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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Lydia Salnikova, Ilya Toshinsky

Aired February 23, 2003 - 10:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: They may not sound it, but guess what, they're Russian. And Russia's latest musical export is all country music. The group, Bering Strait, is up for a Grammy at tonight's award show in New York and it's nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance for the song, "Bering Strait." And the song is off the group's self-titled debut album, "Bering Strait." And this Grammy morning -- or we should say noontime now, afternoon, we welcome one-third of the country band, guitarist, Ilya Toshinsky and singer, Lydia Salnikova and they are both in New York.
Good to both of you.

ILYA TOSHINSKY, GUITARIST, BERING STRAIT: Thank you.

LYDIA SALNIKOVA, SINGER, BERING STRAIT: Good to see you. Actually, I'm...

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry.

SALNIKOVA: ... a guitar player and a vocalist. So we have another singer in the band.

WHITFIELD: OK, very good. And I did see that on your video or part of the documentary that you all sent us. Well, congratulations...

SALNIKOVA: I just want to make sure.

WHITFIELD: ... to both of you.

SALNIKOVA: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry, Lydia, what did you say?

SALNIKOVA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. I thought I stumped all over your comments there. All right, you guys have some explaining to do here because you're really throwing a lot of folks off. You're young, you're Russian, and you've got this country music sound and then, here you go, you got a Grammy nomination and your album was just released last month. So how do you explain that you've kind of got all of this attention and you're still so new after your American performance debut?

TOSHINSKY: Well, actually, our instrumental got released to CMT last autumn, I believe, and that's why -- how we got into the Grammy thing, you know.

SALNIKOVA: Just because -- you just have your commercial single out and then the members of the recording academy, they just can vote for you. If you get enough votes, they put you as nominees.

WHITFIELD: And that's so remarkable, though, that you would get that kind of attention after just that one single, after that one performance debut, and then, you know, just on the heels of your album released. You're getting all this attention. Are you finding that so many people are your fans who are not necessarily just country music fans?

TOSHINSKY: Right, it's pretty incredible. You know, we've been -- our lives completely changed in the last month and a half. We're getting so much attention, you know. We're getting a lot of coverage. We're very excited.

SALNIKOVA: Yes, it's so great. And actually, about this nomination, there are so many people in Nashville that are Recording Academy members that they have been following our careers even before we had an album out for so many years. And so they just wanted to support us, really -- probably just to -- just Nashville's musicians to get us nominated.

WHITFIELD: And Lydia, you know, you were all -- you know, you mentioned that you've got vocalists and of course, you've got instrumentalists, so you really are all, you know, dynamic musicians and you're able to show that whether it's the voices, your instrument or your, you know, using your fingers to help play an instrument. All right, you know, what was the influence in Russia? How is it that you were from this small town there and you were able to kind of borrow, if you will, from some notable country music artists? Are you getting a lot of country music influence while you were growing up there?

SALNIKOVA: Well, I think...

(CROSSTALK)

TOSHINSKY: Oh, well, actually, the band started out in 1988. I was one of the first original member and we couldn't get a lot of music of bluegrass or country. But the situation had changed in the late '80s and the borders opened up and you know, we started getting a lot of music through people that traveled back and forth, you know. So I got to listen to Earl Scruggs (ph), and the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band came over and Roy Clark and Ricky Skaggs. So we were -- started to get a little bit of music and we got so excited about it and we decided we wanted to give it a try.

WHITFIELD: And so, Lydia, why don't you explain how you guys even got together because you didn't necessarily all, you know, join one another voluntarily. Weren't you selected by a teacher of some sort?

SALNIKOVA: Yes, there was a classical guitar teacher that started the band in 1988 and he just picked his best students and formed them into a band. As Ilya said, he was the first one and then people came in at different stages. I came in the band in 1995 and, of course, I was playing keyboard so I wasn't one of his students. But anyway, they were playing bluegrass and we slowly started shifting into country because a lot of American people had heard us playing in clubs and would say why don't you try country? I think you would do really well in it. And so we did and we loved it. And we started listening to more and more country music. Our friends would go to America and come back and bring us records and it was great.

TOSHINSKY: You know, I was just thinking that we actually played on the streets in Moscow back in 1991, you know. And so, we really came a long way and now we're Grammy nominated and that blows my mind.

WHITFIELD: Wow! It blows everyone's mind, and you know, so does your music. So we really appreciate you guys joining us this afternoon and good luck to you this evening. Ilya Toshinsky and Lydia Salnikova. And you're up for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

TOSHINSKY: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: And of course, folks can find you album already out there in the record stores, right?

TOSHINSKY: Yes.

SALNIKOVA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bering Strait, thank you very much.

TOSHINSKY: Thank you very much.

SALNIKOVA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good luck to you.

SALNIKOVA: Thank you.

TOSHINSKY: All right, bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 23, 2003 - 10:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: They may not sound it, but guess what, they're Russian. And Russia's latest musical export is all country music. The group, Bering Strait, is up for a Grammy at tonight's award show in New York and it's nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance for the song, "Bering Strait." And the song is off the group's self-titled debut album, "Bering Strait." And this Grammy morning -- or we should say noontime now, afternoon, we welcome one-third of the country band, guitarist, Ilya Toshinsky and singer, Lydia Salnikova and they are both in New York.
Good to both of you.

ILYA TOSHINSKY, GUITARIST, BERING STRAIT: Thank you.

LYDIA SALNIKOVA, SINGER, BERING STRAIT: Good to see you. Actually, I'm...

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry.

SALNIKOVA: ... a guitar player and a vocalist. So we have another singer in the band.

WHITFIELD: OK, very good. And I did see that on your video or part of the documentary that you all sent us. Well, congratulations...

SALNIKOVA: I just want to make sure.

WHITFIELD: ... to both of you.

SALNIKOVA: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry, Lydia, what did you say?

SALNIKOVA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. I thought I stumped all over your comments there. All right, you guys have some explaining to do here because you're really throwing a lot of folks off. You're young, you're Russian, and you've got this country music sound and then, here you go, you got a Grammy nomination and your album was just released last month. So how do you explain that you've kind of got all of this attention and you're still so new after your American performance debut?

TOSHINSKY: Well, actually, our instrumental got released to CMT last autumn, I believe, and that's why -- how we got into the Grammy thing, you know.

SALNIKOVA: Just because -- you just have your commercial single out and then the members of the recording academy, they just can vote for you. If you get enough votes, they put you as nominees.

WHITFIELD: And that's so remarkable, though, that you would get that kind of attention after just that one single, after that one performance debut, and then, you know, just on the heels of your album released. You're getting all this attention. Are you finding that so many people are your fans who are not necessarily just country music fans?

TOSHINSKY: Right, it's pretty incredible. You know, we've been -- our lives completely changed in the last month and a half. We're getting so much attention, you know. We're getting a lot of coverage. We're very excited.

SALNIKOVA: Yes, it's so great. And actually, about this nomination, there are so many people in Nashville that are Recording Academy members that they have been following our careers even before we had an album out for so many years. And so they just wanted to support us, really -- probably just to -- just Nashville's musicians to get us nominated.

WHITFIELD: And Lydia, you know, you were all -- you know, you mentioned that you've got vocalists and of course, you've got instrumentalists, so you really are all, you know, dynamic musicians and you're able to show that whether it's the voices, your instrument or your, you know, using your fingers to help play an instrument. All right, you know, what was the influence in Russia? How is it that you were from this small town there and you were able to kind of borrow, if you will, from some notable country music artists? Are you getting a lot of country music influence while you were growing up there?

SALNIKOVA: Well, I think...

(CROSSTALK)

TOSHINSKY: Oh, well, actually, the band started out in 1988. I was one of the first original member and we couldn't get a lot of music of bluegrass or country. But the situation had changed in the late '80s and the borders opened up and you know, we started getting a lot of music through people that traveled back and forth, you know. So I got to listen to Earl Scruggs (ph), and the Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band came over and Roy Clark and Ricky Skaggs. So we were -- started to get a little bit of music and we got so excited about it and we decided we wanted to give it a try.

WHITFIELD: And so, Lydia, why don't you explain how you guys even got together because you didn't necessarily all, you know, join one another voluntarily. Weren't you selected by a teacher of some sort?

SALNIKOVA: Yes, there was a classical guitar teacher that started the band in 1988 and he just picked his best students and formed them into a band. As Ilya said, he was the first one and then people came in at different stages. I came in the band in 1995 and, of course, I was playing keyboard so I wasn't one of his students. But anyway, they were playing bluegrass and we slowly started shifting into country because a lot of American people had heard us playing in clubs and would say why don't you try country? I think you would do really well in it. And so we did and we loved it. And we started listening to more and more country music. Our friends would go to America and come back and bring us records and it was great.

TOSHINSKY: You know, I was just thinking that we actually played on the streets in Moscow back in 1991, you know. And so, we really came a long way and now we're Grammy nominated and that blows my mind.

WHITFIELD: Wow! It blows everyone's mind, and you know, so does your music. So we really appreciate you guys joining us this afternoon and good luck to you this evening. Ilya Toshinsky and Lydia Salnikova. And you're up for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

TOSHINSKY: Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: And of course, folks can find you album already out there in the record stores, right?

TOSHINSKY: Yes.

SALNIKOVA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bering Strait, thank you very much.

TOSHINSKY: Thank you very much.

SALNIKOVA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Good luck to you.

SALNIKOVA: Thank you.

TOSHINSKY: All right, bye-bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com