Nowadays, the regularly held "Chanson of the Year" contests have become commonplace. Both the public and the critics are used to this term. And no one remembers the courtyard songs or, as they were also called, thieves. Who wrote the lyrics, and who the musical accompaniment, history is mostly silent. However, one person remained, one performer, whose name has survived to this day. Arkady Severny. His voice, his manner of expressing himself and his movement have survived despite strict censorship.
Self-taught guitarist
Campfire songs sound special. And on a bench in the city garden, a detuned guitar in the twilight of the night sounds like a classic organ. Several generations of Soviet people grew up and matured to such songs and uncomplicated melodies. The biography of Arkady Severny at first took shape according to the standard established by traditions. Arkasha was born in March 1939. In the family of Dmitry Zvezdin, who worked on the railway in the city of Ivanovo, he became the fifth child. They lived like everyone else, not rich, but they did not live in poverty either.
It was difficult during the war when my father volunteered for the front. When the dogs of the fascist pack was defeated, the head of the family returned home in 1946, and the grown-up Arkady went to first grade. The war hard times did not pass without a trace. The boy grew up frail and sickly. At school he did not stand out from among his classmates. The situation changed qualitatively the moment the guitar fell into his hands. Arkady quickly mastered the technique of playing a seven-stringed instrument using three basic chords.
The sister presented the novice performer with a notebook with handwritten texts of popular and little-known "thieves" songs. Arkady knew well how the punks live on the street and why these people dislike the official pop song. He almost never parted with the guitar. I did not think about the career of an amateur performer, but he enthusiastically wrote his own texts and remembered others. After graduating from school, the young man went to Leningrad, to a city that was considered the capital of the Russian provinces. I decided to get higher education at the Forestry Academy.
Phenomenon of the North
In Leningrad, musical life was in full swing. The talented performer of yard songs was quickly noticed and offered cooperation. The work on recording songs and distributing cassettes was carried out using shadow technologies. It was at this time that Arkady began performing at home concerts under the pseudonym Severny. The song "Blue Taxi", recorded in a cramped kitchen in the Leningrad "Khrushcheb", was played on tape recorders throughout the country. After graduating from the Academy, Arkady served in the army and worked in the Exportles trust.
In 1972, Severny finally "ties up" with official work and lives only on earnings from performances and the sale of cassettes with recordings of songs. Today, few people can imagine how a person lives and sings, being in a semi-legal position. According to Soviet laws, he could at any time be brought to justice for parasitism. Condemn and put in places of imprisonment. Personal life practically does not add up. With his first wife Valentina, the singer registered a relationship in 1971. A daughter was born in the family, but love did not last long. Husband and wife divorced.
It is a well-known fact that people of this cut do not remain alone. Women are ready to make any sacrifices to save and tame a dear person. In the last years of her life, Zinaida lived next to Arkady. But constant drunkenness. Moving. Attacks of anger. No books are written about such relationships, and no films are made. In the spring of 1980, Arkady Severny was gone. He died in one of the Leningrad hospitals.
