Many people today are interested in the biography and personal life of Maria Pakhomenko, because this woman was a truly great pop singer, she had a beautiful clear voice, and could captivate the audience with her singing. It was Maria who was able to combine the folk style of performing songs with pop artistry, which made the singer incredibly popular during the years of her life. Today we will learn a little more about the life of this woman, and also talk about Mary’s marriage and children.
Many say that on stage the singer created an image that was very similar in style to the appearance of Valentina Tolkunova, from the outside it looked exactly like that, but Maria herself claimed that she behaved on stage in a way that was comfortable for her. Both of these singers in the past showed all the beauty of Russian song, on stage the women looked feminine and beautiful, even today you can hear songs such as “The girls are standing, standing on the sidelines” or “Shaking, shaking”, these compositions have not been forgotten, they are not Rarely released on radio. Fans of Maria prefer to listen to these songs only from the performer herself, because the singer’s voice is incredibly clear and beautiful, making it breathtaking. Since the pop singer was very popular, we should find out more about the biography and personal life of Maria Pakhomenko.
How did the path to fame begin?
Maria Pakhomenko: photo
This one was born great woman back in 1937, on March 25th, a woman spent her entire childhood in Belarus in a small village called Lyutnya, you can see that the village had a very beautiful musical title, and many say that this is what seemed to determine Mary’s fate.
Young Masha was very interested in vocals early age, in the singer's diary school years There were often comments that were related to singing, because the girl could start singing at the most inopportune moment.
Although the girl had beautiful musical abilities, she graduated from a regular school in her village and decided to enter radio technical school. Still, this educational institution was unable to win Masha’s attention, since the girl constantly wanted to develop her singing talent. Continuing her studies at the technical school, the girl decided to organize her own quartet, initially it was just amateur, but thanks to the help of V. Akulshin, the group very quickly became popular and reached the professional level of performances. As soon as the technical school was completed, the girl decided to try to get a job at a factory called “Red Triangle”. Maria was accepted, and it was there that she continued to realize her talent in amateur performances. The girl took part in the ensemble, which was founded at the Palace of Culture.
When did your career start?
Today, the biography, personal life and children of Maria Pakhomenko are also of interest to many fans of this singer, so it is worth telling a little about the beginning of this woman’s career. For example, after some time the girl decided to enroll in music school, this was the first step towards achieving huge success in the future. When her studies at the school were completed, the girl decided to temporarily get a job at a school, where she worked as a singing teacher for more than five months, and after some time she became a famous soloist of a pop ensemble.
Photo album of Maria Pakhomenko
Working with the girl was very successful, because Maria really loved her passion for music, for this reason, after a few months of work, the singer’s very first hit was born, which was called “Shakes, Rocks.” The song was written back in 1964, it was used for the play “Go to the Thunderstorm”, but after the composition was performed on the radio, the song became an incredibly popular hit.
The singer's song was written for the play “Go to the Storm”
The singer's personal life
IN early years Maria had a beautiful feminine appearance, she was very sweet and beautiful, all these qualities, together with her talent, simply overwhelmed the singer’s future husband, who turned out to be composer Sasha Kolker. If you look at the photo of the singer in her youth, then Sasha can be understood; Maria was very beautiful girl. It is worth telling in more detail about the biography and personal life of Maria Pakhomenko, especially about her marriage with her husband.
The meeting of Maria and Alexander took place at the moment when the pop singer decided to come to the Leningrad ensemble; the leader of this ensemble was fascinated by the fragile girl.
But Masha always had many fans around her, and many of them could boast of wealth and great influence. Maria decided to give her preference to a simpler producer, who tried with great persistence to achieve her love.
As Masha’s husband said, she simply could not resist the composer’s beautiful and sensual melodies.
The biography and personal life of Maria Pakhomenko in the photo was often discussed in the press; this girl was able to win the hearts of millions of listeners with her voice. Of course, the girl’s personal life was constantly on public view, as many relatives say, the spouses were ideal for each other, Alexander idolized his wife, and she tried to put her whole soul into her husband’s songs.
After some time, the couple had a daughter named Natalya, the girl also followed in the footsteps of her mother and father and decided to devote her life to beauty. Although her mother and father were involved in music, Natalya preferred cinema, for this reason, today the woman is a famous screenwriter and director.
The singer’s marriage lasted forty-nine years; it ended with the death of the singer herself; as sources say, Maria Pakhomenko died of pneumonia on March 8, 2013.
According to the singer’s daughter, Maria suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and its exacerbation arose due to serious conflicts with her husband. The daughter is sure that her father often raised his hand against her mother, for this reason Maria went outside and got lost, after which she got a cold, and then pneumonia. After it became known that Alexander beat his sick wife, the whole family turned away from him, the daughter does not want to communicate with her father, and blames him for the death of her beloved mother. No one can say how true this information is, but Natalya is sure that the father has become more cruel towards his wife in recent years her life.
Today's name singer Maria Pakhomenko Few remember, but in the 1960-1970s. she was one of the most popular Soviet artists. The songs “My Beloved”, “The Girls Are Standing” (“Today is a holiday for the girls...”), “There is no better flower than this”, “School Waltz” survived their performer, they are known and loved by listeners, and Maria Pakhomenko herself, unfortunately, after incredible success on stage was forgotten. She could not find her repertoire and did not want to change her image, as required new era. And in her later years she had to endure serious illness and the cruel treatment of her loved ones.
Maria Pakhomenko was born in 1937 in Belarus. She has been involved in music since childhood, participated in amateur performances, and then graduated from the Music College named after. M. P. Mussorgsky, performed with the ensemble of the Palace of Culture named after. Lensovet. Stage success came to her after she began performing songs by her husband, composer Alexander Kolker. Their tandem turned out to be a strong family and creative union, and soon the name of Maria Pakhomenko was recognized by the entire Union.
In 1964, the singer became a soloist of the Leningrad Musical Variety Ensemble, and in the same year, with the song “The Ships Are Sailing Somewhere Again,” she took first place in a competition held by the Yunost radio station. In the late 1960s - early 1970s. she also conquered the international stage: in 1968 she received the “Jade Record” prize at a record competition in France, and in 1971 she became the first Russian pop singer to win the Grand Prix at the international song competition “Golden Orpheus” in Bulgaria (often instead Alla Pugacheva is mistakenly called her first winner).
In the 1980s she worked as a TV presenter in the series of programs “Maria Pakhomenko Invites”, toured in the USSR and abroad, but her popularity at that time began to decline. The singer did not want to react to the changing demands of the new time - she spoke condemningly about the charts and rock music, was conservative about the behavior of pop performers on stage, etc. She was replaced by singers whose songs seemed more modern to listeners - Edita Piekha, Alla Pugacheva, Sofia Rotaru, etc. They were ready to change their repertoire and their own image and were more sensitive to new trends of the time. Gradually, listeners began to forget about Maria Pakhomenko.
However, in three last decades XX century Maria Pakhomenko's songs were published in millions of copies on gramophone records, audio cassettes and CDs. She recorded 10 giant discs, her style of performance at the intersection of pop and folk vocals was recognizable and unique, her songs were often sung by other pop stars.
Many composers loved her, as her unique vocals and timbre turned their songs into real hits. Kolmanovsky, Pakhmutova, Tukhmanov, Frenkel and other famous composers trusted her with the first performance of their songs. Victor Pleshak called her the last bright representative of Russian pop song.
Producing director Irina Taimanova recalled: “Masha Pakhomenko immediately took her place in the huge song world, which was already very rich then. Her character: she will stop a galloping horse and enter a burning hut. And this is with external tenderness. She had an amazing combination of temperament, confidence in her personality and piercing femininity. When a thin, gray-eyed girl with a golden braid entered the hall, she immediately found contact with the audience. Unlike modern careless songs, there has always been a deep meaning in the poetry and music of her songs.”
In 2013, Maria Pakhomenko died of pneumonia at the age of 76. Her last years were difficult and dramatic. The singer suffered from Alzheimer's disease, which gradually destroys her personality. In February 2012, she disappeared for two days, was searched for all over the world and was found in a shopping center. The woman could not remember how she got there and where she had been before.
In the fall of 2012, a scandal unexpectedly broke out: the daughter of Maria Pakhomenko stated that her father regularly beat her mother and raised his voice at her. The composer himself cried out for help, declaring that his daughter separated him from his beloved wife. It is difficult to understand whose side the truth was on. We can only say that the last years of Maria Pakhomenko’s life brought her a lot of suffering.
Another popular one in the 1960s was also unfairly consigned to oblivion. singer:
Sad news - the famous Soviet singer Maria Leonidovna Pakhomenko died in St. Petersburg.
The cause of death is said to be pneumonia. According to media reports, which refer to the singer’s relatives, Pakhomenko has suffered from Alzheimer’s disease in recent years.
She died in a hospital in St. Petersburg at the age of 76. The singer was especially popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Although Maria Pakhomenko has not appeared on stage for a long time, her work is well known to people not only of the older generation for her performances of such popular songs as “Shakes, Rocks”, “Rowan”, “The Girls Are Standing”, “My Beloved”, “Crane in the Sky” ", "School Waltz", "There is no better color."
In 1971, Maria Pakhomenko became the first Soviet singer to win the Golden Orpheus competition in Bulgaria. A year later, she won the main prize at the Golden Record festival in Cannes. In the 80s of the last century, the singer hosted a series of programs “Maria Pakhomenko Invites” on Leningrad television.
The time and place of the funeral will be announced later.
Time is merciless. Youth and beauty are gone. But in the hearts of the audience the voice of a young and beautiful singer sounds like a clear stream...
Eternal memory.
Below the cut is the singer’s biography and videos.
Maria Pakhomenko was born on March 25, 1937, lived in Leningrad. She grew up in an ordinary family. The daughter of a Leningrad policeman sang in the school choir. Masha sang with her friends from the 7th grade, organizing a vocal quartet. The quartet went to the Palace of Culture. First Five Year Plan. In this cultural center, girls studied vocals in a vocal class. And they performed in amateur concerts. The girls grew up and went in different directions.
Masha began studying at radio technical school. I didn’t even think about an artistic career. But I wanted to sing. And again - a quartet that became professional under the leadership of V. Akulshin. The quartet was invited to the Youth Ensemble of the Palace of Culture. Lensovet. With this ensemble she traveled around the country and performed at the Youth Festival in 1957. in Moscow. Then the scene became familiar to her.
Later she graduated from the Music College named after. M.P. Mussorgsky. She performed with the ensemble of the Palace of Culture named after. Lensovet.
At the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute, a student amateur group was organized, which staged very funny reviews. M. Pakhomenko was invited to this team. It was there that she met her future husband, a very famous musician and composer Alexander Kolker ("Krechinsky's Wedding", "Truffaldino from Bergamo", "Three in a Boat, Not Counting the Dog", "Chronicle of a Dive Bomber", "The Magic Power of Art", etc.), a student at LETI. At that time he played the violin. A. Kolker says in his memoirs: “It took me a lot of effort to persuade Masha to perform in a new role and record her first solo song “Shakes, shakes, shakes.” The song was written for the play “I'm Going into the Storm” based on the novel by D. Granin. M. Pakhomenko's debut was an undoubted success. Song this one healed later independent life. A young, surprisingly clear, and most importantly, unfamiliar voice played an important role here.”
In his book “The Elevator Doesn’t Go Down,” he wrote: “She was 19 then. I was 23. She had a thick white braid down to her ankles and absolute pitch. I had songs, modest popularity and a racing heart. We've been together for 45 years. I was doubly lucky. Masha is beautiful and smart - a rare case. There is simply no limit to my luck. Masha is beautiful, smart and devoted to her family. She hovers all day without ever sitting down: grocery shopping, lunch, washing machine, cleaning. Rest for her comes only in the evening, when, having put on modest makeup, she goes to a solo concert."
Since 1964 - soloist of the Leningrad Musical Variety Ensemble under the direction of Badchen and Kolker at the Lenconcert. Everyone has pop performer has its own " business card" Leningrad singer Maria Pakhomenko has dozens of them, so many good songs she sang. It is thanks to her that there is hardly a person in our country who does not know: all the girls’ troubles are because “for ten girls, according to statistics, there are nine boys...”.
Her voice is like a clear stream. Hair like a waterfall. Her charm is endless. This is what they said and wrote about Maria Pakhomenko in the 60s. One of the Western journalists called her “Tender Masha.”
And she was on stage tender, and passionate, and sad, and mischievous. And, most importantly, very sincere. “Downs, shakes”, “Confession”, “Talks, talks”, “There is no better color”, “Miracle Horses” - having performed these and many other songs, Maria Pakhomenko became the darling of the whole country.
Few people know that in the early 70s the singer could act in films. And even in such an outstanding, iconic film as 17 Moments of Spring. The proposal came when Maria Pakhomenko was on tour.
Pakhomenko: And then, in the midst of the tour, the phone rang and Lioznova said: “I invite you to star in this film. Believe me it will be very good movie, you will have to play Stirlitz’s wife there. And Vyacheslav Tikhonov will play Stirlitz.” My heart is in my boots. She said “multi-part film.” She said something like that, something that stopped me. I said, excuse me, I, of course, really want to, but I can’t. She forgot to say the word “episode,” which I regret all my life. She later told me: “They only wanted your face.”
Recorded 10 giant CDs and filmed 6 on television musical films, hosted the TV show “Maria Pakhomenko Invites”;
With the song "Miracle Horses" in 1968 she took first place in international competition MIDEM records (Cannes, France).
In 1968, more than two and a half million records of Maria Pakhomenko were sold. For this, the singer was awarded the “Jade Plate” - a prestigious international award, awarded in Cannes, 1972.
Prizes and awards:
1st place in a competition held by the Yunost radio station (1964) - for the performance of the song “The ships are sailing somewhere again”
1st place (Jade Record prize) at the MIDEM international recording competition in Cannes (1968)
Grand Prix at the international competition “Golden Orpheus” (Bulgaria, 1971) - for the song “Miracle Horses” (A. Kolker - K. Ryzhov)
People's Artist Russian Federation (1998)
Maria Pakhomenko. "It rocks, it rocks"
Maria Pakhomenko. "The girls are standing"
Maria Pakhomenko. "There is no better color"
Maria Pakhomenko. "School Waltz"
Maria Pakhomenko. "Song of First Love"
Maria Pakhomenko Sweet berry
Maria Pakhomenko. "My beloved." Song of the Year - 1971
According to the singer’s husband, composer Alexander Kolker, they are threatening to kill him in order to take possession of the property
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the wonderful singer Maria PAKHOMENKO, who gained fame with her songs “Swinging, Shaking”, “The Girls Are Standing”, “Miracle Horses”, “There Is No Better Flower”, “Sweet Berry”. In 1971, she became the first of our artists to be awarded the Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus competition. Unfortunately, instead of anniversary publications and television programs, Maria Leonidovna became the heroine of a crime chronicle. At first, the St. Petersburg police reported that the singer, who had lost her memory, left home in an unknown direction and only a day later was found with a head injury in one of the supermarkets. Then information appeared about an attack on her husband, 79-year-old composer Alexander KOLKER, at the entrance. And recently, their 53-year-old daughter Natalya PAKHOMENKO shocked everyone with the statement that Alexander Naumovich allegedly brutally beat the sick Maria Leonidovna.
“I lived with Maria Leonidovna for 54 years,” says Alexander Kolker, to whom I turned for comments. - Wrote dozens of songs for her. Sent letters to the Leningrad regional committee to Grigory Romanov and Deputy Minister of Culture Kostya Shcherbakova to get her rank People's Artist. I loved her more life and carried it in his arms. When she was given a terrible diagnosis - Alzheimer's disease, I was ready to hurt myself to prolong her life. And my daughter says that I broke Maria Leonidovna’s seven ribs and beat her until she bled every day. We don’t live in a village, but in St. Petersburg. If I inflicted such beatings, it should be recorded somewhere. But the daughter could not show anything. She stated that all the documents were lost at the Brain Institute. I called there, and the director of the institute told me that Maria Leonidovna had never been examined by them. Thus, everything my daughter says is slander.
Yes, there was a case in winter when Maria Leonidovna went to take out the trash and got lost. Before that, every day she took a trash can from the toilet and took it out without any problems. But apparently she wasn’t thinking well that day. And instead of going to the garbage chute, she went down the elevator. And downstairs, a khanyga neighbor saw her and said: “Marusya! Why are you naked? Put on my peacoat! Otherwise you’ll catch a cold.” And she walked almost five kilometers with the trash can.
Citizen of Israel
There’s nothing for my daughter to be offended by,” Kolker continues. - I always did everything for her. At one time she wanted to enter a theater institute. How the hell can you get there without any cronyism? Then her dad sat on the jury. And she was accepted there. Then she wanted to study at the University of Culture. Dad went to management again and asked for her. As a result, my daughter graduated from this university and became a teacher there. On our summer cottage in the Estonian city of Ust-Narva, I built a separate house for her. I bought it for her Japanese car"Nisan Micro". She could come and say: “Daddy! We're having an evening at the university. I need 100 thousand rubles for my hair.”
Our problems began six months ago, when Israeli citizen Alexander Belyaev, who allegedly once studied with her in the same school, appeared next to Natasha. This man found our family via the Internet and immediately realized that People’s Artist of Russia Maria Pakhomenko and famous composer Alexander Kolker are probably wealthy guys who have an apartment, a dacha and a lot of money. “Natasha, I love you!” - he said to my daughter, rushed over, climbed into her apartment and went to bed with her. Well, since my daughter accepted him, we sat him down at the table with the whole family - with me, Maria Leonidovna and granddaughter Masha.
He introduced himself as a genetic scientist. But when, during a conversation, thieves’ expressions began to emerge from him, I realized that he was not a scientist, but a real gigolo who decided that our family would feed and water him. I soon became convinced that my assumptions were correct.
In order not to be crowded with our daughter in the same living space, 30 years ago our family purchased two apartments on the same floor in a cooperative building on the Chernaya Rechka embankment. Maria Leonidovna and I lived in a one-room apartment with an area of 17 square meters. There wasn't even a washing machine included - they washed it in a basin. And we gave our daughter a three-room apartment - 34 square meters. There is my luxurious Roenisch cabinet grand piano. Naturally, he did not fit into our one-room apartment. And for work I had to buy myself a small piano. Then my granddaughter grew up. She got a lot of suitors. She spent one night with one, the next with another. He and Natasha felt cramped in the three-ruble ruble. Then I turned to Governor Yakovlev - he helped me buy another apartment - a very good two-room apartment on Afonskaya Street.
Bought a gun
And six months ago Natasha came up to me and Masha and said: “Well, my dears, you don’t have much time left to live. Let me take over all our three apartments and the dacha! Don't worry! If you want to live in a better apartment, won’t I give it to you?!” At the same time, the gigolo did not hide the fact that he already considered the three-room apartment his own. He told me: “If you come to MY apartment, I will do you!” I was forced to buy a gun so as not to end my life at the hands of this scumbag who threatens me with death.
The gigolo didn't stop there. He took his daughter's car. For three months he lived at our expense in our dacha. After dinner, I went to wash the dishes, and he went to bed to rest. My daughter came up to me and said: “Daddy, won’t you give me 2-3 thousand dollars? It’s his birthday soon.” And then he and the gigolo decided that the dacha didn’t belong to me either and they had the right to kick me out of it. “Get out of here!” - they shouted throughout Ust-Narva. I got into the car and drove away. Maria Leonidovna stayed with them at the dacha. Then they moved her to their apartment. They didn't let me see her. When she came to see her ambulance“I knelt in front of the doctors. He begged: “Give me back my Mashenka!” But they told me: “Your daughter says that you beat her. We can't give it to you."
My wife was stolen from me! And she needs constant care. I don't even know if she takes medication. My granddaughter is not in town. She and her... left in an unknown direction. My daughter leaves for her university at 9 am. And the helpless folk artist remains in the apartment with a gigolo and a dog. One day I heard my wife’s heartbreaking scream behind the wall. Fearing that the gigolo would do something to her, I called the police. Two 18-year-old boys arrived with machine guns. They called, but no one answered.
Soon the gigolo is going to take Natasha on a tour of Europe. Previously, they plan to hide Maria Leonidovna so that I - God forbid! - I didn’t take it. And with me she is much better. These are market products. These are medicines that cost 10 thousand a pack. What can I say! She's my love. She has been my wife for half a century. If the public knew that this is how my life and Maria Leonidovna’s life ends, maybe there would be people who would come and throw this gigolo out of Russia.
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Three children
Stunned by Kolker’s story, I turned to a friend of Alexander Naumovich and Maria Leonidovna.
“I don’t believe that Sasha Kolker beat Masha, as their daughter says,” said the former editor of the legendary radio program “S good morning! Kudenko era. - Last year he invited me to relax at their dacha. And nothing foreshadowed such a turn of events. Yes, Sasha behaved harsher with his daughter and granddaughter than Masha. It’s just that star children often lose their sense of reality. And they begin to imagine that they, too, are something. And Sasha looked at things soberly and tried to bring them back to earth. When Natasha wanted to become a singer, he immediately said that she did not need to do this. Maybe that's where her resentment against her father came from.
It is possible that this strange man from Israel provoked her into the current conflict with her father for his own purposes. Natasha, one might say, has never been married.
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At one time she married some Baltic guy. Already pregnant with him, she went to Sochi on tour. And she was away for so long that her husband couldn’t stand it and ran away. And with the appearance of this man, she finally had hope of organizing her personal life. So she followed his lead.
I managed to find out something about Natalya Pakhomenko’s beloved man, 55-year-old Alexander Belyaev. It turned out that he has three adult sons and, contrary to Kolker’s assumptions, is actually engaged in science - he heads the laboratory of molecular plant cytogenetics at the Institute of Evolution of the University of Haifa.
“Alexander has been working at our institute since 1998,” Elena Ivanitskaya, a senior researcher at the Institute of Evolution, assured me. - Has established himself as a specialist of the highest class. Another thing is his human qualities. But I’m not friends with him, you’d better contact Olga Raskina from his laboratory. She worked with him back in Russia. And until recently she was his wife. It seems that Belyaev had two more wives before her. I know for sure that Olga was his last. She gave birth to a child from him.
“Unfortunately, I can hardly be of any use to you,” Olga Raskina reluctantly entered into communication. - He emigrated to Israel in 1996, his last place of work in St. Petersburg was the Komarov Botanical Institute. And the circumstances concerning our marriage and divorce are my private life.
Naturally, after everything I heard, I had a number of questions for Natalya Pakhomenko and Alexander Belyaev.
“I’m afraid it won’t be possible to communicate with us,” Belyaev immediately dismissed me. - Natalya Alexandrovna is not feeling well. In general, we don’t want to give any more interviews.
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Fist to the head
From an interview with Natalya PAKHOMENKO:
- For many years, a story about their crazy love was put on public display. In front of the cameras, Kolker was always comme il faut and darling. And when the doors closed, he turned into a sadist... In the summer, his mother went with him to the dacha, where she got lost for the fourth time in six months. He inflicted such terrible beatings on her that my neighbors called me and asked me to come urgently to find her alive... At the dacha, I heard an animal howl and my mother’s screams. Kolker punched his mother in the head with all his might. So he punished her because, after drinking tea, she did not put the empty cup in the sink... After that, I took my mother with me. She simply could have died. At that moment she weighed 38 kg. Doctors discovered that her entire chest was broken...
The author of a bunch of hits (they were sung by Maria Pakhomenko, Andrei Mironov, Muslim Magomayev, Anna German and others), musicals, operettas, operas (they were staged by Georgy Tovstonogov, Igor Vladimirov, Alexander Shirvindt), music for films (“Three in a Boat, Not Counting dogs", "Chronicle of a dive bomber", "Truffaldino from Bergamo") for the first time in the last half century, celebrates her birthday without her Muse, wife and comrade-in-arms, People's Artist of Russia, the first Soviet winner of the Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus competition, Maria Pakhomenko... On this beautiful sunny day in St. Petersburg, I don’t want to remember again, which left the composer in ongoing trials with relatives and, in fact, alone.
Alexander Naumovich arranged a meeting for our St. Petersburg correspondents on Austrian Square, in book club, where they loved to go and performed with Maria Pakhomenko. There is a portrait of them on the wall, in the center of the hall there is a piano, and in Kolker’s briefcase there are photographs and posters, from which the married couple, whom all of St. Petersburg admired for 54 years, looks at... Talking about his life, the maestro could not hold back his tears - both pain and joy.
Alexander Naumovich, Maria Pakhomenko in 1971, the first of the Soviet pop singers(formerly Alla Pugacheva) won the Grand Prix at the international competition “Golden Orpheus” in Bulgaria... Tell us, what was that finest hour?
Ekaterina Alekseevna Furtseva (the legendary Soviet Minister of Culture - Author's note) sent a telegram to Lenconcert with an order to send the artist Pakhomenko to the Golden Orpheus. Masha had already sung our first song, “Shakes, rocks...” from the music for the play based on Daniil Granin’s novel “I’m Going into a Storm,” the whole of Russia was already “rocking,” and Minister Furtseva ordered Lenconcert director Grigory Korkin to send Pakhomenko to international festival songs in Bulgaria... Where can I get a concert dress? Who will do the hair - Masha has ankle-length hair? Who will do the makeup? Who will write the score for the big symphonic jazz in Bulgaria?.. But we managed somehow. "Lenfilm" made Masha a luxurious suit, which remained, like Edith Piaf's, for the rest of her life, Sasha Kolker wrote the scores for big orchestra, and Masha went to this festival...
How were you, a graduate of LETI (Electrotechnical Institute named after Ulyanov (Lenin),) able to write scores for a large orchestra?
Sasha Kolker graduated not only from LETI, but music school violin class, and then played in all the dance bands in the Marble Hall (famous dance evenings throughout Leningrad in the Kirov Palace, on Vasilyevsky Island. – Approx. Auth.)
- And this was enough to write scores for international competitions?
It wasn’t enough for some, but I gradually became a professional. I graduated from the Conservatory as an external student, studied at seminars for beginning composers at the Union of Composers, took form analysis, harmony, and so on - I studied all this. And he immediately put his knowledge into practice, earning 20 kopecks per score measure, and orchestrated songs by Nosov, Pritzker, Solovyov-Sedoy, Kolmanovsky, Pakhmutova. I brought the orchestration to Alexander Alexandrovich Vladimirtsov (the legend of the Leningrad stage - Author's note) to his pop symphony orchestra, and I was paid 20-30 rubles. It was a lot of money...
But let’s return to “Orpheus”... The Soviet artist Maria Pakhomenko came to Burgas, and someone advised her: “Masha, stop, no one will do your hair here, the makeup artists and makeup artists are busy with their work.” And Masha was a modest woman; she didn’t want to impose herself. “Let your hair fall like a waterfall so that they can see this unthinkable thing - ankle-length hair!” She did so and went on stage. In front of her was the Hungarian Katya Kovach, who sang the hooligan song “How I Lost My Innocence”... And Masha sang Pakhmutova’s pure lyrics “I’ll get over you, my beloved...”, my song “Miracle Horses” and the melody of the Bulgarian composer Viktor Raevich “Don -Quixote”, unknown, but this was a condition of participation in the competition.
- You, of course, were next to your wife!
I was not allowed to go to Bulgaria. In those years it was considered nonsense: how is it possible to let a husband and wife go abroad together? Never in my life! To get at least some information, I called our consulate in Varna, the embassy in Sofia: “Tell me, how is my Marusechka, how did she perform? I'm dying! The lady answered me, and I telephone conversation and in her voice I understood that she had a challah on her head (a fashionable hairstyle at that time. - Author's note): “Dear Alexander Naumovich, we have such a turnover, so much to do! We couldn’t go to Burgas for the “Golden Orpheus” competition, but we saw on television that everyone was given one bouquet of flowers, and your Mashenka three bouquets”... Thank you very much for at least this!
- “Golden Orpheus” was then the most prestigious variety competition! And now he’s been gone for ten years...
There is no longer a song competition in Sopot, Poland, where I went from Soviet Union member of the jury...
So, at that “Golden Orpheus” in 1971, the jury, under “all business” and under caviar, sat all night, deciding who got second place, who got first place, who got the Grand Prix. In the morning, swaying, they came out and announced: “Third place - Katya Kovach, second, first - to someone else, and the Grand Prix is awarded to the young Leningrad singer Maria Pakhomenko!” Sorry, she went nuts, didn’t understand what was happening, but they came up to her and said: “Masha, you won the Grand Prix!” To celebrate, she ran to call Furtseva to tell her the good news over the phone. Ekaterina Alekseevna was not there, Zaven Gevondovich Vardanyan, Furtseva’s assistant in musical issues. And Masha screamed into the phone: “Hurray, hurray, hurray, I’m bringing the Grand Prix!” And he answers her: “Marusya, why are you screaming like someone to death? I hear, Grand Prix... Where’s the first place?!” It was 1971... And in 1978, Masha performed in Cannes in France and received the main prize “Jade Plate”. And in 1982, I took her to Pesochnoe because she was diagnosed with cancer, and she was saved and had surgery on time. I then sat, without leaving, for a week next to her bed...
In the 70s, Maria Pakhomenko became not just the most popular and beloved singer, easily attracting sports palaces... But how did the authorities treat her?
Everyone loved her. And she remained so modest... We went to the White Sea, the Barents Sea, we performed at the Ust-Ilimsk, Bratsk, Angarsk, Krasnoyarsk and twice at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric station - there was an incredibly warm welcome everywhere. She even spoke at the 25th Party Congress, where the entire communist world was present - Brezhnev, Fidel Castro, Gustav Husak and others. Maria Pakhomenko took the stage and conquered the Kremlin. By the way, there was funny story with trumpeter Vitya Ignatiev, who loved to drink, but whistled great on the trumpet - he was not allowed on this stage, although he was absolutely sober - because he had a directional instrument! The flute “looked” to the side, the guitar too, that’s welcome, but there was no way to direct the trumpet into the hall at the party congress! The KGB officials said: “And you, boy, wait here!” And after the performance, the Minister of Culture carried Masha’s suitcase to the dressing room...
My God, will you remember everything...
- You are a motorist with half a century of experience... And now you’re driving?
I'm holding on, I'm going.
- I remember in Soviet years you had a black Volga, chic for those times...
But of course! Now the car is better - Mercedes. But that's not the point. The fact is that a terrible and nightmarish story happened with the composer Kolker, who had not stained himself in any way, who flew to Komsomolsk-on-Amur with Yuri Gagarin, when Khrushchev awarded this heroic city with the Order of Lenin... With Kolker, who performed in Czechoslovakia, in Pardubice, on Aviation Day, he went on stage, sat down at the piano and sang his song from “Chronicles of a Dive Bomber” (“Fog, fog...”), after which three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub, hung with orders, walked onto the stage, much like Gagarin , from neck to knees, and told me: “Sanya, you wrote a true song that my military friends, pilots like,” took the Order of the Red Star from his chest and awarded me... This is my life... I lived it for my family and for the state, and when trouble and grief happened to me, no one heard me. When my notes, claviers, and scores “suddenly” disappeared from my apartment best works, I wrote to all authorities, in response my letters were sent lower and lower, until the local police officer came, declaring that the missing documents were of no value...
But just yesterday the Kiev Theater called me and begged me to send me the score “Truffaldino from Bergamo” (Kolker wrote the music for the play “Truffaldino” in the mid-70s, this musical comedy was filmed, with Konstantin Raikin and Natalya Gundareva, and is now shown in several Russian theaters, in May 2013 was staged in Tomsk, in Seversky musical theater. – Approx. Auth.). A play is being staged in Ukraine, but I don’t have the author’s score - everything disappeared from my house without a trace... “Someone” opened the door without breaking it, and took out not jewelry, not things, but my sheet music, knowing full well that this was the most important thing for me expensive...
You wrote yours best songs And best performances together with his constant collaborator, poet Kim Ryzhov, who is also no longer alive...
Kim passed away 14 years ago, he was seriously ill, his leg was amputated to the ground... I had two relatives in my life: Mashenka Pakhomenko and Kimusha Ryzhov. I wrote everything with Kimusha. He was a man of incredible love of life and the same sense of humor, cheerful, he told me: “Sanya, try going to a beer stall and grab a glass of beer without waiting in line? And I come up on skis (he called his crutches skis), and everyone makes way. And they pour it for me!”
And what talent to write such lines: “The pointed spruce eyelashes above blue eyes lakes" to the song "Karelia". All my musicals were written with him, and the film “Chronicle of a Dive Bomber”... Yes, everything with him! He lived on the eighth floor, and I lived on the fifth, we graduated from LETI together, ended up in the 303rd Research Institute, mailbox 128, and had access to the most secret work.
But then they were already thinking more about songs, music and poetry than about work. I had a soldering iron with rosin, and Kimushi, who was sitting next to him on the workbench, had a huge screw. When the head of the lab entered the laboratory, I stuck the soldering iron in such a way that everything was smoking, and Kimusha turned his screw with a screwdriver in different directions - it seemed that we were working, but it seemed to the state that they were paying us, we received 90 rubles a month. Such a life is not even a life, but a song...
Alexander Naumovich, did a family conflict quarrel between you and your favorite, Masha Pakhomenko Jr.? Will your granddaughter remember to congratulate her grandfather on his anniversary?
Masha got married, her husband is from Leningrad, his name is Alexander. The granddaughter comes to her grandfather and receives financial support. The other day I called and said that I couldn’t make it on July 28, but that she would come in a week to congratulate me. Lives in Tel Aviv with her husband, says that she works with her husband in the Israeli defense industry, something related to computers. They are making their plans to go for permanent residence in Australia, they don’t want to go to America, or to Europe either. But I think this will change a thousand times, because she is 24 years old, she is beautiful, with short hair, she is smart and understands everything, and for her I am still “grandfather”.
