Pesniary (also spelled Pesnyary, be, Песняры, ) was a popular
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
ian
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
VIA. It was founded in 1969 by guitarist
Vladimir Mulyavin. Before 1970, the band was known under the name Liavony (Лявоны).
Style
Pesniary combined various types of music, but mostly Belarusian folklore though often with various
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
elements and later rock as well. Several of Pesniary's songs were composed by
Aleksandra Pakhmutova
Aleksandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova (russian: Александра Николаевна Пахмутова ; born 9 November 1929) is a Soviet and Russian composer. She has remained one of the best-known figures in Soviet
The Soviet Union ...
. The surprising influence of early
Frank Zappa was also notable.
Biography
Pesniary was one of the very few Soviet bands (and possibly the first one) to tour in America in 1976. They toured the American South with folk band
The New Christy Minstrels
The New Christy Minstrels are an American large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group has recorded more than 20 albums and scored several hits, including " Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Today", "Denver", and ...
.
After Mulyavin's death in a car accident on 26 January 2003, the original Pesniary split. About five different bands claim to be the official descendants of the original Pesniary and tour and perform original Pesniary songs. These are:
* Belarusian State Ensemble Pesniary – a state-produced band under the Ministry of Culture of
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, consisting mostly of young musicians.
* Belorusskie Pesniari – led by former Pesniary saxophonist
Uladzislau Misevich.
* Pesniari – led by former Pesniary vocalist
Leanid Bartkevich.
* Liavony – the band, which split from
Bartkevich’s Pesniari in 2008, consisted of young musicians, none of whom participated in Pesniary until 1998.
* Until 2006, the Liavony-Pesniary ensemble existed under the direction of the classical line-up drummer Alexander Demeshko. The band broke up in 2006 in connection with his death.
Discography
The band also released dozens of singles.
Lineup
The lineup of the band changed frequently. Among the most notable and long-lived band members were:
*
Lyudmila Isupova (
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
,1968–2003)
*
Vladimir Mulyavin (
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
,1968–2003)
Звание заслуженного артиста БССР Владимир Мулявин получил в Чувашии
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* Valery Mulyavin (guitar, trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
, 1968–1973)
* Leonid Bortkevich (vocals, 1969–1980)
* Anatoly Kasheparov (vocals, 1970–1990)
* Valery Dayneka (vocals, alto, 1976–1992)
* Igor Penya (vocals, 1980–1998)
* Leonid Tyshko (bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, 1968–1981)
* Vladislav Misevich (saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
, flute, 1968–1992)
* Alexander Demeshko ( drums, 1968–1988)
* Valery Yashkin ( keyboards, hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...
, 1968–1977)
* Vladimir Nikolayev ( keyboards, trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
, 1971–1980)
* Cheslav Poplavsky (violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
, guitar, 1972–1979)
* Anna Bortkevich guitar, 1972–1979)
See also
*Soviet music
The music of the Soviet Union varied in many genres and epochs. The majority of it was considered to be part of the Russian culture, but other national cultures from the Republics of the Soviet Union made significant contributions as well. The So ...
*Belarusian music
Belarus is an Eastern European country with a rich tradition of folk and religious music. The country's folk music traditions can be traced back to the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The country's musical traditions spread with its people ...
References
External links
“Pesnyary”- official website of the group (БЕЛОРУССКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ АНСАМБЛЬ "ПЕСНЯРЫ"-официальный сайт
PESNIARY(PESNYARY)
Pesniary Music Albums
«Песняры»-unofficial website
*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups disestablished in 2003
Belarusian folk music groups
Belarusian rock music groups
Soviet vocal-instrumental ensembles
Belarusian musical groups
Pop-folk music groups
Soviet rock music groups
1969 establishments in Belarus
2003 disestablishments in Belarus