"Propaganda of sadness": why Maya Kristalinskaya disappeared from the radio and television screens

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

She was called the spiritual tuning fork of the country, she was a real national idol. The disc with the recording of the song "You and I are two shores …" sold 7 million copies, the songs "Tenderness", "And it is snowing", "Old maple" sang the whole country. In the 1960s. Maya Kristalinskaya was one of the most famous pop singers in the USSR, and in the 1970s. it was no longer broadcast on television and radio. The wording of the reasons sounds absurd by today's standards - "propaganda of sadness"!

Maya Kristalinskaya was born in 1932 in the family of a mathematician. Her passion for music came to her in early childhood. At school, she participated in amateur performances, but singing was nothing more than a hobby for her - she never studied vocals professionally and never dreamed of stage. After school, Kristalinskaya entered the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Faculty of Economics of Aircraft Engineering, and after the institute she worked at the Yakovlev Design Bureau. In the evenings, after studying and working, she continued to sing - in the Central House of Artists. And soon the girl got a job at the State Concert and received the right to professional performances and record records.

For the first time, the general public heard about Maya Kristalinskaya in 1957, when she performed with the jazz band of Yu. Saulsky at the International Festival of Youth and Students. And all-Union fame came to her in 1960, when Kristalinskaya sang the song "You and I are two shores …" in the film "Thirst". Despite the fact that this composition sounded on the radio every day, the records with its recording, released in a circulation of 7 million copies, instantly flew from store shelves.

Probably, only her first husband, Arkady Arkanov, did not believe in the musical talent of Kristalinskaya, whose marriage lasted only 10 months. He repeatedly repeated to his wife: “Maya, you have no musical education, you are as dark as a country man. A natural voice, good hearing and the ability to influence listeners are not enough. However, Kristalinskaya did not obey him and continued to perform on stage.

When Maya worked for 3 years after her studies in a design bureau, she left there and took up touring activities. The pop artist performed with the Lundstrem Orchestra, then with the Eddie Rosner Orchestra. They traveled all over the Union. “And the snow is falling”, “Is it really for me alone”, “Textile town”, “I'll wait for you” - these songs instantly became hits. According to a survey conducted among viewers in 1966, Maya Kristalinskaya was recognized as the best pop singer of the year. And the song "Tenderness", which sounded in the film "Three Poplars on Plyushchikha", became the artist's calling card.

Simultaneously with the popularity in the singer's life, serious problems also appeared: at the age of 29, she was diagnosed with cancer of the lymph nodes, and after a series of irradiation she was forced to appear in public in neckerchiefs. Unsuspecting fans considered them an invariable attribute of her new image.

Trouble fell on the singer in the professional sphere: when Sergei Lapin, known for his anti-Semitic policy, became the head of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, many artists lost their jobs. According to her father, Kristalinskaya was Jewish, and soon she was removed from the airwaves with the absurd wording: "For the propaganda of sadness!" Lapin said that Kristalinskaya "does not sing, but whines."In her song "Rain in Our City" they even saw anti-Sovietism - decadent sentiments were not welcomed in the USSR.

From now on, the pop artist could only perform in rural clubs, although until recently she was sold out in the capital's concert halls. In 1974, the singer was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR, although in fact she was doomed to oblivion. Fortunately, during this difficult time, Kristalinskaya met her second husband, the architect Eduard Barclay, with whom she lived for about 20 years in a happy marriage.

In the 1970s. Maya Kristalinskaya found herself in a new field: she wrote articles on cultural studies in Vechernaya Moskva, translated into Russian “Reflections” by Marlene Dietrich. In 1984 her husband died, and in 1985, exactly one year after his funeral, Maya Kristalinskaya also passed away. She was only 53 years old.

Kristalinskaya's song "Tenderness" was performed after her by many famous artists: "The Earth is empty without you …" - one of Yuri Gagarin's favorite songs