“Batka-ataman”: who wrote “folk” song
As the St. Petersburg punks of the 1980s, associated with “white folk” and at what here Belarus Gomel?
It was in may, 1922, when the major battles of the Civil war left behind. Graduated from Moscow teacher’s course Sava Zorin and green Kashin got a job in the statistical Bureau and went to the first trip to the village. At night they stayed in the Old village of Qom, where the village Council was headed by the indomitable Bolshevik Spiridonov, nicknamed the Soviet.
Suddenly in the middle of the night in the village showed up, the gang chieftain Mitryakova and occupied the house of the President. Spiridonov and the young Soviet civil servants before the arrival of the gang managed to hide in the cellar.
The robbers staged in the house of Spiridonov bash, where she sang the song, the words of which are well known in Russia and now:
Oh, lyrics
Yes bleed steel
Yes thick fog,
Oh, man-the leader.
In November 2017, the song with this chorus was performed by the participants of the show “the Voice” on channel one. The costumes of the performers — Darya Vinokurova and Timofey Kopylov was dressed in a white blouse and high leather boots — was clearly sent to the era of the Civil war.
The judges of “the Voice” performance much: contestants praised for that they “continue the tradition” and managed to convey to the listener “the hopelessness of that time.”
“And in the text, and meaning, and rollicking style that something, of course, is a white song, commented jury member Alexander Gradsky. Long time, we listened to the song with only one hand. And they were all stunning, beautiful, incredibly well done musically. But today you gave us the song of the other side,” he said.
During the broadcast in the caption of the First channel stated that the song “a bullet whizzed” (this is her most common name on the first line) — the people’s.
“Batska ataman”
Similarly, it annotated on their album “About love” 1995 group “Chizh & Co”. The group and its leader Sergei Chigrakov in the mid-1990s were good suppliers of hits for the Russian fans of rock: “Eternal youth”, “love”, “Phantom”. Although the last Studio album, “Chizh & Co” released in 1999, the band continued to successfully tour around Russia.
The song “a bullet whizzed” became known to a wide audience largely because of “Chizh & Co”. In the registry of the Russian authors ‘ society for Chigrakov fixed partial rights to the song “Batska ataman” (alternative name of the same “Here’s a bullet whizzed”). In the “author” States that music and text people, but it is also necessary and surname Chigrakov.
He Chigrakov at the request of the Russian service Bi-bi-si about comments did not answer. As the Director of “Siskin & Co.” Andrew Asanov said that the position of the musician reflected in an interview with “Our radio”, which aired in 2000.
Then Chigrakov thrice repeated that “the bullet whizzed” is a Ukrainian folk song he first heard in Kharkiv. According to him, he was personally acquainted with a man whose grandfather sang “a bullet whistled” “in the village in the thirties in the period of collectivization.”
The authors of “Chizh & Co” in Wikipedia gave the song an even more narrow definition, though without reference to the source of information — “national semi-anarchist”.
“Simple chords, simple melody”
A native of Nizhny Novgorod region Chigrakov has lived in Kharkov for five years — from 1989 to 1994. In this period, the city says the band were “the most powerful rock gathering”.
“It was considered journalists even steeper Moscow. “Komsomolskaya Pravda” wrote that there are centers rock-n-Rolla Leningrad, Sverdlovsk and the Kharkov”, — says the leader of the group “Different people” Alexander Chernetsky.
According to Chernetsky, at the end of 1980, this song was very popular. “People remember her in all companies. No one, even the handle is not taken, it was not recorded — simple chords, simple melody, her singing, even a Cappella. It was not guitar — [still] after some glasses of vodka she was singing,” he says.
The musician insists that the song was originally to Kharkov is not relevant: in 1987, his companion heard it in Arkhangelsk, memorized and sang already in Ukraine.
Chernetsky said that Chigrakov I heard a song from him. According to him, in 2016 and he Chigrakov confirmed this publicly at the concert dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the leader of “Different people”: “He said that this song was first heard from the Sleigh Chernetsky, so he wants to play it now.”
In the same 1987, when the song became popular in Kharkov, it was performed at a rock festival in Podolsk in Leningrad group “Object of ridicule”, headed by Alexander Aksenov on the Rebound. On YouTube you can find a recording of this 40-minute speech. Dressed in black leather jackets and decked with jewelry Ricochet welcomes viewers: “it’s Nice to be in a room where so much fun. And even nicer to be in the hall, where so many police. You just know — nothing will happen.”
Before the execution of the next song it a long time fiddling with malfunctioning microphones. Then, apparently answering the request of someone from the audience: “God save the Queen” do not know. And tighten: “the flying Bullet in the chest hit me, but I spaspa on a spirited horse.” In the third verse of the song Ricochet (obviously for fear of possible sanctions) singing unusual to the modern hearer of the word. Instead of “the Soviets to live to trade your cross” hear something completely meaningless: “in the responses to live — to forget your cross.”
Singing another song, the musicians leave the stage. Before that, heard someone remark: “Ricky, Ricky, Ricky! That’s enough, get out, then crap is all! I’ll explain to you.”
The voice belongs to Mr. Schloss panker Gudkov, the Petersburg musician and producer, who in 1987 was Director of the group “Object of ridicule”. “I went to the console, and there came a KGB agent and turned off the sound on the song “the Commissioner” [this is the third name of the same song]. I almost got screwed there because I handle moved up, he moved down,” — says Gudkov.
Following a large-scale performance of the “Object of ridicule” was held in Kazan at the festival under the auspices of the regional Committee of the Komsomol. And hooters have learned from the previous concert. He again went for sound engineering console and turned off the Ricochet microphone. But so that the speakers on stage facing the musicians, the sound remained, and in the hall didn’t hear him. “Ricochet sang, he was good, and there [the audience] was only music. Then we had a fight”, — smushchenno smiles Gudkov.
However, according to Gudkov, the whole St. Petersburg rock subculture of the 1980s “Commissioner” was associated not primarily with the Rebound and not with the Siskin (who had not yet had time to become famous), and even folk art. And one of the pioneers of Soviet punk-music — the legendary Andrei Panov Pig.
“Commissioner”
Andrey Panov was born in Leningrad in 1960 in a family of ballet dancers. In youth they with Gudkov close friends. “He always was a man, around which everything revolves. He was flat, conveniently located between all of [friends] in the Central district [of Leningrad]. And in this apartment it was possible to assemble, in contrast to many” — says Gudkov.