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He was simply a son of his country, and he was very Russian. Vysotsky did play a very political role, because witty satire in his songs spoke of the ironies and hardships of wicked and strictly regulated Soviet system under which he was born. Until his death, Vladimir Vysotsky was a prophet without honor in his country, although he wrote more than a thousand highly popular songs, he died without an official record release to his name. The reason for this studied neglect lies in the political tenor of his songs. Vysotsky, who began performing in the 1960’s, was quite critical of the Communist regime and his lyrics took position on the Soviet status quo. His songs derived from “blatnye pesni”(literally, delinquent songs) tradition, with its celebration of sex, drink, and street fights. Informally distributed cassettes ensured Vysotsky a wide and enthusiastic following. Only after his death in 1980, Gorbachev granted his music an imprimatur and a 20-album retrospective was released. Without doubts, the most famous Russian bard was born in Moscow in 1938. Vysotsky’s parents were divorced soon after his birth, and he lived mostly with his mother (a technical translator) in Moscow. He attended the Institute for Civil Engineering for a year, but then suddenly quit to join the Nemirovich-Danchenko Studio School of the Moscow Art Theatre, graduating in 1960 and then becoming a professional actor, first at the Moscow Pushkin Dramatic Theatre and then at the Theatre of Miniatures (“Playlets”). From 1964 he was a member of the Moscow Theatre of Drama and Comedy on the Taganka, starring in such roles as Hamlet and Don Juan; he was also featured in 26 motion pictures. His great popularity as an actor was perhaps even exceeded by his popularity as a poet and songwriter; he wrote several hundred songs and poems, as well as incidental music for plays and films. Soviet officialdom permitted few of his songs to be broadcasted on television in films or to be recorded. Vysotsky’s lyrical fame spread from appearances in clubs, factories, and universities and through the mass distribution of homemade tape recordings and publications. He sang of such themes as Soviet prison life (“Only the final judgment could be worse”), Soviet official hypocrisy (“I grieve that honor has been put to rout, that backbiting has been deified”) and generally about ordinary Russian daily life (crowded living quarters, long food lines, unfair privileges of the elite). Vysotsky wrote his first song in 1960 and would ultimately have a significant influence on an entire genre of music. His gruff voice and stark, sometimes sly poetic lyrics have inspired two generations of Russians and are working their way into the young hearts of a third one. The view of Vysotsky as a poet more than a singer is not universally shared. The matter is that it is almost impossible to read his words without hearing the music, which accompanies a song. The poet accompanied himself on the guitar, with an intense voice singing ballads of love, peace, war and every-day Soviet life. He had the ring of honesty and truth, with an ironic and sometimes sarcastic touch, which made him a target for surveillance by the government. In France, Vysotsky has been compared with French singer Georges Brassens. Also, his poetry and performing style greatly influenced Jacek Kaczmarski, a Polish songwriter and singer that touched similar themes. Vysotsky got married to French actress Marina Vladi in 1975, and she gave him the ability to travel abroad as well as some immunity to prosecution by the government. In her autobiography she wrote about him and years of their family life, which finally allowed his fans to understand the man behind their favourite songs. Vysotsky’s French wife saved him from being arrested. The Soviet authorities feared that she would have kicked up a fuss in the West. With typical disregard for reality, the government attempted to rewrite history after Vysotsky’s death and lauded him as a national treasure. His fans remember going to a theatrical evening in Moscow, on what would have been Vysotsky’s 50th birthday, in 1988. Russian showbusiness stars lined up to heap praise on their “friend”, whom they had abused in chorus when he was still alive. As a theatre actor, Vysotsky is remembered for playing the leading role in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Brecht’s Galileo Galilei. He also appeared in several movies. One of his films was shown regularly on television, “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed”, in which he played a police investigator. Vladimir Vysotsky died in Moscow of heart failure at the age of 42, brought on by his well-known carousing life-style. He was destroyed physically by heavy drinking and psychologically by an oppressive government. He was buried at the Vagankovo cemetery. News of Vysotsky’s death filtered through the Olympic city of Moscow by word of mouth and huge crowds left the stadiums and congregated illegally to pay him their last respects. The Soviet government’s hostility towards him had not prevented him from becoming fantastically popular. A year earlier, in 1979, no mention was made of him in the Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary, which purported to list the country’s most important celebrities. Soviet government, always aiming to please, erected a monument to Vysotsky in Moscow, apparently contrary to his wishes. Whether the government did it well or clumsily, the point was made by an entire society as it mourned the death of their Shakespeare-with-a-guitar. |
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