The history of Soviet Aznavour: how the restricted-access singer Jean Tatlyan became the star of Paris and Las Vegas

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

In the late 1960s. hit Jean Tatlyan "Lanterns" sang the whole country, he gave 50-70 concerts a month, while the press accused him of bad taste and smashed his lyrical repertoire to smithereens, in which there were no songs of civic-patriotic sound, and after him and even banned concert activities. In the early 1970s. the singer emigrated to France and became a popular chansonnier there, and then he was the first Soviet performer to perform in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, in the USSR, he was declared persona non grata, a decree was issued on the destruction of all his records, albums and even lyrics. Only at the end of the twentieth century. Jean Tatlyan was able to return to Russia.

Jean Harutyunovich Tatlyan was born in 1943 in Greece into an Armenian family of labor migrants and refugees. When he was 5 years old, the family moved to Armenia. Despite the fact that Jean was fond of music since childhood, he studied at a music school for only one year - after he realized that pop performance was closer to classical music, he decided to quit his studies. After school, he entered the circus school, and at the age of 18 he already became a soloist of the State Jazz of Armenia.

Soon Zhan Tatlyan moved to Leningrad, where he got a job at Lenconcert and created his own orchestra. He prepared a solo program and performed with concerts, in which he performed exclusively the songs of his own composition. His success was overwhelming: the songs "Lanterns", "Autumn Light", "Starry Night" were sung by the whole country, he gave 350-400 concerts a year, 50 million records with his records were sold. He was even able to buy an apartment in the center of Leningrad and a boat.

Performers whose repertoire was limited to lyrical songs were called "salon-boudoir" in the USSR, moreover, he performed only his own compositions and did not sing songs of Soviet composers. And although Tatlyan was allowed to perform and release records, he was a "restricted to travel" singer, and a real persecution periodically began in the press. Thus, in August 1970, a collective letter was published in the newspaper "Soviet Culture", allegedly written by the workers of "Dalzavod". The headline was eloquent: "Meeting with Bad Taste." The authors were indignant: "Soviet Culture" had already criticized Zh. Tatlyan's salon-boudoir poetry. Who knows the poet Tatlyan? Composer Tatlyan? But it turned out to be enough to be a little bit of a poet, a little bit of a composer, to get a whole musical group at your disposal and go on tour throughout the country … ".

After this publication, Tatlyan was temporarily banned from concert activities "for behavior unworthy of a Soviet artist" (he refused to perform on December 30 in Orel, since his artists would not have had time to return home to Leningrad for the New Year). It was then that the singer made the decision to emigrate, which he later explained as follows: “In the USSR, I was a bird in a golden cage: I was considered restricted to travel abroad. The authorities were embarrassed by everything - my biography (a native of a family of repatriates), my lyrical songs: why doesn't she sing about the Komsomol and BAM? " In 1971, the singer flew to Paris with one suitcase. The first 2 months he lived with a friend, and then rented an apartment. For about a year he performed at the "Rasputin" cabaret, then at the "Moscow Star" cabaret, where he performed folk Russian, Armenian, Greek and Gypsy songs. Later Tatlyan opened his own restaurants in Paris and New York. Over time, he left the restaurant business and began touring around the world.

Abroad he was called the Leningrad Aznavour and the first Soviet chansonnier. He became the first Soviet performer to perform in Las Vegas. In addition, he was the first expatriate singer to represent France at the 200th anniversary of the United States. Anti-Soviet sentiments were strongly felt in America at that time, and when posters appeared with the text “Jean Tatlyan. The iron curtain has risen over the star ", the organizers of the concerts received anonymous notes with threats of reprisals against the" Kremlin star ". Therefore, a sheriff was assigned to the singer, who accompanied him everywhere.

After Tatlyan left the USSR, he became persona non grata. His records were destroyed, records were withdrawn from sale, even his name was forbidden to be mentioned. Thanks to some radio station staff, his recordings have nevertheless survived and many years later appeared on the air again. He tried to return to Russia in the 1990s, but was unpleasantly amazed: “They actually started demanding money from me for the right to appear on the air, to release discs. For me, already accustomed to civilized business, it was a shock."

He was able to come on tour only at the beginning of the XXI century. The singer performed on stage again, took part in several TV shows and gave interviews for the press. His appearance caused a real stir - as it turned out, Tatlyan was not forgotten in his homeland, and he still has many fans. Today the artist has dual citizenship - France and Russia, and he considers himself a cosmopolitan, a "citizen of the world", because art knows no boundaries.

Jean Tatlyan performed on the same stage with Aznavour and believes that just such music can be called a real chanson: "Eternal Love" - Charles Aznavour's love hymn