolitan views on music and life in general, he has never thought of leaving Ukraine. “I realise that overseas there are plenty of good musicians, producers and songwriters; all of them more than appreciated because they are locals. But I’m appreciated here in Ukraine and it is this country that makes me popular both here and overseas. And I’m grateful for that.”