At the press conference, Iosif Kobzon turned out to be the soloist. The rest of the participants had to be content with the role of backing vocalists, and only Andrei Dmitrievich sometimes managed to start a dispute with the master, whose complex attitude towards Israel is well known.

The wonderful poet Andrey Dementiev published new book poems, called "Next year in Jerusalem ..." Such a collection is best presented to the reading public in the Israeli capital. This is exactly what the poet did: having invited Tamara Gverdtsiteli, Iosif Kobzon and the singer, composer and TV presenter Mark Tishman, which is very popular in Russia today, he went to Israel.

Quite expectedly, at a press conference dedicated to both the collection and the concerts, the soloist turned out to be not the "hero of the occasion", but Iosif Kobzon. The rest of the participants had to be content with the role of backing vocalists, and only Andrei Dmitrievich sometimes managed to start a dispute with the master, whose complex attitude towards Israel is well known.

About poetry

Presenting the participants of the press conference as his friends and wonderful people, "each of them radiates the light of the soul that we need," the poet spoke about the new book.

Andrey Dementiev:

In 1993, with the assistance of Israel, my first book of poems was published, it was called Snow in Jerusalem. The current book includes poems written over 17 years. I included in different books sections about the Promised Land, but everything is collected here. I am very pleased that it was designed by an outstanding artist, fellow countryman Tamara Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli. He wanted to fly here with us, but, as Iosif Davydovich said, he probably fell from one of his monuments (laughs). In fact, he is now in Beijing, where he will create a new sculpture.

I am glad that the relations between our people - Russian residents and Israelis are getting stronger and closer. Every time I come here with friends, they tell me - and I have relatives here, in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba. Kolya Baskov arrived, such a Russophile, and said: "And my grandmother is here." And only I say: "But I don't have anyone here, unfortunately." But yesterday, one person said an amazing phrase: "Yes, you have all of Israel relatives."

By the way, it turned out that Tamara Gverdtsiteli also has relatives in Israel, although she does not advertise this fact very much.

About concerts

Joseph Kobzon:

The hardware is bad. What is a microphone for a performer? This is a partner. Thanks to the microphone, it is fashionable to convey all the nuances of the performed work. When the equipment is bad, it is very uncomfortable for the singer to perform. You have to force the sound, from this the voice sits down and the mood is appropriate. But this is how it happened - an unprofessional sound engineer and unprofessional equipment. The sound engineer thinks that the microphone is needed to be heard, but that he should decorate our sound, he does not know. Apparently he is not a musician. It's a shame.

About singing to the phonogram

Mark Tishman:

I'm not very good at getting into the soundtrack. The project I participated in, "Two Stars", was only live singing. And these concerts are very special for me. I have already sung in Israel, but now I am on the same stage with Joseph Davydovich. How can I sing along with the backing track? I have to match the people with whom I participate in the concert.

Joseph Kobzon:

You are most likely interested in why a person deceives the listener using a phonogram. When I was chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture, we issued a resolution. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism to control the situation. What is a phonogram for me, a person who has been on the stage for more than half a century? When a performer sings, he is in a certain state. Just as you cannot enter the same river twice, you cannot enter the same mood twice. There are concerts when we are forced to sing to the soundtrack - when they are filmed by television. For me, it's a terrible pain. I have to emotionally get into the state in which I was, and this is almost impossible.

Abroad, self-respecting guest performers never sing to the soundtrack. It's even written into their contracts. There is such a wonderful American singer Whitney Houston. Amazing voice, amazing songs. Came to Russia. And in St. Petersburg, she caught a cold, and the concerts were already announced. In Moscow, she had a concert in the Kremlin Palace. Huge hall for 6 thousand seats. It would seem that God himself ordered her, without straining, to sing to the soundtrack. She wheezed and cried on stage, and I cried with her, because I felt her condition and understood what was happening to her. But she still did not sing to the soundtrack. Because it's a crime. I deceived you: you paid money to meet with me, and I give you surrogate products. I respect only those performers who sing without a backing track.

Andrey Dementiev:

In the Soviet Union there was a committee for Lenin and State Prizes. I was a member of this committee. And once a wonderful singer, Sofia Rotaru, was nominated for the State Prize. The members of the committee went to the Hall of Columns, there was her concert. Then it became known that she sang to the soundtrack. And she was immediately removed from the discussion.

Joseph Kobzon:

I am a living witness to the appearance of Sofia Mikhailovna on the stage and a witness to her singing to the soundtrack. She was the first in the Soviet Union to perform like this - unfortunately. Tolya Evdokimenko, her husband, God rest him, announced a large number of concerts, and she suddenly had a cut in her vocal cords. And I didn’t want to cancel the concerts - financial issues played a role.

About portraits of Stalin

This issue was connected with the decision of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to hang portraits of Stalin on Victory Day.

Joseph Kobzon:

He committed actions, perhaps negative ones, but they went into battle "for the Motherland, for Stalin" and Stalin played a colossal role in the Great Patriotic War. He did a lot of negative things when he was in charge of a great power, but simply to cross out Stalin in history is not given to anyone. By the way, I don’t know if there would be no Stalin, would there be Israel or not? In 1948, it was only with his support that your state was proclaimed. Why did Stalin appear in the first place in the "Name of Russia" poll? Not Pushkin, not Tolstoy, but Stalin? Because the people remembered his great deeds.

About America and Israel

Joseph Kobzon:

I am a victim of political collusion. This happened in 1994. All my colleagues, all my friends go to America - and Grisha Leps, and Sasha Rosenbaum, and Vinokur, and Leshchenko. And everyone knows the same people that I know. They were familiar with, God rest him, Otarik Kvantrishvili, with Solntsevo. But I can safely look into the eyes of law enforcement agencies. I have never had anything in common with any of these people. But I have always been a friend of Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov. And when the confrontation between Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin and his henchman Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov began in 1994, they had to eat everyone. The first person they ate was me, then Gusinsky and a number of other people.

A certain emigrant Sam Kissin, who was wanted to be detained in Russia for all sorts of leftist deeds, paid off by writing slander against everyone he was pointed to. And so, despite the fact that even Primakov, as prime minister, spoke with Albright, and Ivanov spoke with Powell, and, as I was told, Putin spoke with Bush, to this day there is a file on me. I said - I am ready to come to the States, stand trial and answer any questions. But for 16 years now I have not traveled to America. They don't let anyone in - not my son, not my daughter, not my wife. The fact that I have been a member of the Russian parliament for 4 convocations, a people's artist, an academician, a professor, an honorary citizen of 29 cities, is not of interest to them. And Israel was and remains America's assistant.

I told your colleagues about this when I was detained at Ben Gurion Airport. Thanks to Peres, who then, at the request of Bovin, gathered the Cabinet urgently and said - this is a glaring case. They answered him: so he has a file in the USA. So this is America's business! And you hide that you are completely and completely dependent on America!

I do not believe that Israel is an independent state, independent of the monster of the United States of America. Both economically and politically. How many people in Arab countries surrounding Israel, and how many in Israel? I admire Israeli patriotism and the fact that Israeli citizens are ready to give their lives for their country, but I do not deny Israel's connection to America and unquestioning obedience.

Iosif Davidovich dismissed the objections, they say, that the relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama cannot be called cloudless, and he said this about relations between Russia and Israel:

I am pleased with the development of interstate relations between Israel and Russia. This is felt not only in economics and politics. The attitude of the state and the attitude of society towards the Jews has become much better. "Persons of Jewish nationality" - we do not even pronounce these words. We do not pronounce it either in the press or publicly. What was the name of a Jew who entered Kyiv University? Miracle Yudo. And there was one minister - Zaslavsky. And today Jews are ministers and in the presidential administration. The environment is much better. Visa issues have been resolved between the states, which also says a lot. This attracts tourists. Why do we need Turkey when there is Israel? It's cheaper there, but the atmosphere is different here.

About high rank

Joseph Kobzon:

I rushed to the embrasure when, after the Yeltsin revolution of 1991, people's artists of Russia began to call us. It was necessary to get an Honored Artist of Russia, a People's Artist of Russia, and only then could one dream of the title of People's Artist of the USSR. When I was named People's Artist of Russia, I immediately stopped Angelina Vovk and said that next time I would not go on stage if I was announced incorrectly. I am a people's artist Soviet Union. Applause broke out in the hall. And after that, little by little, others began to return to this proud title. We are not saying that the Knight of St. George will now be called the Yeltsin Knight. We need to cherish the recognition that has been received.

About Russia and Georgia

Tamara Gverdtsiteli:

I do not perceive relations between Russia and Georgia as a policy. For us, it's a pain. My mother doesn't see her son, my brother, who lives in Tbilisi for months. With incredible difficulty, I had to make a visa for my father. This is not a normal situation. I hope this will end, but none of us can pretend that nothing happened.

I would not go to Tskhinvali, but they asked me, and to this day we decide that my concert will take place in Tbilisi. Before that, I will definitely have a talk with Prime Minister Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. I know him well, he gave me the title of People's Artist of Russia, which gave me the right and moral support to continue living in Russia. I have been living in Russia for 15 years and emotionally I have become attached to it, of course. At the same time, my Georgian disk is ready. I believe that I have the right to speak in my homeland, but first I want to talk to the Minister of Culture, and I think that this will be well received. God grant that it be so.

- Why do you need to talk to Putin?

Because I am a Russian citizen and People's Artist of Russia.

About Hamas and Israel

The "Opinions" question was linked to the Internet:

- Almost all Russian websites dedicated to Islam have one feature - kindly and patiently talking about their religion, they immediately change their tone when it comes to Israel and the very name of the country is written "Israel", like this, in quotation marks. The source of this spelling is "Palestine-info", a Hamas website in Russian. This is a question and, if you like, an appeal to the State Duma: how can one explain that Russian Islamic websites share the position of a terrorist organization?

Joseph Kobzon:

There is a lot of vulgarity, dirt, slander on the Internet. Should you, the intelligent people of Israel, pay attention to this? Can you give an example? You know about the problem of Nagorno-Karabakh. I was there when the hostilities were already starting. And there was the director of the music school, with whom I once studied at the Institute. Gnessin. Educated musician, intelligent person. And I asked him: "Vagif, explain to me what it is? How do you feel about it?" And he said: "If I meet an Armenian, I will kill without hesitation." You say that as soon as Muslims start talking about Israel, they become different. It's quite normal. This is poisoned consciousness. So pay no attention.

True, in the end, Joseph Davidovich still called Hamas "a Muslim bandit formation." Then he apologized, said that he was leaving so as not to be late for a meeting with his grandson, and just before leaving he said that he had been examined in an Israeli clinic. Let's hope that the results of this survey will not cause alarm.

People's Artist of the USSR and deputy died at the age of 80. The crooner, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, was on the verge of death all last month. In July, he ended up in intensive care, where he was connected to an auxiliary lung ventilator. tells why Kobzon was not just a pop artist, but personified the spirit of his time, and remembers who tried to kill the singer throughout his life.

First Chief

Iosif Kobzon was born in 1937 in the Ukrainian SSR, Stalin (later Donetsk) region in a poor Jewish family. He began to sing at school, in an amateur art circle, and he succeeded so well that in 1946 he, the winner of the All-Ukrainian school Olympiad in amateur art, performed at the final stage in Moscow, at the Kremlin Theater. Joseph Stalin was present in the hall - he became the first of the Soviet leaders in front of whom Kobzon sang. Then Joseph sang the song “They are flying migratory birds". According to his memoirs, children were forbidden to look at Stalin. However, the nine-year-old boy could not overcome his curiosity and kept looking into the box where the leader was sitting, - he says, he was sitting with a smile on his face. In total, he saw Stalin twice, the next time - two years later at the same concert in the same theater. Then Joseph sang "Golden Wheat."

After school, Kobzon was going to become a miner - in 1956 he graduated from the Dnepropetrovsk Mining College. Having got into the army after graduation, he entered the song and dance ensemble of the Transcaucasian military district. And already in the army he realized that the education of a mining technical school would not be useful to him. After serving, Kobzon went to Moscow, where he entered the Gnessin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute at the vocal faculty. During his studies, he realized that his voice allowed him not only to earn extra money, but also to perform on the stage, to win music competitions. Kobzon's first performance, preserved on film, is in Blue Light, where he, in the form of a Cuban barbudo, with a beard like Ernesto Che Guevara, with a submachine gun at the ready, sings the song "Cuba, my love."

In Gnesinka, however, they did not rejoice at the successful career of the artist who forgot about his studies, putting him before a choice - higher education or work. Kobzon chose the second and continued to perform, traveling around the country with concerts. In 1964, for the first time, he disgraced himself all over the country - a feuilleton “Laurels of Chohom” appeared in which it was told how a drunken Kobzon during a festival in Grozny broke into other people’s hotel rooms at night and molested women. This publication was enough for the artist to disappear for a whole year from television and radio broadcasts, as well as from all the famous concert venues in Moscow. Kobzon claims that the reason for the appearance of the feuilleton was that its author "had views" on the artist's beloved, the performer of the hit "I See Nothing". Kobzon became engaged to her shortly after the appearance of the article and lived in marriage for two years.

The next wife, whom the singer married almost immediately after the divorce from Kruglova, was an actress and singer. Her marriage lasted three years. As Kobzon later explained, life with actresses turned out to be too difficult for him - he needed a wife, not a competitor. Therefore, in 1971, he married Ninel Drizina, who at that time was not seen on any stage. He lived with her until the end of his life. A year after the wedding with Ninel, the singer realized that he still needed a diploma of higher musical education - at that time he had much more power for the singer (more high rate and traveling concerts), so in 1972 he returned to the institute, interrupting his career.

Chernobyl autograph

In June 1986, a month and a half after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a concert was organized for the liquidators of the consequences of the accident with the participation of Kobzon. His relatives say that he did not realize the danger and did not understand what this performance would turn out for him - while artists were only invited to Chernobyl. The club next to the city administration building, where the concert took place, was located a kilometer from the epicenter of the explosion, from where one could see the reactor. In a respirator, Kobzon, of course, could not sing. Out of solidarity, the liquidators also began to take off their masks.

When the singer played the performance, the second shift showed up at the club. He sang for them too. Then - the third. And another concert. Kobzon admitted that at the end he had a sharp tickle in his throat, "as if shavings had hit." The performance lasted about four hours. After 20 years, Kobzon will find a "Chernobyl autograph" - cancer. Doctors do not rule out that the disease, which the singer will fight for the rest of his life, is a consequence of those four hours without a respirator a few kilometers from the reactor. The details of the disease were never disclosed by either Kobzon or his attending physicians, however, the media claimed that the artist suffered from cancer. prostate.

1 /13

When the singer was diagnosed in the early 2000s, doctors predicted that without surgical intervention he will live for two weeks. The artist was first treated in Germany, and in 2015, doctors said that he needed to undergo treatment in Italy. However, at that time Kobzon was already on the sanctions list.

Europe "punished" Kobzon for speaking out in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and supporting the separatists, as well as for the fact that he, as a deputy, voted for the admission of Crimea to Russia. In February 2015, the artist was banned from entering the EU countries, and all his foreign accounts were ordered to be frozen. Then Kobzon said that he was proud that he was in the company of people who fell under sanctions, because they "are not indifferent to the fate of Russia and the fate of Donbass." The artist also said that Russia's response should be equivalent - it is necessary, they say, to also ban European artists from entering the country. Six months later, the doctors said that the best equipment and the best oncology clinic for his situation was in Italy. Kobzon has repeatedly stressed that he is against treatment abroad, since doctors in Russia are also excellent, and he goes abroad only when domestic doctors advise him to do so. The singer then announced that he was ready to seek help from the president to be allowed into Europe.

Soon the artist received a national visa to Italy for a year. Representatives of the country noted that this is an exceptional case, which has no political overtones. The artist himself made conflicting statements - at first he said that he did not ask for help with a visa. Kobzon later said quite the opposite: “I am grateful to Putin. Thanks to his intervention, I was given a medical visa.”

Voice of War

Kobzon's performances in the Donbass were not something unexpected for his image - the singer repeatedly performed in zones of armed conflicts, sang in Afghanistan, Syria, visited Grozny after the first Chechen war and Israel right before the start of the Six Days. In March 1969, he performed at the Nizhne-Mikhailovsky frontier post near Damansky Island. Kobzon said that he had to sing on a parade ground filled with freshly made coffins in which dead soldiers lay. “I stood over their bodies and, trying not to look under their feet, performed the song “Twentieth Spring”, written in hot pursuit and: “Sleep, boys, sleep peacefully, soldiers! Silence will be the highest reward for you, ”Kobzon later said.

In March and September 1969, armed clashes took place between the USSR and the People's Republic of China related to territorial disputes and conflicts between border guards and local residents.

Before the Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan, he spoke nine times. He sang, according to him, under shelling - once a blast wave tore off the roof from the module, which was used as a concert hall. Kobzon visited Chechnya twice in 1997, after the signing of the Khasavyurt agreements. He met with - he sent him a letter demanding "to answer for drinking vodka with the Red Chechens in Moscow." After some time, Basayev called Kobzon to Grozny - "if you are not a coward." And Kobzon went.

“Basayev and I sat in some miraculously preserved house for three hours. The conversation turned sharp, nervous. At that time, I was engaged in the charity program “Frontline Children of Chechnya” ... collecting funds to treat these underage disabled people and orphans, and Shamil accused me of squandering these funds, ”the singer recalled. Basayev wanted to get money from Kobzon, but the artist, who then headed the Muscovite organization, advised him to turn to rich Chechens for help and left unharmed. And then he returned to Grozny with a concert for Chechen youth - from there and the famous photograph of Kobzon with a Makarov pistol, donated by Basayev. Kobzon became the first Russian celebrity, who visited Chechnya after the end of the first military campaign and the election of the president of the republic. A few years later, a bomb exploded near the office of his Moskovit company on the 20th floor of the Intourist Hotel. Kobzon will call Basayev involved in this assassination attempt. Although many then associated the incident not with a militant, but with the criminal world.

Don Kobzon

In the 1990s, every yard dog was sure that Kobzon was connected with the mafia. In 1994, she even awarded the singer the title of "Authority of the Year". And the point is not only in the powerful appearance of Don Corleone (a long coat, striped jackets, a radically black wig) and the artist’s armed guards, but also in his close circle. And Kobzon all his life remained a man with the most various connections. He did not deny that he sometimes found himself at "gangster corporate parties" as a singer, but emphasized that he always kept his distance with thieves.

I had no dealings with crime bosses. If he happened to be with one of the thieves at a birthday party, he always repeated: “Gentlemen are good, please do not confuse, we are members of different trade unions. You are people's criminals, and I am a people's artist.

Kobzon was accused of belonging to the criminal world, in particular, in 1995, which banned him from entering the United States of America. Representatives of the federal service reported the artist's involvement in arms and drug trafficking, as well as in ties with the Russian mafia. There were no official charges against him, but the ban was never lifted - the Americans consider Kobzon as "a foreigner who is not entitled to a visa due to criminal and related activities, and as a person who is secretly engaged (or engaged) in the circulation of illegal drugs or chemicals. According to the American intelligence services, Kobzon was associated with representatives of the "Russian mafia", in particular with (Yaponchik).

Kobzon's friendship with the entrepreneur also aroused suspicions of having links with the Russian criminal world - they met in the 1980s, and in the 1990s they created the Lev Yashin Foundation, which was designed to support sports veterans. Kvantrishvili could not be called a bandit, but he successfully communicated with both criminals and government officials, and in the way Otari successfully persuaded businessmen to donate money to the fund, many saw a different form of racketeering. In February 1994, Kvantrishvili created the Athletes of Russia party, declaring that with its help he would restore the rule of law in the country. In April of the same year, Otari was killed by three shots from sniper rifle at the exit from the Krasnopresnensky baths in Moscow. The funeral of the entrepreneur was taken over by Kobzon.

After the murder of Otari, they allegedly began to hunt for Kobzon as well - they sounded the alarm when a professionally equipped ambush bed was found under the windows of his house in Bakovka. After the incident, the artist began to walk surrounded by Afghan veterans. The killer was never found.

I don't sell friendship. I don’t have much time left to spend in this world to change for the sake of market conditions or other nonsense life positions and principles.

Kobzon did not hesitate to appear in public with his friends, who followed dubious fame. He greatly valued friendship and did not turn away from his comrades - for example, the singer turned out to be one of the few artists and politicians who publicly supported Yuri Luzhkov after his scandalous resignation. Kobzon was very friendly with the then head of the capital and was ready to help in difficult times - in September 1993, at the request of Luzhkov, the singer went to the White House and reassured the rebellious deputies who sat there, and in 2002 the mayor persuaded Kobzon not to go to the terrorists in the Theater Center at Dubrovka.

Nord-Ost

Kobzon subsequently repeatedly spoke about what happened in interviews with newspapers and television channels. Insignificant details sometimes changed, but from the words of the singer you can add up a complete picture of what happened to him in the theater on Dubrovka.

Around the operational headquarters at 9 am crowded famous people, officers, politicians, officials. Many of them were ready to go to negotiations with terrorists. “They didn’t want to talk to anyone. But I knew that they should know me - for them I am not just a deputy or a singer, but a people's artist of the Chechen-Ingush SSR, ”Kobzon later said.

When the negotiators listed the terrorists who were ready to go to the captured recreation center, they demanded Kobzon. The head of the operational headquarters for the release of the hostages of the artist did not want to let go, Luzhkov was also against it. “If I don’t agree with them, then you won’t agree with him,” Kobzon replied.

The singer was the first who went to the terrorists. Together with him, a British journalist and two Swiss citizens from . Kobzon had already performed in this institution more than once, and in the foyer he had the feeling that he was just late for the performance - clothes hung neatly in the wardrobe, there was complete silence. Then he saw the girl's corpse on the floor. Kobzon went up to the stairs, where three machine gunners stopped him with shouts: “Stop, who ?!” "I am Kobzon." He was taken to Ruslan Elmurzaev, who called himself Abubakar. The terrorist was sitting with a machine gun and wearing a mask. Kobzon said: "I thought there were Chechens here." Abubakar replied: "Chechens." “Chechens get up when a person known throughout your country, twice your age, enters, and you are sitting, which means they are not Chechens!” Kobzon said. Abubakar jumped up: “What, did you come to educate us?” Kobzon persuaded the terrorist to take off his mask and suddenly realized that the invaders of the theater on Dubrovka were very young people. “You still have to live and live,” he complained. “We came here to die, not to live. And we want to die more than you want to live. If you don’t believe us… call Zulya,” Abubakar replied. A little girl in camouflage and a mask entered the room. "Zulya, show me how rich you are." The girl opened her hand and showed the detonator.

Photo: Vladimir Astapkovich / RIA Novosti

Kobzon tried to convince the terrorist that no one was going to fulfill their conditions and withdraw troops from Chechnya, however, seeing the determination of the invader, he asked to release at least the children. The terrorists "gave" Kobzon three frightened girls. One girl buried herself in the knee of the artist and said that her mother remained in the hall. “Abubakar, why do you need a mother without children or children without a mother? Either take the children or give them their mother,” said Kobzon. The singer was brought in by a woman named Lyubov Kornilova, a mother of two girls, who, according to him, first of all rushed not to the children, but to the terrorist - she asked to release the pregnant woman who was sitting with her in the hall.

The singer left the theater with the journalist, Kornilova and three children, having stayed with the terrorists for half an hour. He will go to the theater on Dubrovka again in two hours together with, but he will not be able to free more hostages. Later, he will become the godfather of another daughter of Kornilova.

In addition to the stage, Kobzon was very interested in politics - since 1989 he was a people's deputy of the USSR, he tried to get into the State Duma from the moment it appeared (he managed to do this only in 1997). In 2003, Kobzon became a member and chairman of the State Duma Committee on Culture. The performer spoke of his political career as something that burdened him: “What does the State Duma give me, besides spending time, effort, money, solving other people's issues, helping someone? I don’t have my own business, sometimes they ask me to lobby someone’s interests, I go forward if I see that it’s a decent thing, ”he complained back in 2011. During his life, Kobzon received more than 40 honorary titles, including the title of honorary citizen of 29 cities and people's artist of five countries.

Kobzon not only kept his finger on the pulse of his time, he was the personification of this time - he made acquaintance with all its iconic personalities, politicians, military men, presidents, militants, singers, leaders, businessmen and criminals. "Friendship with Kobzon" has every right to become a new phraseological unit. The singer managed to work as a deputy and travel all over the country with concerts, performed the most famous Soviet hits, and his voice was literally, although not officially, adopted. The singer was with the country at its most critical moments and was always ready to help her, even endangering her own life.

11 September People's Artist USSR, Hero of Labor of Russia, State Duma deputy turns 80 [video] Alexander GAMOV true_kpru @gamov1Lyubov MOISEEVA true_kpru

We have been preparing this interview for several months - since back in May the great singer for the ninth time (starting from 2008) came to us on Komsomolskaya Pravda Radio

(97.2 FM) for the program " Singing Victory Songs with Iosif Kobzon". Then there were Donetsk, Lugansk. There was the village of Aginskoe - our hero has been representing this region in the State Duma for more than 20 years. And in order not to repeat myself, because so much has been written about Kobzon - including by us (both in Komsomolskaya Pravda and in our books " Iosif Kobzon: How wonderful everything that happened to us"," Direct speech ") ... Today we decided to take and show you only the most interesting - fragments of an interview, phrases, remarks ...

Iosif Davydovich, it’s true that you accumulated in yourself everything that you saw in Mark Bernes, Claudia Shulzhenko, Leonid Utesov ...

Not the right word - accumulated.

But you took something from them.

Yes, of course... In the genre of Russian song I use the intonations of Lidia Andreevna Ruslanova, the lyric - Claudia Ivanovna Shulzhenko. In the genre of military song - the intonations of Mark Naumovich Bernes. When such playful, entertaining songs were in his youth, Leonid Osipovich Utesov helped. I was lucky, I worked with these masters. He performed on the same stage.

When I found out that my older comrades were participating in the concert, I always stood behind the scenes. Yura Gulyaev and Muslim Magomaev did the same.

- O! Can you show me right now? Utesova, for example...

Useless because it needs to be done at runtime. And then - I did not parody them, did not rehash, did not imitate them, my teachers. Only intonation!

So that's why you are so loved, and for many years! They hear both Leonid Osipovich and Shulzhenko in you ... And if we talk about the features of the "stage character"?

I took more from Bernes. Outwardly, despite the fact that an attractive movie character “stood” behind him, he was very strict. Why am I being reproached for not moving on stage, not running?

- Yes! Why?

Because the repertoire that Mark Naumovich sang and that I sing does not require external affectation.

- And we saw you dancing on the stage three times!

A little bit simple to point out. When they say to me: how many songs do you remember ...

- Three thousand!

Yes, I did not memorize them, I drew them like pictures. When you sing, say, "Russian field", before your eyes - this is the most Russian field. Here is Vysotsky. He had nothing to do with the war, he was a child of the war. And how heartfelt he described these combat pictures. Take "He did not return from the battle" or "The sons go to battle"...

Iosif Kobzon and poet Robert Rozhdestvensky Photo: TASS photo chronicle. true_kpru

- Did you also study with Vysotsky?

Why not? I literally have two or three songs from his repertoire, and when I sing them (say, "The Ballad of an Abandoned Ship"), I use Volodya's intonations - very bright, expressive.

- Natasha Pavlova, our stenographer, transcribed your broadcast, which was on Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda before May 9th. She sobbed when you started singing Cranes.

Well, what can I do...

- We listened to you both from the audience and from behind the scenes. Tears well up... Why didn't you cry once on stage?

No, I cried a lot. Take at least the song "Commander" - he buries his fighters there. And I am a child of the Great Patriotic War, then nine times I was in Afghanistan, the same number - in the Donbass. Much of what I sing about, I saw with my own eyes, felt with my heart.

Iosif Kobzon in Moscow Bolshoi Theater. 1959 Photo: Personal archive of Joseph Kobzon

- Several times on business trips, you noticed that you like to sleep in the dressing room.

Well, it keeps me in a good emotional state. When you feel that you are in demand, when people are waiting to meet you and you live up to their expectations, this is real satisfaction. Afraid to be late...

- And we walk along the corridor: do not make noise, Joseph Davydovich is resting! You have been called like this for a long time: Kobzon is an era.

I don't consider myself epic. I live my life and take an example from my older comrades. Here every time gave the culture of its brightest representatives. But for some reason, only a few names have come down to us, to our era. If the 30s, then these are Isabella Yuryeva, Tamara Tsereteli, Vadim Kozin, Petr Leshchenko, Alexander Vertinsky. If the 40s are also a few names. Utyosov, Shulzhenko, Bernes, Ruslanova...

- You are also called the king of pop music. Both Kirkorov and Baskov.

Well, it's a product of the times. But who will remain in history, I do not know. Edith Piaf said: there are many performers, but give me a personality. We don't have many personalities. Because everyone strives for mercantile goals. How to earn more...

- But here you are not the king of the stage and not the era. Be honest - who are you really?

Concert at the stadium in Kabul Photo: TASS photo chronicle. true_kpru

- And Khrushchev?

He loved the song of Alexandra Pakhmutova (begins to sing): “ Our concern is simple, our concern is such that our native country would live, and there are no other worries.»…

- And before Brezhnev?

He sang about Lenin: And again the battle continues, and the heart is anxious in the chest. And Lenin is so young, and young October is ahead».

- Have you sung Gorbachev yet?

No, I did not sing to Gorbachev, nor Andropov, nor Chernenko.

- And they spoke to Putin several times.

Certainly. In concerts - together with other artists.

- Which of the leaders, from Stalin to Putin, listened to you most attentively?

Can not say. I really want to hope that we will not end with Putin, but continue with Putin ...

PACKING QUESTION: HOW MANY STARS DOES THE MATER HAVE?

« I'm a Chernobyl. That's why so patient»

Sometimes Kobzon puts on two Golden Stars - Hero of Labor Russian Federation and Hero of the DPR. The third - also Gold - Star of the Hero of Chernobyl on his jacket you will see very rarely. In fact, he almost never wears it. He says (with irony): " I don't want to look like Brezhnev". But this reward is also very dear to him. Because well deserved...

The disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant occurred on April 26, 1986. The destruction was explosive, the reactor was completely destroyed, and in environment a large amount of radioactive material was released. In the first three months after the accident, 31 people died. “Long-term effects of exposure”, as the guides say, “identified over 15 years, caused the death of 60 to 80 people. 134 suffered radiation sickness. More than 115 thousand people were evacuated from the 30-kilometer zone. Significant resources were mobilized to eliminate the consequences, more than 600 thousand people.

Who does not know - Kobzon was the first to speak to the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident. And it was he who initiated the cultural service for Chernobyl victims then, in the first months after the disaster.

Kobzon was the first to speak to the liquidators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident Photo: TASS photo chronicle. true_kpru

Of course, no one sent me there - I went myself, - Iosif Davydovich told us. - Arrived in Chernobyl on June 26, 1986 - it turns out, two months after the accident. He gave three solo albums in a day. He sang non-stop for two hours - the audience did not let go. Just finished, people dispersed - another shift comes, a full hall: “And we also need Kobzon! " What to do? I say: “Now let's start, sit down! And - again, two hours without a break. Just about to leave - the next watch is coming. And so he sang - until the voice did not sit down at all.

How far was it from the reactor? No, very close. I saw him with my own eyes. Maybe the distance to it was only two kilometers. I spoke right in their club, next to the administration of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

But that wasn't what shocked me... That's how all the liquidators walked around there - both down the street and indoors - wearing protective masks. And when they entered the club and saw that I was without a mask, they took off their protective masks. I say: “Why? Put it on now! "And they:" But you didn't put on ... "-" I didn't put it on because I can't sing in a mask! But you can hear everything even in a mask!"And they:" No, we will also take off our masks ... "I could not do anything with them!

And I also met Afghans there - even generals ... (For information: Iosif Kobzon flew 9 times to Afghanistan, where from December 1979 to February 1989 soviet soldiers fulfill their international duty. - Auth.) And they frankly told me: “You know, it’s worse here than in Afghanistan ... There you knew who your enemy was, you saw him ... And you could shoot back from him. You don't see here, and he - this invisible enemy - kills you, devours you.

Once we dared to ask Kobzon and, in general, forbidden questions ... “Your, - we say, - probably your heart aches when you see that every year there are less and less Chernobyl liquidators». “Yes, it is,” Kobzon said very sadly, and turned away. - What can you do? I’m still surviving because I’m actively being treated.” - " Don't you think that your illnesses are also from Chernobyl?"-" I don’t want to guess ... Maybe someone thinks that - yes. I think that if the Almighty so ordered that one must live, then one must live. While living ... "

And another time we asked Kobzon: “ Do you, as a deputy of the State Duma, probably have a lot of complaints from Chernobyl victims?» « They are patient people, - he answers, - they are not used to complaining". How is Kobzon? He chuckled, and - with irony: " Yes, by the way - I'm Chernobyl. Therefore, he is also so patient. Especially - in relation to you, journalists ...»

And this legendary singer was the first of the pop artists to visit Damansky Island (on March 2 and 15, 1969, armed clashes between the military formations of the USSR and the PRC took place in this area, several Soviet officers and soldiers were killed.) He was in all the "hot spots" on the North Caucasus. In October 2002, a gang of terrorists Movsar Baraev took hostages (up to 700 people in total) in the Theater Center on Dubrovka during the performance of the musical "Nord-Ost", Iosif Kobzon went to the terrorists four times, saved five hostages. Then... He traveled 9 times to the struggling Donbass. In February 2016, he flew to the Khmeimim base of the Russian Aerospace Forces (Syria). For more than 20 years, Iosif Davydovich has been a State Duma deputy: at first he represented the Aginsky Buryat district of Transbaikalia, now - Zabaykalsky Krai generally.

We have already talked about some of these bright pages in Komsomolskaya Pravda, and many of our stories are yet to come ...

Donetsk - Lugansk - Aginskoye - Moscow.

Before the anniversary of Iosif Kobzon, who will turn 80 on September 11, Komsomolskaya Pravda tells about the most striking facts from the biography of the singer [video] Alexander GAMOV true_kpru @gamov1 Lyubov MOISEEVA true_kpru
Komsomolskaya Pravda Samara
10.09.2017 The Social Services Center of the Komsomolsk District will host a musical event in honor of the anniversary of Joseph Kobzon.
TltOnline.Ru
03.09.2017 On Wednesday, September 6, at 11:00 am, the Social Services Center of the Komsomolsky District (Gromovaya Street, 42) will host a musical evening "Old songs about the main thing",
TltNews.Ru
03.09.2017

In Samara state college service technologies and design On February 11, the regional stage of the Nineteenth Youth Delphic Games of Russia will take place on the territory of the Samara Region in the nomination "Hairdressing".
Samara.Edu.Ru
09.02.2020

“I am my own judge, and no one has power over me ... I lived a very interesting, difficult, but beautiful life. I have everything in this life. There is my love, there is my continuation: my children, my grandchildren. There are my songs, my listeners ”- I. D. Kobzon. More than 50 years on stage, performances before Stalin, Khrushchev, Gorbachev, Yeltsin - the life of Iosif Davydovich Kobzon is closely intertwined in the history of the USSR and Russia. That is why his voice is the voice of more than one generation. Iosif Kobzon is not just the most titled singer of the national musical Olympus, a deputy of the State Duma, a musical and public figure, but also one of the most beloved artists of our country. Unique photos from family archives, a first-person narrative will tell about the ups and downs, success and ups and downs of the fate of Joseph Davydovich, which hardly anyone could see behind the blinding spotlights.

Speeches before Comrade Stalin

Everything happens for the first time. My first teacher's name was Polina Nikiforovna. Good man. What to call - I remember. Forever remember. But I forgot the last name. From her I learned to write and read, draw and count only by "five".

But, perhaps, he learned to sing first from his mother, and then he continued at singing lessons and in an amateur art circle.

Then after all, there was no entertainment: no discos, no tape recorders, no TVs. Mom loved to sing romances and Ukrainian songs. We had a gramophone and a lot of records. My mother sang, and I loved to sing along with her. We sat down in the evenings, lit a kerosene lamp and sang “I marvel at the sky - I guess that thought: why didn’t I juice, why don’t I pour? ...” Mom liked this song. All in all, it was a magical time. Kerosene was expensive, they took care of it and the lamp was lit only when it was completely dark outside. We were driven home, and I was looking forward to the moment when my mother and I begin to sing ...

It was some kind of bewitching action and spectacle. Longing was replaced by joy, tears - fun, when my mother sang her favorite songs. And, probably, it was then that I was forever "poisoned" by singing. Songs have become my drugs.

I sang at school, sang with the school choir on the stage of the city recreation center. Then there were no reviews, competitions - there were art olympiads. And at the age of ten, as a representative of Kramatorsk, I won the first victory at the All-Ukrainian Olympiad of amateur art activities for schoolchildren, deserving my first award - a trip to Moscow to VDNKh of the USSR. And there I was able to speak to my famous namesake.

The fact is that Comrade Stalin himself was present at our concert in the Kremlin. I sang Matvey Blanter's song "Migratory Birds Are Flying".

In short, I first appeared in 1946 in the Kremlin Theater ... Yes, there was no Kremlin Palace and the Rossiya cinema and concert hall - only the Column Hall of the House of the Unions. He was considered the most prestigious, plus two chamber, as to this day - the Tchaikovsky Hall and the Great Hall of the Conservatory. The closed Kremlin theater was located in the building near the Spasskaya Tower: as you enter, immediately on the right side. And so the director gathered us all there and said: “Now we will start rehearsing. Please note: at the concert - the strictest discipline, they will let you out of the room only one number before going on stage.

And we all knew that Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin could be in the hall. We were warned: if the leader is present, then there is no need to be curious and look at him. That's what they told me: "Don't look at Stalin." But this is the same as ordering a believer “do not be baptized” when there is a temple or a priest in front of you. However, I didn’t have the opportunity to take a closer look: I just sang the song “Migratory Birds Are Flying” - and backstage, and there I was immediately ordered: march into the room!

The next day we were taken to museums, shown to Moscow, fed, put on a train and sent home.

And the second time I appeared before Stalin already in 1948. Again, as the winner of the Republican Olympiad, I performed in the same Kremlin theater, and the same picture: nothing new, only Blanter's song was already different - "Golden Wheat". I went out in a white shirt with a red tie ...

This time I saw Stalin, because we were separated by a short distance, but with a fright - I threw a lightning glance and immediately transferred him to the hall. As I remember now: with a smile on his face, he was sitting in a box on the right side, if you look from the stage, and he applauded me. Molotov, Voroshilov, Bulganin sat next to him. Beria and Malenkov were not there. I saw Stalin only from the stage when I sang. The lodge was about ten meters away from me.

When they told us that there would be Stalin, we were afraid to speak. Not because they were afraid of Stalin, but feared that, as soon as we saw him, our tongue, legs and hands would cease to obey, and we would not be able to speak at all. Then it was not customary to record phonograms, as is done now on the principle of “no matter what happens”, so that, God forbid, something unforeseen does not happen under the president, in case someone forgets the words or, even worse , something superfluous will say ... Then, thank God, it was a different time. Everything had to be real. And so we, in order not to lose face, rehearsed everything carefully. The concert was rehearsed several times, but we were still terribly worried ...

I sang and Stalin listened to me. I could not look at him for a long time, although I really wanted to. I remember I managed to see that he was in a gray tunic. I sang and bowed, as I saw bowing in the cinema to the beloved king. And he bowed to the respected public. I sang and had great success. He sang and went backstage on padded children's legs. Sang to Stalin himself!

This is how my singing career began. I was still small and didn’t really understand what the “leader of all peoples” meant. His name was Joseph. And my mother named me Joseph. I think it was much more difficult for the rest of the speakers, who were older. Unfortunately, I do not remember in detail how Stalin reacted to my speech. Since I don’t remember, I don’t want to tell you that he shouted “bravo”, supporting endless applause, or smiled approvingly at me ... Now I could say anything, but I don’t want to lie.

But I remember well how a year before, when I came to Moscow, also to see amateur performances, on May 1, on Red Square, I participated with everyone in a demonstration in front of the Mausoleum. I remember how we all looked with admiration at the leaders of the party and government, who organized and inspired great victory over fascism, and especially with all eyes we looked at our heroic, but such a simple leader. I remember all this well. And the light-green curtain in the Kremlin Theater remained forever in my memory.

So I wrote this and thought: but I happened to live under all the Soviet and post-Soviet tsars, except for Lenin ... How many were there? First Stalin, then Malenkov, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin, Medvedev, Putin again. God, am I really that old...

By the way, I really liked Blanter's song then. “Migratory birds fly in the autumn blue distance. They fly to hot countries, and I stay with you ... ”I sang it with all my heart: in Donetsk, and then in Kyiv and Moscow. When, after some time, he showed Matvey Isaakovich the diploma handed to me, the old composer burst into tears.

And one more important moment for me. When, as the winner of the Ukrainian Olympiad, I was given a ticket to Moscow, my mother said: “If you want, see your father.” And I saw. However, his attitude to my mother and my grateful attitude to my stepfather, to Bata, made our communication completely formal. He took me, as I remember now, to Detsky Mir on Taganka. Bought me some sweater, bought something else. I thanked. And he said that he would have a good dinner tomorrow, and that I should come. At that meeting, I learned that he had new family Two sons are already growing up.