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Maksim E Kravchinskii
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Maksim E Kravchinskii

  • Maksim Kravchinskii (18.07.1973) Ph.D. in Economics (2000), Professor of the department «Management in culture, movie, TV and entertainment» State University of Management (Moscow) 2009-2016. Collector and Russian song folklore researc... moreedit
This book "Songs and entertainment of the NEP epoch (1921-1931)" presents to the reader the world of the entertainment and music culture that existed in Russia during NEP years in the early-to middle-1920s. The NEP, or "the new economic... more
This book "Songs and entertainment of the NEP epoch (1921-1931)" presents to the reader the world of the entertainment and music culture that existed in Russia during NEP years in the early-to middle-1920s. The NEP, or "the new economic policy” was introduced in the Soviet Union in 1922.  Lenin and the Bolshevik Party leaders perceived the market-oriented economic policy as a form of state capitalism that was deemed necessary for the restoration of the economy ruined by World War I and the Russian Civil War. This new policy allowed private individuals to own small businesses, while the state maintained control over banks, large industrial enterprises and foreign trade. During NEP many private entrepreneurs managed to accumulate a substantial wealth, and formed the new class of Soviet bourgeoisie known as “the nepmen”. Numerous restaurants, night clubs, cabarets and theaters had opened their doors to the public and attracted performers, musicians and poets who enjoyed the opportunity to express themselves in the atmosphere that yet lacked government control and censorship. It seemed that everything was “as before”, as the sign in the popular “Aquarium” garden said. Indeed, as only five years had passed since the Bolshevik Revolution, the people still remembered how things used to be in the peaceful “old times”: during NEP the  comrades had suddenly turned into nearly-forgotten “ladies and gentlemen” who enjoyed live performances of their favorite singers: Isabella Yurjeva, Vadim Kozin, Leonid Utesov, Leonid Malakhov, Tamara Tsereteli, Arkady Pogodin and Vassily Guschinsky. All of these stellar performers formed the core of the Russian “nepman pop culture”.  Their repertoire consisted of a mix of gypsy songs, frivolous and sometimes obscene verses, intimate romances, and songs of criminal underground and street urchins. There were music and songs available for all types of audience and for all tastes.  Representatives of the middle-class enjoyed “Kirpitchiki” (“The Bricks”), “Boublitchki” (“The Bagels”), “Stakanchiki Granenie” (“Faceted Glasses”) and “Pismo k Materi (“Letter to Mother”) based on the lyrics by a famous Russian poet Sergey Yesenin. The lower class people joyfully joined the performers of “The Trezvost’” pub in singing the humorous and often obscene chastushkas (the doggerel) of street children. In the cabarets the ladies wearing pump shoes were dancing to the apaches and foxtrots.  Jazz music could be heard from many parks and movie theaters. There was also the new elite, or the “red aristocracy”, who preferred entertainment in the form of gatherings in “the salons” listening to gypsy romances and contemporary poetry. Unfortunately, a colorful and rich cultural life that flourished during NEP did not last very long. Following Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin took charge of the country. Cabarets and theaters were closed. Gradually the total censorship had been restored and by mid-thirties the street, criminal and gypsy songs were completely outlawed. These changes had inevitably affected performers and musicians who were banned from singing and playing their “classic NEP” repertoire: a few managed to immigrate while the borders were still open, while many others were arrested and sent to prison camps or to the exile in Siberia and Russia’s Far East. Most of those who were lucky to escape imprisonment had to leave the stage permanently. There were also few exceptions. Some performers, like Leonid Utyosov, were allowed to remain on stage but had to completely change their repertoire.  Anyone caught performing “old” songs had faced serious consequences. Despite of the atmosphere of  fear and censorship that existed in the country for several decades, the NEP songs did not vanish completely. They were preserved in peoples’ memory, in the state archives and released on vinyl records by performers who managed to leave the Soviet Union.
Research Interests:
This book presents to the reader the world of the entertainment and music culture that existed in Russia during NEP years in the early-to middle-1920s. The NEP, or "the new economic policy” was introduced in the Soviet Union in 1922.... more
This book presents to the reader the world of the entertainment and music culture that existed in Russia during NEP years in the early-to middle-1920s. The NEP, or "the new economic policy” was introduced in the Soviet Union in 1922.  Lenin and the Bolshevik Party leaders perceived the market-oriented economic policy as a form of state capitalism that was deemed necessary for the restoration of the economy ruined by World War I and the Russian Civil War. This new policy allowed private individuals to own small businesses, while the state maintained control over banks, large industrial enterprises and foreign trade. During NEP many private entrepreneurs managed to accumulate a substantial wealth, and formed the new class of Soviet bourgeoisie known as “the nepmen”. The abundance of wealthy people had helped to trigger the rise of an entertainment industry. Numerous restaurants, night clubs, cabarets and theaters had opened their doors to the public and attracted performers, musicians and poets who enjoyed the opportunity to express themselves in the atmosphere that yet lacked government control and censorship. Many people believed that the hardship of the war was over and that old times had returned. It seemed that everything was “as before”, as the sign in the popular “Aquarium” garden said. Indeed, as only five years had passed since the Bolshevik Revolution, the people still remembered how things used to be in the peaceful “old times”: during NEP the  comrades had suddenly turned into nearly-forgotten “ladies and gentlemen” who enjoyed live performances of their favorite singers: Isabella Yurjeva, Vadim Kozin, Leonid Utesov, Leonid Malakhov, Tamara Tsereteli, Arkady Pogodin and Vassily Guschinsky. All of these stellar performers formed the core of the Russian “nepman pop culture”.  Their repertoire consisted of a mix of gypsy songs, frivolous and sometimes obscene verses, intimate romances, and songs of criminal underground and street urchins. There were music and songs available for all types of audience and for all tastes.  Representatives of the middle-class enjoyed “Kirpitchiki” (“The Bricks”), “Boublitchki” (“The Bagels”), “Stakanchiki Granenie” (“Faceted Glasses”) and “Pismo k Materi (“Letter to Mother”) based on the lyrics by a famous Russian poet Sergey Yesenin. The lower class people joyfully joined the performers of “The Trezvost’” pub in singing the humorous and often obscene chastushkas (the doggerel) of street children. In the cabarets the ladies wearing pump shoes were dancing to the apaches and foxtrots.  Jazz music could be heard from many parks and movie theaters. There was also the new elite, or the “red aristocracy”, who preferred entertainment in the form of gatherings in “the salons” listening to gypsy romances and contemporary poetry. Unfortunately, a colorful and rich cultural life that flourished during NEP did not last very long. Following Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin took charge of the country. Already rather early in his rule an overwhelming crash on the “frivolous style” had begun. Cabarets and theaters were closed. Gradually the total censorship had been restored and by mid-thirties the street, criminal and gypsy songs were completely outlawed. These changes had inevitably affected performers and musicians who were banned from singing and playing their “classic NEP” repertoire: a few managed to immigrate while the borders were still open, while many others were arrested and sent to prison camps or to the exile in Siberia and Russia’s Far East. Most of those who were lucky to escape imprisonment had to leave the stage permanently. There were also few exceptions. Some performers, like Leonid Utyosov, were allowed to remain on stage but had to completely change their repertoire.  Anyone caught performing “old” songs had faced serious consequences. Despite of the atmosphere of  fear and censorship that existed in the country for several decades, the NEP songs did not vanish completely. They were preserved in peoples’ memory, in the state archives and released on vinyl records by performers who managed to leave the Soviet Union. Thanks to all these sources the author of the book has been able to introduce a modern reader to the remarkable atmosphere of culture and entertainment that existed in the Soviet Russia in 1920s, to the songs that were sung on cabaret and restaurant stages, and to bring back many long-forgotten names of authors and performers.
Research Interests:
The book "Musiacal Saboteurs" is about Songs of Russian Emigre as a weapon of Propaganda during Civic War, WWII and Cold War. How and when Russian emigres used songs in their struggle with Soviet Power. Книга посвящена абсолютно не... more
The book "Musiacal Saboteurs" is about Songs of Russian Emigre as a weapon of Propaganda during Civic War, WWII and Cold War. How and when Russian emigres used songs in their struggle with Soviet Power.

Книга посвящена абсолютно не исследованной ранее теме использования песни в качестве идеологического оружия в борьбе
с советской властью – эмиграцией, внешней и внутренней, политическими и военными противниками Советской России. «Наряду с рок-музыкой заметный эстетический
и нравственный ущерб советским гражданам наносит блатная лирика, антисоветчина из репертуара эмигрантских ансамблей, а также убогие творения лжебардов. ...В специальном пособии для мастеров идеологических диверсий без обиняков сказано: “Музыка является средством психологической войны”...» – так поучало читателя издание «Идеологическая борьба: вопросы и ответы» (1987).
Для читателя эта книга – путеводитель по музыкальной terra incognita. Под мелодии злых белогвардейских частушек годов Гражданской войны, антисоветских песен, бравурных маршей перебежчиков времен Великой Отечественной, романсов Юрия Морфесси и куплетов Петра Лещенко, песен ГУЛАГа в исполнении артистов «третьей волны» и обличительных баллад Галича читателю предстоит понять, как, когда и почему
песня становилась опасным инструментом пропаганды.
Как и все проекты серии «Русские шансонье», книга сопровождается подарочным компакт-диском с уникальными архивными записями из арсенала «музыкальных диверсантов» разных эпох.
The book about criminal, emigrant, satiric and other songs that were officially forbidden in the USSR to be performed by professional singers but were used in many Soviet movies as sound-tracks. C момента изобретения звукового кино на... more
The book about criminal, emigrant, satiric and other songs that were officially forbidden in the USSR to be performed by professional singers but were used in many Soviet movies as sound-tracks.

C момента изобретения звукового кино на советском экране вольготно чувствовали себя песни, официально запрещенные к исполнению с эстрады: блатные, одесские,
белогвардейские, уличные, эмигрантские…
Часто наблюдался парадокс: «запрещенные» песни сочиняли признанные поэты и композиторы, а исполняли народные артисты.
Знаете ли вы, что один из всем известных «блатных» шлягеров сочинил претендент на Нобелевскую премию Евгений Евтушенко, а есенинское «Письмо матери» прозвучало в картине Шукшина «Калина красная» благодаря личной просьбе Л. И. Брежнева?
Интеллигенция пела «блатные песни» не только с советского экрана, но и вне его. Магнитные ленты с записями городских романсов в исполнении актеров Евгения Урбанского и Николая Рыбникова, спортивного комментатора Виктора Набутова, кор-
респондента Анатолия Аграновского пользовались большим успехом в богемной среде. А многие образцы якобы «уличного» фольклора были сложены ради шутки знаменитыми сценаристами, учеными или художниками.
О том, как, когда и почему «антисоветские» песни звучали с советского экрана, об истории создания многих хитов, о судьбах их авторов и даже о том, кто же все-таки мог
написать «Мурку», читайте в новой книге серии «Русские шансонье».
Research Interests:
The book "Musiacal Saboteurs" is about Songs of Russian Emigre as a weapon of Propaganda during Civic War, WWII and Cold War. How and when Russian emigres used songs in their struggle with Soviet Power. Книга посвящена... more
The book "Musiacal Saboteurs" is about Songs of Russian Emigre as a weapon of Propaganda during Civic War, WWII and Cold War. How and when Russian emigres used songs in their struggle with Soviet Power. Книга посвящена абсолютно не исследованной ранее теме использования песни в качестве идеологического оружия в борьбе с советской властью – эмиграцией, внешней и внутренней, политическими и военными противниками Советской России. «Наряду с рок-музыкой заметный эстетический и нравственный ущерб советским гражданам наносит блатная лирика, антисоветчина из репертуара эмигрантских ансамблей, а также убогие творения лжебардов. ...В специальном пособии для мастеров идеологических диверсий без обиняков сказано: “Музыка является средством психологической войны”...» – так поучало читателя издание «Идеологическая борьба: вопросы и ответы» (1987). Для читателя эта книга – путеводитель по музыкальной terra incognita. Под мелодии злых белогвардейских частушек годов Гражданской войны, антисоветских песен, бравурных маршей перебежчиков времен Великой Отечественной, романсов Юрия Морфесси и куплетов Петра Лещенко, песен ГУЛАГа в исполнении артистов «третьей волны» и обличительных баллад Галича читателю предстоит понять, как, когда и почему песня становилась опасным инструментом пропаганды. Как и все проекты серии «Русские шансонье», книга сопровождается подарочным компакт-диском с уникальными архивными записями из арсенала «музыкальных диверсантов» разных эпох.
The book "Musiacal Saboteurs" is about Songs of Russian Emigre as a weapon of Propaganda during Civic War, WWII and Cold War. How and when Russian emigres used songs in their struggle with Soviet Power. Книга посвящена... more
The book "Musiacal Saboteurs" is about Songs of Russian Emigre as a weapon of Propaganda during Civic War, WWII and Cold War. How and when Russian emigres used songs in their struggle with Soviet Power. Книга посвящена абсолютно не исследованной ранее теме использования песни в качестве идеологического оружия в борьбе с советской властью – эмиграцией, внешней и внутренней, политическими и военными противниками Советской России. «Наряду с рок-музыкой заметный эстетический и нравственный ущерб советским гражданам наносит блатная лирика, антисоветчина из репертуара эмигрантских ансамблей, а также убогие творения лжебардов. ...В специальном пособии для мастеров идеологических диверсий без обиняков сказано: “Музыка является средством психологической войны”...» – так поучало читателя издание «Идеологическая борьба: вопросы и ответы» (1987). Для читателя эта книга – путеводитель по музыкальной terra incognita. Под мелодии злых белогвардейских частушек годов Гражданской войны, антисоветских песен, бравурных маршей перебежчиков времен Великой Отечественной, романсов Юрия Морфесси и куплетов Петра Лещенко, песен ГУЛАГа в исполнении артистов «третьей волны» и обличительных баллад Галича читателю предстоит понять, как, когда и почему песня становилась опасным инструментом пропаганды. Как и все проекты серии «Русские шансонье», книга сопровождается подарочным компакт-диском с уникальными архивными записями из арсенала «музыкальных диверсантов» разных эпох.