"Chanson" (French chanson) is a French word that translates as "song". Later in France they began to call the vocal genre, lyrical works, songs, the text of which is a story told to music. The list of chanson performers is led by the legendary Edith Piaf and her talented student, today's king of the French chanson, Charles Aznavour.
Russian chanson
In our country, today, by chanson, they mean songs written by bards - songwriters. This genre will combine several musical trends: urban romance, thieves, emigrants, military and bard songs, which are combined under the general name “Russian chanson”. The beginning of the nineties of the last century can be considered the origin of the Russian chanson, or rather, its revival. Prior to this, the term "chanson" was understood exclusively as the French musical genre. The first Russian chanson singers tried to imitate the French. The list of performers of the chanson of the Soviet period consists of such singers as Mark Bernes, Leonid Utesov, Alexander Vertinsky, Klavdia Shulzhenko, etc. However, after the collapse of the USSR, “chanson” began to mainly understand “sincere” songs about life in the “zone” that were outlined from the first person - the performer of the song. Often he was identified with the hero of the story, which was the basis of the text of this thieves song. For the sake of acuteness, thieves' jargon was present in the texts, and the song was performed with obligatory hoarseness. Mikhail Krug, the performer of the famous song “Vladimir Central”, has never been to “distant places,” but fans of the genre saw him as their hero. These songs were especially popular with the “new Russians,” not only men, but also women. The heroes of these songs were admired by many women, appearing to them the embodiment of sexuality and masculinity. Songs of this genre were widely spread not only in Russia, but also spread around all the countries of the former USSR. The list of chanson performers consisted of bards, for example, Alexander Rosenbaum, whose songs are performed by many singers of this genre, for example Mikhail Shufutinsky, as well as guitar performers. In the Soviet Union, songs of these genres were sounded in cafes and restaurants, but their broadcast was eliminated on television. After the collapse of the USSR, they began to appear even in charts on television and radio, and later radio and TV channels of the same name appeared. Russian chanson today has reached such a level of development that since 2001, the Chanson of the Year award has been organized annually in the Kremlin Palace .
List of Russian chanson performers (groups and solo performers)
Groups:
- Belomorkanal.
- “Sawing.”
- “Thieves.”
- “Ace of the Cross”.
- “Lotsmen.”
- “Butyrka”.
- The Five Year Plan.
- “Odessans” and others.
Performers:
- Alexander Dyumin.
- Alexander Rosenbaum.
- Michael Krug.
- Mikhail Shufutinsky.
- Eyyub Yagubov.
- Serey Nagovitsyn.
- Alexander Novikov.
- Willie Tokarev.
- Michael Sheleg.
- Valery Shunt.
- Alexander Marshall.
- Konstantin Belyaev.
- Ivan Kuchin.
- Gennady Zharov.
- Nike Borzov.
- Victor Petlyura.
- Stas Mikhailov.
- Zheka.
List of women singers in the chanson genre
Speaking of chanson, we first of all represent the courageous, wise by experience and life circumstances of the singer. Indeed, many of the singers on the
list of chanson performers are men, but there are many women in this genre who are considered to be excellent performers of “soulful” songs. These performances often became the winners of the charts. Surely, many remember such famous songs as “Convertible” and “Carousel” by Lyubov Uspenskaya. Other singers included in the list of chanson performers are Vika Tsyganova, Katya Ogonek, Elena Vaenga and others.