Kazakh pop music may not be exactly well known on the international scene, but the Almaty group A’Studio has been around for 15 years now and, 10 albums down the line, it is still going strong on the Russian pop scene. Founded in 1987, the group got its first big break in 1989 when its hit "Julia" caught the attention of Russian pop diva Alla Pugacheva, who invited them to join her Song Theater. When vocalist and saxophonist Batyrkhan Shukenov left the band in 2000, many predicted it would soon fall apart. But far from dying a quick death, the group got a new lease on life with the arrival of talented and attractive Russian-American Polina Griffith as vocalist, and have recorded new songs and gone on tour. LifeStyle’s Dmitry Mozheitov met with the band at their home and studio. While Griffith struggled through the Moscow traffic, Dima talked with A’Studio art director and keyboardist Baigali Serkebayev about the group’s plans.

What are you working on at the moment?

Baigali Serkebayev: We’re recording an album of English-language songs. We have two or three more songs to go before the album is complete. After this, we’ll start work on a Russian-language album. We have to perform in Russian, it’s only natural, and it’s here that we get our popularity. We already have some ideas for the Russian-language album.

Why did you choose Polina?

BS: We met back in 1994 when we were recording in the United States. That was a long time before Shukenov left the band. We saw immediately that Polina was professional. We didn’t organize any real selection process for the spot – we did listen to several people, they were all talented, but just not our style. We had both guys and girls audition, but we soon figured we should choose a girl. That was when I remembered Polina. I called her in the States and said we’d like to try working with her. Ten days later, she arrived in Moscow and recorded two trial tracks, and now it’s been three years that we’re together.

Your band has such an international lineup. How and where do you spend most of your time?

BS: Most of the time, we’re in Moscow. We moved here from Almaty [the former capital of Kazakhstan] 10 years ago. Polina has also moved to Moscow. Of course, whenever she has some time free from touring and recording, she visits her mom in America.

How did Polina’s arrival affect the band’s creativity?

BS: Our music has become more club-style, more danceable. But I wouldn’t say our music has undergone any radical changes. Jazz is our foundation; we try not to allow primitively put-together tunes to creep in. People these days listen not with their ears but with their feet. One of our new songs, "Show Me the Way," is in the electro style that’s trendy now and sounds like a soundtrack, but it’s something to listen to rather than dance to…

(At this point, Griffith arrives, full of apologies. Unlike some pompous pop stars, she’s dressed in a simple, unpretentious style. All I can think at first is how much she looks like Liv Tyler).

Has anyone ever told you that you look like Liv Tyler?

Polina Griffith: Liv Tyler? In America, they said I look like Milla Jovovich.

Has anyone ever offered you a role in a movie?

PG: I’d like to act in movies, but no one has ever made me an offer. Incidentally, I studied acting in Warsaw, and I really would like to act in movies very much!

So you studied acting in Warsaw? How did you end up in America?

PG: I’m originally from Tomsk, and then I moved to Riga as a child. I was very young when I left school and went to work – singing and dancing. I arrived in New York in 1992 with the musical "Metro" put on by a famous Polish troupe. There was no Russian-language version of the musical at that time. I played and sang in Polish, then the musical was translated into English. We didn’t perform in the States for long because in the homeland of musicals, it’s hard to surprise anyone with anything in this genre. Everybody went back, but I decided to stay. I wasn’t attached to the musical, and I liked living in America. I started working at clubs. I sang songs that I liked; I worked a lot with producers, made various demos and studied vocals. If you don’t sing properly, you lose your voice after about five hours.

Did you think for long before accepting A’Studio’s offer?

PG: A whole 24 hours. What spurred me to make the decision was a desire for change. It wasn’t that I was bored with living in America, but I was always in this one same place and I wanted a new atmosphere. Besides, I was flattered to get an offer from A’Studio, and I had been dreaming of the professional stage.

Was it easy for you to fit into the group?

PG: It wasn’t easy. I changed my country and my mentality, too. It was very difficult for me to do, I didn’t understand a lot of what was going on; the rules are absolutely different here. The guys treated me well. We were soon on the same wavelength about language, outlook and music. We did have some arguments at first, though. But I understood that if you want to keep working and doing something together, you should take time to do it and keep your emotions to yourself. During these two years of living in Moscow, I’ve come to understand a lot of things. I can say with confidence now that I’ve adapted to my new life.

So much so that now you’ve started writing songs?

PG: It wasn’t that I suddenly had a desire to write songs, I was simply told to sit down and write. First, I wrote one refrain. It was for the song "S.O.S." I sat there and tried to think something up, and I came up with "Baby I Feel." It made sense. My English was good enough – I wrote a couple of lines and showed them to the others. They said that wasn’t enough and that I should sit down again and write at least a few more lines. That was how I began to write in English. And I just can’t write in Russian.

You’ve fulfilled some of your dreams – do you have any more big dreams?

PG: I haven’t yet realized myself as a woman – I mean, I haven’t got a family of my own. I want to find a good husband who won’t cheat on me. But such men don’t exist, they all have one quality or another, but never everything at the same time.

I also dream of a normal show-business market where everything is fair, where you can see how your album is selling and where you can earn money. It’s a normal thing to wish for. What’s so strange about wanting and being able to earn money?