Shanson
Encyclopedia
Russian chanson (from French "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 ("criminals' song"), has been popular in Eastern Europe
ever since its first appearance in the beginning of the 20th century. Chanson can be seen as one of two genres stemming from 19th century Russian city romance songs (русский городской романс), the other genre being the author song
. The two genres are now quite distinct, but have overlapped significantly throughout the 20th century.
Yet another change occurred during the Khrushchev Thaw
, when songs from the labor camps started reaching the public, performed by artists like Arkady Severny and Vladimir Vysotsky
.
Modern artists affiliated with the Chanson genre often sing not in the traditional style used even by the Khrushchev-era performers, but more professionally, borrowing musical arrangements from pop, rock, and jazz.
s than pop songs. In fact, this is one of the reasons for naming the genre after the French Chanson
(the other being musical similarity).
Chanson themes vary greatly depending on the time in which the songs were written and the places in which they are set. For example, songs set in the Odessa
of the 1910s tend to be more cheerful, and are sharply contrasted by the dark, depressing, and violent songs set in the Stalinist era. The interesting thing is that it is common for a Chanson artist, regardless of the time in which he writes his songs, to include songs of all periods in his repertoire, and write songs set in an era different from his own. This often leads to confusion: for example, the bard Alexander Gorodnitsky
reports being beaten up once after claiming authorship to one of his songs, which was attributed to a Gulag inmate living over 30 years earlier.
Recurring themes in Chanson songs include:
As seen above, chanson is rooted in prison life and criminal culture, but some chanson performers insist that the genre transcends mere criminal songs, and look upon Alexander Vertinsky
and Alla Bayanova
as their precursors.
songs, are heavily influenced by the classical Russian romance genre of the 19th century, more specifically a subgenre known as the City or Urban Romance. Romance songs are almost always divided into four-line rhymed couplets, rarely have a chorus, and follow a fairly consistent chord progression (Am, Dm, and E, sometimes with C and G added). The strumming pattern is also predictable: it is either a march, or a slow 3/4 waltz pattern often utilizing fingerpicking rather than strumming. Romance songs were traditionally played on a Russian guitar
, since its tuning makes playing these chords easier (most of them are played as a single-finger bar chord).
, Vladimir Vysotsky
, Alexander Gorodnitsky
, and Alexander Rosenbaum
. Notice that with the exception of Severny, these performers are usually better known for their Bard
songs. Arkady was one of the rare performers who focuses exclusively on collecting and performing old criminal songs.
Modern chanson performers include the band Lesopoval
, Spartak Arutyunyan-Belomorkanal Band, Boris Davidyan or BOKA
(Armenian Shanson), Ivan Kuchin, Aleksandr Novikov, Mikhail Shufutinsky
and Mikhail Krug
(murdered in 2002 at his villa in Tver
).
A more recent artist who plays chanson with Rock music
is Grigory Leps
. Elena Vaenga, another recently popularized singer, actress and songwriter, sings in the styles of Russian shanson, folk music and folk rock.
British singer Marc Almond is the only western artist to receive acclaim in western Europe and well as Russia, for singing English versions of Russian Romances and Russian Chanson on his albums Heart On Snow and Orpheus in Exile (the songs of Vadim Kozin).
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
") 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 ("criminals' song"), has been popular in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
ever since its first appearance in the beginning of the 20th century. Chanson can be seen as one of two genres stemming from 19th century Russian city romance songs (русский городской романс), the other genre being the author song
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...
. The two genres are now quite distinct, but have overlapped significantly throughout the 20th century.
History
The earliest criminal songs in this style largely came about due to the crumbling Tsarist regime, but the style has changed significantly after the rise of Stalin, when both innocents and criminals were massacred and sent to labor camps.Yet another change occurred during the Khrushchev Thaw
Khrushchev Thaw
The Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s, when repression and censorship in the Soviet Union were partially reversed and millions of Soviet political prisoners were released from Gulag labor camps, due to Nikita Khrushchev's policies of de-Stalinization and...
, when songs from the labor camps started reaching the public, performed by artists like Arkady Severny and Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
.
Modern artists affiliated with the Chanson genre often sing not in the traditional style used even by the Khrushchev-era performers, but more professionally, borrowing musical arrangements from pop, rock, and jazz.
Themes
Lyrically, Chanson songs are usually narrative-driven and are more similar to balladBallad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s than pop songs. In fact, this is one of the reasons for naming the genre after the French Chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
(the other being musical similarity).
Chanson themes vary greatly depending on the time in which the songs were written and the places in which they are set. For example, songs set in the 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,...
of the 1910s tend to be more cheerful, and are sharply contrasted by the dark, depressing, and violent songs set in the Stalinist era. The interesting thing is that it is common for a Chanson artist, regardless of the time in which he writes his songs, to include songs of all periods in his repertoire, and write songs set in an era different from his own. This often leads to confusion: for example, the bard Alexander Gorodnitsky
Alexander Gorodnitsky
Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky is a well-known Soviet and Russian bard and poet. Professionally, he is a geologist and oceanographer....
reports being beaten up once after claiming authorship to one of his songs, which was attributed to a Gulag inmate living over 30 years earlier.
Recurring themes in Chanson songs include:
- Military and patriotic themes. There is a sub-genre of Chanson known as Military chanson.
- White Guard (anticommunist side of the Russian Civil War)
- The execution of a traitor to a criminal gang (the first such song is probably "Murka"). This is usually in the context of the Russian criminals' lawThief in lawThief in law is a criminal who is respected, has authority and a high ranking status within the...
, which punishes betrayal very harshly. - Being sent to, or released from, a labor campGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
. - Love in the context of criminal life, the conflict usually being either betrayal or separation due to imprisonment.
- Glorification of the 'merry thief' archetype. These songs are often set in the city of OdessaOdessaOdessa 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,...
, where the Jewish Mafia was characterized as being particularly cheerful and colorful. Odessa Couplets often depict the rich and glorious life before Stalin's regime, when Odessa was among the only cities in the young Soviet Union to have free trade. These songs are often narrations of weddings and parties, sometimes based on real events. - Political satire of different forms.
- Appeal to emotions towards relatives or beloved ones, often leading unlawful or morally controversial lives.
As seen above, chanson is rooted in prison life and criminal culture, but some chanson performers insist that the genre transcends mere criminal songs, and look upon Alexander Vertinsky
Alexander Vertinsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.-Early years:...
and Alla Bayanova
Alla Bayanova
Alla Nikolayevna Bayanova was a Russian singer sometimes compared with Édith Piaf for her simple yet dramatic style of performance.-Biography:...
as their precursors.
Musical style
The musical style of the older Russian criminal songs, much like the Russian BardBard (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...
songs, are heavily influenced by the classical Russian romance genre of the 19th century, more specifically a subgenre known as the City or Urban Romance. Romance songs are almost always divided into four-line rhymed couplets, rarely have a chorus, and follow a fairly consistent chord progression (Am, Dm, and E, sometimes with C and G added). The strumming pattern is also predictable: it is either a march, or a slow 3/4 waltz pattern often utilizing fingerpicking rather than strumming. Romance songs were traditionally played on a Russian 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...
, since its tuning makes playing these chords easier (most of them are played as a single-finger bar chord).
Performers
Criminal songs were prominently performed by artists like Arcady SevernyArcady Severny
Arkady Severny was a popular singer from Leningrad. He was very popular in the Soviet Union in the 1970s primarily because of his criminal songs. He sang more than 1,000 songs based on criminal folklore and literature. Severny worked with well-known Russian jazz and restaurant musicians...
, Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
, Alexander Gorodnitsky
Alexander Gorodnitsky
Alexander Moiseevich Gorodnitsky is a well-known Soviet and Russian bard and poet. Professionally, he is a geologist and oceanographer....
, and Alexander Rosenbaum
Alexander Rosenbaum
Alexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum is a Soviet and Russian bard from Saint Petersburg. He is best known as an interpreter of the blatnaya pesnya genre...
. Notice that with the exception of Severny, these performers are usually better known for their 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...
songs. Arkady was one of the rare performers who focuses exclusively on collecting and performing old criminal songs.
Modern chanson performers include the band Lesopoval
Lesopoval
Lesopoval is a Russian band formed in 1990 by Mikhail Tanich and Sergey Korzhukov. Their music is in the style of Russian chanson, which is music from the perspective of the criminal underworld. The hero of many of their songs is often a criminal or ex-convict, and their songs contain many...
, Spartak Arutyunyan-Belomorkanal Band, Boris Davidyan or BOKA
Boka
Boka can refer to:* Boka * Boka Kotorska, geographical region in Montenegro* Boka , village in Vojvodina, Serbia* Bauka, California* Arthur Boka, Ivorian footballer...
(Armenian Shanson), Ivan Kuchin, Aleksandr Novikov, 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....
and Mikhail Krug
Mikhail Krug
Mikhail Krug , born as Vorobyov , was a Russian singer, one of the leading singers of the style of songs known as blatnaya pesnya , or shanson, which has been part of Russian culture since the beginning of the twentieth century.Mikhail Krug was born in Morozovskiy Gorodok, a suburb of the city of...
(murdered in 2002 at his villa in Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...
).
A more recent artist who plays chanson with Rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
is Grigory Leps
Grigory Leps
Grigory Victorovich Lepsveridze , commonly known as Grigory Leps, is a Russian singer-songwriter created a unique style mixing between rock music, pop music, and in his early career shanson. Known for his low strength voice with long-range vocals....
. Elena Vaenga, another recently popularized singer, actress and songwriter, sings in the styles of Russian shanson, folk music and folk rock.
British singer Marc Almond is the only western artist to receive acclaim in western Europe and well as Russia, for singing English versions of Russian Romances and Russian Chanson on his albums Heart On Snow and Orpheus in Exile (the songs of Vadim Kozin).