Alexander Zhikharev – Singing Bronze

Alexander Zhikharev was born in 1951 in the village Khoroshevo, which is now the Moscow region Khoroshevo-Mnevniki. after he got out of the army, he started working at the factory VILS [All-Union Institute of Light Alloys] & there poured his first bell. down the road, Alexander served as a bell ringer in the Kremlin & the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, researching manyyears to realize a way to replicate the bells dreamy resonances. In 1988, he found a form that is comparable in sound to the traditional bells and decided to call it ‘Hammer Icon’ or bila. They were flat, bronze & brass plaques, varying in size & weight, which emitted a surprisingly beautiful tone, quite unlike anything that sounds.