- For other meanings of the word, see Bard (disambiguation).
| Author song/Bard music | |
| Stylistic origins | |
|---|---|
| Cultural origins |
1950s, Russian SFSR
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| Typical instruments | |
| Mainstream popularity | Became popular in the '60s, which is considered to be its "Golden age". This article is about literature from Russia For the song by Maxïmo Park, see Our Earthly Pleasures. Russian music specifically deals with the folk music traditions of the ethnic Russian people. Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with Speech. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles The Russian guitar is a seven-string acoustic Guitar that arrived in Russia toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century most probably Since the '70s its popularity declined, but nevertheless it is popular and appreciated even today . Russian rock traces its roots to bard music. Russian rock ( Pусский рок) refers to Rock music made in Russia and/or in Russian. |
| Regional scenes | |
| The biggest scene was in Moscow, where it started, but all cities in the Soviet Union had their scenes. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Major festival is Grushinsky festival. Grushinsky festival (Грушинский фестиваль is an annual Russian bard song festival that has been taking place since 1968. | |
The term bard (бард) came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Year 1960 ( MCMLX) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Singer-songwriter is a term that refers to Performers who write, compose and sing their own material including Lyrics Because in bard music songwriters perform their own songs, the genre is also commonly referred to as author song (авторская песня). Bard poetry differs from other poetry mainly in the fact that it is sung along with a simple guitar melody as opposed to being spoken. Another difference is that this form of poetry focuses less on style and more on meaning. This means that fewer stylistic devices are used, and the poetry is often in the form of a narrative. What separates bard poetry from other songs is the fact that the music is far less important than the lyrics; chord progressions are often very simple and tend to repeat from one bard song to another. A chord progression (also chord sequence and harmonic progression or sequence) is a series of chords played in order A far more obvious difference was the commerce-free nature of the genre; songs were written to be sung and not to be sold.
Stylistically, the precursor to bard songs were Russian "city romances" which touched upon common life and were popular throughout all layers of Russian society in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. These romances were traditionally written in a minor key and performed with a guitar accompaniment.
Bard poetry may be roughly classified into two main genres: tourist song and political song, although some other subgenres may be recognized, such as outlaw song (blatnaya pesnya) and pirate song. Russian Shanson - also spelt Chanson (from French " Chanson " is a Neologism for a Musical genre covering a range of Russian songs based on the
Initially the term "bard" was used by fans of the tourist song, and outside these circles, the term was often perceived as ironic. However there was a need for a term to distinguish this style of song from the traditional kind of concert song, and the term eventually stuck.
Many bards performed their songs for small groups of people using a Russian guitar, and rarely, if ever, would they be accompanied by other musicians or singers. The Russian guitar is a seven-string acoustic Guitar that arrived in Russia toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century most probably Those who became popular would be able to hold modest concerts. Bards were rarely permitted to record their music, given the political nature of many songs. As a result, bard tunes usually made their way around via the copying of amateur recordings (known as magnitizdat) made at concerts, particularly those songs that were of a political nature. Magnitizdat (in Russian магнитиздат is a term used to describe the process of re-copying and self distributing live audio tape recordings in the Soviet Union
Contents |
Types of songs
Tourist song
During the Brezhnev era of stagnation in the history of the Soviet Union, camping, especially its extreme forms such as alpinism, kayaking/canoeing, and canyoning, became a form of escapism for young people, who felt that these activities were the only ways of life in which such values as courage, friendship, risk, trust, cooperation, and mutual support still mattered. The Cold War ensued as the USSR and the United States struggled indirectly for influence around the world The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Definition Camping describes a range of activities Survivalist campers set off with little more than their boots whereas Recreational vehicle travelers arrive equipped “Alpinist” redirects here See also Alpinist (magazine Mountaineering is the Sport, Hobby or Profession of Kayaking is the use of a Kayak for moving across water Kayaking is generally differentiated from Canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of Canoeing is the activity of paddling a Canoe for the purpose of recreation (also called a float trip Sport, or transportation. Canyoning (known as canyoneering in the US is traveling in Canyons using a variety of techniques that may include Walking, Scrambling, Escapism is mental diversion by means of Entertainment or Recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant aspects of daily stress.
A notable subgenre of the Tourist song was the Sea song. As with other tourist songs, the goal was to sing about people in hard conditions where true physical and emotional conflicts appear. Vladimir Vysotsky had several songs of this sort since his style suited them perfectly. Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotskyj) ( January 25 1938 &ndash July Many of Alexander Gorodnitsky's songs are about the sea since he actually had the opportunity to experience life at sea. Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky (Алекса́ндр Моисе́евич Городни́цкий (b While some songs were simply about sailors, others were about pirates. With the romanticism of songs like Brigantine by Pavel Kogan, pirate songs are still popular at "author song" concerts today. Pavel Davidovich Kogan (Павел Давидович Коган July 7, 1918, Kiev – September 23, 1942, near Novorossiysk Almost every bard has at least one song with this motif in it.
This type of bard poetry was tolerated by the government, and it lived under the definition of author song (avtorskaya pesnya), i. e. , songs sung primarily by the authors themselves, as opposed to those sung by professional singers (although professionals often "borrowed" successful author songs for their repertoire). Another name for this genre was "amateur song" (samodeyatelnaya pesnya, literally translated as "do-it-yourself song" or "self-made song"). This term reflects the cultural phenomenon of the Soviet Union called "amateur performing arts," or khudozhestvennaya samodeyatelnost. It was a widespread, often heavily subsidized occupation of Soviet people in their spare time. Every major industrial enterprise and every kolkhoz had a Palace of Culture or at least a House of Culture for amateur performers to practice and perform. A kolkhoz () plural kolkhozy, was a form of Collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state Farms ( Sovkhoz, Palace of Culture ( dvorets kultury, 文化宫 wénhuà gōng) or House of Culture ( dom kultury) was the name for major Club -houses Many of them, as well as many universities, had Clubs of Amateur Song ("Klub samodeyatelnoy pesni", or KSP), which, in fact, were clubs of bard song and which stood quite apart from the mainstream Soviet "samodeyatelnost'". Many of the best tourist songs were composed by Yuri Vizbor who participated and sang about all the sports described above, and Alexander Gorodnitsky who spent a great deal of time sailing around the world on ships and on scientific expeditions to the far North. Yuri Vizbor (Юрий Иосифович Визбор ( June 20 1934 &ndash September 17 1984) was a well-known Russian bard Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky (Алекса́ндр Моисе́евич Городни́цкий (b
Grushinsky festival trace its origins to tourist song fan meetings, but now includes song from all genres. Grushinsky festival (Грушинский фестиваль is an annual Russian bard song festival that has been taking place since 1968.
Political song
Songs of this kind expressed protest against the Soviet way of life. A protest song is a Song which Protests against perceived problems in Society. The genre varied from acutely political, "anti-Soviet" songs, fitting perfectly under the infamous Article 58, to witty satire in the best traditions of Aesop. Anti-Sovietism and Anti-Soviet refer to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or the Soviet power within the Soviet Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on February 25, 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities Aesop (also spelled Æsop, from the Greek Αἴσωπος — Aisōpos) (620-560 BC) known only for the genre of Fables Some of Bulat Okudzhava's songs touch on these themes. Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (also transliterated as Boulat Okudjava / Okoudjava / Okoudzhava; Булат Шалвович Окуджава
Vladimir Vysotsky was perceived as a political song writer, but later he gradually made his way into the more mainstream culture. Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotskyj) ( January 25 1938 &ndash July It was not so with Alexander Galich, who was eventually forced to emigrate; owning a tape with his songs could mean a prison term in the USSR. Alexander Galich (Александр Аркадьевич Га́лич (born Alexander Aronovich Ginzburg October 19, 1918 – December 15, Before emigration, he suffered from KGB persecution, as did another bard, Yuliy Kim. KGB ( Transliteration of "КГБ" is the Russian abbreviation of Committee for State Security ( Komityet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosty Yuliy Chersanovich Kim (Юлий Черсанович Ким born December 23, 1936) is one of Russia 's foremost bards and Playwrights Others, like Evgeny Kliachkin and Aleksander Dolsky, maintained a balance between outright anti-Soviet and plain romantic material. Evgeny Isaakovich Kliachkin (Russian Евгений Клячкин March 23 1934 in Leningrad &ndash July 30 1994 in Israel Alexander Alexandrovich Dolsky (Александр Александрович Дольский (born on July 7 1938 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg Since most of the bards' songs were never permitted by Soviet censorship, most of them, however innocent, were considered to be anti-Soviet, in addition to being romantic or tourist. Censorship in the Soviet Union was pervasive and strictly enforced
Paradoxically, "songs" from pro-Communist plays by Bertolt Brecht, supposedly criticizing fascism and capitalist society (and thus applauded by the Soviets), could be seen as perfectly fitting Article 58 as well, and hence were popular among bards. (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. Fascism is a totalitarian nationalist and corporatist ideology Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where These were often called zongs (German pronunciation of the word 'Song'). The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Below is a quotation from a 'zong', translated from the Russian:
- Rams are marching in rows.
- Drums are rattling.
- The skin for these drums
- Is the rams' own.
The most obvious political accusation would be the humiliation of Soviet "peaceful demonstrations," held several times a year all over the Soviet Union, but the actual idea is deeper than that.
Outlaw songs
These songs, known in Russian as blatnaya pesnya, or more recently as shanson, originated long before the bards appeared in the Soviet Union. Russian Shanson - also spelt Chanson (from French " Chanson " is a Neologism for a Musical genre covering a range of Russian songs based on the Their origin can be traced as far back as the first decade of the 20th century. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on While not differing much in style from other bard songs, these songs can be compared in their content to modern rap: glorification of crime and city romance. Hip hop music, also referred to as rap music, is a Music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rap which is accompanied with These songs reflected the breakup of the structure and rules of the old Russian society.
Since the 1930s, new outlaw songs had emerged from the Gulags. The Gulag was the government agency that administered the penal labor camps of the Soviet Union. Many of these songs were concerned with innocent people who were sent to the labour camps, rather than with criminals. It should be noted that some songs were actually composed in the camps, while others were inspired by them, but the result was the same - honest songs about victims under harsh conditions.
During the Khrushchev Thaw years, many were released from the camps, and with them came their songs. Khrushchev's Thaw or the Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s when repression and Censorship in the Soviet Union Bards such as Alexander Gorodnitsky learned of these anonymous songs and started singing them. Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky (Алекса́ндр Моисе́евич Городни́цкий (b At that point, the songs gained a more symbolic meaning of struggle against oppression. Bards such as Alexander Rosenbaum also wrote many humorous outlaw songs about the Jewish mafia in Odessa. Alexander Rosenbaum (Алекса́ндр Я́ковлевич Розенба́ум Aleksandr Jakovlevič Rozenbaum) (born September 15 1951 in Leningrad ODESSA which stands for the German phrase O rganisation d er e hemaligen SS - A ngehörigen which in turn translates Many of these songs were inspired by authors like Isaac Babel. Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel, Исаак Эммануилович Бабель ( – January 27, 1940) was a Soviet journalist playwright and short story writer who
Other songs
Even more common than the Tourist songs were songs about life (usually life in the USSR). Nearly every bard wrote a significant number of songs on this theme. The setting is very frequently urban, often in major cities such as Moscow (particularly the Arbat). "Arbat" redirects here For other uses see Arbat (disambiguation. Some songs of this type, such as the ones by Yuri Vizbor and Vladimir Vysotsky, took a very direct approach and used simple and honest language to illustrate life. Yuri Vizbor (Юрий Иосифович Визбор ( June 20 1934 &ndash September 17 1984) was a well-known Russian bard Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotskyj) ( January 25 1938 &ndash July Other bards, such as Bulat Okudzhava, took a more symbolic approach and expressed their views on life through extended metaphors and symbolism. Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (also transliterated as Boulat Okudjava / Okoudjava / Okoudzhava; Булат Шалвович Окуджава
Another type of song that appeared in Russia long before the bards was the War Song. Many of the most famous bards wrote numerous songs about war, particularly The Great Patriotic War (WWII). The term Great Patriotic War (Великая Отечественная война Velikaya Otechestvennaya Vojna) is used in Russia and some other Bards had various reasons for writing and singing songs about war. Okudzhava, who actually fought in the war, used his sad and emotional style to illustrate the futility of war in songs such as "The Paper Soldier" ("Бумажный Солдат"). Vladimir Vysotsky wrote songs about war simply because they provided that extreme setting in which honour and emotional strength are needed, and a man's true character can be seen. Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky (Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotskyj) ( January 25 1938 &ndash July Vysotsky's war songs were praised by veterans for their extreme success in portraying war, despite the fact that the poet did not actually serve in the military. Yuri Vizbor wrote war songs in which the people involved in the war were the most important element, rather than the war itself. Yuri Vizbor (Юрий Иосифович Визбор ( June 20 1934 &ndash September 17 1984) was a well-known Russian bard In these songs, the war would often be happening in the background while the actual song would be in the style of the Tourist song, with emphasis on nature and human emotions.
Some bards (most famously, Sergey Nikitin and Tatyana Nikitina) also wrote children's songs for various festivals and plays. Tatyana Khashimovna Nikitina (Татьяна Хашимовна Никитина born December 31 1945) is a prominent Russian bard, physicist These songs enjoyed great success, as the poets chose to write them in the same fashion as their other songs. This resulted in songs that, while directed at children, still had deep meaning behind them and were enjoyed by adults.
Famous bards of the Soviet era
- Vladimir Vysotsky
- Victor Berkovsky
- Alexander Dolsky
- Alexander Dulov
- Alexander Galich
- Alexander Gorodnitsky
- Alexander Gradsky
- Evgeny Kliachkin
- Yuliy Kim
- Arik Krupp
- Yuri Kukin
- Novella Matveyeva
- Sergey Nikitin
- Tatyana Nikitina
- Bulat Okudzhava
- Alexander Rosenbaum
- Yuri Vizbor
- Vlad Kaplan
See also
External links
- Artist's song
- bardrock.com - modern bard music
- Bards.ru (Russian) - information, pictures, lyrics and sound
- Author's song
- Literary Kicks: The Soviet Underground - information and some translations
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