Month: December 2024

Song/Music: Arno Babajanian “Nocturne”

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Armenia has given the world many famous figures, and one of them was composer Arno Babajanian. He wrote numerous works, including songs for Soviet pop music (for example, “The Best City in the World” and “The Queen of Beauty,” performed by Muslim Magomayev). But there’s one melody of his that I’ve always loved, even though I didn’t know its author for a long time.

It’s simply called “Nocturne.” Originally, Arno Babajanian composed it as a musical piece that didn’t need any lyrics. This happened in 1980. According to the composer’s son, Joseph Kobzon had asked Babajanian for permission to have lyrics written for this beautiful melody, turning it into a song, but Arno Harutyunovich wanted to keep it purely as music.

At the same time, he reportedly “bequeathed” the idea, saying, “After my death, do whatever you want.” And when the composer passed away in 1983, Joseph Kobzon again pursued the idea of creating a song, this time turning to one of Arno Babajanian’s frequent collaborators, lyricist Robert Rozhdestvensky. Thus, the music gained lyrics. Moreover, Robert Rozhdestvensky managed to capture the melancholy of the melody perfectly in the text.

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Book: Alexander ‘Balu’ Balunov “Korol i Shut: Between Kupchino and Rzhevka…”

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In my previous post, where I discussed the TV series The King and the Jester (Korol i Shut), I mentioned that the show largely adheres to the real history of the band. I was able to compare the fiction with real-life events thanks to the memoir of one of the band’s creators and long-time members—Alexander Balunov, known by the nickname “Balu.”

Balu has written several books, and I decided to read his very first one, published in 2016: Korol i Shut: Between Kupchino and Rzhevka…

The book is a collection of memories about the creation of each of the band’s albums, various episodes from their lives, the members of the golden lineup, and, of course, the two main leaders—Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorshenev and Andrey “Knyaz” Knyazev. Although Balu is the primary narrator, for many chapters he brought in other contributors, including Knyaz, violinist Maria Nefyodova, Alexey Gorshenev (Gorshok’s brother), and even their mother.

Balu made the book interactive from the start. The print version includes numerous links (in the form of QR codes) to audio fragments he references throughout the narrative. These links were intended to direct readers to Balu’s personal website—kroogi.com. However, the site is no longer functional, meaning these links now lead nowhere. But Balu also created an audiobook version, which he narrates for the most part, occasionally enlisting actors to help. This audiobook is completely free and available on the author’s YouTube channel. There, you can either listen to the entire book (though without the photographs included in the text version) or access the mentioned audio fragments directly: the audiobook on YouTube (with audio fragments matching the book chapters exactly).

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TV Series: “The King and the Jester” / “Korol i Shut”

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I don’t think I’ve written long, thoughtful posts about TV series before. But it’s been months now, and I’m still under the impression of this one—so that must be a sign: I need to speak up.

The story of the band Korol i Shut (The King and the Jester) officially begins in 1988 in the city of Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) when three classmates—Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorshenev (“Gorshok” in Russian means “pot”), Alexander “Poruchik” Shchigolev (“Poruchik” means “lieutenant”), and Alexander “Balu” Balunov—decided to form a band, initially naming it Kontora (it can be translated as The Office but mostly refers to KGB, I think). However, in 1989, Gorshok met Andrey “Knyaz” Knyazev (“Knyaz” is “Duke”) at a restoration school where they later interned together. They became friends, and Gorshok was deeply impressed by Knyaz’s drawings and lyrics in the style of dark fairy tales. This led to Knyaz joining the band, which a year later adopted its final name, Korol i Shut (The King and the Jester). Knyaz’s depiction of a jester became the band’s iconic emblem, and over the years, the jester in the logo began to resemble Gorshok more and more.

I’m not an expert in music genres, but the band’s work has been described as horror punk, folk punk, and rock. I discovered them around 1998, when their music video Yeli Myaso Muzhiki (Men Were Eating Meat) started airing on various music TV channels. It was a blend of horror, dark humor, and memorable punk rock riffs:

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