The happy times when cover versions freely roamed the world!
Here is the Soviet version of the international hit Porque te vas - Because You Go. It was released in the late 1970s (1978) by the group called Jolly Fellows (Весёлые ребята). The soloist is Lyudmilla Barykina (Людмила Барыкина).
In its time it was the hottest, sexiest number all over the vast Soviet Union. And those who, like myself, remember those times will have misty eyes while listening.
I put here two versions of the song. One, for the value of the contemporary film footage of young people dancing away, and the second, for the photos of Barykina, who sports an Angela Davis afro in some.
The lyrics in Russian, by Vladimir Lugovoy (Владимир Луговой) run, roughly, as follows: 'Time will pass, and you'll forget all that was between us, that last time, that last time. No, I am no longer waiting for you, but know that I was in love then for the last time, the last time — posledniy raz.'
And here is the original hit by Jeanette (1976) — Porque te vas
It's Easter. While the lamb is roasting here's a quick post.
In case you haven't heard it in Russian, here's Mary Magdalene's aria 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' from the stage version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit at Moscow's Mossovet Theatre (2009).
Mary is played by Daria Moroz and the voice (apparently) is by Pelageya, a famous pop-singer.
It looks like there are several different Russian versions of Tim Rice's lyrics but I couldn't find the one they sing in this clip.
Jesus Christ Superstar filtered in into the Soviet Union in the 70-s with an amazing swiftness. I was still a school student when first vynil discs and tape recordings appeared. We learned the words, the music and would have group sing-alongs, chanting 'Hosanna' and 'Jesus Christ — Superstar' whith our komsomol badges on the lapels. For many, it was the first chance to get to know the Gospel and think what it means.
The first is a clip from the 1973 Soviet film 'He Who Shies Hardship Never Finds Happiness' ("Горя бояться - счастья не видать".) It is sung by the Belorussian folk-pop group Pesnyary ("Песняры") who were part of the Russian folk revival at the time. Lead vocal is by Leonid Bortkevich, musical version by O.Yanchenko, Burns' lyrics translated by Samuil Marshak.
In this second clip from 2009 Auld Lang Syne is sung by the chamber choir of the Mary Republic Technical University (Mary-El is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation.) The singing starts at 1:45 minutes into the video. Apparently this is from the choir's tenth anniversary celebration ceremony.
In connection with the Pussy Riot case, the phrase 'Bogoroditsa ne velit' has often been quoted.
The feminist punk band used as a refrain in their performance the words 'Virgin Mother, get rid of Putin'. While it has been widely quoted in Western press, the link, which is obvious to any Russian, may have been lost on the Western reader.
In fact it comes from Alexander Pushkin's epic historical drama 'Boris Godunov' (1831).
Boris was Ivan the Terrible's lieutenant. When Ivan died in 1584 leaving a weak son, Feodor, on the throne, Godunov became a de-facto ruler. And after Feodor died in 1598 Godunov was crowned as the new tsar.
He was an efficient administrator and reformer, but persistent rumours of his involvement in the alleged murder of Ivan's other son from his seventh marriage, tsarevitch Dimitriy. The rumours were, apparently, stirred by Godunov's enemies. Soon after Godunov died in 1605 his young son and widow were murdered. This marked the advent of 'the Time of Troubles', when effective rule was non-existent, the Poles invaded Russia and put their stooge, the False Dimitriy on the throne of Moscow. A popular uprising ensued and eventually the first of the Romanov's, Mikhail was selected as tsar.
Russia had to wait another hundred years for a successful reformer, Peter the Great.
Godunov's personality and the Time of Troubles have long fascinated Russian writers. To Russia, Godunov and tsarevitch Dimitriy in historical and literary terms is what Richard and the Princes in the Tower is to England.
The clip below is from Mussorgsky's classic opera 'Boris Godunov' (1868-73), based on Pushkin's poem. Tsar Boris is challenged by the city's Simpleton (Yurodiviy), here sung by Ivan Kozlovsky, to have the street boys, who had stolen a kopeck from him, to be slaughtered 'like you slaughtered tsarevitch Dimitriy.'
The tsar recoils and his aides want to arrest the Simpleton. Boris stops them and asks the Simpleton to pray for him. But the Simpletion says 'No, I can't, Virgin Mary, Mother of God (Bogoroditsa) does not allow this'.
The 'aaa-aaa' note in the Simpleton's aria is one of the most beautiful in Russian opera.
Illustration: detail of the painting by Vassily Surikov 'The Boyarinya Morozova', 1887, o/c, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
A friend reminded me about this song today. Because Manchester City plays Liverpool and he is a great football fan and a great francophile.
Me, I have been boycotting football ever since the brilliant Dutch side of Johan Cruyff lost in the final of 1974 World Cup to the cautious bores of Franz Beckenbauer. I decided then that there is something wrong with the game and nothing has prompted me to change my mind since.
But I am not writing about footbal. 'Manchester and Liverpool' is a song that had served as the background music to the weather forecast at the end of 'Programma Vremya' (Time), the main Soviet TV news programme at 9:00 PM.
Just imagine: 250 million people had listened to this same tune day after day for more nearly twenty years!
Few knew what it was, it was just an instrumental piece. I was surprised to learn it was foreign when my father, who had just returned to Moscow after a long stint abroad, told me its title.
I am not sure why this particular melody was chosen for the Soviet weather forecast, some TV boss must have been smitten by the French film star and folk-pop singer Marie Laforêt.
But it's a lovely song and still touches nostalgic strings in the hearts of former Soviet citizens.
The opening music was Georgi Sviridov's triumphant 'Time, Forward'. It is still the signature tune for 'Vremya.'
Here is Marie Laforêt singing her 1967 hit:
And here is a sample weather forecast at the end of 'Vremya':
Russia marks Victory Day today known as VE Day in Britain and Victoire in France.
In the past years the holiday has been built up in Russia as the day of national pride. A drumbeat of patriotic pomp and circumstance accompanies parades and celebrations in Moscow and throughout the country. (Wearing St.George's ribbon badge for Victory day was introduced in 2005. The gold and black are traditional colours of the Russian Empire.)
The literary and musical legacy of the Great Patriotic war, as world war two is known in Russia, is truly amazing.
Contemporaries and historians note, however, that real hits that soldiers and families took to heart were not the patriotic marches and songs of military feats but lyrical numbers, songs about love and personal loyalty in the face of death and separation.
The war also partially opened up Stalin's Soviet Union to Western pop culture.
In 1943 Leonid Utyosov, the popular singer and musician, released his version of the American song Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer, by Harold Adamson и Jimmie McHugh, a number 1 hit in 1943. In Russian it was called Bombardirovshiki – The Bombers. The lyrics were written by T.Sykorskaya and S.Bolotin who kept the words close to the English original.
They changed the key line in refrain, though, from 'on a prayer' to 'on the word of honour' – na chestnom slove. This Russian idiom means 'only just managing', 'just holding on', in poor condition. Translators' find also avoided the religious reference that would have been frowned upon in Soviet times.
In this video Utyosov sings Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer with daughter Edith. The footage is from the US film Memphis Belle. In the Russian version of Tetradki I publish a video with both English and Russian versions of the song superimposed over footage from the same film.
And this is a country style take on the song in a very smokey 1997 video version by the Russian group Chizh and Co.
Engelbert Humperdink has been selected to represent Britain at Eurovision.
It is hoped that his experience will attract the audiences.
'It has become an annual television ritual: the UK’s humiliation at Eurovision.' writes the Telegraph. 'Boy bands, pop flops, rappers and a former X Factor finalist have all bid for glory, only to end up with egg on their faces and the ignominy of being beaten by an Israeli transsexual or a Finnish heavy metal act. This year, the brains behind the UK entry have taken a radical new direction.'
The UK Eurovision single is not yet released, but it is said to fit with the 75-year-old crooner's style.
Here is his version of the Russian song Those Were the Days:
The Russian version of Tetradki runs a series of posts with Those Were the Days in different languages and versions, including Bonnie Tyler and Dolly Parton. Click here to see all the posts with Those Were the Days.
Original song was written by Boris Fomin with the words by Konstantin Podrevsky. It became an emigré hit in 1920s. In 1960s American Gene Raskin wrote English lyrics to the Russian music. The song became an international hit in the 1968 version produced by Paul McCartney with the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin at Apple studios. And was newly discovered in Russia.
Russian version of this post is here and see more clips in the 2012 post here.
Auld Lang Syne is well known in Russia – and throughout Russophonia – both as a melody and in Samuil Marshak's translation of Robert Burns' poem, though not necessarily as a New Year celebratory song. The Russian version is called Zastolnaya – Drinking Song. Can't limit this just to New Year, can we?
This is the 1973 song version by the Belorussian group the Pesnyary. The sound is not very good, but it gives an idea of their trademark folk-pop interpretation and a distinct Belorussian accent.
Music by O.Yanchenko, original lyrics by Robert Burns, translated by Samuil Marshak. Leonid Bortkevich, the group's lead singer, was married to Olga Korbut, the legendary Soviet gymnast, also a Belorussian. The photos in the clip are of them as a family couple.
And here is a humorous medley, that includes the Pesnyary version too:
Silent Night was hardly known or ever performed until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union twenty years ago. Now it is as much a part of Christmas and New Year celebrations in Russia as it is everywhere.
British workers are on strike today – because people are fuming over cuts and pension age hike.
Despite the massive anti-strike propaganda pre-strike opinion polls showed that 61 percent of the public support the industrial action. It is expected to be the largest industrial action since the 70s. Estimates say that around 2 million workers will be on strike today. Follow the events on Twitter with #strike or #november30 hashtags.
Here is what some of the tweets say today:
-Average female NHS worker's pension: £3,500. Average Managing Director's pension: £224,121. That's why we #strike. -When we're all working at 70 with no NHS and a broken education system, at least we can say we saved the banks. #strike -Gove says it's unfair for taxpayers to support hard-working public sector workers - but footing the bill for bankers is fine. #n30#strike -Disgusted by some of the lies being told about the strikers today. As a private sector company director I support #nov30 100%. #strike
-Proud of my dad on strike today. Ashamed of this out of touch, millionaire filled government #strike#solidarity
-Today's #strike will 'cripple the economy' but the bank holiday for the royal wedding was fine and dandy? Aye right! #priorities
-School is closed. Some people not happy because the #strike is disruptive.... That's the whole point of a strike! Will take boy to toddler... [group]
I thought of posting a working class protest song, but then remebered Edith Piaf's 'Je fume' (I smoke). It's a love song with the refrain that goes 'I don't want to work, I don't want to lunch – and then I smoke'. Let's do a little fuming at what's going on:
Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva died on 22 November in the USA.
She had an amazing life, forever trying to escape from the shadow of the great dictator and never quite being able to.
Without any connection to her at all, this beautiful song, Aderyn Llwyd (Sparrow) by Mary Hopkin sprang into my memory (she recorded it in English too, listen on the Russian Tetradki):
VE Day - Den' Pobedy - is a huge holiday in Russia. It is marked on the 9th of May, not on the 8th as in Western Europe. The difference is because of the time zones - what happened late at night on 8 May in Berlin, was already the 9th Moscow time. But I also like to argue that we, Russians, celebrate the first day of peace, while in the West the last day of war is celebrated.
My correspondents write to me that over the recent years the holiday has become the biggest event in the Russian calendar of official festivities. This is probably connected to the resurgence of Russian nationalism. A multitude of militant nationalist groups practically hijack the event. There is also bitterness and anger in the former Soviet republics where nazi collaborators and nationalists who fought against the Soviet Union freely parade and harass the Red Army veterans.
However, as everywhere in Europe, in Russia the end of the Second World War was a powerful liberating moment. The soldiers returning home stood tall, walked proud, the felt free and not afraid of anything. The feeling was universal - from the private to Generalissimo himself.
Of the war books I've read recently I was most impressed by Antony Beevor's 'Stalingrad' (1998.) It has been waiting on a shelf for a long time. Something in me resisted picking it up. As a Russian, I've read many books, fiction and non-fiction, on Stalingrad. Konstantin Simonov, Vassily Grossman and others. I started on Grossman's 'Life and Fate' and then remembered that Beevor cites him often. Then I saw 'Enemy At the Gates' (Jude Law as the Russian sniper, Ed Harris his German opposition and Bob Hoskins as Khrushev) - and decided to have a go at 'Stalingrad'. It was unputdownable. I read it first in one go, then again with a pencil and a wad of stickies.
Beevor the historian is meticulous. His every sentence is supported by a wealth of documental evidence, and where that evidence is dubious or politically or ideologically slanted, he indicates it. Beevor the narrator is a brilliant master of multi-angled technique. Close-ups of events described through the eyes of participants on both sides, from ordinary riflemen to officers in the field to staff members to commanders and politicians are then interspersed with commentary and analysis, also by participants and observers. We see the unfolding battle from the trenches, through tank sites and from the cabins of airplanes above the ruined city. We go from Stalin's Stavka (HQ) to Hitler's Wolfsschanze.
The result is both a convincing historical account and an exciting read.
All over Russia today war-time songs are played. Beevor mentions the 'Dugout' (Zemlyanka) as the most popular song among the Russian soldiers. The words
It is so hard for me to come to you And here there are four steps to death.
were especially poignant, as the Army commander in Stalingrad Vassily Chuikov ordered the positions never to be farther than 50 metres away from the German lines. That made it impossible for the Germans to use heavy artillery and bomb Russian positions from air.
Here is the Dugout sung by Lidiya Ruslanova in 1942. Text of the poem in English as quoted in 'Stalingrad' is below the video.
The Dugout (or In the Dugout), lyrics by Alexei Surkov, music by Constantine Listov
The fire is flickering in the narrow stove
Resin oozes from the log like a tear
And the concertina in the bunker
Sings to me of your smile and eyes.
The bushes whispered to me about you
In a snow-white field near Moscow
I want you above all to hear
How said my living voice is.
You are now very far away
Expanses of snow lie between us
It is so hard for me to come to you
And here there are four steps to death.
Sing concertina, in defiance of the snowstorm
Call out to that happiness which has lost its way
I'm warm in the cold bunker
Because of your inextinguishable love.
This is a tribute to Mary Travers, an icon of the 1960s protest song generation, who died 16 September 2009.
The group Peter, Paul and Mary was engineered by Albert Grossman as a folk "supergroup" by bringing together "a tall blonde (Mary Travers), a funny guy (Paul Stookey), and a good-looking guy (Peter Yarrow)" in an entrepreneurial response to the stupendous popularity of protest songs that were quickly becoming a pop-culture phenomenon. They recorded their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, in 1962 having already gained a loyal audience through live singing in New York's Greenwich Village. The album included "500 Miles", "Lemon Tree", and the Pete Seeger hit tunes "If I Had a Hammer" (subtitled "(The Hammer Song)") and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?"
All of these we used to sing in Moscow in the 60s and 70s, as part of our English language education - and simply because we loved the songs. I was glad to discover that the songs live on and are being performed in Russian. The text Masha Makarova and Oleg Nesterov sing here is a true and fine translation of the original.
Where Have All the Flowers Gone is based on the Russian cossack song Koloda-Duda (Колода-Дуда) which appears in Sholokhov's novel And Quiet Flows the Don ("Тихий Дон"). Pete Seeger read the book and the song inspired him to write the Flowers. Masha Makarova and Oleg Nesterov sing Seeger's lyrics translated back into Russian. It is a fairly faithful translation but it's not clear who is the author. The circle stays unbroken.
I was looking for the Hammer Song in Russian, but couldn't find it. Please send me a link if you know of one.
(1998.) It has been waiting on a shelf for a long time. Something in me resisted picking it up. As a Russian, I've read many books, fiction and non-fiction, on Stalingrad. Konstantin Simonov, Vassily Grossman and others. I started on Grossman's 'Life and Fate' and then remembered that Beevor cites him often. Then I saw '
' (Jude Law as the Russian sniper, Ed Harris his German opposition and Bob Hoskins as Khrushev) - and decided to have a go at 'Stalingrad'. It was unputdownable. I read it first in one go, then again with a pencil and a wad of stickies.