Former lead singer of the band little big. Little Big: “If you want to change the country, you have to show it this way

Greetings to guests and regular readers of the site website. So, YouTuber and musician Ilya Prusikin, better known as Ilyich, was first released on April 8, 1985. Since childhood I was a creative child.
His parents, seeing their son's desire for art, sent him to music school. educational institution in piano class.
After receiving secondary education, Ilya studied to become a psychologist-teacher.
Already from adolescence, Prusikin was a member of various music groups. One of the first was Tenkorr, which gained some popularity in Russia. The group played in the rock genre and even released several records.

The Guffy Guff Show: Season 1 / Episode 1 (2011)

Cop Weekdays: 1 episode, season 1 (2012)

LITTLE BIG - Everyday I"m drinking (2013)

• 11. 07. 2016

Her height is 130 centimeters. But the diagnosis of achondroplasia was not a death sentence for Anna Kast, but a way to assert her uniqueness

“Your child has died,” the doctors told Anna’s mother. The girl was actually born dead. But after 12 minutes I started breathing. And now, when they ask her how she achieved everything, the girl answers: “I began to survive from birth.”

She played in the films “Cop Wars”, “Pen and Sword”, “In Your Eyes”, “Once Upon a Time There Was a Fox”, “Treasure”, became the queen of the international tattoo convention; performed in productions of the theatrical and erotic project Neverporn; opened the premiere of the cartoon “Despicable Me” at the Kinotavr festival. She also participated in the Mercedes-Benz fashion show, founded popular group Little Big and recently opened her own tattoo parlor, KastHome. With all her actions she is trying to prove to little people that people with achondroplasia can live normal life, and not hide in your corners. But she has to fight not only with their prejudices, but also with the condemnation of the majority of society, not accustomed to others, unusual, not like everyone else. But Anya is stronger, because from childhood her mother explained to her that she is the best and she will succeed.

IN Soviet time Anna's future dad came to Leningrad from Cuba to defend his diploma in chemistry. Mom then worked at the secret Bolshevik plant, which produced spare parts for tanks. When everything started to spiral, KGB officers methodically began to call her, interrogated her and wanted to fire her, because the party forbade having a relationship with a foreigner. But the plant management intervened. The parents lived together until their daughter was one year old. Then dad left and didn’t return: maybe he was afraid of the girl’s diagnosis or the pressure of the party, or maybe he found another love.

Anna is not offended: “I am grateful to dad for giving me life. For your hair, skin, immunity. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be so beautiful, so individual and wouldn’t smile at life. He is Spanish and lives in Cuba. They are starving there, but they are dancing.” The nickname Cast is an abbreviation for Spanish surname Castellanos.

Anna Kast

The girl was born small, but she didn’t notice it until she was 15 years old. From the very beginning, the mother convinced her daughter: “You are the best, you can do anything.” Already in kindergarten she began to receive her first awards at competitions. As a child, I felt like an ordinary child: I played volleyball with the boys, ran from dogs, ate crumpets with my cousin in a store on Staronevsky Prospekt, which my grandmother, a cleaner, saved for them.

Fortunately, Anya’s mother had enough love and courage not to try to change nature. “Now many mothers of children like me are discussing growth hormones on the Internet, which they give to their children without a doctor’s prescription, without being interested in the consequences,” Anya says with horror. - So they try to correct their “grief”, as they call it, and they think that the children will immediately become normal. It happens that hormones have a strange effect: arms or legs grow, but the rest does not. Children are now given the Ilizarov apparatus at the age of three, although previously it was required by law at twelve. Yesterday we went on a boat ride with a friend to whom we installed it. She herself cannot enter the ship - her legs do not bend, the tendons are all strained. The bones stretch from the apparatus, but the tendons do not. How can you break healthy bones? Children spend five years in the hospital with the device. And after that, there is no question of a normal childhood: swimming, cycling.

Children need support from birth, not cosmetic enhancements

Moreover, they lengthen it for the sake of a difference of 10 centimeters. All this is instead of instilling in the child that he is the best, that he can do anything. Children need support from birth, not cosmetic enhancements.”

And then Anya started transitional age and first disappointments. “In 2001, when there were no social networks, the fashionable feature was telephone pranks. That’s how I met a young man, his name was Kim. We talked for a week and he made an appointment with me. And I understand that I can’t go because I didn’t explain what I look like. I just said that I vertically challenged, and he replied: “Nothing, it’s so interesting with you!” I shared it with my mother, and she supported me: she took me to the store and bought me high-heeled boots for 700 rubles. I put them on under a floor-length checkered blue dress and went. We were supposed to meet in the subway. I waited for Kim on the platform for 45 minutes. I saw him from afar, behind a pillar, and recognized him from the description of his clothes. When I came home, he called me and said that he could no longer see me. And I cried - I was ashamed in front of my mother that she bought me boots,” Anna tells this story and cries again. Because mom is no longer there.

She was not hired to work in her specialty, as a librarian. At the district reading room they asked: “How will you reach the shelves?” Then my mother said that the elite school, where the children of actors and politicians study, needed a teacher on duty.

“I come to school and line up all the children in the corridor, 300 people, and say: “Hello. From today I am working with you. My name is Anya,” the girl recalls. Now grown-up students invite her to weddings, come to the salon to get tattoos, or see her in clubs.

During the day she watched children at school, and at night she worked as an animator and acted in films. After a while, the school administration began to force Anna out of work: “I smiled a lot. I came to school as if it were a holiday, like a red carpet - they didn’t like it.”

Anna Kast

Anna Kast

In 2009, Anna got her first tattoo with her then-boyfriend Pasha. A few days later, she received a call from the salon and was invited to film the theatrical and erotic project Neverporn based on Andersen’s fairy tale “The Naked King”: “I was interested in filming for them - this is art. You need to be careful with eroticism, especially in our situation, you can’t overdo it. There must be a talented photographer so that it is not messy. So that the trolls don’t say: “Finally, we’ve filmed the dwarfs!”

A week later, she was chosen as the queen of the international tattoo festival, although she had practically no tattoos. She made a second one on it: an image of a black and white cassette with recordings of Toto Cutugno, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, which her father once gave to her mother. On the third day of the competition, she released a stream of fire from her mouth from the stage - she learned this backstage, five minutes before the performance. And so she won. Then everything started to happen very quickly: touring with theatrical performances Neverporn teams in Germany, Holland.

In her eighth year of work at school, friends suggested that Anna work as an administrator in a tattoo parlor. “Thanks to them, my fear of leaving school disappeared. Even though I was earning seven thousand there, I was still scared to quit.” The girl took a vacation and worked in the studio for a month. I was disappointed and three days later I decided to open my own tattoo salon, KastHome. It took another week to make repairs and recruit clients.

In 2013, Anna, together with another little girl Olympia, created the rave group Little Big. They became famous for their provocative and satirical videos about life in Russia. Anna says that she came up with the group in order to draw public attention to the existence of little people in Russia, and to inspire the little ones themselves. “I take every opportunity of an interview or appearance on TV to declare that we exist, that we are not some kind of fairy-tale invention out of the woods. Little Big for me is a social activity, a reminder of myself.” The group gathered stadiums of thousands in Russia and Europe: France, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland and Italy.

Anna often compares the living conditions of little people in Europe and Russia and posts real-life examples on her page. She wants to prove to society that there is nothing wrong with being unusual: “In Russia there are very few pairs of little and little. Because they are afraid to draw attention to their unusualness, they want to blend into the crowd with someone “normal.”

But abroad this is normal: a couple - two small children and a child. There their future is thought out. All social services are paid for, they live like the rich. They hardly work, they just hang out. But here there is no such thing. You are born this way, you receive a pension of eight thousand, and how you establish yourself in society depends only on you.”

Abroad this is normal: two little ones and a child. All social benefits are paid for, they live like the rich

Anya established herself in society. She left the group, but her popularity has not gone away: “Now I don’t take the subway, I’m afraid. Because people constantly take pictures with me everywhere and say hello. Little Big fans, police officers - everyone. Recently I went to temple. A couple of days later, an unfamiliar boy wrote to me that he saw me confessing and even crying. There is no peace even in the temple.”

Of course, there is a kind of coquetry in this. But Anya also has to deal with hostility, from all sides: « Me and my pages in in social networks Little people talk a lot. They don't understand me, they think I disgrace them. I show myself in images, and they think that I am a buffoon. The fact that I am an animator and earn money from this, and this is difficult in our situation, does not interest them. And they don’t have a single photo on their personal pages at all, I don’t understand this. When the state and society are against people, they unite in their own small groups similar friends at a friend and say: “Yes, we are unhappy. Okay, we’ll live as is.”

Anna Kast

They judge me and ordinary women: “How so? She's not like everyone else. Why is she so outspoken? Why can't we do this? This is not normal." They write to me: “Aren’t you ashamed? This is a disgrace." They will never say it's because I'm small. Why don't they write this to others? I offend them because I am different and I am brave. According to the standards, I should live within four walls, remain silent and enjoy my pension.”

Thank you for reading to the end!

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Russian singer and actress Olympia Ivleva, known as a participant in the musical project Little Big and performer leading role in the movie "Lily".

Biography of Olympia

Olympia (or just Lipa for short) was born in 1990. Graduated from the Institute of Special Pedagogy and Psychology. She was involved in organizing holidays. Today she lives in St. Petersburg, where she performs as a vocalist in the Little Big group.

In 2017, Olympia first appeared on the set as a film actress. She became the main character of the film "Lily", where she played a short girl who performs in a traveling circus troupe.

“I am very happy that I was able to be a part of this and am incredibly grateful to everyone who was involved in this! I am proud to say that this is a project that has soul and love. I'll miss".

Olympia worked with such actors as Sergei Batalov, Yulia Serina, Ilya Malakov, Sergei Gazarov and others.

Olympia has a lot in common with the heroine of the film: like Lily, she was ridiculed by other children as a child, but now she has countless fans.

“I have never focused either myself or other people’s attention on my height, and in most cases I have always found mutual language with the people who surrounded me. I first encountered this only when children appeared in my life, known for their cruelty and misunderstanding in the younger ones. adolescence At school".

According to Olympia herself, her height never seemed uncomfortable to her, and she does not “measure” other people in centimeters. The only thing that is difficult is the high bar counters and height restrictions in the amusement park.

Name: Olympiya Ivleva

Age: 28 years

Height: 130

Activity: singer, actress

Family status: Single

Olympia Ivleva: biography

This charming petite girl was about to become professional psychologist, but a happy accident brought her into show business. In 2013, Olympia became the vocalist of a rave group, in which she gained incredible popularity. However, at the peak of success, the singer decided to leave the team in order to get serious about acting career. In 2017, Ivleva already starred in the leading role in the film “Lily”.

Childhood and youth

Olympia was born on June 21, 1990 in St. Petersburg. She is a native Petersburger in the third generation. The girl’s parents have nothing to do with creativity, but they raised their daughter to love books and good music.

The school period left an ambivalent feeling in the soul of the future artist: on the one hand, an unforgettable time of childhood, new knowledge, friends, fun communication, on the other hand, the first negative emotions and grievances from abusive relationship other children.

“I never focused people’s attention on my height (the girl’s height is 130 cm, weight is about 40 kg) and I never felt different from everyone else. For the first time I encountered ridicule at school...”, the actress recalls that period of her biography.

In an interview with the “gentle editor,” Olympia spoke about how in the 5th grade she was attacked by two high school students. However, this story ended well, albeit a little late. When the girl was already studying at the university, the offenders met her and asked for forgiveness.

Having experienced a lot of negativity in childhood and adolescence associated with the lack of education of other people, Olympia decided to become a psychologist. And I wanted to work specifically with children with disabilities health.

After graduating from school, Lipa, as her relatives call her, entered the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Special Pedagogy and Psychology, where she studied for 5 years, graduating from her alma mater as a certified specialist. By the time she graduated, the girl had accumulated a lot creative material: While still a student, she became interested in photography, organizing animation events, exhibitions, etc.

Therefore, in no hurry to open a psychological practice, Olympia continued to “hang out” in underground circles, where she was noticed by the musicians of the Little Big group.

Music and creativity

Initially, 23-year-old Olympia was invited to film the “Harlem shake” video. The initiator was former soloist"Little Big" - . She introduced the girl to the group's producer Alina Pyazok, founder and lead singer.

“There was no talk of any invitation to the team, there were no clear plans to create a project... Everything happened on its own: the video took off, the guys decided to continue filming... Then the first performances began,” the artist said about her appearance in the group.

In 2014, the band’s debut album “With Russia From Love” was released. But true success overtakes the musicians after the video for the song “Give Me Your Money” with the participation of the Estonian artist Tommy Cash.

And if Olympia already had experience filming in a swimsuit, then in this video she appears topless. According to the artist, this was a serious step for her, and the girl was especially worried about how her mother, who is a rather conservative person, would take it. But everything worked out, the woman accepted new activity daughters.

Meanwhile, Lipa’s career in the team was gaining momentum. The artists were accepted and loved in Europe. And now the guys toured not only the cities of Russia, but throughout the Old World. At the very beginning touring activities Ivleva fulfilled her childhood dream - she visited Paris. “Little big” visited Germany, Spain, Holland, Belgium, France and a number of other countries with concerts. And the little soloist, who performs under the pseudonym Olympia Twerk, is called the “pearl of the team.”

Having traveled around the world, Olympia realized that she liked to travel, study the life and culture of other countries. Back in 2013, Lipa started her own vlog on YouTube and began posting video notes about her voyages, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from concerts and concerts. film sets and other fascinating posts.

In 2016, the vocalist of the group “Little Big” starred in the provocative video “Big Dick”, which took 1st place at the Berlin Music Video Awards in the “Most Trashy” category. The video is a parody-banter of pop culture and is filled with indecent images and gestures, but has become a record holder for views - over 35 million.

In 2017, Anna Kast told reporters that Olympia does not sing in the group herself; a professional vocalist does it for her. Lipa did not comment on the statement, but the girl told the Gentle Editor that “her vocals are definitely present in the Little Big recordings.”

On April 1, 2018, on the eve of the release of the new album “Antipositive, Pt.”, Olympia announced her departure from the band. The date of the statement initially convinced fans that it was a joke. But it soon became clear that Lipa really left the group. Summing up the results of her work, ex-colleagues came up with some kind of statistics:

“Over the course of 5 years with Olympia, we created 14 million-dollar videos, played over 300 concerts, and traveled to many cities in many countries around the world.”

The singer herself admitted that she made a very serious and difficult decision for herself.

“Little Big is a huge part of my life, it’s a part of me. I devoted 5 whole years to the project. But at one point I realized that I couldn’t give him anything else,” the ex-soloist commented on her departure.

Also among the reasons last girl named the desire to develop as a dramatic actress. This desire appeared in Olympia after her role in the film “Lily” - a project of Channel One. The singer appeared in the form main character- circus performer Lily, who falls in love with an ordinary rural guy, and their love undergoes a number of tests.

Personal life

Olympia does not advertise personal life, but doesn’t hide it either. She has been dating a guy named Alexey for 3 years.

The couple tested the strength of the relationship for a long time, the young people broke up three times, but realized that they could not live without each other. Alexey is not from creative environment, is engaged in drifting.

Olympia Ivleva now

Now, according to Ivleva, she is running two business projects: the first is related to the sale of peanut butter, the second is underwear.

The ex-singer also continues to be interested in photography (works can be viewed in "Instagram") and takes the first steps towards his dream - an acting career.

Discography

• 2014 - “With Russia From Love”
• 2015 - “Funeral Rave”
• 2018 - “Antipositive, Pt. 1"
• 2018 - “Antipositive, Pt. 2"

- Why do the “Khleb” group have concert tickets for 900 rubles, and yours for 1800?

I do not know. I have nothing to do with organizing the concert.

With the participants of “Khleb” - YouTubers who have successfully taken up music - you came out of the same media “Thank you, Eva!”

At that time there were only two platforms - Caramba Media and “Thank you, Eva!” It was necessary to join someone. In "Thank you, Eva!" there was more creativity. I wanted to do this kind of show, but I didn't know vlogging existed. Do you see what it's like now? the main problem new video bloggers - they know that they can become a star and earn a lot of money. This is their goal. And in 2010 it was impossible to make money. There was no video blogging, there was no market. There was Maddison, but I didn’t know about him either.

- Do video bloggers really earn that much money?

Many, very many.

- Can you buy an apartment with them?

Someone can. And he openly says that he earns a lot - Sasha Spielberg, for example.

The first video of the Little Big group “Everyday Iʼm Drinking” was released in April 2013 and turned out to be so popular that Ilya Prusikin and his colleagues had to continue. In addition to music, Ilyich has many activities - he is an actor, video blogger, director, screenwriter, creator and simply a popular character in the Russian YouTube scene.

There are two points of view. The first is that Russian YouTube is like the Russian MTV of the late 90s, it makes musicians stars, and it is here that people who say something into the camera (then VJs, now video bloggers) become known throughout the country. The second point of view is that Russian YouTube has turned into a collection of shit. Which one is closer to you?

Well, after all, now everything is developing, new formats are appearing, and production on the Internet is becoming better than on television. What kind of shit collection is this? Vice versa.

- Does video blogging allow you to jump onto TV?

Certainly. There are examples - the same guys from “Bread”. When we made the series “Police Days,” we were all invited to TNT, and the guys stayed there. Now they call everywhere and very actively. But I don't see the point.

- Because your content is not for TV?

You can always do it for TV. But it takes a lot of time. A television project requires 2–3 months, during which I would not be able to do anything else. But if they offered very big money, you could still think about it. And so... On television, the simplest jokes, not harsh ones, evoke the reaction “wow, wow, this is impossible.” Because of this, many series look neither here nor there. They could put the pressure on, but they don’t put the pressure on. Not because of what's there bad people they work, they're just within the limits. HBO also produces the coolest TV series because they have no censorship. You can touch on any topic. The series “On the Edge”, where members American government They show us to be complete idiots; our ideas would have been rejected at the discussion stage. They would bring a synopsis, and they would say to us: “Guys, are you fools?”

- What does your work schedule look like?

It's completely packed. We're on tour now. You come back and immediately there’s some filming, editing, new briefs. We have no free time at all. We agreed that we would go on vacation in January, and before that we would only work.

Before Little Big appeared, Prusikin had at least five more musical projects. The earliest of them is the emo group Tenkorr. It is extremely difficult to recognize Ilyich in the hero of the “I Believe” video.

- Who came up with the idea to shoot the “Everyday Iʼm Drinking” video, after which you were recognized?

It, like all the following videos, was filmed by Alina Pyazok and me. We worked together, but a lot of people helped. There are a lot of accidents in the history of Little Big - they just filmed the video on April 1st. It turned out that he shot. And everyone started saying: “Maybe you can start a group?” But the band still might not have existed if we hadn’t been invited to open for Die Antwoord. We were like, “Whoa, whoa, we don’t have any songs.” “But you have a month.” And we wrote six songs, shot videos, and they sold out. Nobody thought that we would make money on these songs. That's how it happened.

- Did you just set yourself the task - to film a cranberry about Russia that would go over well in the West?

We wanted to make a global virus. We have taken all the stereotypes about Russia - is this how you see us? OK. The funny thing is that people in Europe understand that we are laughing at them. But in Russia people...

-...are you sure that you are defaming the country?

Yes. ...[abnormal]! Or they ask: “Since you are for Russia, why don’t you sing in Russian?” Yes, because we work for the world. Why glorify Russia in Russia? I have a super idea, I want the Russian group to become global. And I’m glad that I can prove to people who claim that it is impossible to become popular there, because we are Russian and no one needs us. Russian guys look at this and understand that they are not shit.

“Big Dick,” released earlier this year, with 20 million views, is Little Big’s most popular video. He then inspired the editors of Afisha Daily to publish a listing of the most disgusting videos of the St. Petersburg project.

- Stupid question - how do you decide what the next song will be about?

Just somehow. For example, they tell us: “Everyone has songs, how cool they are, why don’t you? Still, they compare their pussies.” And we didn’t beat around the bush, but wrote the song “Big Dick.” This is a mockery of world pop culture.

- What did you do to get concerts abroad?

They began to contact us themselves. Two years ago they started inviting us to Belgium. At first we had a booker from France, now we are dealt with by a German agency. The drummer introduced us to him Guano Apes, who loves Little Big very much. And the fees there were actually higher than in Russia. But for Last year the situation has leveled out - soldier-outs have also begun in Russia. I think it's latest clips“Big Dick” and “Hateful Love” worked that way.

The “Hateful Love” video has a very glossy, emtivish image. Once upon a time, such videos had exorbitant budgets. Like now?

There is one little secret: the main thing is not how much money you spend, the main thing is the idea. And the ability to implement it. Skill is the most valuable thing. We just learned to do everything, this big team is a group of like-minded people who initially just wanted to do it. As a result, they united into a large trade union. For others our work is expensive, but for ourselves we can do it almost free of charge. “Big Dick” we just shot at home in 3-4 days. We bought the backdrops, and we also had a budget for cameras, lighting and props - I won’t say it was expensive. For “Hateful Love” we rented a room, set up a cyclorama ourselves, and that’s it.

- Where did you learn this?

Learned on the go. I am a psychologist by training. And it turned out that I am a creator, director, and now also a musician. I also learned to make viruses in practice - I figured out what to do to surprise, how to look for intersections between different generations And social groups. When you love what you do, you learn quickly. Over the course of several years, our production has become on par with television, and sometimes even higher. It is believed that there are professionals who have dedicated their whole lives to this. It’s just that we are not so cool, they are not very motivated.

- Do you, as musicians, need a TV?

No, television rotations have not affected anything for a long time. All that was left was a piece product - like “ Evening Urgant“In other respects, YouTube is long ahead.

- Are you ready in this case that censorship and other content regulation will soon come to you?

It would be stupid not to do this. The media must always be under control. Can you imagine a blogger has a million people who follow him?

- Why do they immediately follow? They just watch.

14-year-olds have almost one hundred percent loyalty. No matter what a popular blogger says, everyone takes it at face value. And imagine that he begins to propagate Nazism. I believe that there should not be censorship as such, but there must be control.

- Should I assign a commission of pot-bellied guys to you?

We have passed a law on criminal liability for reposting - this needs to be changed, because anyone can be subject to this. But if you imprison people for something that is worth imprisoning people for, then everything will be fine.

"Hateful Love"

- When you watch a clip, at first you don’t understand for a long time - is this again a parody or is it all sincere?

This is also done for Europeans, for the rest of the world. There is politics, but let's put it aside and look at our country as it is. But again there were dissatisfied people - “you were such bastards, you mocked Russia, and now you love it?”

- Which books or films, from your point of view, most accurately explain our country?

I haven't seen these.

- Maybe “Brother”?

I don't think it reflects the Russians. His main character- a narrow-minded gopnik. Yes, there are some, but there are others too.

- You played up stereotypes about Russia a lot...

We only have a few of these clips.

- No, after all, there were quite a lot of them, plus a show with Tommy Cash about Russians in America - you are on this pedal. Was it necessary to somehow specially study the country and its people for this?

In Europe we met people from Russia, they are the grandchildren of Russian emigrants, they call themselves Russians. I say: “No, you are not Russian. Russian is a state of mind.” Origin is not so important, I have Polish-Jewish roots. You need to be born here and live 20–30 years to understand all this... [mess]. When you live in... [a mess] all your life, but you adapt to it - and, in principle, everything suits you. This is Russian.