Allá Pugacheva joins in dissent against Putin

Russia’s Popular Singing star Opposes Putin and war

“I am a foreign agent, too.”

Image: Alla Pugacheva and Maxim Galkin

In 1965 we were listening to the Four Tops, The Rolling Stones singing “Satisfaction,” Petula Clark and “Downtown,” and the Beatles singing “Help.” In the Soviet Union, Russian youth were listening to Allá Pugacheva. For 57 years, this singer has been the sound of 20th century Soviet Union and Russia. She continues to draw crowds for concerts.

Yesterday, Alla Pugacheva came out against Putin’s War in Ukraine. 73 year old Pugacheva has 3.7 million followers on Instagram and she wrote on her post, “I request to be added to the ranks of foreign agents of my beloved country,” she wrote. “I am in solidarity with my husband, an honest, respectable and genuine person who is a true and incorruptible patriot of Russia, who wishes his Motherland prosperity, peaceful life, freedom of speech and the end of the death of our guys for illusory goals that are turning our country into a pariah and worsening the lives of our citizens.”

Two days earlier, her husband who is a vocal opponent to the Russian invasion was named a ‘foreign agent’ by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Galkin, whose Instagram feed has been blocked in Russia, accused Russian authorities of hypocrisy and lies for its war crimes committed in Bucha, Odessa, and Mariupol.

Ouch! Earlier this month, Putin spoke affectionately of Ms Pugacheva - she is the sound of his youth after all. Putin gave Pugacheva the Order for Merit to the Fatherland in 2014.

The New York Times in 2000 described Allá Pugacheva as “the goddess of Russian pop, Moscow’s Tina Turner with a hint of Edith Piaf, whose songs have given voice to the yearnings of millions.” She has sold over 250 million records, ranking her among the world’s best-selling musical artists.

Is this the sound of the bricks falling, or is this just the way things go in a war?

“A Million Scarlet Roses” was written by a Latvian composer, Raimonds Pauls and the lyrics were written for Pugacheva by Andrei Voznesensky who drew inspiration from the life of a Georgian painter, Niko Pirosmani, believed to have filled a town square with flowers for a French actress he had a crush on.

A Million Scarlet Roses (Миллион роз ) (my rough translation)

Once there was an artist and he had canvases and a home.

But he loved an actress who loved flowers,

So he sold his house, sold his canvases and his home.

He bought a sea of flowers.

Millions, millions, and millions of scarlet roses

From the the window from the window from the window you can see

Who's in love who's in love - who's in love seriously.

He turned his life into flowers for thee.

At dawn you stand by the window,

The square is filled with flowers as if in a dream.

You wonder what fool of a rich man would buy all these flowers.

Now a poor artist stands barely breathing.

Millions, millions, and millions of scarlet roses,

From the the window from the window from the window you can see

Who's in love who's in love who's in love seriously.

He turned his life into flowers for thee.

Millions, millions, and millions of scarlet roses

From the the window from the window from the window you can see

Who's in love who's in love - who's in love seriously.

He turned his life into flowers for thee.

Music and Ukraine

mbfitzmahan. Shauna 1997. Photo negative.

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July 2022 - After 5 months of War, it feels like you’ve had enough. Check the front page of the newspaper, Ukrainian news that in March had its own section at the top of the page, has been relegated to a single article at the bottom. Inflation, pandemic, war, Democrats v. Republicans, assassination, shootings… it is too much. Ack!

And, I wish I could tell you that the Ukrainians are going to defeat Russia in the next few days or months. I cannot. But, let’s give the Ukrainians more time to act as our agents, to fight the war for us. Ukraine is worth fighting for. And the Ukrainians are fighting harder than ever to save their homeland. And, it is a home worth saving - it is a culture that enriches all of us worldwide. And, don’t forget that we are fighting a dictator that has his eyes on more than just Ukraine; he smacks his lips looking beyond.

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1997 Lutsk.

Without movie theaters, a TV or a computer - an evening of making music was the most entertaining part of our week. A troop of students appeared at our door holding gifts of food - baked chicken, Ukrainian bread, and pickles made by grandmother. We didn’t have much room so we gathered in the largest bedroom. A smattering of American music joined our playlist, but most of the music came from Ukrainian and Russian hits. Shauna, having brought her Lyle guitar all the way from Vashon to Lutsk, played Counting Crows’ “Raining in Baltimore” and Lyle Lovett’s “She’s No Lady.” Max took the guitar and all eyes turned to the singer, completely attentive as if he were the most cherished soloist at the concert hall. There was little talking, it was all about music. One evening, a voice cried out, “Tanya, recite Pushkin!” Cheers rose up from the party, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Tanya shyly looking at her admirers, stood up and began a recitation in Russian. Suddenly, she stopped and looked at me, “Maureen, would you like me to translate?” “No, just continue in Russian.” Tanya recited Pushkin for 30 minutes.

Shauna learned a few Ukrainian songs to play on her guitar. I still ask her to play Vona. “Oh, Mom, I don’t know if I remember it… OK. Let me think...” And, then our memories of Ukraine - of our friends - come strumming out of that old guitar. Out come memories of being stuck together on the Ukrainian-Polish border where Shauna serenaded tired travelers.

Listen to a version of Vona below.

_______________________________________________________

The lyrics of “A Vona” by Plach Yeremiji seem to apply to feelings of wartime Ukraine.

****

not today for sure tomorrow

friends will share the joy and sorrow

that's the time to drink some wine and chill

some will bring white-petaled asters

life is more than charms to master

yes the life is beautiful and real

and she will

and she will

be sitting sad and still

won’t get drunk

from cheap wine drinking

making sense of what is real

I will sing for her and crystals

shall vibrate not knowing how

with my voice in silent distance

overcome this sadness now

so it happened God knows where

I love her free flowing hair

I love her thin lips and know them well

soon enough the leaves will fall and

we’ll disperse while cities calling

with the voice so Russified like hell

so she will

so she will

be sitting sad and still

won’t get drunk

from cheap wine drinking

making sense of what is real

oh my little girl with sad eyes

oh my golden fate and rest

I continue with my screaming

for the night is bare and vast

Movies on Ukraine or dissent

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (2015). Oscar-nominated film directed by Israeli-American Evgeny. Watch on Netflix.

Last week I watched this film on the Maidan Protests. This documentary is a mesmerizing street view of 4 months of protests (2013-2014) against the Russian leaning Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych. This incident led to a Russian military intervention through the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the creation of the self-proclaimed breakaway states of Donetsk and Luhansk. This sparked the Donbas War, and culminated with Russia initiating the full-scale invasion of the country today in 2022.

Mariupolis 2. 2022. Mantas Kvaderavičius. Won Cannes Film Festival prize. Not yet available for viewing.

This documentary made by Lithuanian director Mantas Kvaderavičius won the special Cannes Film Festival prize of the Golden Eye. The director was killed on April 2, while trying to escape Mariupol. The film is about the life in Mariupol during the invasion. The film was finished by the director's wife Anna, as Kvaderavičius hadn’t yet finished.

This film is a follow-up to Kvedaravicius’ 2016 documenary, Mariupolis, which followed the lives of everyday citizens in Mariupol as the threat of war with Russia escalated. Kvedaravicius returned to Mariupol this year to document Russia’s invasion of the country. The city of Mariupol has been completely destroyed by the Russian military.

Servant of the People. Starring Volodymyr Zelensky, today’s President of Ukraine. 2015. Watch on Netflix.

This is a light comedy, a nice change from the heavier films listed. I watch episodes from this show as a break from the bad news streaming out of eastern Ukraine. The experience is a bit surreal. In the show you can get a view of a bit of normal life in Ukrainian homes and on the streets of Kyiv before the War. It is hard to believe that many of those streets and buildings featured in the film are today in rubble after 2 months of bombings from the Russians. And, secondly, it is also hard to believe that the actor who plays the President is now the real live Ukrainian President, hiding in bunkers, addressing the United Nations asking for help, walking with the troops, consoling the injured and the families of the dead. Zelensky has become a dynamic hero to Ukraine. A hero to the world.

That’s what friends do for each other.

mbfitzmahan. Lutsk Bazaar. Film Negative. Lutsk, Ukraine. 1997.

1998.

Pointing to her sketch of a pregnant woman sitting on a turtle, she said,  “See here. It’s my nose. I can’t paint without putting it in.” I bought that sketch, “The Spanish Lady.” For only a $100.  I smuggled the piece out of Ukraine, rolled up in my guitar case.   

On Wednesdays Nora and I would hang out at her studio, which occupied the top floor of an old Soviet government building. “The fucking Minister of the fucking Interior took his bribes right here, right in this room. What a piece of shit!  Of course, the minute the Soviets left, he took his money, in truckloads, across the border.  He went directly to his favorite bank in Switzerland and deposited millions. Very generous guy. He left us this lousy building.”

To get to her studio, I walked up three floors, carefully navigating around pieces of concrete chipped from the broken stairs.  The stairwell was always dark.  “There’s no use putting a lightbulb in the lamp in the stairwell,” Nora scoffed. “We Ukrainians can spot a free light bulb when we see one.” The former Minister had a nice office. Light flooded into the massive room through floor to ceiling windows. The windows looked down over a river and onto the 16th century remains of a castle, the last remnants of a king whose name no one remembers.

Nora and I always drank stale coffee. Thick enough to stand a spoon in.  “It’s Turkish coffee.  That’s what I call it,” Nora said with a half smile.  “It is an excuse for the terrible coffee I’m addicted to.” I brought cookies, from the kiosk around the corner.  The cookies were best dunked in Nora’s coffee.  The bad coffee disguised the even worse cookies.  

Nora smoked. I can still smell the smoke mixed with the smell of bitter coffee. “Here, Maureen, smoke this,” she said as she handed me a cigarette. “It is all we have. You smoke and then you will feel just as disgusting as I do. That’s what friends do for each other. We Ukrainians are depressed. So we smoke and we drink coffee. Unless we drink vodka. But, I don’t have any vodka today.”

Don wrote in his diary, “Nora and Maureen have formed the International Wednesday Art and Philosophy Club.  It is a secret group that does really cool stuff, but I am not allowed to attend.”  That was Nora’s idea, not mine.  But, it was best.  She was quite shy.  

Taras Shevchenko - Ukrainian Poet and Father of Independence

Taras Shevchenko. “Pochayiv Monastery from the South.” From the 2014 exhibition featuring Shevchenko’s art in New York City.

Taras Shevchenko born into Tsarist Russia, was a political dissident and an artist. He is the national poet of Ukraine. His first collection of poetry, Kobzar, was published in 1840.

In 1847 Shevchenko was convicted by the Tsarist government for promoting the independence of Ukraine and writing poems in the Ukrainian language, instead of Russian. Shevchenko's poetry contributed to the growth of Ukrainian nationalism.

Ukraine, newly independent since 1991 is keenly aware of the fragility of her new nationhood. Patriotic songs and poetry are most important when you feel that your independence is under attack. Schevchenko inspired the protestors during the Euromaidan Protests in 2013-14. Schevchenko was even referred to by Georgians who suffered from the Russian invasion in 2008.

And, not surprisingly, Schevchenko was important to Ukrainian dissidents during the Soviet Union.

150 years after Schevchenko was imprisoned for his Ukrainian - ness - after the demise of the last Tsar and more lately from the Soviet oppressor - a handful of young Ukrainian students met in our modest apartment in Lutsk, Ukraine. The students gathered for an evening of food and song. Spread out on chairs, beds, and on the floor someone yelled across the room, “Tanya, do that Shevchenko poem, will ya?” Tanya, looked up and smiled.

“Shhhh.”
“Be quiet, she’s going to start….”

The room turned completely still. Tanya slid off the bed, took the pose of the orator. Closing her eyes, she began solemnly,

When I die,
let me rest, let me lie
amidst Ukraine’s broad steppes. Let me see
The endless fields and steep slopes I hold so dear.
Let me hear
the Dnipro’s great roar.

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When I die,
let me rest, let me lie
amidst Ukraine’s broad steppes. Let me see
The endless fields and steep slopes I hold so dear.
Let me hear
the Dnipro’s great roar.
And when the blood
of Ukraine’s foes flows
into the blue waters of the sea, that’s when I’ll forget
the fields and hills
and leave it all
and pray to God.
Until then, I know no God.
So bury me, rise up,
and break your chains.
Water your freedom
with the blood of oppressors.
And then remember me
with gentle whispers
and kind words
In the great family
of the newly free.

Translated by Alexander J. Motyl

Як умру, то поховайте
Мене на могилі,
Серед степу широкого,
На Вкраїні милій,
Щоб лани широкополі,
І Дніпро, і кручі
Було видно, було чути,
Як реве ревучий.
Як понесе з України
У синєє море
Кров ворожу... отоді я
І лани, і гори —
Все покину і полину
До самого Бога
Молитися... а до того
Я не знаю Бога.
Поховайте та вставайте,
Кайдани порвіте
І вражою злою кров'ю
Волю окропіте.
І мене в сiм'ї великій,
В сiм'ї вольній, новій,
Не забудьте пом'янути
Незлим тихим словом.

Taras Shevchenko,
25 December 1845, Pereiaslav

A Terrible Beauty

mbfitzmahan. Bazaar in Lutsk. Lutsk, Ukraine. 1998.

All changed, changed utterly – a terrible beauty has been born. WB Yeats