The bitter happiness of Vladimir Mulyavin: What led to the split of the Pesnyary group

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

At one time, VIA "Pesnyary" became a phenomenon on the Soviet stage. The collective began its triumphal march across the country in 1970. Undoubtedly, Vladimir Mulyavin played the main role in the rapidly growing popularity of the band. He did the impossible: the whole huge country began to listen to Belarusian folklore. Pesnyary has become one of the most famous and beloved groups. But at the end of the 1990s, a serious split occurred in the team, and Vladimir Mulyavin himself was fired from the post of director.

Meteoric rise

Back in 1968, the Lyavony group appeared in Belarus, with Vladimir Mulyavin as its artistic director. True, she was in the status of the accompanying ensemble of the singer Nelly Boguslavskaya, although she often performed with an independent program. But fame came to them in 1970 after participating in the IV All-Union Contest of Variety Artists.

The ensemble went to the competition to accompany Lydia Karmalskaya, who performed in the genre of artistic whistle. She was the wife of Vladimir Mulyavin. But the artist dropped out of the competition program in the second round, and the Pesnyary decided to show the jury their own songs: “Can't I sing to the cham?”, “Oh, a wound on Ivan”, “You've got me a little sleepy”, “Khatyn”. They returned to their native Minsk as laureates, sharing the second place with Lev Leshchenko and the "Dielo" ensemble.

Since then, the attitude towards the team has changed dramatically. "Pesnyary" became welcome guests at government receptions, people sang along to their songs. A special flavor to folk compositions was given by the unique processing of Vladimir Mulyavin. He supplemented and enriched folk songwriting and pop music. Many foreign singers and composers said that they learned about Belarus thanks to Vladimir Mulyavin and Pesnyars.

VIA "Pesnyary" toured all over the country and went abroad, and not only to the countries of the socialist camp, but even to the USA. Naturally, all over the vocal talented guys there were fans. And Mulyavin himself, by his own admission, absolutely could not do without a woman. But fleeting novels did not interest him. He certainly had to get married.

From glory to split

His first wife was Lydia Karmalskaya. It was thanks to her participation that Vladimir Mulyavin took place as a musician. At the time of the wedding, he was only 18, Lydia was two years older and was actively involved in creativity. She persuaded and persuaded her husband to engage. When Pesnyary appeared, she became the guardian angel of the ensemble. Lydia Karmalskaya arranged television and radio recordings, promoted the team to prestigious national teams. When "Pesnyary" had already become famous, she was extremely proud of her husband's successes. She hosted their concerts and participated in the life of the members of the collective, who treated her with reciprocal warmth and love. She was even ready to put up with her husband's hobbies, especially since two children were growing up in the family, daughter Marina and son Sergei.

But soon after the birth of Sergei, Vladimir Mulyavin went to another woman. The actress Svetlana Slizskaya became his second wife. Lydia Karmalskaya simply let her husband go, wishing him happiness. She did not want to fight for him, but she sincerely wished happiness for her beloved. Probably, only thanks to her wisdom, the former spouses were able to maintain friendly relations until the end of their days.

The musician's second marriage lasted only five years and even the birth of his daughter Olga could not save him. But with his last wife, actress Svetlana Penkina, Vladimir Mulyavin lived for more than 20 years. He affectionately called her Penochka, but the band members and many people from the musician's environment called her nothing but Yoko Penkina. It is her who is accused by many of the fact that a split has begun in the team.

Svetlana Penkina, who starred in the film "Walking through the agony" in the role of Katya, after marriage with Mulyavin left her career and decided to devote herself entirely to her husband. And his team, as it soon turned out. If the musicians in some way refused to listen to Svetlana Penkina, she, having a tremendous influence on her husband, still achieved her goal. According to the recollections of some of the "oldies" of the collective, the wife of the artistic director of the "Pesnyarov" was suddenly involved in the distribution of royalties, the coordination of the tour schedule and even the location of the members of the ensemble on the ground on the stage.

But this was not even the blame for the third wife of Vladimir Mulyavin. In the second half of the 1990s, he became very interested in alcoholic beverages. He began to violate the rule established by him himself: to appear during performances and rehearsals in a normal form and with proper health, not allowing the consumption of alcohol on the eve to affect the quality of work. But already in 1997 a number of participants of VIA "Pesnyary" had to go on stage without their leader, who began to abuse alcohol too much.

At the same time, Mulyavin's comrades noticed that Svetlana Penkina clearly encourages her husband to drink alcohol. To the comments of her husband's colleagues that it is unacceptable to write music in such a state, she replied: "Let him drink, he does it better!" And he drank, unable to quickly adapt to the new realities of life, which had fallen apart into pieces in the once huge country and the absence of spectators at concerts. The glory of the "Pesnyars" was clearly waning, and after that, thunder struck altogether.

At the end of 1997, the Pesnyary collective sent a letter to the Minister of Culture of Belarus, in which they complained about their artistic director. An order was issued to appoint Vladimir Misevich as the director of the ensemble. After Mulyavin's appeal to the President of Belarus personally, Vladimir Georgievich was reinstated in office, but at the same time the old composition of the ensemble, with the exception of a few people, wrote a letter of resignation. They created another collective - "Belarusian Pesnyary" and began to perform independently. Vladimir Mulyavin recruited young singers and musicians with whom he toured.

But in 2002, a tragedy struck: Vladimir Mulyavin got into a car accident, as a result of which he was paralyzed. In January 2003, he passed away. After the departure of Vladimir Mulyavin, several more groups appeared, in the name of which there is the word "Pesnyary". They continue to tour the republics of the former USSR and sing songs from the old repertoire of the ensemble. And everyone agrees: these collectives, including the ensemble "Belarusian Pesnyary" and the Belarusian state ensemble "Pesnyary", considered the successors of the legendary VIA, keep up with the glory created by Vladimir Mulyavin.

The peak of popularity of VIA "Pesnyary" in the USSR came in the 1970s-1980s. "Alesya", "Belovezhskaya Pushcha", "Vologda", "Mowed Yas Stables", "Belorussia" - these songs performed by "Pesnyars" were popularly known and loved. Despite the incredible popularity of VIA, the attitude towards them has always been ambiguous: someone accused of violating the ethnic purity of Belarusian folk music, someone - in the execution of the state order.