Muslim Magomaev

[khad]

I was dismayed to find that there was no discussion on this site about the passing of this great singer, the great baritone from Azerbaijan who grew up in the Soviet era. Well, better late than never. Here is his obituary, in which I found this bit particularly interesting:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5025499.ece


In Milan, Magomaev had mastered operatic discipline, but although he loved arias he was passionate about popular songs, and weary of the intensive training that opera required. His was a powerful voice with more subtlety than was required by many versions of the big bold Soviet anthems.

Songs such as Shiroka strana moya rodnaya (My broad motherland) — composed by Isaak Dunaevsky and used to great effect in Circus (a 1936 patriotic film about the glories of Stalin’s Soviet Union), received a more refined treatment from him than in their other performances.

Where others, after the Soviet Union collapsed, sought to distance themselves from songs like that, Magomaev proudly defended it as “a real anthem for a real nation” and said that it should be remembered not as the product of totalitarianism, but rather as an idealistic song about a land of freedom, equality and mutual respect.And here is some of his music:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxwFpmuxEhk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS0HcDZvvj0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKXs3X-ke3E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBWGiCXiRkU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drdZscpqIOY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKnRfeDFK7Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV_tSTMyLv8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ9NLa_SoOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7GnR_FXzWE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNuzE3UaEzA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ksltuc104LI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL50MdycGn4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y23n__DNFHQ