Something horrible happened to Sasha. I often think about it, honestly, and if I was not so pragmatic and, at times, cynical, I would try to figure out even more as to why it happened to him. It is impossible to understand, and difficult to believe, but our short acquaintance is actually a strange story, and, unfortunately for him, a fateful one.

 

It was strange how it all came about. I was driving somewhere and on the radio I heard an interview with (Filipp) Kirkorov, about how he was going to put on the musical ‘Chicago’. I adore this musical, and immediately I called him up. We decided that, given the complexity of the text, and the humor, it might be more than his writers could handle, so we would need a good translator, and not just simply a translator, but someone with the skill to rewrite the prose. Lenny Kaganov suggested talking with Sasha. He knew him well, and admired him back when he was one of the writers over at the ‘OSP-studios’ comedy show.

 

Back then the practice of translating musicals was not yet so extensive, and I thought: Why not Sasha? So I called him up. I remember that he was terribly surprised. He said he was sitting at work, translating some technical description of a certain gadget, and when I phoned he was trying to find something funny about the process. Later, he told me that he could not even understand who it could be calling, or why, and what in the world they could possibly want from him. When I told him that Kirkorov was coming to pick him up that evening, I think he was completely stunned.

 

We tested his limits, and for a long time he had trouble believing what was happening. When he started to believe, I think it was then that he realized it was now really his story, a story that he found both pleasant and interesting, and one into which he would pour his heart and soul. So he went to work on it, though more with Filipp than me, and I did not interfere much. Only later, when we were sitting and correcting the final version, choosing from two scripts — one by Sasha and the other by Filipp’s writers — I remember that I was pleasantly surprised by all his formulations, many of which were very subtle, and how everything was absolutely rhythmic, musical, subtle, and preserved the right intonations and puns. In general I got a pleasant sensation out of his text, and I clearly sensed his potential and his interest in the whole process, as well as his willingness to work hard. Back then I still did not know that he wrote, translated, and performed songs…

 

Later there was the premiere, where we met up with Sasha and Sveta, and we were all happy about this marvelous twist of fate… But fate later coiled about in such a way that we got a look into the eyes of a serpent.

 

Misha and I went to ‘Nord-Ost’ about a week before the capture. We liked it a lot. It is perhaps highly likely, though I cannot remember for sure, I may have even advised Sasha to go see this musical, because he just had to study this creative work, in fact it was overdue and beckoning. He said he certainly would. That was the last time I talked with him.

 

He could have become a very popular writer. I often think about this. That is all I can do.

 

 

Written by Tatiana Lazareva, television personality.

It was not by chance that Alexander Karpov was among the hostages at 'Nord-Ost'. He was the translator of 'Chicago', a musical whose producers included Alla Pugacheva and Filipp Kirkorov. He was attracted by this genre in its size and scale, so how could he avoid the work of his colleagues?

I met Alex's parents while they were standing by the gates of Clinical Hospital No. 13, along with the relatives of other victims. They already knew that Alex's wife Svetlana was there, but they could not find Alex. That evening I called Alex's father, Sergey Nikolayevich, on his cell phone.

«Alex is dead,» he answered in a detached voice. «He was in the morgue at Botkin Hospital.»

Yesterday morning Alex's mother, Tatiana Ivanovna, called the paper. «You wanted to know about Alex? Come on over.» That evening I was in the Karpov home.

«Svetlana said that Alex conducted himself quietly and with dignity,» said Tatiana Ivanovna. «They waited until the last minute and hoped for help. They believed, naturally, that they'd make it. They held each other's hand to the last, and fell asleep together. Sveta woke up, but Alex didn't…»

He was carried out among the last, probably because he was so big.

A poster with a picture of Alex hangs near the elevator in the stairwell of their apartment building. Friends — other bards — wrote on it: author and performer of songs, literary humorist, and soloist with the Celtic music ensemble. Alex wrote hundreds of songs and humorous essays. He was a splendid translator, translating everything: romance novels, mysteries, the rock opera 'Jesus Christ', and even scientific articles.

In childhood they considered Alex a prodigy.

«He learned to read very early, and the doctors advised us to hide some books from him, especially serious literature with scientific tendencies, so that such early reading didn't influence his psyche,» recalled Tatiana Ivanovna. In this regard, Alex wrote a funny story called 'The Tale of how Karpov did not turn out a child prodigy'.

He had many other, not so serious, talents. For example, his friends say that he could instantly recite an entire phrase backwards. All this was training. It was his desire to subordinate a word so that the lines he was writing would read easily and smoothly.

He started on the biggest job of his life, but only completed the first step.

«When I was selecting a translator for 'Chicago',» said Filipp Kirkorov, «and Tanya Lazareva from OSP-Studio brought Alex, I was astonished. He made no financial demands, but immediately set to work. For me the human factor is in first place, and I immediately understood that I could work with Alex, that this was an amazing person. He was like a big child. Everyone who worked on 'Chicago' loved him. The Americans respected him, because there were a lot of slang expressions in 'Chicago', and Alex adapted them to Russian magnificently. When there were questionable moments, he didn't sleep all night, but by morning he already had ready such convenient, easy to sing phrases that they seemed to have been sent to him by God himself. It was 100% Alex's credit that we were able to bring the musical to audiences. We had other jobs for Alex, and wanted him to translate the famous Broadway musical 'Victor-Victoria'.»

«Did Alla Pugacheva know that Alex was among the hostages when she went to 'Nord-Ost' (while the hostages were still being held)?»

«Yes, Alex was among those who Alla Borisovna wanted to exchange for herself, but it never worked out.»

«You know,» continued Filipp, «Not long before his tragic loss he sent me strange email. There was a drawing of Alex lying on the sofa with his eyes closed, with his arms behind his head and he was curled up into a ball, and it was a very sad essay, as if he sensed something bad. I was getting ready to send him a reply: 'To Alex — what's with you? We still have work to do!» but I put if off, as always, until later… We were shocked at what happened."

Alex has two brothers, Nikolai and Ivan. His family refers to him as 'Brother-1' (after a Russian gangster movie).

«I was approaching my stairwell,» wrote Alex in one of his mini-stories, «and I'd forgotten my keys. I called on the intercom, and unexpectedly I hear my brother's voice: 'Hello? Please excuse me but I can't open the door right now. Please leave a message at the sound of the tone'.»

One has the feeling that he will return to the door again, and leave a message…

Alex's friends bought Svetlana a cell phone and inputted all their numbers for her — 300 in all.

Memory is in the records and photographs, they wrote on his poster. Memory is in the strings of our guitars. Memory is in our hearts…