Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich - Russian poet, composer, prose writer, writer. It is widely known as one of the most striking performers of the authorâs song in the USSR in the 50-80s of the last century. More than two hundred different compositions were included in the repertoire performed by Okudzhava Bulat. The biography of this man, who has become a vivid symbol of the so-called sixties era, as well as one of the most prominent writers and musicians of his generation, is brought to your attention.
Pre-war time
The life of Bulat Okudzhava was dramatic and unusual. Little is known that he was given the name Dorian at birth, named after the hero of the novel Oscar Wilde. Okudzhava Bulat, whose biography is proposed in this article, was born in Moscow on May 9, 1924. His parents were convinced communists. Shalva Okudzhava, father, was a Georgian, came to Moscow to study at the Communist Academy. Ashkhen Nalbadnyan, a mother, an Armenian, was closely related to Vagan Teryan, a famous poet from Armenia.
In 1926, after completing parental studies, the family returned to Tbilisi. Bulat's father made a party career: he worked in the city party committee in this city, was the commissioner of the division. But after the conflict with Beria, Shalva Okudzhava asked for work in Russia and was sent to the Urals. Here he worked first as a party organizer in Nizhny Tagil during the construction of the plant, after which he was appointed first secretary of the local city party committee.
Bulat Okudzhava began his studies in Russian in Tbilisi, and then in Nizhny Tagil, where he moved with his mother after his father. Shalvaâs career was interrupted by a false denunciation. Like many other party members who were considered "unreliable", his further fate was as follows: first, exile to the camp, and then - execution. It was a difficult time that Bulat Okudzhava survived. Biography, family, the origin of the poet were reflected later in his work. The boyâs mother returned with her son to Moscow, and they began to live on the Arbat. She was arrested in 1938, sent to Karaganda, where there was a special camp for the wives of "traitors to the motherland." She returned from there only 17 years later, in 1955.
Okudzhava Bulat, whose biography began dramatically, throughout his life tried not to remember this time. Only in 1993, in his declining years, he spoke about the tragic family events in his novel "Abolished Theater".
Bulat Okudzhava in 1940 returned to Tbilisi, where his relatives lived. After graduation, he entered the factory and worked for some time as a turner apprentice.
After the onset of World War II, in 1942, a 17-year-old youth volunteered for the front. He served as an artillery radio operator, mortar, participated in many battles. It was at that time that he created one of his first songs, entitled "We could not sleep in the huts." In 1943, after a serious wound received near Mozdok, Bulat Shalvovich was sent over the front line to the rear.
The beginning of literary activity
Demobilized at the end of the war, Bulat Okudzhava, whose brief biography is now being covered, passed the exams for secondary school as an external student. Then, in 1950, he graduated from the philological faculty of Tbilisi University and left for Kaluga Region, in the village of Shamordino, where he taught literature and Russian at school. Six years later, his first poetic collection entitled Lyrics was published at the local publishing house of Kaluga. And in 1954, the newspaper "Young Leninist" published verses written by Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich. His biography is further associated with Moscow.
Return to the capital
After the famous XX Congress of the Communist Party, in 1956, when the cult of personality of Stalin was condemned by its members , Okudzhava's mother was rehabilitated. Together with her son, she moved to Moscow with the permission of the government. In the same year, Bulat Shalvovich became a member of the CPSU.
His active work in the literary field began in 1957. He worked at that time in Komsomolskaya Pravda, Literaturnaya Gazeta and Young Guard as an editor. Bulat Okudzhavaâs novel âBe Healthy, Schoolboyâ in 1961 was included in the literary almanac âTarusa Pagesâ, composed by Konstantin Paustovsky, a well-known writer (the director V. Motyl made the film âZhenya, Zhenechka and Katyushaâ in 1965) )
Increased popularity
During this period, Okudzhava's fame began to increase. He was beginning to be recognized both as a performer and as an author of his songs. In 1956-1966, he composed many compositions that are still in love and popularity (Tverskaya Boulevard, Blue Ball, Midnight Trolleybus, About the Little Queen, Song of the Ant, Sentimental March, "Not tramps, not drunkards" and many others).
Bulat Shalvovich in Moscow worked, as we have already mentioned, as an editor, after which he worked as the head of the poetry department in Literaturnaya Gazeta. He was part of the association "Highway", was one of its most active members. In 1962, Bulat Shalvovich was also admitted to the Writers' Union.
His first works, I must say, were very coolly received by official critics. For example, in the story âBe healthy, a schoolboyâ they saw pacifist sentiments expressed in the young manâs perception of the war, the events of which were reflected in the biography of Bulat Okudzhava. The summary of this work is as follows: it tells about a 17-year-old boy who came to the front, how the boys, who were just schoolchildren, passed through themselves and understood the war, how it changed people and shattered illusions. You can get acquainted with this story through the aforementioned film "Zhenya, Zhenechka, Katyusha." Bulat Okudzhava, whose biography and work is very interesting, expressed in this work his thoughts and feelings experienced by himself. Almost all songs were sharply condemned in the early 1960s, as the Writers' Union expressed the idea that they did not portray the genuine aspirations and mood of Soviet heroic youth.
Okudzhava in the late 1960s turned to the study and comprehension of historical events. At this time, he wrote the novel "Poor Avrosimov", dedicated to Pavel Pestel, as well as the play "Sip of Freedom" about Mikhail Bestuzhev. At the same time, he became interested in Tolstoy's biography, in particular why he was constantly harassed by gendarmes. Shipovâs Adventures, an adventurous novel, was the result of this research. These works received a very mixed assessment from official criticism, but among the intelligentsia they were perceived positively and became very popular.
Songs written for movies
In 1962, Bulat Shalvovich first participated in the creation of the movie: he performed the song "Midnight Trolleybus" of his own composition in the film called "Chain Reaction". Nationwide fame came to Okudzhava in 1970, after the film âBelorussky Train Stationâ was released, in which the composition âNow we need one victoryâ was sounded - one of the best in his work. Okudzhava later said that when the director invited him to write a song for this film, at first he refused.
It was not just to create a composition, but precisely with stylization of the text for poetic creativity during the Great Patriotic War, since, according to the plot, it should have been performed by an ordinary soldier, a front-line poet sitting in the trench, composing simple lines about his friends, and not a professional. Such a task to Bulat Shalvovich seemed very difficult, since he always wrote about the war from the perspective of a person who already lives in peacetime, and yet they thought, said, and sang differently at the front. However, the memory prompted musical intonation and the right words. After such an experience, Bulat Shalvovich became the author of many popular songs created for more than eighty films.
Freethinking
Okudzhava from 1961 left his hired job, deciding to devote himself exclusively to creativity. At that time he loved to flaunt this independence. His poems were published abroad, he signed a letter in defense of Sinyavsky and Daniel. Oddly enough, the punishment for such "freethinking" never followed.
Songwriting
The biography of this author will be incomplete if you do not indicate such an important branch of his work as the authorâs song. The first concert was held in Kharkov in 1961. The first records appeared in Poland and Paris in 1968, and since the mid-1970s, songs began to be released in our country.
Last years
Our story about such a great man as Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich came to an end. A brief biography in the aspect of the last years of his life is inextricably linked with perestroika. During this period, he took an active part in the life of the country. In 1990, Okudzhava Bulat, whose biography was presented in this article, left the CPSU. The last concert of the artist took place in Paris in June 1995, and two years later Okudzhava died in Clamart, a Paris suburb.