B ulat Okudzhava was a soldier, Russian language teacher and editor. He wrote poetry and prose, film scripts and books for children. But Okudzhava considered the happiest day of his life to be the one when he composed his first poem.

"Arbat, forty-four, apartment twenty-two"

When Andrei Smirnov, the film's director, invited him to write a song, the poet initially refused. Only after looking at the picture did he agree to compose the lyrics and melody for it.

“Suddenly I remembered the front. It was as if I saw with my own eyes this amateur front-line poet, thinking about his fellow soldiers in the trench. And then the words spontaneously appeared: “We will not stand behind the price...”

Bulat Okudzhava spent the last years of his life in Paris, where on June 25, 1995, his last concert took place at UNESCO Headquarters. In 1997, the bard passed away. In the same year, by decree of the President of Russia, the Bulat Okudzhava Prize was approved, which is awarded to poets and performers of original songs. Five years later, a monument to the “singing poet” was unveiled on Arbat.

On May 9, 1924, one of the founders of the genre of author's (bardic) song, Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava, was born; he wrote more than 800 poems during his life, 200 of which were born along with music

Born on Victory Day

Bulat was born in Moscow. His father, Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, held high party positions in Georgia, but due to a conflict with Lavrenty Beria, he was forced to ask for a transfer to work in the RSFSR. The transfer did not save Okudzhava’s family. In 1937, my father was arrested in connection with the Trotskyist case at Uralvagonstroy. On August 4, 1937, Shalva Stepanovich and his two brothers were shot. Bulat's mother was arrested in Moscow in 1938 and spent almost ten years in the camps. Bulat was forced to be sent to Tbilisi, where he continued his studies, and then worked at a factory as a turner's apprentice. The parents were rehabilitated only in 1956.

To the front

The war turned his whole life upside down. Since April 1942, Bulat had been knocking on the thresholds of the military registration and enlistment office to be sent to the front. In August of the same year, the young man was called up to serve in the active army. First he was sent to the 10th separate reserve mortar division. Two months of preparation - and Okudzhava is on the Transcaucasian front. He is a mortarman in a cavalry regiment. On December 16, 1942, near Mozdok, he was wounded. After the hospital, Bulat continued to serve in the 124th Infantry Reserve Regiment in Batumi, and later as a radio operator in the 126th High Power Howitzer Artillery Brigade.

Demobilization took place in March 1944 for health reasons, with the rank of guard private. Bulat Shalvovich carefully kept his military awards: the medal “For the Defense of the Caucasus” and “For the Victory over Germany.”

After demobilization, he returns to Tbilisi and enters Tbilisi University at the Faculty of Philology. After graduation, the young poet worked at a school in the Kaluga region.

Take your overcoat, let's go home...

Today, on the eve of Victory Day and Okudzhava’s birthday, we will talk about his works dedicated to the war. Bulat Shalvovich himself wrote about the war: “I am wounded by it for life and still often see dead comrades in my dreams.” His vision of the war was always personal, without much pathos, but always condemning. He recalled that his first poems were about the war, and some turned into songs. True, he was not happy with the marches; they were mostly sad songs; he believed that there was nothing fun in war. In his works, it was the war that meanly took away from the lives of young, beautiful people who were just beginning their lives.

Source: https://www.culture.ru

Oh, war, what have you done, vile one:
Our yards have become quiet,
Our boys raised their heads -
They have matured for the time being
Barely looming on the threshold
And they left, following the soldier - the soldier...
Goodbye boys!
boys,
Try to go back.

In 1960, Okudzhava’s story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” was published. This is actually an autobiographical story about a former schoolboy who ended up in the war. Many did not accept it, finding supposedly pacifist motives in it. But director Vladimir Motyl filmed it, and the film was released under the title “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” with Oleg Dal in leading role, and won the hearts of front-line soldiers and ordinary people.

What Okudzhava wrote about the war are not slogans, but the everyday life of yesterday’s boys at the front who grew up very early. In 1970, in the film “Belorussky Station” directed by Andrei Smirnov, a song based on Okudzhava’s poem “We need one victory” was performed. The task that the director set for him was not easy. Bulat Shalvovich is used to writing from the position of a person who already lives in Peaceful time, but here it was performed from the perspective of someone sitting in a trench. He found the right words and musical intonations, and the famous composer Alfred Schnittke, who worked on the film crew, arranged Okudzhava’s music into a march, which is still heard today in our parades in honor of May 9th. Moreover, it is impossible to imagine the Victory Day without this song:

Birds don't sing here, trees don't grow.
And only we, shoulder to shoulder, grow into the ground here.
The planet is burning and spinning, there is smoke over our Motherland.
And that means we need one victory,
One for all - we won’t stand behind the price.

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (May 9, 1924, Moscow, USSR - June 12, 1997, Clamart, France) - poet, composer, writer, novelist and screenwriter. The author of about two hundred original and pop songs written on his own poems, one of the most prominent representatives genre of art song in the 1950s-1980s.

Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow on May 9, 1924 into a family of communists who came from Tiflis to study at the Communist Academy. Father - Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, Georgian, famous party leader, mother - Ashkhen Stepanovna Nalbandyan, Armenian, relative of the famous Armenian poet Vahan Teryan.

Soon after Bulat's birth, his father was sent to the Caucasus to work as a commissar of the Georgian division. Mother remained in Moscow, worked in the party apparatus. Bulat was sent to Tbilisi to study and studied in a Russian class. Father was promoted to secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee; Because of a conflict with Lavrenty Beria, he sent a letter to Sergo Ordzhonikidze with a request to send him to party work in Russia, and was sent to the Urals as a party organizer to build a carriage factory in the city of Nizhny Tagil. Then Shalva Stepanovich became the 1st secretary of the Nizhny Tagil city party committee and soon sent his family to live with him in the Urals. Bulat began studying at school No. 32.

First place of residence - st. Arbat, 43, communal apartment on the 4th floor.

In 1937, Bulat's parents were arrested, his father was shot on false charges on August 4, 1937, and his mother was exiled to the Karaganda camp, from where she returned only in 1955. After the arrest of his parents, Bulat and his grandmother returned to Moscow. He rarely spoke or wrote about his ancestors and his fate; only towards the end of his life, in the autobiographical novel “The Abolished Theater” (1993), he spoke about the hardships of his family.

In 1940, Bulat Okudzhava moved to relatives in Tbilisi. He studied and then worked at a factory as a turner's apprentice.

In April 1942, at the age of 17, Okudzhava volunteered for the front. He was sent to the 10th Separate Reserve Mortar Division. Then, after two months of training, he was sent to the North Caucasus Front. He was a mortarman, then a heavy artillery radio operator. He was wounded by Mozdok.

His first song, “We Couldn’t Sleep in the Cold Warehouses” (1943), dates back to this time, the text of which has not survived.

The second song was written in 1946 - “Ancient student song” (“Frantic and stubborn ...”).

After the war, Okudzhava entered Tbilisi State University. Having received his diploma, in 1950 he began working as a teacher - first in a rural school in the village of Shamordino, Kaluga region and in the regional center of Vysokinichi.

In 1954, after a meeting between the writer Vladimir Koblikov and the poet Nikolai Panchenko with readers in the Vysokinichsky district, Bulat approached them and offered to listen to his poems. Having received approval and support, he moved to Kaluga, where he began to collaborate with the newspaper “Young Leninist” and in 1956 published his first collection “Lyrics”.

In 1956, after the rehabilitation of his parents and the 20th Congress, he joined the CPSU.

In 1959, Okudzhava returned to Moscow. In the same year, he began performing as a songwriter (poems and music) and performing them with a guitar, quickly gaining popularity. The composition of many of Okudzhava’s most famous early songs dates back to this period (1956-1967) (“On Tverskoy Boulevard”, “Song about Lyonka Korolev”, “Song about the Blue Ball”, “Sentimental March”, “Song about the Midnight Trolleybus”, “ Not tramps, not drunkards”, “Moscow Ant”, “Song about the Komsomol goddess”, etc.).

He worked as an editor at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then as head of the poetry department at Literary newspaper" Participated in the work of the literary association "Magistral".

In 1961, he left the service and no longer worked for hire, focusing exclusively on creative activities.

In 1961, the first official evening of Bulat Okudzhava’s original song on the territory of the USSR took place in Kharkov. The evening was organized by literary critic L. Ya. Livshits, with whom B. Okudzhava had friendly relations.

In 1962, Okudzhava became a member of the USSR Writers' Union. In the same year, Okudzhava first appeared on screen in the film “Chain Reaction”, in which he performed the song “Midnight Trolleybus”.

In 1970, the film “Belorussky Station” was released, in which Bulat Okudzhava’s song “And we need one victory” was performed. Okudzhava is the author of other popular songs for such films as “Straw Hat”, “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (in which Okudzhava sings in a cameo role with a guitar in a soldier’s uniform), etc. In total, Okudzhava’s songs on his poems are heard in more than 80 films.

Okudzhava became one of the most prominent representatives of the genre of Russian art song (along with V.S. Vysotsky and A.A. Galich), which was soon developed by bards and which gained enormous popularity with the advent of tape recorders. Okudzhava formed his own direction in this genre.

The first album with Okudzhava’s songs was released in Paris in 1968. In the same year, a record with Okudzhava’s songs performed by Polish artists was released in Poland, and one song in it - “Farewell to Poland” - was performed by the author. Since the mid-70s, Okudzhava’s records were also released in the USSR.

The songs of Bulat Okudzhava, spreading in tape recordings, quickly gained popularity, primarily among the intelligentsia: first in the USSR, then among Russian speakers abroad. The songs “Let's join hands, friends...”, “While the Earth is still spinning...” (“Prayer of François Villon”) have become the anthem of many PCB rallies and festivals. In addition to songs based on his own poems, Okudzhava wrote a number of songs based on poems by the Polish poetess Agnieszka Osiecka, which he himself translated into Russian.

The creative union of Bulat Okudzhava with composer Isaac Schwartz turned out to be very fruitful. Together they created 32 songs, the most famous of which are the song “Your Honor, Lady Luck” (“White Sun of the Desert”), the cavalry guard’s song from the movie “Star of Captivating Happiness”, the romance “Love and Separation” (“We were not married in church "), as well as songs from the movie "Straw Hat".

In 1961, Okudzhava made his debut as a prose writer: his autobiographical story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” was published in the anthology “Tarussky Pages” (published as a separate edition in 1987).

Published stories: “Poor Avrosimov” (“A Sip of Freedom”) (1969) about the tragic pages in the history of the Decembrist movement, “The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville” (1971) and written on historical material early XIX century novels “The Journey of Amateurs” (part 1. - 1976; part 2. - 1978) and “Date with Bonaparte” (1983).

With the beginning of perestroika, Bulat Okudzhava began to take an active part in political life countries, taking an active democratic position.

Since 1989 - founding member of the Russian PEN Center.

In 1990 he left the CPSU.

Since 1992 - member of the commission on pardons under the President of the Russian Federation; since 1994 - member of the commission for State Prizes of the Russian Federation.

He was a member of the founding council of the Moscow News newspaper, a member of the founding board of Obshchaya Gazeta, a member of the editorial board of the Evening Club newspaper, and a member of the Memorial Society Council.

In 1993 he signed the “Letter of the 42”.

In the 1990s, Okudzhava mainly lived at his dacha in Peredelkino. During these years, Okudzhava performed concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the USA, Canada, Germany and Israel.

Monument to Bulat Okudzhava on Arbat

On June 23, 1995, Bulat Okudzhava’s last concert took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

On June 12, 1997, Bulat Okudzhava died in Paris (in the suburb of Clamart), in a military hospital.

Just before his death, Bulat Okudzhava was baptized with the name John in memory of the holy martyr John the Warrior. This happened in Paris with the blessing of one of the elders of the Pskov-Pechora Monastery.

He was buried at the Moscow Vagankovskoe cemetery.

He joined the CPSU in 1956, as soon as the opportunity arose (his parents were rehabilitated). Left the CPSU in 1990, during its collapse.

Social activities, political views

The following memories of Oleg Mikhailov about a conversation with Okudzhava, which took place in 1964, have been preserved.

... I remember how in 1964 a small group of young writers came from Moscow to what was then Kuibyshev. The highlight of the program was, of course, Bulat Okudzhava and his songs. At that time I almost idolized him (however, I love many of his songs nostalgically to this day). Once after another concert at dinner, I talked about my (now deceased) friend Dmitry Lyalikov. He, in particular, said that when they learned in the Caucasus that Stalin allegedly killed Kirov, they began to treat Stalin better. The “boy from Urzhum” did too much evil in those parts. And I heard from Okudzhava:
- This man should be shot!
I was amazed:
- But why?
And Okudzhava quietly but adamantly answered:
- My mother worked with Kirov...

Okudzhava had a definitely negative attitude towards Stalin. Here is a fragment of his poem written in 1981:

Well, is the Generalissimo wonderful?
Your claws are safe today -
Your silhouette with your low forehead is dangerous.
I don't keep track of past losses,
but even if he is moderate in his retribution,
I don’t forgive, remembering the past.

In 1993, he signed the “letter of the 42” demanding reprisals against participants in the events of October 1993.

Rutskoi spoke about supporters in an interview with the Podmoskovnye Izvestia newspaper on December 11, 1993 as follows:

Bulat Shalvovich, you watched on TV how they fired on October 4 The White house?
- And I watched it all night.
- As a person who fought, what was your feeling when the first salvo was fired? Didn't you shudder?
- For me it was, of course, unexpected, but it didn’t happen. I'll tell you something else. As I grew older, I suddenly began to watch all sorts of detective films on TV with interest. Although many of them are empty and vulgar, I still look. For me, the main thing, as I understand here: when this bastard is beaten to death at the end of the film. And I enjoy it. I suffered the whole movie, but at the end they punched him in the face, right? And suddenly I caught myself that this same feeling jumped up in me when I saw Khasbulatov and Rutskoi and Makashov being taken out under escort. For me it was the ending of a detective story. I enjoyed it. I couldn’t stand these people, and even in this situation I had no pity for them. And maybe when the first shot sounded, I saw that this was the final act. Therefore, it did not make too depressing an impression on me. Although it was terrible for me that this could happen in our country. And this is again the president’s fault. After all, all this could have been prevented. And these Barkashovites could have been disarmed and dispersed long ago - everything could have been done. Nothing was done, nothing!
- On the other hand, if the president had tried to do something earlier, the Democrats would have been the first to start interceding: they say they are strangling democracy...
- That's right, we have a category of liberal intelligentsia that understands our situation in a very primitive way. From the point of view of an ideal democratic society - yes. But, I repeat, we do not have any democratic society. We have a Bolshevik society that set out to create democracy, and it is now hanging by a thread. And when we see that scissors are reaching for this thread, we must somehow remove them. Otherwise we will lose, die, and create nothing. Well, liberals will always scream. Here Lyudmila Saraskina, a very intelligent woman, spoke out with indignation that, they say, such cruelty was shown, how can it be, I’m blushing. Let him blush, what should he do? And I think that if a bandit came into your house and wants to kill your family... What will you do? You will tell him: shame on you, right? No, no, I think firmness is needed. We are a wild country.
- The President, at a meeting with writers (and this was shown on TV), defended himself with the following phrase: “It’s a pity that Okudzhava didn’t come”...
- Yes, and I was supposed to come, but I got stuck in traffic and was an hour late... We knew each other at the very beginning of perestroika - casually, of course, but we met several times. It's nice that the president remembers me.
- Bulat Shalvovich, which bloc are you voting for in the elections?
- I vote for “Russia's Choice”.

Soon this interview was quoted in the newspaper “Podmoskovye” - with serious notes that distorted the meaning of the statements. In particular, the words about the withdrawal of Khasbulatov and others under escort were omitted, and it turned out that the interviewee enjoyed the fact of the shots. Referring to this reprint, the poet’s opponents repeatedly obstructed him. Okudzhava himself commented on his interview as follows: “In the newspaper Podmoskovnye Izvestia, I spoke out against Khasbulatov, Makashov, Rutskoi, whom I do not accept. But not against ordinary people.”

When he was asked about the situation in Chechnya at his last concert at UNESCO on June 23, 1995, he replied:

“The war in Chechnya itself is a completely terrible phenomenon that will be remembered for many, many decades, if not centuries. Moreover, I think, you know, this small people, in which there is not even a million - let’s say, they are even very, very narcissistic and very complex - you still have to take into account the national psychology... Moreover, such a small people. (applause) And in the last century they destroyed it for 50 years... In this century, in the year 44, the entire people were exiled to perish. And now they are destroying them again. Well, what is it? - Really? Russian authorities can't assert himself in any other way? Is it really necessary to kill your own fellow citizens for this?” (quote from the transcript of the concert soundtrack, later published on 2 CDs under the title “When Paris is Empty”)

Soon M. Fedotov in his article distorted Okudzhava’s statement, attributing to him, in particular, his own thoughts. This distorted statement was subsequently widely quoted as belonging to Okudzhava.

In his interview " Novaya Gazeta"expressed the idea of ​​​​the similarities between the fascist and Stalinist regimes:

Few people think that the Germans themselves helped Soviet Union to defeat yourself: imagine, they would not shoot, but gather collective farmers and tell them - we have come to free you from the yoke. Choose your form of government. If you want a collective farm, please, a collective farm. If you want an individual farm, please do so. It’s the same in factories - make your life. If they had turned our slogans into action, they could have won the war. They, of course, made a terrible mistake with propaganda. With their exceptional cruelty they provoked popular anger. ... But our systems are similar. Absolutely two identical systems clashed. They did exactly the same as we would have done. And this is their mistake. Our country just turned out to be more powerful, darker and more patient.

Family and environment

Father - Shalva Stepanovich Okudzhava, Soviet party leader (repressed in 1937). Bulat Shalvovich was married twice. His first wife was Galina Vasilievna Smolyaninova (1926-1965), he divorced her in 1964 and died of a heart attack. The son from his first marriage, Igor Okudzhava (1954-1997), served time in prison and took drugs. The daughter from her first marriage died. The second wife is Olga Vladimirovna Okudzhava (d. Artsimovich), a physicist by training, the niece of Lev Artsimovich. Son - Bulat (Anton) Bulatovich Okudzhava (born 1965), musician, composer.

In 1981, he met singer Natalya Gorlenko (born June 10, 1955), with whom he had a long affair, which affected his work.

Okudzhava’s circle of personal friends included Bella Akhmadulina, Yuri Levitansky, Fazil Iskander.

Recognition and awards

• First Prize and Golden Crown Prize, Yugoslavia (1967).
• Order of Friendship of Peoples (1984).
• Prize "Golden Guitar" at the festival in Sanremo, Italy (1985).
• The name of Okudzhava was assigned to a small planet (1988).
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Norwich University, USA (1990).
• Penyo Penev Prize, Bulgaria (1990).
• Prize "For Courage in Literature" named after. A. D. Sakharova (“April”) (1991).
• Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1991).
• Russian Booker Prize (1994) for the autobiographical novel “The Abolished Theater.”
• Honorary citizen of Kaluga (1996).
• Medal "For the Defense of the Caucasus".
• Honorary Medal of the Board of the Soviet Peace Fund.

State memorial museum Bulat Okudzhava

The museum is located in the Moscow region, in the Leninsky district, p/o Michurinets, village. writers "Peredelkino", st. Dovzhenko, 11, founded on August 22, 1998, opened on October 31, 1999.

Monuments to Okudzhava

Monuments to Okudzhava in Moscow

• On May 8, 2002, the first monument to Bulat Okudzhava was unveiled in Moscow. The monument is installed on the corner of Arbat and Plotnikov Lane.
• On September 8, 2007, a monument to Okudzhava was unveiled in Moscow in the courtyard of Education Center No. 109. The author of both sculptures is Georgy Frangulyan.

Festivals and competitions named after Bulat Okudzhava

• International Festival of Bulat Okudzhava
• Annual Moscow festival “And I will call friends...” dedicated to Bulat Okudzhava
• Open city competition of patriotic author's song named after Bulat Okudzhava, Perm
• Israeli International Festival in memory of Bulat Okudzhava, city of Israel

Bulat Okudzhava Prize

In 1997, the State Prize named after Bulat Okudzhava was established, the laureates of which were Alexander Gorodnitsky, Yuliy Kim, Alexander Dolsky, Bella Akhmadulina and others.

Creative heritage

Published works

Collections

• "Magnanimous March" (1967),
• “Arbat, my Arbat” (1976),
• "Poems" (1984),
• "Favorites" (1989),
• "Dedicated to You" (1988),
• "Mercies of Fate" (1993),
• "Waiting hall" ( Nizhny Novgorod, 1996),
• “Tea Party on Arbat” (1996),
• Bulat Okudzhava. 20 songs for voice and guitar. - Krakow: Polish Music. publishing house, 1970. - 64 p.
• Bulat Okudzhava. 65 songs (Musical recording, editing, compilation by V. Frumkin). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ardis, vol. 1 1980, vol. 2 1986.
• Songs of Bulat Okudzhava. Melodies and lyrics. The compiler and author of the introductory article is L. Shilov, the musical material was recorded by A. Kolmanovsky with the participation of the author). - M.: Music, 1989. - 224 p.

Historical novels

• “Poor Avrosimov” (1969, in some subsequent editions - “A Sip of Freedom”)
• "The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville"
• "Journey of Amateurs" (1976-1978)
• "Rendezvous with Bonaparte" (1983)
• "Abolished Theater" (1993)

Film scripts

• “Loyalty” (1965; co-authored with P. Todorovsky; production: Odessa Film Studio, 1965);
• “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” (1967; co-authored with V. Motyl; production: Lenfilm, 1967);
• « Private life Alexander Sergeich, or Pushkin in Odessa" (1966; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; film not produced);
• “We loved Melpomene...” (1978; co-authored with O. Artsimovich; film not produced).

Filmography

Feature films

• 1961 - “Horizon”, Lenfilm - lyrics
• 1962 - “Chain Reaction”, Mosfilm - first appearance on screen
• 1963 - “Ilyich’s Outpost” (“I’m twenty years old”), Film Studio named after. M. Gorky
• 1967 - “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha”, Lenfilm (co-writer of the script, cameo role)
• 1970 - “Belorussky Station”, Mosfilm - song from the film “Belorussky Station” (“Our Tenth Airborne Battalion”)
• 1970 - “White Sun of the Desert” - lyrics of the song “Your Honor, Lady Luck”
• 1973 - “Dirk”, Belarusfilm - lyrics of “Songs of the Red Army Soldier” (“The cannon hits blindly”) and “Songs of the homeless child” (“U Kursky railway station»)
• 1974 - “Bronze Bird”, Belarusfilm - lyrics of the song “You burn, burn, my fire”
• 1975 - “The Adventures of Pinocchio”, Belarusfilm - lyrics of some songs
• 1977 - “Aty-Bati, the soldiers were marching”, Film Studio named after. A. P. Dovzhenko - song “Take your overcoat, let's go home”
• 1977 - “The key without the right of transfer”, Lenfilm
• 1982 - “Pokrovsky Gate”, Mosfilm - songs “Painters”, “Song about Arbat”, “Sentries of Love”
• 1985 - “Legitimate Marriage”, Mosfilm
• 1986 - “Keep Me, My Talisman”, Film Studio. A. P. Dovzhenko

Documentaries

• “I remember a wonderful moment” (Lenfilm)
• “My contemporaries”, Lenfilm, 1984
• “Two hours with bards” (“Bards”), Mosfilm, 1988
• “And don’t forget about me”, Russian television, 1992

Discography

Gramophone records

• Songs of Bulat Okudzhava. Melodiya, 1966. D 00016717-8
• Disc (Paris, Le Chant du Mond in 1968)
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs. Melodiya, 1973. 33D-00034883-84
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs (poems and music). Performed by the author. Melodiya, 1976. M40 38867
• Songs based on poems by Bulat Okudzhava. Melodiya, 1978. M40 41235
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs. Melodiya, 1978. G62 07097
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs. Performed by Bulat Okudzhava. Melodiya, 1981. С60 13331
• Okudzhava Bulat. Songs and poems about the war. Melody, 1985
• Disc of songs. (“Balkanton”, Bulgaria, 1985. VTK 3804).
• Bulat Okudzhava. Songs and poems about the war. Performed by the author. Recording of the All-Union studio for recording and phonograms of films from 1969-1984. Melodiya, 1985. M40 46401 003
• Okudzhava Bulat. New songs. Recording 1986 Melodiya, 1986. С60 25001 009
• Bulat Okudzhava. A song, short, like life itself... Performed by the author. Recording 1986 Melodiya, 1987. С62 25041 006
• Songs based on Bulat Okudzhava's poems from films. Melody

Cassette

• Bulat Okudzhava. While the earth is still spinning. Records of M. Kryzhanovsky 1969-1970. Licensed by SoLyd Records. Moscow Windows LLP, 1994. MO 005

CDs

• Bulat Okudzhava. While the earth is still spinning. Records of M. Kryzhanovsky 1969-1970. SoLyd Records, 1994. SLR 0008
• Bulat Okudzhava. And like first love... Licensed by Le Chant du Mond, recorded 1968. SoLyd Records, 1997. SLR 0079

Bibliography

• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 1 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 5-98557-001-0. M.: Bulat, 2004
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 2 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 5-98557-003-7. M.: Bulat, 2005
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 3 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 5-98557-005-3. M.: Bulat, 2006
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 4 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 978-5-98557-009-0. M.: Bulat, 2007
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 5 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 978-5-991457-001-6. M.: Bulat, 2008
• Voice of hope: New information about Bulat Okudzhava. Vol. 8 / Comp. Krylov A. E. ISBN 978-5-991457-012-2. M.: Bulat, 2011, 544 p. ml, 1000 copies.
• Gizatulin M. Bulat Okudzhava: “... from the very beginning.” - ISBN 978-5-98557-010-6. M.: Bulat, 2008

Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich, (1924-1997), Russian Soviet poet, writer

Born in Moscow in the family of a party worker. He graduated from school in 1941. In 1942 he volunteered to go to the front. After the war he studied at Tbilisi State University. He worked as a teacher in a rural school near Kaluga.

The first collection of his poems, “Lyrics,” was published in 1955 in Kaluga. In 1956, after the rehabilitation of his parents, he returned to Moscow. Collections of his lyrics began to appear one after another: “Islands” (1959), “The Cheerful Drummer” (1964), “On the Road to Tinatin” (1964), “Magnanimous March” (1967).

He gained fame as a performer of his own songs, a significant part of which is dedicated to the impressions of the war years.

In 1961, his first prose work, “Be Healthy, Schoolboy,” appeared. In 1965, he published a story for children, “The Front Comes to Us,” followed by two historical novels, “Poor Avrosimov” (1969) and “The Adventures of Shipov” (1971). Okudzhava’s novels “The Journey of Amateurs” (1978) and “A Date with Bonaparte” (1979-1983) placed their author among the best Russian prose writers.

The last lifetime collection of poetry was published in 1996.

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava(1924-1997) - Soviet and Russian poet, composer, prose writer and screenwriter. The author of about two hundred songs written to his own poems, one of the founders and most prominent representatives of the genre of art songs.

Biography

Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow on May 9, 1924 into a family of communists who came from Tbilisi to study at the Communist Academy. Father - Okudzhava Shalva Stepanovich, Georgian, mother - Ashkhen Stepanovna Nalbandyan, Armenian.

First place of residence - st. Arbat, 43, communal apartment on the 4th floor.

Soon after Bulat's birth, his father was sent to the Caucasus to work as a commissar of the Georgian division. Mother remained in Moscow, worked in the party apparatus. Bulat was sent to Tbilisi to study and studied in a Russian class. Father was promoted to secretary of the Tbilisi City Committee; because of the conflict with Beria, he sent a letter to Sergo Ordzhonikidze with a request to send him to party work in Russia, and was sent to the Urals as a party organizer for carriage factory. Bulat's father sent the family to live with him in the Urals.

After the arrest of his parents in 1937 - his father was shot on false charges in 1937, his mother was exiled to a Karaganda camp, from where she returned only in 1955 - Bulat and his grandmother returned to Moscow.

In 1940, Bulat Okudzhava moved to relatives in Tbilisi. He studied and then worked at a factory as a turner's apprentice.

In April 1942, at the age of 17, Okudzhava volunteered for the front. Was sent to the 10th Separate Reserve Mortar Division. Then, after two months of training, he was sent to the North Caucasus Front. He was a mortarman, then a heavy artillery radio operator. He practically took no part in hostilities; was accidentally wounded near Mozdok.

His first song, “We Couldn’t Sleep in Cold Warehouses” (1943), dates back to this time, the text of which has not survived.

The second song was written in 1946 - “Ancient student song” (“Frantic and stubborn…”).

After the war, Okudzhava entered Tbilisi State University. Having received his diploma, in 1950 he began working as a teacher - first in a rural school in the village of Shamordino, Kaluga region and in the regional center of Vysokinichi, then in Kaluga.

In 1955, impressed by his mother’s return from the camp, Bulat Okudzhava joined the CPSU.

In 1956, Okudzhava returned to Moscow. In the same year, he began performing as the author of poetry and song music and performing them with a guitar, quickly gaining popularity. The composition of many of Okudzhava's most famous early songs dates back to this period (1956-1967) ("On Tverskoy Boulevard", "Song about Lyonka Korolev", "Song about the Blue Ball", "Sentimental March", "Song about the Midnight Trolleybus", "Not tramps, not drunkards", "Moscow Ant", "Song about the Komsomol goddess", etc.).

He worked as an editor at the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house, then as head of the poetry department at Literaturnaya Gazeta. Participated in the work of the literary association "Magistral".

In 1961 he left the service and no longer worked for hire, focusing exclusively on creative activities.

Since 1962 Okudzhava has been a member of the USSR Writers' Union.

In 1970, the film “Belorussky Station” was released, in which a song was performed to the words of Bulat Okudzhava “The birds don’t sing here...”. Okudzhava is the author of other popular songs for films (the film “Straw Hat”, “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha”, etc.)

The first disc with Okudzhava’s songs was released in Paris in 1968. Since the mid-seventies, Okudzhava’s discs have also been released in the USSR.

The songs of Bulat Okudzhava, spreading in tape recordings, quickly gained popularity, primarily among the intelligentsia: first in the USSR, then among Russian speakers abroad. The songs “Let's join hands, friends...”, “While the Earth is still spinning...” (“Prayer of François Villon”) have become the anthem of many PCB rallies and festivals. In addition to songs based on his own poems, Okudzhava wrote a number of songs based on poems by the Polish poetess Agnieszka Osiecka, which he himself translated into Russian.

In 1961, Okudzhava made his debut as a prose writer: his autobiographical story “Be Healthy, Schoolboy” was published in the anthology “Tarussky Pages” (published as a separate publication in 1987).

Published stories: "Poor Avrosimov" ("A Sip of Freedom") (1969) about the tragic pages in the history of the Decembrist movement, "The Adventures of Shipov, or Ancient Vaudeville" (1971) and the novels "The Journey of Amateurs" (part 1. - 1976; part 2. - 1978) and "Date with Bonaparte" (1983).

Since the beginning of perestroika, Bulat Okudzhava has taken an active democratic position and participates in current politics.

Since 1989 - founding member of the Russian PEN Center.

In 1990 he left the CPSU.

Since 1992 - member of the commission on pardons under the President of the Russian Federation; since 1994 - member of the commission for State Prizes of the Russian Federation.

Also:
Member of the founding council of the Moscow News newspaper.
Member of the founding council of Obshchaya Gazeta.
Member of the editorial board of the newspaper "Evening Club".
Member of the Council of the Memorial Society.

Since the early 1990s, the poet has lived mainly in Germany. On June 23, 1995, a concert by Bulat Okudzhava took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

On June 12, 1997, Bulat Okudzhava died in Paris (in the suburb of Clamart), in a military hospital.

He was buried at the Moscow Vagankovskoe cemetery. There is a monument to him near house 43 on Arbat, where Okudzhava lived.