Russian chanson

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Map of Odessa (1892)
Russian postage stamp from 1999. Motive: the singer Vladimir Vysotsky
Bulat Okudschawa in the Palace of the Republic in East Berlin (1976)
Alexander Rosenbaum (2006)
Sergei Schnurow from the band Leningrad (2007)
Psoi Korolenko (2009)

The Russian chanson ( Russian русский шансон , russki schanson ) is an independent branch of songs within Russian pop music . It is strongly influenced by the criminal half-world and underworld milieu of its time of origin in the NEP era and is still considered a form of urban folklore today . Alternative, also common names for Russian chansons are: Gaunerchansons, Criminal Songs or, in Russian, Blat-Lieder or Blatnyje pesni .

Definition of terms and genre

Unlike the French , Italian or German chansons , the Russian chansons have little to do with the tradition of the French song. Influences from the Anglo - American singer-songwriter culture are also only marginal. This form of light music was lastingly shaped by the common people, underworld and camp culture of the 1920s and 1930s. The local place of origin is the port city of Odessa . During the civil war and NEP era, it spread from the Black Sea coast to the urban centers of the Soviet Union . Although it was heavily relegated to the informal sector from the mid-1930s, it enjoyed continued popularity as an authentic expression of urban folk culture. The genre has been experiencing a renaissance since 1990 - a factor that is also reflected in radio stations that play predominantly or even exclusively Russian chansons.

A related genre that should not be confused with the original blatnyje pesni are the bard songs. Musically influenced by the American folk singers and singer-songwriters, an opposition critical of the system was also articulated musically in the 1960s and 1970s. The Bard movement , which consists mainly of intellectuals and consists of autodidacts in music , can best be compared with that of the political songwriters in Germany. Whether the bard song is a subgenre of the Russian chanson or an independent genre is controversial. Most representations tend towards the latter. However, there are observers who see the two forms more closely related and note a certain mutual influence - especially during the Brezhnev era in the 1970s.

The names are just as fluent as the exact genre location. Due to their origin in the criminal milieu of the port city of Odessa, the terms crook chansons, crook chansons or, in English, criminal songs are often used in publications . Since current performers often reject this reference for their music, the term Russian chanson has become the more harmless term . Russian names are: Shanson, southern song, or - if the reference to the tradition of crook and camp songs should explicitly come to the fore - Blatnayia pesnia (plural: Blatnyje pesni ) or also: Blatniak; Germanized form: Blat-Lied or Blat-Song.

history

The multicultural Black Sea port city of Odessa is now generally considered the birthplace of this form of entertainment song. The heterogeneous composition of the population - including numerous Italians as well as new Jewish citizens from the surrounding pale of settlement - also favored a lively cultural exchange. At the turn of the 20th century , both Italian operettas and Argentine tango had gained a foothold. There was also the klezmer music of the Jewish population, Roma music as well as fashion and folk dances such as foxtrot , Charleston and polka . During and after the civil war, jazz entertainment bands also gained a foothold. From all these elements a new form of urban folklore crystallized - the so-called Blatnyje pesni or crooks songs.

Most of these songs were created as consumer products; They usually survived their practical test in bars , beer gardens , at wedding parties or at other social gatherings. The lyricists were usually unknown, the melodies were often based on folk tunes or well-known hits. Due to the oral distribution, the texts and melodies of well-known chansons have been changed frequently. Odessa remained the stronghold of this form of song until well into the 1920s. This is where three of the most famous Blat songs were written: Gop-so-smykom , Bublitschki and Murka . All three are attributed to the composer Jakow Jadow ; Jakow's authorship is only certain for Murka. Other well-known songs were: S odesskogo kitschmana, Na Deribasowskoi otkrylas piwnaja and Limontschiki. Another world-famous song that is not directly a Blat song, but in a broader sense comes from a related environment and was later adapted by some Blat interpreters, is the Yiddish song Bei mir bistu Schein .

In the 1920s, the southern songs from Odessa gradually spread across the entire Soviet Union. In retrospect, the NEP era is considered to be the golden era of Russian crook songs - the only time in which they were a fully-fledged part of the popular light music spectrum. The jazz ensembles that were formed at this time liked to fall back on the popular repertoire of Blat's songs. One of the earliest Gop-so-smykom recordings was made by Leonid Utjossow , one of the stars of Soviet entertainment jazz. Although never entirely banned, the Criminal Songs from the Black Sea coast increasingly came into conflict with the forced socialist realism of the 1930s. Sometimes the turns in Stalinist cultural policy led to bizarre situations. For example, on the occasion of an official celebration in the mid-1930s, Ulyossov and his ensemble were asked to play S odesskogo kitschmana and some other Blat songs that the Committee for Art Affairs has since banned. In retrospect, Utjossow and others described that the tension in the hall only eased when Stalin , who himself was a fan of these songs, began to clap. Due to the increasing repression, from the end of the 1920s, another subtype joined the hitherto common crook songs - chansons that dealt with survival in the north Russian and Siberian penal camps, such as the title Kolyma.

The culturally more open climate that had prevailed during the "Great Patriotic War" was largely destroyed by the beginning of the Cold War . An important milestone was the campaign against cosmopolitanism that began in the late 1940s . The “southern songs” remained in the collective memory and lived on in the informal area. They stayed there until the end of the Soviet Union. However, the censorship was never total: Whether Blat songs or Blat-like songs were pressed onto sound carriers often depended on the zeal and effectiveness of the local control authorities. In the 1950s and 1960s, "sound carriers on ribs" - records made from old X-ray images - established themselves as a means of circumventing the ubiquitous scarcity of materials and technology . At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, another form of distribution was added: tape recordings . Initiated by resourceful underground producers and distributed via copy and further copy, they made sure that the officially not produced music found its way to their audience.

The two most important Blat interpreters of the 1970s - Vladimir Vysotsky and Arkady Severny - were also dependent in different ways on the resulting underground sales channels . As a singer and actor known beyond the Soviet Union, Vysotsky was able to participate at least halfway in the official sales structures. Stylistically, Vysotsky, considered by many to be the “greatest chansonnier in Russia”, is assigned to several genres: some see him as an interpreter of official popular music, the Estrada . Others attribute him to the bard. Still others see him, along with Sewerny, as the most important interpreter of the Blat chanson. While Vysotsky's classification is ambiguous , Arkady Severny , who was about the same age and was born in Leningrad , is considered to be the great, innovative crook chanson artist of the late Soviet music underground. Another difference: Unlike Vysotsky, whose chanson recordings were recorded either with a regular entertainment ensemble or only with guitar accompaniment, Sewerny often worked with improvised living room combos on his tape albums made between 1972 and 1980. The result: a strongly jazz-influenced sound, which is sometimes referred to as blade jazz. Other artists from this era are: Kostja Beljajew and Igor Erenburg from Odessa .

The lyrics, music and way of life of the Blat singers of the Brezhnev years, also known as "red dandies", were in many ways similar to those of the US beatniks . The title track of a well-known tape album by Arkady Severny was Anascha - a Russian slang word for hashish . The bard movement, which emerged in the 1960s, differed from the hedonistic underground blatsingers in several ways: Its supporters were intellectuals . Often autodidacts musically , they were aimed primarily at an educated audience. While the Blat interpreters of the 1970s were primarily looking for personal and creative freedom , the Bard interpreters were concerned with political criticism. Unlike the Blat singers and similar to western songwriters, the Bard interpreters mainly accompanied each other on the guitar. The main interpreters of this direction are Bulat Okudschawa and the Shanna Bitschewskaja, whom he influenced . There were also different nuances among the bard interpreters - for example more lyrically oriented or satirical . However, many of them, including Okudschawa, saw themselves as the mouthpiece of those layers who called for more civil rights or a general system change. Although interest in the bard song declined after the end of the Soviet Union, this form still fulfills a social function - in particular as a means of information and communication for the Russian and Jewish communities in exile living all over the world. Other Bard artists, some of whom are still active today, are: the couple Sergej and Tatjana Nikitin , Alexander Rosenbaum , Alexander Dolski , Alexander Gorodnitski , Alexander Galich , Juriy Garin, Galina Komschik, Juriy Wisbor and Oleg Mityaev.

With perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union , Russian chanson also experienced a new upswing. The old sales restrictions had become obsolete with the fall of the Iron Curtain . Since the beginning of the 1990s, a privately organized market for Russian pop music has gradually developed, in which all the main genres are present: Estrada light music from the Soviet Union, popular music, rock & pop "made in Russia" and current disco music. Pop (the so-called Popsa ). In the meantime a new chanson scene has emerged. In contrast to the classic Criminal Songs, the demimonde aspect (especially expressions from the Russian gutter jargon Mat ) takes a back seat . Rather, what is needed are catchy forms of presentation and song content that are acceptable to a wider audience . In addition, there have been opposing trends in recent years: young, metropolitan underground bands that put the rebellious impulses of this music more in the foreground and mixed them with contemporary styles such as rock, punk or ska .

Media and artists

The Russian music market is still strongly characterized by informal structures, connections to organized crime and music piracy . On the other hand, numerous new sales structures were created after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Chanson interpreters are also present on Russian TV . However, the Russian pop market has so far been primarily a domestic market . While popular music products from the West are definitely finding their way to the Russian audience, distribution in the opposite direction has only just begun to take place. Russian chanson is also affected by this basic market structure. On the one hand, artists and the media enjoy wide distribution. Copied media, download portals , internet radio and video films posted on YouTube and other platforms are, however, even more important media forms than in Western countries . Some radio stations in particular are well versed in the distribution of Russian chansons . The best known is Radio Chanson - a station that was launched in 2000 and is dedicated to the various branches of Russian chanson. Classic Blat songs or new editions in this style only fill niche programs. In order to keep a wider audience as an audience, a large part of the program is dominated by hit or pop music-like productions.

In the public consciousness, modern Russian chanson takes on different roles and forms. As a genre, Russian chanson has become an integral part of Russian pop culture. This also explicitly includes classic Blat songs such as Murka or Gop-so-smykom . On the other hand, there were disabilities even after the end of the Soviet Union. In several cases, official government representatives and authorities imposed bans on playing Blat transmitters or Blat music in taxis . On the other hand, a number of Blat and Bard performers have clearly distanced themselves from the rebellious roots of their music. For example, singer Michail Krug (famous hit: Vladimirsky Central) , shot by strangers in 2002 , propagated Great Russian slogans and a conservative , anti-feminist image of women in the 1990s . The well-known Bard singer Alexander Rosenbaum joined Putin's United Russia party and represented it as a Duma deputy from 2003 to 2008 . Shanna Bitschewskaja's newer songs are shaped by religious and patriotic motifs. In addition, the scene is strongly influenced by re-emigrants. The singer Michail Schufutinski, who lives partly in the USA, enjoys great popularity . Other representatives of the current Russian chanson: Michail Gulko , Grigori Leps , Irina Krug , Alexander Novikow , Katerina Golitsina and the formation Lesopowal .

Another way of interpretation has emerged in recent years in the independent rock and club scene as well as among individual performers. Above all, she emphasizes the dissident, original character of these songs and regards them in part as an original Russian form of rock'n'roll culture. The group Leningrad around the singer Sergei Schnurow became internationally known . Other formations that take up the tradition of the Criminal Songs and combine it with modern styles such as Klezmer, Ska and Punk are La Minor , Golem! ( New York ), Gogol Bordello , VulgarGrad ( Australia ), Apparatschik and Rotfront from Berlin as well as singers like Psoi Korolenko and Alexei Kortnew .

Media coverage and criticism

In Russia and neighboring countries, the stars and performers of the Russian chanson also have a strong media presence. In the Internet both professionally designed artists find websites and numerous scale of fans info pages. The reporting in the print media also reflects the popularity of the genre. In western foreign countries, appearances by relevant artists are usually the reason to provide information about Russian chanson. The English-language information platform Russia Profile described the current Russian chanson scene in an online magazine on current Russian culture in the summer of 2011 in a very benevolent manner : “Songs in the Russian language, known as Blatniaks, are very popular in Russia. You can hear them at taxi stands and in beer tents as well as on Radio Chanson - a station that claims to have eight million listeners. The texts are an important part. They deal with life in prison, love, or just the cruel irony of fate. The words are sentimental, but enriched by the slang of the criminal underclass that has grown over decades . "

Historian Marina Aptekman problematized the connection between enthusiasm for chansons and the social situation in current Russia in an article for the US Russia research information service Johnson's Russia List . According to her, the romanticization of crime that takes place in the Criminal Songs documents the power upheavals that have taken place in the new Russia. Aptekman: “People with a criminal past currently have a very stable and strong presence. They pay to promote the songs they love to hear themselves. In addition, the interest in criminal metaphors in the world of Russian criminals is part of the interest in things in general and thus an expression of the current situation. "

The German author Uli Hufen was also critical of the new Russian chanson scene. In 2010 Hufen published a book on the history of the Blat songs (The regime and the dandies. Russian crook chansons from Lenin to Putin). In terms of content, it concentrated heavily on the performers of the 1970s - especially the two epigones Arkady Severny and Kostja Beljajew. The penetration of gangster jargon set pieces into the official room also noted Hufen; A well-known example is the Putin statement that the Chechen terrorists will be "killed in the shithouse" if necessary. In Hufen's assessment, however, the criminal background of modern chansons is only artificial. His conclusion: “In short: Russian chansons are adjusted crook songs. They do not frighten the inclined listener either with lo-fi production or with bad words and thoughts. They are leaf songs without a leaf. Crook songs without crooks. Thrill without danger. Adventure without dirty hands. ” On the occasion of the publication of Hufen's book, several articles in the feature section pointed to the fact that there was more than just sadness in the Soviet Union. The weekly newspaper Freitag wrote: “Some cultures create stone idols to preserve their memories, others build churches or store memories on data carriers. In the Soviet Union, a living medium fulfilled the task of self-assurance, song. The wheel of freedom did not stand still in those years that from the Western point of view were considered to be leaden and rigid. At that time Arkady Severny saw nothing but the undead in the streets of the capital, but they - absolutely forbidden - smell of dope, as can be heard in his brilliant hashish song 'Anascha'. "

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Modern Russian Music: Bards ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Guidetorussia.org, accessed on August 22, 2011 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.guidetorussia.org
  2. a b The Russian Authors' Song ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Anna Zaytseva, kultura, May 5/2006: Popular Music in Russia, May 2006 (PDF; 508 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / deposit.d-nb.de
  3. Russia: Popsa and "Russian Chanson" , Irving Wolther, eurovision.de, March 23, 2008
  4. a b c d e f g h Uli Hufen: The regime and the dandies. Russian crooks from Lenin to Putin. Rogner & Bernhard, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8077-1057-0 .
  5. Murka - History of a Song from the Soviet Underground ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Wolf Oschlies , shoa.de, accessed on August 5, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zukunft-blassung-erinnerung.de
  6. Russia's greatest bard: Vysotsky on his 70th birthday , Russia News, January 25, 2008
  7. Modern Russian Music: Bards ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SRAS. School of Russian and Asian Studies, August 2, 2011 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sras.org
  8. a b Russian musical cultures in transition ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Mischa Gabowitsch, kultura, May 5/2006: Popular Music in Russia, May 2006 (PDF; 508 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / deposit.d-nb.de
  9. Back to the future: The renaissance of Russian crooks' songs ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Uli Hufen, kultura, May 5/2006: Popular Music in Russia, May 2006 (PDF; 508 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / deposit.d-nb.de
  10. Notes From a Russian Musical Underground: The Sound of Chanson , Sophia Kishkovsky, The New York Times , July 16, 2006
  11. Half of Russia hears crooks songs , Karsten Packeiser (epd), Russland-Aktuell , January 25, 2005
  12. Modern Russian Music: Shanson ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SRAS. School of Russian and Asian Studies, August 2, 2011 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sras.org
  13. Music: When the birthday party got out of hand , Wladimir Kaminer , Zeit Online , June 8, 2006
  14. Music that's not just for Bandits , Staff Writer, St. Petersburg Times , January 25, 2002 (English)
  15. Exclusive Germany Concert : Golem (NY) & DJ Yuriy Gurzhy , on: Website of the Jewish Community in Berlin, accessed on August 22, 2011
  16. Shanson Remains an Enormously Popular Music Style in Russia ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Rosemary Griffin, Russiaprofile, Summer 2011 edition (English, PDF; 2.5 MB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / russiaprofile.org
  17. Culture: Modern Russian History in the Mirror of Criminal Song ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Marina Aptekman, Johnson's Russia List, January 15, 2002 (English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cdi.org
  18. Uli Hufen: The regime and the dandies. Russian crooks from Lenin to Putin. Rogner & Bernhard, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-8077-1057-0 , page 260
  19. Musik auf Rippen , Christoph D. Brumme, Friday, February 14, 2011

literature

  • Uli Hufen: The regime and the dandies. Russian crooks from Lenin to Putin. Rogner & Bernhard, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-8077-1057-0 .
  • S. Frederic Starr: Red and Hot. Jazz in Russia 1917–1990. Hannibal, Vienna 1990, ISBN 3-85445-062-1 .
  • Artemy Troitsky: Rock in Russia. Pop and Subculture in the USSR. Hannibal, 1989, ISBN 3-85445-046-X .
  • David McFadyen: Red Stars. Personality and the Soviet Popular Song. McGill-Queens University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-7735-2106-2 .
  • Hilary Pilkington: Russia's Youth and its Culture. London 1994, ISBN 0-415-09043-1 .
  • Sabrina P. Ramet (Ed.): Rocking the State. Rock Music and Politics in Eastern Europe and Russia. Westview Press, Boulder 1994, ISBN 0-8133-1762-2 .
  • Jim Riordan (Ed.): Soviet Youth Culture. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1989, 1995, ISBN 0-253-35423-4 .
  • Richard Stites: Russian Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press, 1991, ISBN 0-521-36986-X .

Web links