The Belarusian Chameleons: Pesniary’s Popularity and the Ambiguity of Soviet Identities

Abstract

Formed in 1969 and active through the early 2000s, Pesniary were arguably the most popular band in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. Their music is distinctively Belarusian, but still fits neatly within a broader Soviet narrative. This article explores the extent to which Pesniary represent an independent Belarusian identity or Soviet kitsch. It considers both the group’s reception at home in the Soviet Union and abroad. Pesniary’s ability to repackage both Soviet cultural policy directives and Western popular music motifs as authentic folk material was key to their success in the 1970s Soviet music scene and beyond.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The name ‘Pesniary’ literally translates as ‘Song-ers’, but can be interpreted as ‘Singers’.

2 Maria was the daughter of Ivonka Survilla, the president of the ‘Belarusian government in exile’ from 1997.

3 Mulyavin’s exact role at the Belarusian Philharmonic is undefined in every instance located by the author.

4 He was born and raised in Sverdlovsk, present-day Ekaterinburg. One can observe this is not the first time an ethnic Russian was ‘cast’ in the role of another ethnicity (Sarkisova 2010, p. 267).

5 These magazine polls are the closest approximation and, indeed, the predecessor of record charts. They also underpin most claims of Pesniary’s superlative popularity, as Melodiya did not make market data available (Yurchenkov 1979, pp. 68–9).

6 Song title translations for this album are taken from the export edition.

7 Title translations are sourced from the export edition.

8 In the absence of an export edition, all translations (titles and lyrics) are the author’s own.

9 This release has no export edition, but the domestic release features the album title in English as well as Russian. Song title translations are the author’s own.

10 There was no export edition for this release, but all text is given in both Russian and English. Translations are based on the domestic release.

11 ‘National’ here is translated from narodnoi, which connotes, per Whittington (2019b, p. 151), a relationship to one particular ‘collective’, not necessarily nationalism.

12 Indeed, the fact that Belarusians were Slavic (unlike other ethnic groups, such as Tatars or Jews) probably contributed to the impression that Pesniary’s folkisms were benign and nonthreatening.

13 Olson (2004, p. 95) also catalogues visits by the Dmitri Pokrovsky Ensemble, a folk choir founded in 1973, to the United States throughout the 1980s, after Pesniary’s tour. The Pokrovsky Ensemble performed both in concerts and festivals and even held workshops with American folk groups. These tours suggest that Pesniary’s visit to the US may have been more permissible since, while they did play Western-influenced guitar rock, their lyrics mostly came from folk songs or adapted poetry.

14 ‘Soviets Unleash First Pop Combo on US Audiences’, Variety, 17 November 1976, pp. 2, 75. The New Christy Minstrels were also a commercial folk revival ensemble with a frequently changing line-up of musicians. Named after the Christy Minstrels, a racist blackface act from the 1800s, the group drew heavily on nostalgia for a traditional regional identity, not dissimilar to Pesniary’s celebration of traditional Belarusian culture, though obviously Pesniary’s work did not have the same racial connotations. By the 1970s, the New Christy Minstrels had become more of a brand than a genuine musical project, perhaps portending Pesniary’s future after the fall of the Soviet Union: still beloved, but a relic, past their prime.

15 The author was unable to locate the footage.

16 Attempts to fact-check this statement led to no verifiably Soviet-era recordings; if Pesniary did play covers it was likely only in live, unrecorded performances. In 2004, an iteration of the group calling themselves ‘Belarusian Pesniary’, contributed to a cover album of Beatles songs (Pomeshchikov 2004, p. 9).

17 Cultural Policy in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Studies and Documents on Cultural Policies (Paris, Institute of Art Criticism, Ethnography, and Folklore of the Academy of Sciences of the Byelorussian SSR and UNESCO, 1979).

18 ‘Looking for Something New in Pop Music’, Washington Post, 27 February 1976, p. D12; ‘Soviet Pop Groups Aim for US Tours’, Variety, 11 February 1976, p. 74.

19 ‘UA–Soviet Deal Confirmed’, Billboard, 6 May 1978, pp. 3, 80.

20 ‘Soviets Unleash First Pop Combo on US Audiences’, Variety, 17 November 1976, pp. 2, 75.

21 ‘Podcast: Danchyk, An American Idol—In Belarus’, Radio Free Europe Documents and Publications, 25 November 2011.

22 ‘Looking for Something New in Pop Music’, Washington Post, 27 February 1976, p. D12.

23 Rohter’s use of Russian phrases throughout his article bolsters the credibility of these statements and his writing on Pesniary more broadly, although he does not disclose the extent to which he spoke the language or whether any handlers or interpreters were present at interviews.

24 ‘Soviets Unleash First Pop Combo on US Audiences’, Variety, 17 November 1976, pp. 2, 75.

25 ‘Looking for Something New in Pop Music’, Washington Post, 27 February 1976, p. D12.

26 ‘Soviets Unleash First Pop Combo on US Audiences’, Variety, 17 November 1976, pp. 2, 75.

27 It should be noted that in this interview Bartkievič enthusiastically endorses Lukashenka, favourably comparing him to Josef Stalin. While this does not invalidate his opinions on the relative merits of music production systems, it does help to contextualise them. He would later restate his love of Stalin (Morozova 2016, p. 8), further claiming that not only did Mulyavin share his sentiments but that Bartkievič had nicknamed Mulyavin ‘Stalin’.

28 ‘Rok po-Belorusski’, Pop muzyka, 36, 1990.

29 ‘Vladimir Mulyavin popravlyaetsya’, Izvestiya, 127, 23 July 2002, p. 9.

30 ‘Smert’ byryvaet luchshikh’, Pravda, 10, 28–29 January 2003, p. 1.

31 ‘V ob’yatyakh “slavyanskogo bazar”’, Pravda, 73, 13–14 July 2010, p. 3; ‘Ot goda molodezhi k godu kul’tury’, Pravda, 5, 21 January 2016, p. 3; ‘S lyubov’yu i zabotoi’, Pravda, 58, 2 June 2016, p. 1; ‘“Pesnyary”—Belorusskii gosudarstvennyi ansambl’’, available at: https://pesnyary.by, accessed 13 June 2023; ‘Belorusskie Pesnyary’, available at: pesnyary-belorusskie.ru, accessed 13 June 2023.

Additional information

Funding

Research for this article was conducted at the University of Alberta. My profuse thanks to my adviser, David Marples, and Heather Coleman, as well as the journal’s anonymous peer reviewers.

Notes on contributors

Claudia Lonkin

Claudia Lonkin, Department of History, New York University, King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, Room 527, 53 Washington Square South, New York 10012, USA. Email: [email protected]