Author's song as a genre emerged in the middle of the last century simultaneously in several countries. Usually such songs are performed with a guitar, the text prevails over the music, and the performer is often the author of both the words and the melody.
Features of the author's song
Performers of the author's song are often compared with representatives of folk culture: lyricists in Ancient Greece, guslars in Russia, kobzars in Ukraine. It is believed that the term "author's song" was introduced by V. Vysotsky. On the one hand, the author's song is separated from the professional stage, and on the other, from the urban folklore. The author's song has always strived to be free, independent, uncensored. B. Okudzhava characterizes it as follows: "This is my cry, my joy, my pain from contact with reality." Any line of each author's song is permeated with a personal principle. In addition, the manner of presentation, the character of the lyrical hero and, often, the stage image of the author are also personal. In many ways, the author's song is confessional. The measure of openness is much greater than in any pop song.
The author's song is not addressed to everyone, but only to those who are tuned in to the same wavelength with the author, ready to listen and share his feelings. The author-performer himself, as it were, comes out of the audience and speaks to the guitar about what everyone is thinking about. Any evening in amateur song clubs is a meeting of friends who understand each other well and trust each other. According to B. Okudzhava, the author's song is "a form of spiritual communication of like-minded people." Unlike the stage, the author's song has no officialdom, no distance between the performer and the audience, no formalized publicity.
Among the authors-performers of the "first call" (Okudzhava, Vizbor, Yakushev, Kim, Rysev, Kukin, Nikitin and others) there was not a single professional musician. Some of them could call themselves professional poets only with a great deal of convention. Most of them are teachers, athletes, engineers, scientists, doctors, journalists, actors. They sang about what worried them and their peers. Most often, the lyrical heroes of the songs were geologists, climbers, sailors, soldiers, circus performers, courtyard "kings" - laconic, but reliable people on whom you can rely.
The history of the author's song in the USSR and Russia
Historians believe that urban romance was the forerunner of the author's song. Initially, most of the original songs were written by students or tourists. This music was strikingly different from the one that was distributed "from above", that is, through state channels. Any author's song is a confession of its creator, a story about one of the episodes of life or a rhymed point of view on a particular issue. It is believed that the genre was initiated by Nikolai Vlasov, who composed the famous "Student Farewell". Until now, many remember these lines: "You will go to the reindeer, I will go to distant Turkestan …".
In the 1950s, student songwriting became extremely popular. Almost everyone heard the songs of L. Rozanov, G. Shangin-Berezovsky, D. Sukharev, who at that time studied at the Faculty of Biology of Moscow State University, or the songs of Yu. Vizbor, A. Yakushev, Yu. Kim - students of the Pedagogical Institute named after V.. AND. Lenin. They were performed on campfire hikes, during student trips, as well as in smoky kitchens.
With the advent of tape recorders, authors recorded their works, and their friends exchanged reels and cassettes. In 1960-1980, Vladimir Vysotsky, Evgeny Klyachkin, Alexander Galich, Yuri Kukin, Alexander Mirzayan, Vera Matveeva, Veronika Dolina, Leonid Semakov, Alexander Dolsky wrote fruitfully in this genre. For many years the author's song was one of the main forms of expressing their point of view among the so-called "sixties".
Stages of development of the author's song
The first of the dominant and clearly distinguished stages in the development of the author's song is the romantic one. It dates from the 1950s to mid 1960s. The famous Bulat Okudzhava wrote in this vein. The road in such author's songs was presented as a line of life, and a person was a wanderer. Friendship was one of the central images. The authorities almost did not pay attention to the author's song of this stage, considering it an amateur performance within the framework of skits, student reviews, and tourist gatherings.
In the early 1960s, the satirical stage of the author's song began. One of the brightest representatives is Alexander Galich. He owns such songs as "Prospector Waltz", "Red Triangle", "Ask, Boys", in each of which the existing system was sharply criticized. Julius Kim turned first to an ironic and then to a satirical interpretation of the reality around him a little later (from the mid-1960s). In his songs, he frankly and bluntly draws attention to topical issues ("My mother Russia", "A conversation between two informers" and others). Kim and Galich devote some of their songs to Soviet dissidents. Vladimir Vysotsky continues to adhere to the line of protest songs. He includes vernacular and rude words in his texts. The author's song from the circles of the intelligentsia goes to the "people".
In a separate stage, which is difficult to take in any time frame, it is customary to highlight war songs. There was no heroic pathos in them. In the author's song, the Great Patriotic War had a human face distorted by suffering ("Goodbye, boys!"
The frankly satirical songs, as well as songs on the military theme, attracted the attention of the authorities. In 1981, the XXV Moscow meeting of amateur song clubs took place, after which a letter was sent through the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions, in which it was ordered to refuse to provide concert venues to Tkachev, Mirzayan, Kim. They ceased to be recorded for the radio, invited to television. Alexander Galich was forced to emigrate. At the same time, magnetic tapes with author's songs were re-recorded, actively distributed among friends and acquaintances. Members of the Writers 'Union supported the "singing poets" in every possible way, and members of the Composers' Union actively criticized amateur melodies. However, the songs of S. Nikitin, A. Dulov, V. Berkovsky and some other authors were included in song collections aimed at ordinary Soviet people.
The authors left the student bench, matured. They began to talk about nostalgia for the past, talk about betrayal, regret losing friends, criticize ideals, and anxiously think about the future. It is customary to define this stage in the development of the author's song as lyric-romantic.
In the 1990s, the art song ceased to be a protest song. The number of singing poets grew steadily. They released albums, performed at concerts and festivals without any restrictions. On TV and radio there were programs dedicated to the author's song.
