Recently, there has been a rise in patriotic sentiments among artists. One of the masters of patriotic songs today is a Moscow poet, as well as a performer of copyright songs - Leonid Kornilov. How did the biography of this creative person develop? What made him join the ranks of the bards who chose a patriotic theme for their songs and poems?
Leonid Kornilov: biography
Leonid Kornilov has a long and interesting life. He was born in 1952 in the Sverdlovsk region. First, he graduated from the Naval Engineering School in the city of Murmansk. And then for some time he worked on fishing vessels as a simple sailor.
It would seem that the profession is very reliable, but the thirst for literature has taken its toll: Leonid Kornilov leaves the fleet and goes to get higher education at VGIK to the script department.
Since then, Kornilov writes a lot of not only poems, but also articles. As a journalist, he was involved in publishing the newspapers Patriot, Sovetskaya Rossiya and The Eye of the People.
In 2001, Kornilov’s first poetic collection Sotrichich saw the light of day. In 2008, the poet released the collection “With a target in the heart”, and in 2012 - “Russian Passport”.
Leonid Kornilov owns a good guitar and put some of his poems to music. Thus, as many as five studio albums of the author’s song were born.
And of course, the work of Leonid Kornilov could not be overlooked by the public - the poet is a laureate of the All-Russian contest “Songs of Resistance”.
Idols of Leonid Kornilov
The poet himself has repeatedly admitted that the work of Vladimir Vysotsky and Igor Talkov made him pick up the guitar. After the departure of these significant figures from life, the niche that they occupied in art remained unoccupied. Of course, Leonid Kornilov did not hope to replace them on the stage or do something similar, but the future poet felt the need to write his works in this style in order to continue this line in Russian art.
A funny story happened with the poet’s first guitar: he didn’t buy it in a store, because in those years it was not easy to get an instrument for money, but he found a guitar case in a landfill. Instead of strings, stern strings were pulled and, to everyone's surprise, the guitar even sounded, and it was possible to play it.
Then Leonid Kornilov began to write his first songs. The poet does not stop doing it now, although he is already over 60.
Creativity Content
As mentioned above, the work of Kornilov was greatly influenced by Vladimir Vysotsky and Igor Talkov. Therefore, when you read his works, it is not difficult to find some parallels.
First, Kornilov’s poems and songs are true. The poet calls things by their proper names, without embellishment, as Vysotsky, Talkov did, and from the classics Yesenin and other poets.
Secondly, Vysotsky often wrote on military topics - about pilots, about soldiers, and in the first person. Kornilov continues this line in the poems “Gold Epaulet”, “I was killed near Chateau”, “Chechen Syndrome”. And the “revival” of non-inspired objects, characteristic of Vysotsky’s work (“Song of the Microphone”, “Two Ships”), is continued in Kornilov’s poem Mercedes-600.
Moreover, when you listen to the manner of performing songs that is characteristic of Kornilov, it is not difficult to recognize Vysotsky’s “proprietary” hoarse and his habit of actually “shouting” songs.
So Leonid Kornilov can be safely called the successor of the creative traditions of two famous Russian poets and performers - Vysotsky and Talkov.
Leonid Kornilov: national idea
In the work of Leonid Kornilov, the patriotic line is first of all clearly visible. That patriotism that goes beyond the commitment of the “red” or “white” party. Patriotism, which is caused only by love for the native land and its traditions. Including the traditional way of life. That's what kind of patriotism is discussed in the work of Leonid Kornilov.
The poet’s biography is fully consistent with the idea that he sings in his songs. He has nothing to do with politics and the noisy world of show business. Leads a modest working life in the suburbs. He lives in a house he built with his own hands, goes hunting, and in his free time he is engaged in creativity. He talks uncompromisingly about what a Russian man should be like and complains about what the majority of young people have become who are seen on television and in government offices.
A significant part of the criticism poured from the lips of the poet until the 2000s. But in the 21st century, Russia began to change and became different, so the poet’s work became more loyal to reality.