Bards of Russia are representatives of a vast stratum of Russian musical and song culture, which has developed since the early 50s of the last century.
Bard, is the author and performer of the song in one person, consistent in his work. Songs of bards in Russia are distinguished by a variety of genre and style. Someone sings humorous ditties, someone tries to touch the romantic feelings of the audience with his songs. Many bards of Russia use the theme of their songs in order to achieve a satirical effect.
Vladimir Vysotsky - People's Artist, Russian Bard
There are singers in Russia , whose work, of course, refers to the high art of the song genre. There are only a few such bards, the most famous of them is Vladimir Vysotsky, who is deservedly considered an unsurpassed master of songwriting. Vysotsky had a unique gift for reincarnation, many of his songs were written as if on behalf of the character - it could be some inanimate object, an airplane or a submarine, a microphone on stage or an echo in the mountains.
The song begins - and the character comes to life. YAK - fighter, combat aircraft, lives its own life, participates in air combat as if by itself, and the pilot only interferes with it. And there are many such vivid examples, unique songs written in the first person.
Vysotsky's author’s songs are divided according to plot features. He has "yard", "lyrical", "sports", "military". Each song is a masterpiece of poetry, put on a simple melody. The talent of the great Russian bard Vladimir Vysotsky is unlimited, which is why he was given popular recognition, and his work is immortal.
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Okudzhava is another outstanding Russian bard, poet and author of songs. He is a prominent representative of the literary beau monde of Russia, composer and director. But the author’s song passed through Okudzhava’s entire creativity, which was part of the poet’s life, the way he expressed himself. On account of Bulat Okudzhava there are several ingenious works in the genre of author’s song, the main of which is the recitative “We need one victory” from the movie “Belorussky Station”.
Bulat Okudzhava was the first Russian bard to be allowed to perform his own songs. This event took place in 1961. The following year, Bulat Shalvovich was admitted to the USSR Writers Union. In 1967, during his trip to France, the bard recorded twenty songs that were published in Paris under the title Le Soldat en Papier. In the seventies, records with songs by Bulat Okudzhava began to appear in the USSR.
The best bards of Russia
Rosenbaum Alexander - an outstanding Russian bard, a resuscitator by training, graduated from the First Medical Institute in Leningrad. He began to write author’s songs in 1968 for skits and student performances. Currently, it is one of the most popular Russian bards with an extensive repertoire, it is included in the list of bards of Russia - in the top five. In 2005, Alexander Rosenbaum combined parliamentary duties with concert activities.
Vizbor Yuri - a teacher by profession, a bard by vocation, climber, skier and journalist. The author of numerous songs about mountain peaks, ascents and rafting on mountain rivers. From the pen of Yuri Vizbor came the cult song of students and all the youth of the 60s "You are mine alone." Community "bards of Russia" arose on the initiative of Vizbor.
Eugene Klyachkin, civil engineer, poet, bard, romantic, author of three hundred songs. In 1961, at the age of 17, he wrote his first song "Fog" to the verses of Konstantin Kuzminsky. From this day, the creative path of the Russian bard Yevgeny Klyachkin began. At first he wrote songs to the verses of Joseph Brodsky and Andrei Voznesensky. The cycle of songs, compiled from romances performed by the characters of the poem "Procession" by I. Brodsky, is still considered the pinnacle of the author’s song.
Zhanna Bichevskaya, author song star
Zhanna Bichevskaya is a singer who is called the star of the author’s song. In her work, she adheres to the themes of Russian patriotism and the Orthodox faith. In the early seventies, Bichevskaya’s repertoire included folk Russian songs, which she performed in a bard style, accompanied by an acoustic seven-string guitar. In 1973, Jeanne became the winner of the All-Russian pop contest, and in subsequent years traveled with concerts all the countries of the socialist camp. Later she repeatedly performed in the Olympia Paris Hall with full houses.
Alexander Galich , a Russian performer of his own songs, playwright, screenwriter and poet, was an active member of the bard of Russia community. His plays of an early period were staged in Moscow theaters, and Sailor's Silence, written by Galich in 1958 for the Sovremennik Theater, was released only in 1988, directed by Oleg Tabakov. Then Alexander Galich began to write songs and perform them to his own accompaniment on a seven-string guitar. He took the performing traditions of Alexander Vertinsky as the basis of his work - a romance and poetic narration with a guitar. Galich’s poems in his structure and literary value put him on a par with Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava. Russian author’s song has become the main direction in the work of Alexander Galich.
Family duet
Nikitins, Sergey and Tatyana are a family duet of bards; their music is played in many films and theatrical performances. The most famous song of Sergei Nikitin - "Alexander" - sounded in the popular film directed by Vladimir Menshov "Moscow does not believe in tears." By education, Nikitin is a physicist, he graduated from Moscow State University in 1968, is a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. He writes songs, starting in 1962, to the verses of Pasternak, Shpalikov, Bagritsky, Voznesensky, Yevtushenko and other Russian poets. In his student years, Nikitin led the quartet of physicists at Moscow State University, and later became the artistic director of the quintet of the physics department, where he met Tatyana Sadykova, who later became his wife.
Soviet bards
All Russian bards of the sixties and seventies can be called "Soviet" because they lived and worked under the Soviet regime. However, this epithet says little about it, performers of an author’s song cannot be characterized by either a social system or political conditions — these are people of art who are free in their work.