Pesniary (also spelled Pesnyary, be, Песняры, ) was a popular

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...

VIA. It was founded in 1969 by guitarist Vladimir Mulyavin. Before 1970, the band was known under the name Liavony (Лявоны).

Style

Pesniary combined various types of music, but mostly Belarusian folklore though often with various

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

elements and later rock as well. Several of Pesniary's songs were composed by

Aleksandra Pakhmutova Aleksandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova (russian: Александра Николаевна Пахмутова ; born 9 November 1929) is a Soviet and Russian composer. She has remained one of the best-known figures in Soviet The Soviet Union ...

. The surprising influence of early Frank Zappa was also notable.

Biography

Pesniary was one of the very few Soviet bands (and possibly the first one) to tour in America in 1976. They toured the American South with folk band

The New Christy Minstrels The New Christy Minstrels are an American large-ensemble folk music group founded by Randy Sparks in 1961. The group has recorded more than 20 albums and scored several hits, including " Green, Green", "Saturday Night", "Today", "Denver", and ...

. After Mulyavin's death in a car accident on 26 January 2003, the original Pesniary split. About five different bands claim to be the official descendants of the original Pesniary and tour and perform original Pesniary songs. These are: * Belarusian State Ensemble Pesniary – a state-produced band under the Ministry of Culture of

, consisting mostly of young musicians. * Belorusskie Pesniari – led by former Pesniary saxophonist Uladzislau Misevich. * Pesniari – led by former Pesniary vocalist Leanid Bartkevich. * Liavony – the band, which split from Bartkevich’s Pesniari in 2008, consisted of young musicians, none of whom participated in Pesniary until 1998. * Until 2006, the Liavony-Pesniary ensemble existed under the direction of the classical line-up drummer Alexander Demeshko. The band broke up in 2006 in connection with his death.

Discography

The band also released dozens of singles.

Lineup

The lineup of the band changed frequently. Among the most notable and long-lived band members were: * Lyudmila Isupova (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

,1968–2003) * Vladimir Mulyavin (

,1968–2003)Звание заслуженного артиста БССР Владимир Мулявин получил в Чувашии
/ref> * Valery Mulyavin (guitar,

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

, 1968–1973) * Leonid Bortkevich (vocals, 1969–1980) * Anatoly Kasheparov (vocals, 1970–1990) * Valery Dayneka (vocals, alto, 1976–1992) * Igor Penya (vocals, 1980–1998) * Leonid Tyshko (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, 1968–1981) * Vladislav Misevich (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, flute, 1968–1992) * Alexander Demeshko ( drums, 1968–1988) * Valery Yashkin ( keyboards,

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...

, 1968–1977) * Vladimir Nikolayev ( keyboards,

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

, 1971–1980) * Cheslav Poplavsky (

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

, guitar, 1972–1979) * Anna Bortkevich guitar, 1972–1979)

References

External links