Balalaika in Kurdistan

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

GROUP "BALALAIKA" is a union of four young, beautiful and talented musicians. In 2006 the group "BALALAYKA" was named after the famous master of musical instruments Semyon Ivanovich Nalimov for the preservation of traditions and the promotion of balalaika as a subject of national art.

We bring to your attention a conversation with Vladimir Politov, the musician of this group.

I would like to start by saying that, as a professional musician, I have traveled to many countries and precisely by profession. I have been twice in France, in North Africa in Tunisia, in Lebanon, in Slovakia, in North America / USA / as many as three times, in Iraqi Kurdistan. This is not me to boast, but to what I have, to compare with.

Yes, in fact, people abroad love Russian culture, and the public perceives the artists with delight … With disappointment, I will say that it is warmer than at home. I can't say exactly what this is connected with … But I think that the common people still treat Russia with respect. Perhaps, it is also from the fact that he feels the openness and sincerity of the artists … Russian artists.

Unfortunately, our state does not help us. But what help is there, we have not counted on it for a long time, we are already asking: if only they do not interfere. We have to look for sponsors ourselves, private entrepreneurs, directors of various companies. More often the inviting party pays for travel and accommodation. Unfortunately, we are more needed there than at home.

Yes, in fact, we, the Balalaika group named after. S. Nalimova, we are holding concerts for children. We have developed a whole children's program approved by the Ministry of Education. We go to kindergartens and give concerts to children. The concert is very fun, lively, with communication, with games and dances. All the kids are so happy and very upset when we leave. Even educators are not shy about compliments addressed to us. I want to note that we perform not only folk music, although it is in our repertoires, for example the famous "Kalinka" and "Kamarinskaya", to which all the children dance, but also music from the classical repertoire: Tchaikovsky from the children's album. And we begin the concert with the "Russian March" by Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev, the founder of the Russian balalaika.

Why is it so important? Because it is from this age that you need to instill love and respect for your culture.

Yes, this is actually the case. The balalaika, along with the gusli, has a very ancient history, but with the arrival of Christianity in Russia these instruments began to get rid of the people … The priests, on pain of death and hell, forbade playing these instruments. There were such cases that guslars and balalaika players were called from all over Russia to what in our time are called festivals. But upon arrival, the musicians' instruments were taken away and burned, and the musicians themselves were beaten with batogs. And the balalaika disappeared from the everyday life of the common people. Only some very brave people dared to strum on their favorite instrument … This is how one day Vasily Vasilyevich Andreev, a nobleman by his status, while walking, accidentally saw the old man Antip, who played an unprepossessing instrument, and since Andreev was also a musician (he played the violin), of course, became interested in this tool and decided to reconstruct, improve it, and later popularize it.

Andreev is called the founder of the Russian balalaika, but it would probably be more correct to say that the revival of the Russian balalaika began with him.

I have already visited Arab countries before Kurdistan, although the Kurds do not call themselves Arabs, but they are not much different from them. Nothing special: the same dirt, rubbish all around, mosques, minarets, markets. But there were moments that surprised me. I was pretty surprised by the number of armed people. There, a simple hotel security guard is armed with an AKM. Sometimes, you go down the street, you look out the window, and there is a guy in shorts and a T-shirt with a Kalashnikov overweight. It becomes uncomfortable from thinking: "Where is this guy going to shoot?"

Yes, we went there with a delegation of several scientists and the Academy of People's Diplomacy. The fact is that one very rich Kurdish patriot decided to revive Kurdish culture, write history books, etc. After all, only recently ended their extermination by Saddam Hussein. As a country, Kurdistan has a very, very short century - only 20 years. We can say that this is the youngest country in the world. Now, like the Jews who have settled throughout the land, all Kurds can come to their country, just as the Jews once returned to the newly minted Israel. And now we need to somehow unite the people. And around what is better to do it?.. Of course, around the great past.

Yes, the delegation included Russian scientists, historians, religious scholars, linguists, archaeologists. And in the process of communication, I realized that they were hired by the same rich Kurdish patriot to help him in this matter, namely in writing history.

To be more precise, a book about the "great" Kurdish history had already been written, it was just necessary to present it.

Yes exactly.

Of course, I paid attention to this. As I said earlier, Kurdistan is not much different from the Arab countries, but the Kurds do not consider themselves to be Arabs. Faith is different, language is different … So it alarmed me. How so: the architecture is the same, but the people are different? It turned out that the Kurds are a nomadic people. The same gypsies. They never built houses, they never had their own territory. And they have very strained relations with the Arabs. From the Arabic language, Kurd is translated as a worm … Their ancient structures, dating back up to 10 thousand years, upon close examination, turn out to be remakes.

Oh yeah! Of course, but what about without it? Without NATO and the United States, the Kurds would still roam the Arab deserts. There was a funny incident. Once at our concert, a woman from our delegation got into a conversation with a 12-13-year-old Kurdish girl. She admired our game so much, talked about how she loves Russia, and then said: "But most of all I love America, I like Lady Gaga so much." Do you understand how brainwashed they are and by whom?

Of course, I wanted to talk about this topic with scientists. I was interested in their opinion. I didn't know where to start or how to approach them. They seemed so important to me. After all, they are scientists. But as it turned out, it's just at first sight … At one of the feasts I managed to open this topic. And since our scholars are big fans of Bacchus, I had no trouble getting the word out of them. They chatted with pleasure. It began with the fact that the same rich patriot in his toast said that Russians have Kurdish roots and therefore Russians can feel at home.

Then I realized what this book is about, and what scientists are around me.

In fact, in the Kurdish language there are many coincidences with Russian words both in pronunciation and etymology (in meaning). For example, thanks - saved, eyebrow - bro, etc. But I still said that this is not a reason to assert that it was the Russians who descended from the Kurds … After all, it may turn out that it is quite the opposite …

In fact, Russian history is not 1,000 years old, but much more. At the very least, it can be assumed that we have common ancestors, but not that the Russians descended from the Kurds. To which our rich Kurdish patriot was very offended, he called me a racist.

I gave an example in response. The Kurdish word "saved" has a common meaning of gratitude and a common root, as our word "thank you", but our "thank you" began to have such a meaning only after the arrival of Christianity, which meant "God save you", that is, about a thousand years ago, before that, in gratitude, they said, "I give you blessing." This word alone can suggest that the Kurdish people broke away from Russia no earlier than 1,000 years ago.

In the course of communication, I said about the scientist's work that this is just a version, a theory, not substantiated by any facts. Our Kurdish patriot got angry at this more than ever, now at the scientist who wrote his history. "Quickly refute his words, or I'll burn your book," he exclaimed. But the scientist could not say anything intelligible.

And I paid attention to this … Unfortunately, during the short period of my stay I did not manage to notice such similarities in the appearance of the Kurds with the Slavs.

Yes, we managed to go to Lebanon twice, to visit Tunisia. As I already said, Russian culture is respected in many countries and the Islamic world is no exception. Especially, of course, they love us in Lebanon! There they do not like souls in Russians! First, among the literate Lebanese, be it a teacher, doctor, or politician, almost all were educated in the USSR. They all speak excellent Russian. And in communication with them, they remember those distant times with great love and trepidation, but their love is reinforced not only by this.

In 2007, Israel bombed all communications in Beirut. More than 200 bridges were destroyed. These bridges were restored by France and Russia, and so Russian bridges were famous for their reliability … The Lebanese people were greatly praised by the Russian bridges. I personally managed to compare the French and Russian bridges, to be honest - the difference is palpable!

Group "Balalaika them. S. Nalimova "in contact.