Alexander Rosenbaum
Encyclopedia
Alexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum (born September 13, 1951 in Leningrad
, Soviet Union
) is a Soviet and Russia
n bard
from Saint Petersburg
. He is best known as an interpreter of the blatnaya pesnya
(criminal song) genre. Modern singers in this genre, such as Mikhail Shufutinsky
often sing Rosenbaum's songs.
Rosenbaum graduated from the Pavlov Medical School in 1974, and worked in the medical field for four years. His musical education consists of piano
and choreography
courses at a musical school. In 1968, while still a student, Rosenbaum started writing the songs for which he is famous. His early songs were for student plays, but he soon also wrote for rock groups and started performing as a singer-songwriter in 1983, sometimes under the pseudonym "Ayarov".
Among his most famous songs are the ones about Leningrad
, the Soviet-Afghan War, Cossack
s, and the Jewish Mafia in Odessa
. Songs such as "Gop-Stop" (a comedy about two gangsters executing an unfaithful lover) and "Vals-boston" (The Boston Waltz
) are popular across Russian social groups and generations.
Rosenbaum accompanies himself on either a six- or twelve-string acoustic guitar, using the Open G tuning adopted from the Russian seven string guitar
.
His attitude toward the criminal song genre can best be illustrated by his own words:
On 16 May 2001, by president Putin's decree, Rosenbaum was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia
, probably the highest title in the artistic field of activity in Russia.
However many prominent Russian bards shun Rozenbaum and refuse to count him in as a member of their community. While bards used to be treated as outcasts and their music was drawn underground through the years of Soviet regime, Rozenbaum enjoyed official approval long before collapse of the Soviet Union with its tight ideological censorship. "Bard Song Anthology" by Dmitry Sukharev ("Бардовская песня. Антология", сост. Дмитрий Сухарев, ISBN 5-94799-234-5) widely acclaimed as 'Bible' of Russian bard movement, listing nearly every author of every song, doesn't even mention his name.
His lyrics are quite often heart-wrenching, telling stories of people in insufferable pain, suffering implacable fates, and of love powerful enough to enslave a man. He sees himself not so much as a critic, but a true patriot who sees the worst sides of his country, but loves its people still.
He has stated that his wide lyrical scope is due to his being a sort of medium. For example, he wrote many crime-related songs using their jargon, but he never lived the criminal life in reality. Similarly, many of his songs about the Cossacks were written without the benefit of ever having a single relative from that community.
Rosenbaum's most popular and culturally relevant song to-date, and his greatest hit, is "Vals-Boston" (Russian: Вàльс-бостòн), which translates to "The Boston Waltz." The title refers to a dance called the American Waltz, or alternatively the Boston
.
In concert, Rosenbaum performs either alone or with his band, usually consisting of at least six other members (drummer, bass guitarist, two keyboardists, lead electric guitarist, and violinist). In his solo concerts, his guitar accompaniment tends to be different every time in some way. He is known for the way he stretches or, contrarily, cuts the length of musical bars in a song, making the song unique and unpredictable every time.
Rosenbaum is strongly opposed to lip synching during his concerts, a practice that has become increasingly widespread in Russia after the Soviet era. Once, during a festival concert, where many performers lip synched, Rosenbaum, all the time speaking into his live microphone, acerbically asked the sound mixer: "Can you turn up my guitar a bit, guys? After all, the little thing's live!"
(the fourth Duma
) for Yedinaya Rossiya
and deputy chairman of the State Duma Culture Committee. When asked by a journalist about what he had to sacrifice to be able to run for MP, Rosenbaum answered:
He was not listed as an MP in the fifth Duma.
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) is a Soviet and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n bard
Bard (Soviet Union)
The term bard came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment, similarly to beatnik folk singers of the United States...
from Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. He is best known as an interpreter of the blatnaya pesnya
Shanson
Russian chanson is a neologism for a musical genre covering a range of Russian songs based on the themes of the urban underclass and the criminal underworld. This song style, originally called blatnaya pesnya , has been popular in Eastern Europe ever since its first appearance in the beginning of...
(criminal song) genre. Modern singers in this genre, such as Mikhail Shufutinsky
Mikhail Shufutinsky
Mikhail Zakharovich Shufutinsky is a pop Russian singer, citizen of the USA. He is the pre-eminent current singer of Russian chanson music....
often sing Rosenbaum's songs.
Rosenbaum graduated from the Pavlov Medical School in 1974, and worked in the medical field for four years. His musical education consists of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
courses at a musical school. In 1968, while still a student, Rosenbaum started writing the songs for which he is famous. His early songs were for student plays, but he soon also wrote for rock groups and started performing as a singer-songwriter in 1983, sometimes under the pseudonym "Ayarov".
Among his most famous songs are the ones about Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
, the Soviet-Afghan War, Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
s, and the Jewish Mafia in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
. Songs such as "Gop-Stop" (a comedy about two gangsters executing an unfaithful lover) and "Vals-boston" (The Boston Waltz
Boston (dance)
Boston, in reference to a dance, may have one of the following meanings.*The Boston, an original name of the American Waltz.Arguably, the dances below are variations of The Boston.*Walking Boston*American Boston*French Boston*Philadelphia Boston...
) are popular across Russian social groups and generations.
Rosenbaum accompanies himself on either a six- or twelve-string acoustic guitar, using the Open G tuning adopted from the Russian seven string guitar
Russian guitar
The Russian guitar is a seven-string acoustic guitar that arrived in Russia toward the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, most probably as an evolution of the cittern, kobza, and torban...
.
His attitude toward the criminal song genre can best be illustrated by his own words:
Titles
People's Artist of Russia
People's Artist of Russia, also sometimes translated as National Artist of Russia, is an honorary title granted to citizens of Russia.It succeeded both the all-Soviet union award People's Artist of the USSR , and more directly the local republic award, People's Artist of the RSFSR , after the...
, probably the highest title in the artistic field of activity in Russia.
Songwriting/Performing Characteristics
Rosenbaum sometimes employs peculiar musical time signatures and patterns in his songs, striving to sound fresh and unique - a bit atypical for a songwriter that employs gangster and criminal slang elements in his lyrics. Though many of his songs are elaborate in their instrumentation, the stress is placed on the primary melodies of his songs and their messages, as is usually the case in bard music.However many prominent Russian bards shun Rozenbaum and refuse to count him in as a member of their community. While bards used to be treated as outcasts and their music was drawn underground through the years of Soviet regime, Rozenbaum enjoyed official approval long before collapse of the Soviet Union with its tight ideological censorship. "Bard Song Anthology" by Dmitry Sukharev ("Бардовская песня. Антология", сост. Дмитрий Сухарев, ISBN 5-94799-234-5) widely acclaimed as 'Bible' of Russian bard movement, listing nearly every author of every song, doesn't even mention his name.
His lyrics are quite often heart-wrenching, telling stories of people in insufferable pain, suffering implacable fates, and of love powerful enough to enslave a man. He sees himself not so much as a critic, but a true patriot who sees the worst sides of his country, but loves its people still.
He has stated that his wide lyrical scope is due to his being a sort of medium. For example, he wrote many crime-related songs using their jargon, but he never lived the criminal life in reality. Similarly, many of his songs about the Cossacks were written without the benefit of ever having a single relative from that community.
Rosenbaum's most popular and culturally relevant song to-date, and his greatest hit, is "Vals-Boston" (Russian: Вàльс-бостòн), which translates to "The Boston Waltz." The title refers to a dance called the American Waltz, or alternatively the Boston
Boston (dance)
Boston, in reference to a dance, may have one of the following meanings.*The Boston, an original name of the American Waltz.Arguably, the dances below are variations of The Boston.*Walking Boston*American Boston*French Boston*Philadelphia Boston...
.
In concert, Rosenbaum performs either alone or with his band, usually consisting of at least six other members (drummer, bass guitarist, two keyboardists, lead electric guitarist, and violinist). In his solo concerts, his guitar accompaniment tends to be different every time in some way. He is known for the way he stretches or, contrarily, cuts the length of musical bars in a song, making the song unique and unpredictable every time.
Rosenbaum is strongly opposed to lip synching during his concerts, a practice that has become increasingly widespread in Russia after the Soviet era. Once, during a festival concert, where many performers lip synched, Rosenbaum, all the time speaking into his live microphone, acerbically asked the sound mixer: "Can you turn up my guitar a bit, guys? After all, the little thing's live!"
Political career
On December 7, 2003 Alexander Rosenbaum took office as a member of the Russian parliamentState Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
(the fourth Duma
Russian legislative election, 2003
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 7, 2003. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia ....
) for Yedinaya Rossiya
United Russia
United Russia is a centrist political party in Russia and the largest party in the country, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties...
and deputy chairman of the State Duma Culture Committee. When asked by a journalist about what he had to sacrifice to be able to run for MP, Rosenbaum answered:
He was not listed as an MP in the fifth Duma.
Business
Rosenbaum is co-owner of a growing (as of 2007) network of beer-halls in Saint-Petersburg, called "Tolstiy Frayer". The name has a humorous, as well as gangster slang air to it and can roughly be rendered as "Non-Criminal Fat Chap".Discography
- Pamyati A. Zvezdina-Severnogo (In memory of A. Zvezdin-Severny; April 1982)
- Noviye pesni (New Songs; November 1983)
- Epitafiya (Epitaph; 1986)
- Moi dvory (My Courtyards;1986)
- Narisuyte mne dom (Paint Me a House; 1986)
- Doroga dlinoyu v zhizn (The Life-long Road; 1988)
- Kazachyi pesni (Cossack Songs; 1988)
- Anafema (Anathema; 1988)
- Nyu-Yorkskiy kontsert (A New-York Concert; 1987)
- Gop-stop (Gop-stop;1993)
- Goryachaya Desyatka (Hot Ten; 1994)
- A. Rozenbaum i “Bratya Zhemchuzhniye” 11 let spustya (A. Rosenbaum and the “Zhemchuzhnye Brothers”, 11 years after; 1994)
- Veshchaya sudba (Prophetic Fate; 1994, compilation)
- Nostalgiya (Nostalgia; 1994)
- Vyalotekushchaya Shizofreniya (Sluggishly progressing schizophreniaSluggishly progressing schizophreniaSluggishly progressing schizophrenia or sluggish schizophrenia was a category of schizophrenia diagnosed by psychiatrists in the Soviet Union...
; December 1994) - Byloye i diski (The Past and the Disks; volumes 1, 2 and 3)
- Antologiya 1. Domashniy kontsert (Anthology 1. A Home Concert; 1981)
- Antologiya 2. Posvyashcheniye posvyashchayushchim (Anthology 2. Devoted to the Devoters; 1983)
- Antologiya 3. Kontsert v Vorkute. (Anthology 3. A Concert in VorkutaVorkutaVorkuta is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at the Usa River. Population: - Labor camp origins :...
; 1984) - Antologiya 4. Kontsert na LOMO (Anthology 4. A Concert at LOMO; 1987)
- Rozoviy zhemchug (Pink Pearls; August–November 1995)
- Na plantatsiyah lyubvi (On Plantations of Love; March–May 1996)
- Kontsert v den rozhdeniya (A Birthday Concert; September 1996)
- Vozvrashcheniye na Argo (The Return to ArgoArgoIn Greek mythology, the Argo was the ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece. It was named after its builder, Argus.-Legend:...
; February 1997) - Iyulskaya zhara (July Heat; November 1997)
- Luchshiye pesni (The Best Of; 1982–1997, compilation)
- Transsibirskaya magistral (Trans-Siberian RailwayTrans-Siberian RailwayThe Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...
1999) - Odinokiy volk (Lonesome Wolf; 2001, compilation)
- Nastoyashchiy soldat (Real Soldier; April 2000)
- Staraya gitara (Old Guitar; 2001)
- Ya lyublyu vozvrashchatsya v svoy gorod... (I Love Coming Back to My Town…; 2003)
- Strannaya zhizn (Strange Life; 2003)
- Ya vizhu svet (I See the Light; December 2005)
- Poputchiki (Fellow travellers; October 2007)
- Mechta blatnogo poeta (The Dream of an Underworld Poet November 2009)
External links
- Rozenbaum.ru - Official site, includes many recordings and lyrics.
- Duma.gov.ru - State Duma official site