Sera (Valery Meladze album)

Sera (Russian: Сэ́ра) is the debut studio album by Russian singer Valery Meladze, released on March 12, 1995.^[1] In March 2014, the magazine Afisha included the album in its editorial list of the "30 best Russian pop albums".^[2]

Before starting his solo career, Valery Meladze played in the rock group Dialog with his brother Konstantin. In the early 1990s, Valery met producer Evgeny Fridlyand, who organized a tour for the band in the Kemerovo region. The audience's reception of the group's concert program—the rock suite "Posredine mira" based on poems by Arseny Tarkovsky—was mixed. After the tour ended, Meladze began taking steps towards a solo career.^[3]

"We wanted to move away from art rock and all kinds of complex things towards simpler music. I've loved a-ha all my life – for me they are the standard of style and consistency, they haven't slipped once in 25 years. I also really valued Nik Kershaw and Johnny Hates Jazz – new wave, new romantics. (I heard the group Hurts last year, they told me they'd invented something new, come on – they are one hundred percent like those same Johnny Hates Jazz.) We wanted to create something similar in Russia – but adjusted for the fact that ten years had passed, and that we were, after all, not in Britain. It was an atypical situation for Russian pop music: we were well received by listeners – and at the same time, the musicians who played with us would say respectfully, 'Yeah, guys, you've got some decent tunes'."

Speaking about why the album turned out to be so lyrical and romantic, Meladze noted the prevalence of crime themes at the time, the dominance of "chernukha" (dark, gritty realism) and the dark sides of life that directors "assiduously pushed on television screens": "I wanted to show that there is also a place in life for love, friendship, nature, and normal human relationships. We didn't invent anything and didn't program ourselves for success. We wrote what we felt and wanted to say."^[4]

Even before the album's release, in 1994, the song "Ne trevozh mne dushu, skripka" became popular in Russia. The music video was aired on television programs such as MuzOboz, Song of the Year-95, Utrennyaya pochta, and Hit-Parad Ostankino.^[5] In early 1995, the album Sera went on sale, and the title track took leading positions on radio stations across the country.

Following the album's release in the first half of the year, Meladze embarked on an extensive concert tour of 19 major Russian cities: the first concert was in Saint Petersburg, the last in Krasnoyarsk. The concert in Dnipropetrovsk was so successful that the program was repeated.^[4]

The album was released in 1995 by Soyuz with 16 songs. The same year, a collector's edition titled "Posvyashchayetsya nashim roditelyam..." (Dedicated to our parents...) was released with 10 songs and two new ones – "Zhenshchina v belom" and "Tak i skazhi" (released on a separate disc). Subsequent reissues in 2003 and 2015 contained 18 songs. Each edition had different cover artwork.^[6]

In 2025, the album was reissued by the label Maschina Records from the original master tapes on double LP and CD. This edition includes 19 songs – tracks from all previous editions and the previously unreleased song "Potantsuy so mnoy".

• "Ne trevozh mne dushu, skripka" ("Romance") – The first song that brought Valery Meladze recognition in musical circles. It was written by Konstantin Meladze in 1990 in an empty assembly hall of the Nikolaev Shipbuilding Institute. Initially, the song did not satisfy the authors and was erased the day after recording. It was later recreated at the insistence of friends^[4] in 1992.^[5] The music video director was Lina Arifulina. It has been performed by Dima Bilan at the Meladze brothers' creative evenings. It was performed by Alexander Panayotov in 2016 in the fifth season of the TV show The Voice^[7] and in the subsequent concert tour. Valery Meladze has not performed it since 2003.
• "Sera" – The second hit. Recorded at Alla Pugacheva's studio. The song topped all charts in Russia and the Near Abroad and was named Song of the Year by the Zvezda award for 1995. The saxophone part was performed by musician Batyrkhan Shukenov from the group A'Studio. The music video was filmed in Saint Petersburg, directed by Pyotr Khazizov.^[8]
• "Limbo" – This song gained recognition after being performed at Alla Pugacheva's Rozhdestvenskiye vstrechi (Christmas Meetings) at the end of 1993.^[9][10] It was very warmly received by both the audience and listeners. In 1996, Professor Lebedinsky and the electronic group Russkiy Razmer recorded a humorous version of the song titled "Limbo-bimbo" in the happy hardcore genre.^[11] Ten years later, in 2006, an English-language remake was released performed by Evgeniya Vlasova and Andrew Donaldson, and in 2007 on the Fabrika Zvyozd of the Meladze brothers, the song was performed by one of its participants, Phil Young.
• "Noch nakanune Rozhdestva" – The video was filmed in Prague and was shown over a hundred times on leading Russian TV channels during the New Year period of 1995. The producer Evgeny Fridlyand's eldest daughter took part in the filming. The video director was Alexander Faifman,^[12] cinematographer Maksim Osadchiy.^[13] It has been performed several times by Valery Meladze in a duet with Alsou.
• "Kholodnoe serdtse" – A lyrical composition about unrequited love. Currently not performed.
• "Razvedi ogon" – A song that became popular again in 2007, entering the repertoire of the group BiS. Since 2017, it has been performed by the groups MBAND and Nu Virgos. Valery Meladze still performs it.^[14][15][16]
• "Posredine leta" – One of Valery and his band's favorite songs. It is currently performed and can be heard on various radio stations, especially on Retro FM.^[17] The music video director was Anastasia Rakhlin. In 2012, at the New Wave contest, singer Yolka performed this song at Konstantin Meladze's creative evening.^[18]
• "Zolotistyy lokon" – The song is dedicated to Konstantin Meladze's future wife at the time. Occasionally performed by Valery at concerts. In 2003, it was included in the album "Pesni bez slov. Strannitsa-osen" by the band's saxophonist Mikhail Pedchenko, with an additional saxophone part.
• "Valeriya" – A lyrical composition.
• "Ty eshchyo zhiv" – A song written in a rock style, performed in the early 1990s. The lyrics mention the band The Beatles.
• "Balerina" – A composition from the Dialog era. Since 2016, it has been in the repertoire of the group MBAND. In their performance, the song became the soundtrack to the animated film Ballerina.
• "Kolokol daley nebesnykh" – Performed at concerts until 1997. It was played in 2016 on the fifth season of the show The Voice performed by Yan Maers and Aleksey Romanov.^[19] It is in the repertoire of singer Yolka.^[20][21]
• "Tri rozy" – Performed before the album's release.
• "Slushay veter" – A song recorded as part of the group Dialog.
• "Odin den" – A song that appeared on the Dialog album "Osenniy krik yastreba". The first music video for this song, filmed in Nikolaev and at a Dialog concert (1991), is available online.^[22]
• "Podnebesnye reki" – Written during the Dialog era. Valery Meladze calls it one of his favorites on the album.^[4]
• "Tak i skazhi" – Currently in the repertoire of Alexander Rybak. In 2009, it was included in the album "Dvukhpolyarnyy mir" by the group BiS under the title "Ne molchi".

The songs "Odin den", "Ne trevozh mne dushu, skripka", "Noch nakanune Rozhdestva", and "Sera" were included in the list of the 10 best songs according to Afisha Daily, timed to Valery Meladze's 55th anniversary.^[23]

* — included on the 1996 collector's edition
** — not on the first edition, included on all subsequent reissues

• Sera at Discogs (list of releases)
• Official website of Valery Meladze
• Bulat Latypov (2014-03-05). "30 luchshikh russkikh pop-albomov". Afisha.
• Sera on Yandex Music