The vocal and instrumental ensemble "Pesnyary", as the "face" of the Soviet Belarusian culture, was loved by the inhabitants of all the former Soviet republics. It is this group, which became a pioneer in the folk-rock style, that remembers the older generation with nostalgia and listens with interest to the younger generation in the recordings.
Today, completely different bands perform under the Pesnyary brand, but at the mention of this name, the memory instantly takes thousands of people to the 1970s and 1980s of the last century ...
How it all began?
A description of the history of the Pesnyary group should begin in 1963, when the founder of the group, Vladimir Mulyavin, came to work at the Belarusian State Philharmonic. Soon the young musician was taken to military service, which he took part in the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Belarusian Military District. It was there that Mulyavin met people who later formed the backbone of the Pesnyary group: L. Tyshko, V. Yashkin, V. Misevich, A. Demeshko.
After the army, Mulyavin worked as a pop musician, but cherished the dream of creating his own ensemble, unlike any other bands. And in 1968, the first step towards this was taken - participating together with army colleagues in the variety program "Lyavonikha", Mulyavin took over the name and called his new team "Lyavony". The ensemble performed songs of various themes, but Vladimir understood that he needed his own special direction.
The first achievements of the young team
The new name was also taken from the Belarusian folklore, it was capacious and significant, binding to many things. The competition turned out to be a very serious step towards all-Union popularity and universal audience love. VIA "Pesnyary" performed the songs "Oh, the wound on Ivan", "Khatyn" (I. Luchenok), "I dreamed about you in the spring" (Yu. Semenyako), "Ave Maria" (V. Ivanov). Both the viewer and the jury were impressed, but the first prize was never awarded to anyone.
Folk rock in the USSR was a completely new direction, like the VIA itself, so the jury did not dare to put the team on the highest level. But this fact did not affect the popularity of the ensemble, and the entire USSR spoke about the Pesnyary group. Offers for concerts and tours “flowed like a river” ...
In 1971, the musical television film "Pesnyary" was filmed, and in the summer of the same year VIA participated in the song festival in Sopot. Five years later, the Pesnyary group became the representative of the Soviet recording studio Melodiya in Cannes, made such an impression on Sydney Harris that he gave the ensemble a tour in America, which had not been honored by any Soviet musical pop group before.
In the same 1976, the Pesnyary group created the folk opera Song of the Dole based on the works of Yanka Kupala. It was a musical performance with a folklore basis, which included not only songs, but also dance numbers and dramatic inserts. The premiere performance took place in Moscow at the Rossiya State Concert Hall.
The success of the first performance prompted the team to create in 1978 a new work of a similar genre, created based on Kupala's poems to the music of Igor Luchenko. The new performance was called "Guslyar".
However, he did not repeat the success of the composition “Song of the Share”, and this gave the team the opportunity to understand that it should not be repeated. V. Mulyavin decided not to take on "monumental" forms anymore and devote his creativity to pop songs.
All-Union recognition of the Pesnyary group
In 1977, the Pesnyary group was awarded a diploma in the USSR. Five musicians of the group received the title of honored artists.
In 1980, the group created a program that included 20 songs, in 1981 the Merry Beggars program was released, and a year later and in 1988, cycles of songs and romances based on the works of Yanka Kupala, beloved by musicians.
The year 1987 was marked by the release of the program “Out loud”, unusual for the group, to the verses of V. Mayakovsky. Apparently, such a choice was caused by the trends of that time, when everything old was collapsing, and the country was on the verge of global changes.
The 100th anniversary of the classic of Belarusian poetry M. Bogdanovich in 1991 was celebrated by the Pesnyary group with the Wreath program in the New York Hall of the UN Library.
The team celebrated 25 years of creative activity in 1994 at the annual festival "Slavianski Bazaar" in Vitebsk, showing a new program "Voice of the Soul" at their creative evening.
The group "Pesnyary" is no more ...
After the collapse of the USSR, the state collective lost the support of the state, which no longer existed. By order of the Belarusian Minister of Culture, instead of Mulyavin, Vladislav Misevich became the head of the Pesnyary group. There were rumors that this was due to Mulyavin's passion for alcohol.
However, Vladimir was offended by this decision and gathered a new young team under the former Pesnyary brand. And the old line-up took the name "Belarusian Pesniary". The death of Vladimir Mulyavin in 2003 was a heavy loss for the team. His place was taken by Leonid Bortkevich.
In subsequent years, many clone ensembles appeared, performing the famous hits of the Pesnyary group. Therefore, the Ministry of Culture of Belarus stopped this lawlessness by assigning a trademark to the Pesnyary brand.
In 2009, only three members of the entire group were alive: Bortkiewicz, Misevich and Tyshko. Currently, four pop groups are called "Pesnyary" and sing their songs.
Loyal fans recognize only one of them - the one led by Leonid Bortkevich. In 2017, this ensemble had a big tour in the Russian Federation, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Pesnyary group. And in 2018, the first video clip in the history of the ensemble was filmed, based on Oginsky's Polonaise.
The team was often invited to various television programs and pop "collections", but, of course, there is no question of former popularity. “Now there are no Pesnyars, in fact…,” Leonid Bortkevich admits bitterly.
Back in 1963, a guy from the Urals of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) Vladimir Mulyavin came to Belarus, which became his second home, and devoted all his work to it. In 2003, by order of the President of Belarus, events were held to perpetuate the memory of the famous musician.
