Nikolay Ivanovich "Kola" Beldy (russian: Никола́й Ива́нович "Кола́" Бельды́, 2 May 1929 – 21 December 1993) was a
Soviet-Russian pop singer of
Nanai ethnicity.
Early years
Kola Beldy was born in the
Khabarovsk Territory in the family of a hunter. He orphaned early.
[
During the ]Great Patriotic War
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...
, he escaped through Khabarovsk to the front, attributing to himself two extra years, and became a cabin boy of the Pacific Fleet. Participated in combat operations in Korea.[ He performed in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Pacific Fleet. After graduating from an external music school, Beldy continued his service as a diesel engine driver on a ]minesweeper
A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping.
History
The earliest known usage of ...
of the Pacific Fleet[Золотой голос Севера. Кола Бельды оставил эстраду ради личного счастья]
In Russian
Popularity
In 1957, he became a laureate of the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students
The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students was held from 28 July to 5 August 1957 in Moscow, capital city of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The festival attracted 34,000 people from 130 countries. This became possible after the po ...
in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...
. In 1960, he became a laureate of the All-Russian competition of pop artists.
In 1986, he was awarded the title of Meritorious Artist
Merited Artist of the Russian Federation (russian: link=no, Заслуженный артист Российской Федерации, ''Zasluzhenny artist Rossiyskoy Federatsii'') is an honorary title in the Russian Federation. The title is ...
of the RSFSR. He had a number of Soviet-era hits, most famously "Увезу тебя я в тундру" (I will take you to the tundra).[Увезу тебя я в тундру! Именно так называлась песня, мегахит Советского Союза начала 70-х годов...]
In Russian He was signed to Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
Moscow, in 1973 winning them Award no. 2 at the Sopot International Song Festival
The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival (later called ''Sopot Music Festival Grand Prix'', ''Sopot Top of the Top Festival'' from 2012–13 and ''Polsat Sopot Festival'' in 2014) is an annual international song contest held in S ...
.
Since the 1970s, Beldy has been engaged in research work — collecting and preserving unique national songs of the Northern people. Having failed to audition for the main role in the film " Dersu Uzala" directed by Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...
and Vladimir Vasiliev, he helped Kurosawa to select national melodies, and also rehearsed with the performer of the main role Maxim Munzuk.
In the late 80s, he released the album "White Island" with interpretations of folk songs of the indigenous inhabitants of the North in Russian; according to critic Alexander Gorbachev, "this gloomy electronics mixed with ethnic motifs creates a wild and mysterious atmosphere, akin to that which arises when listening to Western bands that participated in the industrial movement, but with taiga notes." In the mid-80's Beldy also took part in the stage experiments of the Pop-Mechanics project.
Kola Beldy toured nationally and internationally for over 30 years, performing in 46 countries. In France, he was called "The golden voice of the North", and the Emperor of Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
awarded him the Order of his country.[
]
Legacy
According to musicologist and rock critic Artemy Troitsky he "scored with some tundra-orientated megahits in the seventies and is considered a hallmark of Soviet snow-opera kitsch". According to Konstantin Bogdanov, Kola Beldy, "although he was a Nanai by nationality, played with visible pleasure in public the already established features of the so-called Chukchi accent and liked to tell jokes about the Chukchi. And he positioned on the stage exactly the image that was related not to the ethnographic, but to the quite imaginary — "folklore" — reality of the Soviet Union"
The ship "Meteor" of the Amur River Shipping Company was named "Kola Beldy". In Khabarovsk, in one of the new microdistricts there is a Kola Beldy Street. A street in the administrative center of the Nanai district, the village of Troitskoye, is also named in his honor.
Discography
;EPs:
* 1971 — ''Кола Бельды'' (lit. "Kola Beldy")
;Studio albums:
* 1973 — ''Поёт Кола Бельды'' (lit. "Poyot Kola Beldy")
* 1982 — ''Хейдже (Здравица)'' (lit. "Heige (Zdravitsa)")
* 1985 — ''Приди, весна'' (lit. "Pridi, vesna")
* 1988 — ''White Island''
References
External links
*
A 1972 performance
on the Gosteleradiofond YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beldy, Kola
1929 births
1993 deaths
Russian pop singers
Nanai people
20th-century Russian male singers
Soviet Navy personnel
Soviet male singers