VALENTINE HALEMBAKOV (VAL HAL)
(Guitars on ‘Forgive Me, My Son’)
“I joined UPF because of this powerful community of fellow musicians, that is very rare nowadays. Everything and everyone seems distanced from each other, using their smart devices and posting likes and dislikes on a daily basis. With UPF we can say a word to the world with the help of beautiful music and keep that connection between humans alive.”
“At age 15, while visiting friends I saw a guitar, and at once fell in love with this musical instrument. But then, I faced a small problem: it was inconvenient for me to keep a guitar in a habitual position as I was a lefthander. So I turned it, rearranged the strings and since then I have been a left-handed guitar player”.
‘Steel Fusion’ was Val Hal’s first music project where the band played various covers including Al Di Meola, who is one of Val Hal’s greatest guitar heroes. In August 2016, Val Hal took part in big project – a Russian Flash Mob of more than 100 guitarist and cellists with very special guests on stage – Steve Vai & Apocalyptica, which took place in Moscow, Green Theatre, VDNKH. Together they played two songs: “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin and Steve Vai’s “Flash Mob”. He has collaborated up to the present time on some interesting musical projects, one of which — Voices of Babylon, and many solo projects, as guest guitar solo on latest Alex Grata album, and cover project MonstArs Inc.
