Russian Cabaret Hits

MichaelHorowitz

Here's a cool flamenco version of the Czardas de Monti by none other then Paco de Lucia!

scot

Zav

I'm not Russian but have had the good fortune to spend the last year or so playing guitar with many Russian musicians. I'm not sure if I entirely understand your question about the songs - there are "gypsy tunes" like "Dui dui", "Ekhali Tzigane" known all over eastern Europe; Russian gypsy tunes like "Nane Txoka" and "Gori Gori Lyubov Tziganki" and then there are "gypsy romances" like "Para Gnedyh" and "Tolka Ras". I can't say that I am exactly an expert on how this all fit together...

I think all of this music must date to at least the 19 century. These songs are all popular with Russians here in the USA, too, because at our concerts, everyone seems to know the words to all the songs because they sing along to them. There are lots of recordings to be found at www.russiandvd.com. If you click on "music" it takes you to a page where you can change it to english.

It's certainly interesting that Matelot's "Officers Valse" is known elsewhere as "Accidental Valse" and "Berusovie" as "Ekhali Tzigani". This is known as the "folk process" here in the US and works the same way in the world of fiddle tunes.

Zav - if you like Orehkov, I have some film of him on DVD, PM me and I'll see if I can get you a DVD.

There is truly a wealth of Russian Gypsy tunes that could easily be brought into the gypsy jazz repertoire...

zav

Cool, thanks, Michael!

Dear scot !

>I'm not sure if I entirely understand your question about the songs

Actually, there was no question, I'm russian, and I just tried to add some words.

>"Berusovie" as "Ekhali Tzigani"

NO! These are totally different songs. Berusovie is more like some form of Vengerka, as I told - the name on Matelo's disk is just a mistake .

> if you like Orehkov

Sure! It would be excellent! I also have some songs and videos...

Thanks!

And I would like to add some words about the instruments. Let me say, that till the middle of 20th C common 6-string guitar was used in Russia mainly like an academical, classic instrument, but 7-string guitar was more popular. All gypsies from the end of 19th were playing this, specific guitar. So, some passages are really difficult to execute on 6-string guitar (to feel the effect, you could just drop "up" E string to D), but (as well as in blues, were players often used different tunings) the main effect is in accompaniment - it's nearly impossible (note the differences in construction and dimensions of the body) to get THAT sound on 6-string instrument. After 60s, with rock culture 6-string guitar became more and more popular, and now days only gypsies and very few non-gypsy players try to save the memory of that instrument...

Anton

3chords

Two years later.
Enters me...
First post here ,please be kind.
I don't feel well talking to real players like you, guys.
I don't even consider myself being a musician, though my wife claims I already am.
I think she just really loves me. :roll:

So, here's my view on the topic.
Czardash is definitely out of Russian sphere, being incorporated much later in performers repertoire, can't guess when exactly.Mostly because of the fast rolls, btw, which supposedly should have been showing the player's virtuosity.
Ochi Chjornye and Dve Gitary are real roots folk songs in Russia even nowadays.
I put the emphasis on "songs".
People in Russia always tend to sing with accompaniment more than actually play the instrumentals.
It is vital for understanding of Russian and Russian Roma culture.
It is all about singing, not playing per se.
Of course, there've always been talented players around, but much less in proportion to the population in total than for example bluegrass banjo pickers in States.
String instruments were driven back by button accordion players long before the Revolution. Seven string guitar survived as an exclusively middle class instrument until the 80s but mostly as a 3-4 simple chords accompaniment in Dm.

I don't think the White refugees brought those tunes to France, they probably brought a demand, which was eagarly fulfilled by Roma musicians.
Roma too left Russia in great numbers in those times.
One of the most celebrated Roma families was the Dmitrievitch family.
Real treasure of Russian and World culture.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns-IP_Y8 ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDxcsVYL ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtUEAGv8ido





Check out the fingering on this photo – that's a typical movable form of a Minor chord on the seven string guitar – directly corresponds to Django's fingering on the six string's low strings.
That was the first thing I've noticed when introduced to Gypsy Jazz style.
Risking to sound sacrilegious, I must confess that until three years ago, I had no idea of the style's existence. I heart of Django, but never payed any attention.
To be honest I've never heart of Orekhov either.
I knew of the Kolpakov family though.
I come from a lost dynasty of musicians.
Sadly, I'm “unfinished”.
My granddad taught my uncle and they both gave a few lessons on seven string guitar to me, but both of them passed away before I was 14 y.o..
Thus the century long tradition was broken.
I really envy Vadim (in a good way) for him being able to continue the tradition.
I've perfected that little I was taught, but had to switch to 6-string, because of the lack of tutors and materials.
I remember all of the jams my relatives used to have.
Two seven string guitars (Dve gitary), no plectrums , fingers only.
One guitar usually tuned a whole step low, playing rhythm with a typical boom-chack, produced exclusively by nails and sounded very much like the D-Hole, and the second one tuned Open G, playing fills and rolls.
Diminished scales and arpeggios are natural on 7-string, as well as muting technique.
Sometimes the fifths string was tuned up to C, which relieved the thumb from playing 2 frets jumping bass.
And singing of course!
Amazing Roma music in it's natural beauty.
Since I was 18 I've played mostly blues, which fascinated me until three years ago when I've discovered Django people and aquired a D-Hole guitar.
I actually got me a seven string as well, a banjo, mandolin, Waldzither, a violin, button accordion and prima balalaika. I've already played the darbuka

So here I am reading Michael's “Gypsy Picking” book and recognizing all the patterns presented there, because my grandpa taught me those 29 years ago.

Thanks for your patience.
And thanks Professor John for leading me to this Forum.

P.S. Searching for the forgotten treasure of the Roma tunes in order to adapt them to the Gypsy Jazz is a great idea, but it is a living tradition and I'm personally more interested in writing new tunes using the treasure of Django's vision.
Traditional songs as I remember them from my childhood performed with 2 seven string guitars are here (a few are new ones, but in the style and generally for fun) http://files1.bredband.net/cpuser_proau ... /Akustika/

And some experiments (new material with Django's help) "about" are here
http://files1.bredband.net/cpuser_proau ... /Naoborot/

Thanks

Blue Drag

The 2007 film "Eastern Promises" is a chilling thriller about the Russian Mob in London. The head of the mob runs a Russian Restaurant/Cabaret. The lushness of the interior, the sumptuousness of the foods they serve and the adherence to traditions is quite interesting. At the birthday party for an older Russian woman a younger man (Igor Outkine, he's on YouTube) sings "Ochi Chyornye (Dark Eyes)" accompanying himself on accordian. Unlike the uptempo version most gypsy jazzers play, he sings it very slow and dirge-like. The old women sitting around the table somberly swoon as he sings. It was an entertaining, and frankly, quite scary mystery. Though this is a lighter anecdote to the personal and historical information in the previous posts, it gave me a new curiosity for what was obviously a rich and culturally important element of expatriate Russian culture and the musical oppurtunities they provided.

3chords

About this particular "Black Eyes" song and the genre in general.
"Ochi Chyornye" is ,of course, a waltz called "Hommage" by F.Hermann,
in 1884's interpretation by S.Herrdahl.
Here is some scores
http://www.a-pesni.golosa.info/romans/otchitchern.htm
The lyrics are based on a 1843 poem by Ukrainian poet E.Grebenka.
Most of Russian Cabaret repertoire actually based on 19th century poetry, especially on so-called "dilettantism" style, unprofessional creations of Russian mid and upper class nobility.
Original authors often shied away from performing those songs themselves (entertainment thought being inappropriate business for a gentleman), but very much enjoyed listening to the commoners and gypsies performing their repertoire.
Gypsy choirs were a much popular entertainment in restaurants and gentry clubs. It was exotic and romantic.
The actual genre was called "romance" and incorporated waltzes,ballads,polkas, mazurkas etc with picturesque descriptive "lost love, hope" etc lyrics much close to those of the blues.
One of the best known producers of the genre was Jacob Prigozhiy (1840 - 1920) - a pianist,conductor,composer and the arranger-accompanist of famous Gipsy Choir of Moscow restaurant "Yar".
He was an author of more than 210 pieces of music.
In 1870 - 1880th supervised over various Russian and Gipsy Choirs for which has created a variety of remakes of popular street-songs and romances.
He composed music to such popular songs as "Ukhar-Kupets", "Korobeyniki", "Milaya", "Not for me will come spring" etc, nowadays considered being classical Russian folk songs.
In 1890 he gave concerts across Russia with singers N.G.Severskiy and S.P.Sadovnikov, the accordionist P.Nevskiy.
Probably the best known of his "gypsy" songs is a romance "Pauvres Chevaus" (Para Gnedykh), which is a late 19th century remake-adaptation of 1870s song , written originally in French by Serge Donaurov and translated by Aleksey Apukhtin.
BTW, Apukhtin's poems were used by many composers, including P.Tchaikovskiy.

Bitter-sweet, rather pathetic, modeled after French Romantics poetry lyrics, spiced up with charming Gypsy accent - that was (and strangely enough still is ) a very much appreciated part of a traditional Russian eating-drinking-partying ritual.
The Russian mystery is easily solved by examination of drinking-eating pattern. Drinks (vodka) come first, food comes later.
As a result, the "sad" part of alcohol intoxication comes fast and calls for a lingering (very slow and dirge-like) song in Minor, usually Dm (seven-string guitar), Am (six-string) and Cm (accordion and piano).

The song "Dve Gitary" (Deux Guitares) best known to Russians as "Tsiganochka", has a nice little story of its own.
The song is actually a 1857's poem by Apollo Grigoriev, which describes an actual performance of the original "Gypsy Hungarian" piece by the famous Vasiliev's Gypsy Choir.
The poem's fragment, in turn,became a Gipsy romance too, later performed by the same Choir !

About the "Eastern Promises" film - surprisingly realistic!
I was quite skeptical and awaited another "Cranberry-Tree" (as we call it in Russian) movie. "Babushka-balalaika-sputnik" kind of thing.
But the makers obviously found some serious consultants on the matter.
9 out of 10 by my rating and I'm glad it's not 10 out of 10, because it would make it too horrible to watch.