“For me, Shamil Basayev, you are a small fry”: unknown Joseph Kobzon. “For me, Shamil Basaev, you are a small fry”: unknown Joseph Kobzon Basaev and Kobzon

Revelations of the symbol of Soviet and Russian pop music

He is absolutely free. Doesn't depend on anyone. Not afraid of anything. He says what he thinks. He does what he considers necessary. Hates the enemies of Russia. But, without hesitation, he negotiates with state criminals for the sake of human lives. He loves his homeland - the USSR. Respects Stalin. He despises those who destroyed a great country. Can sing at a concert for four hours without a break. And only live. And then he sings in the car on the way home, because “I couldn’t get enough!” You can say everything about him in two words: Joseph Kobzon. And he is a real rock and roller: desperate, untied, brilliant. And a real People's Artist of the USSR. He sings about his people, about their feat, about their glory.

Joseph Davydovich has a cool anniversary today. And this is a reason to meet. God, how I love listening to Kobzon! In conversation he is absolutely logical, frank and sincere. And accepts any question. Why did your beloved mother chase you with a broom in her youth? How he made his way - poor man! and even a Jew! - to the big stage? What orders does he not wear and why? When does loving a woman become destiny? Why do his own children call him Yaga? What does he never forgive, even if you pray on his knees? Have you been afraid of anything in life? Do you have any regrets? He has nothing to hide, fear or avoid. He's free.

“It was a great power and a great Motherland, which we defended against the Nazis, but were unable to break the backbone of our politicians.”

Joseph Davydovich, you, like no one else, come from childhood. What are the most vivid memories you still remember?

Donbass is my long-suffering homeland, I will never give up on it. And I don’t care about any sanctions, my homeland is always open to me. In Donbass, the sky is different, the nature, the earth, everything is different. A person has one mother and one homeland. Where a person’s navel is buried, there is his homeland. I will always remember my childhood. Stunningly beautiful Dnieper, embankment, Shevchenko Park, Chkalov Park. This lilac period, when the May days came and everything breathed lilac. The beauty is incredible! We loved the city so much that we never touched the flower beds; on the contrary, we protected the plantings. Everything was roses in Donbass. People loved their city so much that all available land was planted with flowers. Not only roses grew, although mostly they did. It was such a pink land! The streets were then called lines, then they only began to receive their own names.

Ever since then I have loved the province, small huts, houses, cities. I have been to the USA many times, and I really liked the areas of one-story houses there. Everything looks completely different when you see the territory, the streets, and remember it all. I often think which is better: civilization or a province that gave the joy of communication? When there was no damned Internet, no computers, no televisions, but there was a school, pioneer camps, and amateur performances.

- You grew up in a mining region, and still remain a miner at heart?

After the war, the cities and Donbass were reborn before our eyes. We sang miners' songs, were madly worried about the death of miners, and it happened. I am an honorary miner of the famous Zasyadko mine, I have more awards than some of its workers. Three insignia of miner's glory: third, second and first degree. I never wear them because they were acquired from ten, fifteen and twenty years of working in the mines. It was necessary to risk life, to go down into the face. I understood, of course, that I was awarded purely symbolically. For my love for the miners, for the fact that I often came to them. But I have great respect for these people. This is all idle talk that the miners are all drunkards, this is not true. They, like all of Russia, the entire Soviet Union, are prone to drinking, but I would never dare to call them drunkards and would not allow anyone to do so. For the simple reason that they worked, created the metallurgical and energy industry of that great power, which we won at the cost of the death of millions of people on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War and which we mediocrely lost without a single shot thanks to our notorious politicians: Gorbachev, Shevardnadze and Yeltsin, who finished off the country.

Little Joseph.

- How do you, seven years old, remember Victory Day?

In the USSR there was no family that was spared a funeral. In my family, my father returned in 1943, shell-shocked, and my mother’s two brothers died. We children were so accustomed to funerals that when there were screams, we immediately understood what it meant. This is how I remember Victory Day. I woke up from a scream and at first thought it was just another funeral, and we lived in a communal apartment that housed eight families. But when I saw my mother laughing through her tears, I didn’t understand, I was completely confused. And she says: “Son, wake up!” Me: “Mommy, what happened?” And she: “Victory, son, victory!” This is how I met May 9 in Slavyansk, in a communal apartment. Then the family moved to Kramatorsk.

- In childhood, are hardships easier to endure or do you still remember how harsh the time was back then?

The school was poorly equipped, the children were hungry, cold, lice-ridden, there was nothing to write on. The book was such a blessing! By the way, the saying came from those times: “A book is the best gift.” I had a bookstore next to my school, and I would go there just to breathe in the calico, the smell of books; I didn’t have any money to buy. That's how we lived. After school, the boys and I wandered through the ruins, then ran home, if there was some kind of stew, we filled our bellies and sat down to do our homework. They were made quickly by those who knew better, and then the street and a rag soccer ball. Later I started playing sports. As dusk fell, they ran to school for amateur art classes and sang in the choir. And when it became completely dark, the brothers, me, and sister gathered at home by a kerosene lamp and sang songs. I have a new song called “Family”. They sang “I marvel at the sky”, “In that deaf steppe the coachman froze”, Russian and Ukrainian songs. We loved each other. There was not even talk about any kind of tolerance then. Everyone went to battle, no one asked what your nationality was. We were all Soviet, we fought and died for the Soviet Motherland. It was a great power and a great Motherland, but we could not defend it, it was not up to us. They defended themselves from the fascists, but were unable to break the backs of our politicians.

You were growing up, and in a working-class, mining town, you probably tried smoking and drinking, how did your legendary mother keep you from bad habits?

At the age of fourteen, running away from a hungry family, I went to study at a mining technical school because there was a scholarship there. I saved my beloved mother from having an extra mouth to feed by making my contribution to the family budget. And somehow it became easier.

But it didn’t happen easily, because I had to spend my first earnings - a stipend - the way miners usually do. Basically, yesterday's soldiers studied at the mountain, they even wore tunics, and I was 14 years old. But they didn’t understand it, and I didn’t understand it either. They told me: “You are a miner! Let's go celebrate! Well, let's go. And when they poured me vodka, I don’t remember anything else. I tried vodka for the first time. Well, they were friendly guys, they carried me by the white little hands onto a tram, took me home and dumped the dead weight on my mother. And my mother, when I came to my senses, used a broom and congratulated me on my first scholarship. I immediately ran and with the remaining money I bought a purse, put a ruble in it and said: “Mom, forgive me, please, this is my first gift for you!” It is still kept in the family of my sister Helena.

"Crazy? There’s nothing to eat, but he wanted to learn! Are you thinking? Jew! To Moscow! Study!"

The beginning of your life showed little promise of a brilliant stage career, when did a turning point occur in your life?

I was involved in amateur performances in the mining industry, then served in the army. My first formation took place on virgin soil in 1956, that year there was the largest virgin harvest, and we, already dressed in military uniform, but not yet taken the oath, were sent under the command of officers to collect the harvest. And then they took us in “calf barns”, where we didn’t even know. It turned out that he was in the Transcaucasian Military District, in Tbilisi. Then we were taken by car to the mountains, and I served in the Manglisi mountains, 55 km from Tbilisi. There he also directed amateur performances, sighed calmly deeply after drill training. And in 1957, when the whole country was engulfed in preparations for the World Festival of Youth and Students, I was noticed at the review by the head of the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Transcaucasian Military District, Pyotr Nikolaevich Mordasov. At the end of 1957, he took me into his ensemble, where I was first recommended to study vocals professionally.

- When did you decide to conquer Moscow?

In 1958, I was demobilized and returned to Dnepropetrovsk. He went into the army, took up boxing and competed in the youth junior middleweight division, which is 59–71 kg, and when he returned from the army, he already weighed 85 kilograms. And this meant that the only pants I wore in the evenings in Dnepropetrovsk were already short and small. Therefore, when I was demobilized, I came to my hometown and announced to my family, who greeted me friendly, that I wanted to study. They said, “Are you crazy? There’s nothing to eat, but he wanted to learn! Where?" I say: “To Moscow!” They: “Where?” I say: “To Moscow!” They say: “Are you thinking? What are you saying? Jew! To Moscow! Study!". I say: "I'll try." And my only God, my mother, who was silent, and when everyone left, said: “Son, they won’t accept you anyway!” I objected: “Mommy! Well, I want to try!” And she says: “Well, son, try it.”

I became a laboratory assistant at the Institute of Chemical Technology and earned money for a train ticket to Moscow. He arrived in military uniform, which the applicants really didn’t like, they said: “Of course, he wants to pity the commission!” How could I explain to them that I had nothing to wear? Then I sang the song “Nothing to wear, no matter what you say,” which became quite popular. Well, I eventually entered the Gnessin State Musical Pedagogical Institute. I lived in a hostel, back then there were still such old two-story wooden mansions. There were nine people in the room, and the system saved me. In September and October, all students were sent to harvest. I was a foreman, pianists and violinists worked in my brigade. I had the laziest potato picker, David Tukhmanov. I yelled at him! He said: “Adik, at least collect a basket!” If I, however, had known that he would write “Victory Day,” I would have collected these potatoes myself for him... But jokes aside, I worked furiously and earned at least a bag, or even one and a half bags of potatoes per season. He brought it to Moscow and put it under the bed. My fellow countryman from Dnepropetrovsk, Tolik, lived in the room next to me. And we agreed that we would divide our lives into two: one day he is in the kitchen, the other day I am. Back then you could still drink tap water. And we had this cast-iron frying pan in which we fried potatoes in lard sent by my mother. She sent me such a plywood box. And we fried potatoes in lard, washed them down with tap water and ran like hares - two trams and a trolleybus - from Trifonovskaya to Povarskaya, then it was Vorovskogo Street, to study.

In the life of every big star there is that lucky chance that opened the way for him to the big stage, how did this happen for you?

I studied with great desire, but the genetic craving for song brought me in the evenings to the House of Composers, where I looked admiringly at the authors who, together with the performers, showed their works. And I began to pester Arkady Ostrovsky: “Take me to listen! I want to sing your songs! He left me a phone number, as I remember it now: 229-47-57, and said: “Call me!” His wife, may she rest in heaven, Matilda Efimovna - I’m so sick of her! - in the end he says: “Arkasha! Pick up the phone already! I’m so tired of this vocalist!” She asked: “Who is asking for Arkady Ilyich?” What can I say? "Vocalist!" And he says: “Come tomorrow. What songs will you sing? I say: “I will sing your songs! “Komsomol volunteers”, “As our hearts told us.” He objected: “Yes, but I have a lot of soloists, do you have a tenor in a duet?” I answer: “No.” He: “Find a tenor and come, I need a duet.” And I started performing with Viktor Kokhno. We formed a good duet, first Ostrovsky, then Feltsman, Blanter, Fradkin, Pakhmutova... Lord, what a happy person I am! I found the era of the song renaissance! When songs were written by outstanding masters. Such as Dunaevsky, Soloviev-Sedoy, Blanter, Feltsman, young Pakhmutova, Babajanyan... Then they wrote songs not with words, as they say now (mocks): “My music, my words,” but with poetry. And the older generation wrote poetry: Matusovsky, Dolmatovsky, Oshanin. And the great sixties: Rozhdestvensky, Yevtushenko, Gamzatov, Dementyev, real poets! Therefore, there was no need to twitch on stage and attract unnecessary attention to oneself; it was enough to tell what the poet and composer had in mind, which is what I did.

- When did your mother first see you on TV?

I became interested in traveling around the country. He traveled all over the great Soviet Union, inventing routes for himself: Ural-Siberia. Three months later he returned, got acquainted with new songs or brought them, already performed on television, then the period of “blue lights” had just begun. Mom was incredibly proud! We didn’t have a TV, but she went to the neighbors, and the neighbors, knowing that her son could perform at the “light,” allowed my mother to watch TV with them. Television with new songs, tours in new cities... Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Northern Caucasus. Then the Far East, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Primorye. And to this day my record has not been broken, I performed at the Commanders, on Bering Island, at his grave. There is such a reading hut there, and in total there were about 800 islanders, and the plane landed right at low tide, right on the shore. If, God forbid, we were delayed, then the tide would carry everything away and we could no longer fly back. It was interesting! There was excitement! I was young, not married... Well, I was expelled from the institute.

- Expelled from the institute? For what?

I was expelled from the 4th year for lack of attendance. We had a very strict rector, Yuri Vladimirovich Muromtsev, who said: “There is no need to skimp on our classical education through these pop songs!” And in the 70s, when I was already married to my beloved wife Ninel Mikhailovna, she said to me: “Listen, aren’t you ashamed? Everywhere in your application form you write in the education column: “incomplete higher education”! I say: “I’m writing the truth!” She: “Well, is it difficult for you to finish?” I took a sabbatical and started studying. It's a completely different vocal, a different classical program, but I'm done! In 1973 at the Institute. Gnessin I had a fantastic examination committee. The state exam was headed by Maria Petrovna Maksakova, the People's Artist. On the commission there was the best Tatyana from Evgeny Onegin Shpiller Natalya Dmitrievna, the best Onegin Nortsov Pantelei Markovich, the best Gremin Ivanov Evgeny Vasilyevich... It was simply fantastic! They sang classics, arias, romances. And then, after the exam, Maria Petrovna said: “Joseph, the commission will consider your performance, and now, if possible, sing songs for us.” I say: “I don’t understand! Either they kicked me out of the institute for this, or sing!” She: “But you already sang the state exam, now sing songs for us.” And Feltsman, Fradkin, Aedonitsky, Pakhmutova were present there, they came to the piano, and we sang their songs.

You have been on stage for almost sixty years, there is no longer such a country, the USSR, but you have never betrayed yourself in your creativity, you have not been tempted by another form, another content to please the time, the audience’s tastes, how did you manage to do this?

I began to sing, like a child of the Great Patriotic War, civil, patriotic songs about the Motherland, about heroism, and I continued without changing anything. And when perestroika came, I reacted to this with surprise: what kind of word is this? Why should I rebuild? So I've been lying so far? I won't change my mind! And I didn’t change my mind and didn’t regret a single day.

Portrait of mom.

“If it weren’t for the people, I wouldn’t have come to you, you are too small for me, Shamil Basayev!”

Joseph Davydovich, there is not a single person in Russia who would not recognize you as a hero of Nord-Ost. Tell me honestly, weren’t you scared then?

It wasn't scary. I can explain to you so that you understand me correctly: you need to know well the psychology and education of the Vainakhs and Chechens. And I know well. I came there starting in 1962, in 1964 I was awarded the first artistic title - “Honored Artist of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.” Visiting houses and communicating with many Chechens and Ingush, and this is one people - the Vainakhs, I learned many traditions that I came to respect. At first they seemed wild to me, because, say, their son-in-law does not have the right to communicate with his mother-in-law. Never. If he comes into the house and she is there, he turns and leaves. I thought: “Savages! Mother-in-law is the dearest person!” And I asked Makhmud Esambaev, my friend and older brother, as I call him: “Makhmud, please explain to me what kind of stupidity this is?” And he answered me: “If you think about it, this is not stupid at all. This is how it is supposed to be so that the son-in-law never dares to offend his mother-in-law either by word or deed.” Even when their mother-in-law passes away, their son-in-law never says goodbye to her, he goes in the funeral procession, but does not approach the coffin. Further, the son has no right to sit at the same table with his father. Never. I visited the house of Ruslan Aushev’s father Sultan Aushev, may he rest in heaven, he and Tamara, Ruslan’s mother, loved me very much. And I was surprised: “Sultan, I don’t understand that it was Ruslan who jumped up and ran away when you entered?” They said: “Well, he probably has something to do...” I asked: “Tell the truth, why?” They: “Ask him.” And Ruslan laughed and said: “Yes, business, business...” Never in their lives do they have the right to sit in the presence of their father. The same applies to the guest. A guest is the most respected person if he is invited. You may not like the guest, but if you invited him, you cannot break the customs. The same thing happened in Nord-Ost. When they began to list who came to the Center, they said: “We will not communicate with anyone, only with the president,” but when they heard Kobzon, they replied: “Kobzon can come.” They knew me, I sang something like an anthem for them. “Song, fly, song, fly, go around all the mountains.” This is a song about Grozny. Their parents knew me. “Nord-Ost” was captured by very young people: 18 years old, 20, 21, the eldest was 23 years old. When they invited me, Luzhkov and Pronichev were categorically against it, they said: “We won’t let you in!” I objected: “They won’t accept anyone but me!” “No, we won’t let you in!” I convince: “They won’t do anything to me, they invited me, I’m their guest, I’m a saint for them.” They say: “Well, go.” So I went. Therefore, I was not afraid. And the second time I came with Khakamada, it wasn’t scary. For one simple reason, because they know that their parents respect me, and because I am older. Therefore, when he entered, he said: “I thought there were Chechens here.” He: “Chechens!” And he sits in a chair, lounging. I say: “Chechens, when a man well-known throughout your country came in, twice your age, and you sit there, these are not Chechens!” He jumped up: “What, have you come to educate us?” I say: “Well, while my parents are away, I, as the eldest, have the right. So I came to you in my coat, and you pointed machine guns at me.” He: “Lower the guns.” Then I say: “I want to see your eyes.” But they wore camouflage and masks. He looks at me like that and takes off his mask. I say: “Well! You are handsome! Why do you need a mask? Who’s going to take your picture?” So our conversation went on. I was confident in the situation. The same as with Shamil Basayev. Twice we talked to him, and twice he jumped up nervously. I said: “What? Why did you jump up? And it’s not customary for them to say “you”. He: “Stop it!” I say: “Stop what? Would you shoot me?" - “If it weren’t for the guest, I would have shot him!” I say: “If it weren’t for the people, I wouldn’t have come to you, you’re too small for me!” He and I also had a hard time sorting things out. So these were not easy dates.

In general, I have many Vainakh friends. Ruslan, as I call him, “son” Aushev, Hero of the Soviet Union, he received the title of Hero in Afghanistan. Yes, many friends. Now many of them have become deputies.

You yourself performed in Afghanistan during Soviet times, when our soldiers fought there. Wasn’t it scary then too?

I've been to Afghanistan nine times. Nine business trips. There I discovered one peculiarity for myself: I feel the enemy with my back. We were walking there, and suddenly I felt that someone was following me, hating me. I turn around and abruptly leaves. It was restless there under shelling. But there was nothing scary, an adapted fear was felt. After all, there were women nearby, these were medical workers, and cooks, and waitresses, in general, service personnel. How could I be afraid around them?

Your performances in the Chernobyl zone were an example of masculinity, but did they leave their black mark on your health?

I was the first in Chernobyl. It was then that other artists began to come, already to Cape Verde, which is 30 km from Chernobyl. And I performed at the epicenter. I remember there was this arrangement: a club, then the district executive committee, and between them a huge flowerbed, all covered in flowers. And the colors are so bright! When people came up to me, they thanked me and said: “Sorry, you can’t pick or give flowers, but this flowerbed is yours!” Everyone wore masks there. And when I started the concert, out of solidarity they began to take them off. I say: “Put it on immediately! I can’t sing in a mask, that’s understandable, but I came and left, and you have to work here!” I finished the concert, went out, and then the second shift came: “What about us?” People there worked in teams, 4 hours at a time, and then rest. And they drank cabernet, they simply ate liters of it. I answer: “Yes please!” I sang for them. The second shift has left, the generals are already waiting for me for a banquet in the module, and then the third shift... I say: “Of course!” Then I felt such a sharp soreness in my throat, as if shavings had gotten into it, it was already radiation. Well, I'm done then. There were good guys, a lot of them later passed away. I have a wonderful insignia “Hero of Chernobyl”. I don't wear it. Beautiful Star. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I asked the doctors: “What is this, the result of Chernobyl?” They answer me: “It’s hard to say, it can be in a child, or in an adult, in anyone and in whatever way. But it is possible that this is a Chernobyl autograph.” So I plowed Chernobyl.

Julio Iglesias asks: “Do you have 300 million? No? I am the mafia, not you!

Joseph Davydovich, there is a very striking photograph in which world-famous Julio Iglesias kisses your hand. Please tell us what caused this unusual expression of respect?

- (Laughs, waves his hand.) The whole point is that he is simply very sociable and shocking!

- Joseph Davydovich, please tell the background to this photo! It's so unusual!

Do you want it that much?

- Very!

When Julio first came to Russia, I was heading a concert organization called “Moscovit”, and we invited him. This was around 96–97. He performed, then, after the concert, there was a feast at which he came up to me and said: “I want to take a photo with you.” I answer him: “Julio, I don’t recommend you do this.” He was surprised: “Why?” I say: “Because the Americans refused me a visa and said that I was a mafia, that I was selling weapons and drugs.” He says: “Are you the mafia?” Me: “Yes!” He asks: “How much money do you have?” I shrugged: “Well, I don’t know, what is it?” He says: “Here I have 300 million!” I am very happy for you!" He: “Do you have 300 million?” Me not". He says: “I am the mafia, not you!” Well, we laughed.

Then, on his next visit, I performed on stage with him, we sang “Dark Eyes”, something else, and somehow we just became friends. Then I constantly vacation (I vacationed, at least) in Marbella - this is Andalusia, southern Spain; and he has a house there. And so we met there at his concert, and then during a feast. After which he became a neighbor of my friend in Florida, and his son began to sing, and Julio invited him to his place. They started performing together, and we were at their concert, and after that at a banquet. I asked: “Don’t say that I’m present here,” but they said, and then Julio came up to me and kissed my hand. It doesn't really matter. He is certainly an interesting performer. This one is for Balzac's ladies: soft, lyrical, beautiful. He used to be a football player, then, after a car accident, he began to have difficulty walking, but to this day, wherever you go, his CDs are sold everywhere, he is a sales champion. Just like Michael Jackson before. And a good man. Enrique is one of his children. He actually has a lot of children, but he has only one wife.

- Is the refusal of visas by the United States and the European Union important to you today?

I've seen all over the world. I have been to America, which, thanks to the provocation of our comrades, has not allowed me in for 25 years now, about thirty times. I've traveled all over the country and I'm no longer interested. If today they told me that Trump - and he was at my concert, and I sang the American anthem - allowed me to come, I would not want to. The only thing I am limited to today is the European Union, which has imposed sanctions over Crimea and Donbass. Well, good, I’m still proud to be a hero of the Donetsk People’s Republic. And I am glad that my friends are beginning to understand that it is better to be a patriot of your country. I can go anywhere: to Syria, to Afghanistan, to China. I've been everywhere with concerts. I’ve been to India twice and can go there. He toured Japan four times. He also toured Australia 4 times. He saw the whole world, his country, the USSR, and traveled far and wide. I can go anywhere, sometimes I don’t even have the desire to go on these trips.

- Joseph Davydovich, where do you get so much strength? That even world-famous stars recognize your superiority?

The most important thing is not to think about where to get strength, but to be willing to relate to what you do and what you live with. And then there will be no fatigue. They say about me: “Look, I finished the concert and continues to sing in the car!” Yes, because I didn’t get drunk! I like it! This is mine, this is my drug! I feel tired when I am in a horizontal position. When I lie down to rest, then I am tired. I get tired when I don't have something specific to do. Then I look and think: “Wow! All people are working! They sing and dance, but you sit there like a fool, doing nothing!” This is what my mother taught us, my beloved mother. She taught us to work constantly.

- Have your children inherited your strength?

Yes, sure. Especially daughter Natasha. She raised four children, built a house in England, a summer residence, and a house here. The son is also a hard worker. He has a restaurant on Arbat. Although he was a musician, then he suddenly started doing business. He still has construction, he wants to build a center. Not a drunkard, not a slacker, he gave birth to three children. Well done! I'm happy with my children. They went through this difficult teenage period calmly, without damage: no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking - nothing.

-Are you a strict father?

I guess, yes. But their mother is too kind. Mom is everything to them. And dad is Yaga, what should I do? They sometimes start: “Dad, what are you like?” And I always answer: “Which one did you get!” But, of course, I provide them with everything they need. They understand it, appreciate it and develop it. I can easily leave for another world, they have everything. Both children and grandchildren: all wealthy, all educated. The daughter graduated from MGIMO, the son graduated from the Law University. Two granddaughters became students this year: one, Polina, is now studying at Moscow State University, the second, Edel, is at a university in London. The rest are growing. They love my country, the songs that their grandfather sings. I don’t cultivate singing among my grandchildren, but I have one very talented girl, Michelle. She likes serious songs, she sings Bulat Okudzhava, “Cranes”, serious works. And he sings very well.

- Do you plan to allow her to take part in any projects or competitions?

I don’t like it when children are taught to sing in English and French. To do this is to parody what the West does ten times better than we do. The people singing this are monkeys parodying Western hits. When we have so many wonderful songs - both folk and original, and whatever. Children sometimes say: “Dad, understand, this is a new time, a new influence!” I didn’t care about the new time! France, a smart country, issued a decree: no more than 20 percent of foreign classics on the air, so they keep everything. We are the fools whose Russian song, Russian word is not formatted. You begin to understand the Committee on Culture: “What does “non-format” mean? Why is Russia unformatted in Russia?” They answer me: “Yes, because we don’t have money to support Russia!” But the Culture channel finds money. They even broadcast without pauses for advertising. But others don’t find it because it’s not profitable for them.

In the family.

“The first two marriages with actresses were unsuccessful, and then I married a simple girl, and we have been together for 46 years. She is real!"

-Are you a happy person?

Yes. Undoubtedly. Everything I dreamed about, everything my mother dreamed about, everything came true. I have family. When I said at the age of 60 that I was leaving the stage, and at that time Buba Kikabidze’s grandson was born, they asked me: “What do you dream about?” I answered: “I dream of grandchildren!” And how they rained down on me! Year after year - grandchildren, grandchildren!

I have a beloved woman. I'm married for the third time; The first two marriages were unsuccessful, I think. Both my first marriage and my second - for three years each - I was married to actresses. First on one, then on the other. And then he married a simple girl, and we have been together for 46 years. 46 years old! She is a real wife, housewife, real grandmother, mother. Real in everything! She went on tour with me, we had such a formative period, before Andrei was born. Then I started driving less.

I have a family, children, grandchildren, friends, work. There is a summer residence, a winter residence, and an apartment. Children travel all over the world, my daughter and her husband live in England. I don’t suffer from anything, I consider myself a happy person. I saw everything, knew everything. I have everything. Nothing more is needed.

The long-awaited wedding.

- Do you regret anything from your life?

Nothing to regret! Maybe I would change something if I now consciously look at the retrospective of my life. Of course, I would change something, give up something, redo something, but this is life. Would I like to go back in time? No! Because to return means that you don’t know what will happen to you in this life. And I already know everything that happened to me. There was a moment when I, as a child, spoke in the Kremlin before the leader of all nations, before Stalin. First in '46, then in '48. The joy was boundless!

How did you, a boy from a poor Jewish family living in a mining town, manage to speak in the Kremlin in front of Stalin, and twice more!

I performed in front of him as the winner of the school Olympiad in the field of amateur performances. First they had to win in Donetsk, then in Kyiv, then the winners of the Republican Olympiad were invited to Moscow for the final review. In 1946 I sang “Migratory Birds Are Flying” by Blanter, in 1948 I sang “Golden Wheat” by the same Blanter.

- Do you forgive easily?

No. Unlike Nellie, I don't know how to forgive. Never. If someone insulted me, I didn’t care - time passed, I forgot. But I don’t forgive betrayal. Nellie says: “Listen, well, we’re at the age when we need to go to term. Goodbye!" I answer: “So farewell!” I can't". He who betrays at least once will betray a second time. I don't forgive traitors.

-Have you often been betrayed?

Not many times have I been betrayed, but I have been betrayed. Therefore, I distance myself from those people who could potentially betray again. And I forget minor grievances. I have many colleagues who allowed themselves, for example, not to sign the petition to be allowed into the United States. Well, it’s okay, we communicate. I just told them: “You are unfortunate goats!” They: “Old man, well, we want to ride!” I say: “Go!” It’s the same when they don’t go to Crimea or Donbass. I tell them: “But they won’t invite you soon! Nobody needs you! Old already! At least they checked in! What kind of foreign country do you like? Should you rest? There are wonderful sanatoriums in Crimea - relax! Central Asia is open to you, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan! The whole world, except Europe! Haven't you seen her? What did it give you?” They tell me: “Understand, they don’t want to.” Well, they don’t want to and don’t need to. But they didn't betray me.

- Your spouse cannot soften your principles?

No one can. But I can say that I married Ninel Mikhailovna at first sight. And I decided: if she agrees, we will go on tour together. Because it is impossible to do otherwise. My previous relationships with women were like this: I go in one direction, my wife goes in the other, filming, touring. And the wife should be nearby. Of course, when the first-born Andrei was born, the wife was already at home. With the advent of my son, I found a real family home. At first we lived on Pereyaslavskaya. I am now turning eighty, and I am not ashamed to say out loud that in my entire life I have not owned a single meter of state space. Except the hostel. Afterwards there was a communal apartment where I rented a room, then the first cooperative apartment, then the second and so on. And when my beloved daughter Natalya appeared, I borrowed money - from Robert Rozhdestvensky, from Oscar Feltsman - and bought a dacha in Peredelkino, in Bakovka, because the children were very sick and they needed fresh air. And we still live there to this day. The dacha, however, was remodeled and reconstructed, but nevertheless, where we first got the opportunity to live, we still live there to this day.

With my beloved wife and children.

- Do you remember those women whom you loved before Nelly Mikhailovna, your first wives, with tenderness?

Certainly. There were a lot of good and memorable things with Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko. But she was a man. The nature. May she rest in heaven. She was on a shoot, I was on a tour, it wasn’t a family. The situation is the same with Veronica Kruglova. And women, whom, as the song says (sings): “What songs women sang to us/ what a dope swirled over us,/ during a short night we wanted/ to live out our musketeer romance./ And even though we were not on the road/ but along the road the gardens were blooming;/ I ask God not to judge strictly/ the beautiful women of my destiny.”... So, I ask God to judge not strictly. There were women, and thank God. I hate homosexuality only because I feel sorry for them. They do not understand what the beauty of a woman is. I lived lovingly, but always with respect for women. And he always tried not to upset Nelly. We've been together for 46 years. This is a very decent age.

- Nelly Mikhailovna - everyone knows this - loves you very much.

And I love her very much. When I feel bad, I only think about her. When she is near, I feel much better.

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- Is the explosion in your office at the Intourist Hotel on Tverskaya also somehow connected with Kvantrishvili?

No, that's a different story. Basayev, who held high positions in the government of Aslan Maskhadov after the first war, was involved in it. First, Shamil, through his adjutant, gave me a letter with threats. Like, while you, Kobzon, were drinking wine with the Red Chechens, we were shedding blood for the freedom of Ichkeria, and now it’s time to answer for everything. If you don’t chicken out, come to Chechnya and we’ll talk. At the bottom there was a signature: Brigadier General Basayev. I remember being very surprised when I read the note. What kind of red Chechens are they? What other ones are there? Green? Gray-brown-raspberry? I sent the messenger to hell, and I myself flew to Aushev in Nazran for advice. Ruslan categorically objected to my visit to Grozny. But I explained: if I don’t come, Shamil will decide that he scared me. In a word, I went to Basayev. The conversation turned out to be sharp, nervous and lasted three hours. At that time I was involved in the charity program “Frontline Children of Chechnya”. Shamil accused us of wasting funds raised for disabled children and orphans. I showed financial reports, photographs of children who received specific assistance. Basayev got excited, saying that this was not enough and Ichkeria needed a lot of money. They say that it is necessary to manage the oil produced in the republic ourselves, to open gas stations throughout Russia... I told Basayev that he had come to the wrong address, it was necessary not to appeal to me, but to communicate with rich Chechens living in Moscow and other large cities of the country. Let them help. Shamil continued to press, demanding that I also get involved in the process. I remember I suggested that he buy sewing machines and distribute them to Chechen women: let them sew things to sell. Basayev found my words offensive... So we didn’t agree on anything, everyone remained to their own opinion. In the end, tired of bickering, I stood up and said that I was going to the concert in which I promised to take part. Shamil tried to hold me back, but apparently realized that he wouldn’t be able to command me. As a result, Basayev also came to the stadium where the concert was held, and after it ended, as a sign of reconciliation, he handed me a pistol, taking it out of the holster on his belt. At the same time, Shamil said: “Ichkeria suffered greatly from the war, we cannot, as before, give guests beautiful horses, but military weapons are still in our hands.” It’s customary among the Vainakhs: if they give you a pistol or a machine gun, you must shoot it into the air. I knew about the tradition, but the then Minister of Culture of Chechnya, Akhmed Zakayev, who accompanied Basayev, decided to remind him of this, just in case, whispering quietly in his ear: “It is necessary, dear! “I had to explain that I respect other people’s customs, but I won’t shoot anywhere, because I don’t want shots to be fired on Chechen soil. My accompanist Alexey Evsyukov later lamented: “Oh, they didn’t shoot in vain, Joseph Davydovich! If they had unloaded the clip into Basayev, they would have become a Hero of Russia.” Well, yes, I say, posthumously... But jokes aside, I regret that neither Shamil’s pistol nor his note were preserved

In the creative biography of the master of Soviet and Russian pop music, the world-famous singer I. Kobzon, there are also pages related to Chechnya. This is also his first performance of the famous song “About Grozny”, written in 1970 by composer O. Feltsman and poet N. Muzaev (this song became the musical hallmark of Grozny). It was here, in Grozny (in 1962), that he received the first recognition in his life - the title “Honored Artist of Checheno-Ingushetia.”
Kobzon is connected with Chechnya by his long-term friendship with Makhmud Esambaev and the talented Chechen composer and founder of national professional music Adnan Shakhbulatov.
A memorable fact in his “Chechen biography” was his last charity concert in Grozny. This was in the fall of 1996. The city was then in ruins, shots and explosions were still heard, people were dying, but in this chaos his famous song about Grozny sounded.
Joseph Davydovich helped Chechen refugees in Moscow a lot, especially representatives of culture, found money for the treatment of Chechen children wounded in the war, etc. And this mission of mercy towards the people who have experienced many years of tragedy continues to this day. Chechens proudly call Kobzon a friend of the republic. Another evidence of the Chechens’ respect for the famous singer is the government award, the medal “For Services to the Chechen Republic,” presented to Kobzon on behalf of the head of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov.

During the first Chechen war (1994 - 1996), Joseph Kobzon demonstratively went with a concert to Grozny, but performed not in front of his soldiers and officers, many of whom saw and listened to him in Afghanistan, but in front of Dudayev’s militants, in front of Basayev’s and Khattab’s thugs. They fired machine guns into the air with delight and patted the singer on the shoulder: they say, well done, our man.
Famous folk artists and great Russian folk women Valentina Talyzina, Svetlana Nemolyaeva and Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina in the very first days of the war (in December 1994), when the first wounded soldiers and officers were brought from Chechnya to Moscow, they baked pies and bought sweets and went to hospitals. They walked around the wards, handed out gifts, cried like women and consoled the children crippled by the war like mothers.
By the way, Lidiya Fedoseeva-Shukshina did not limit herself to going to the military hospital. Having, let’s say, some influence on Bari Alibasov (producer of the pop group “Na-Na”), a little later she brought them all to Chechnya to our group of troops. The artists there didn’t sing so much as they gave out autographs and gifts to the fighters, again visited the wounded, and talked. In short, they made it clear to the military that the Motherland remembers, the Motherland knows!
Just think - “Na-Na”! Probably the most frivolous pop team in the country at that time turned out to be more civic-minded and popular than the mass of artistic groups laying claim to these notorious civic-mindedness and nationality. The only ones who actually confirmed their image and justified the thesis proclaimed by Yevtushenko: “A poet in Russia is more than a poet” (singer, artist, etc.) are Andrei Makarevich and Yuri Shevchuk.
That's all. In the sense that no one else was in Chechnya during the first war. There were: “Na-Na” with Fedoseeva-Shukshina, Makarevich with “Time Machine”... and Shevchuk. For two years of war!
In three years (!) of the second war the situation was no better. In February 2000, Ilya Reznik put together a team (which included Alena Sviridova, Nikolai Noskov, Valdis Pelsh...), and the concert took place in Khankala. The first in the second campaign. Later Vika Tsyganova arrived. There was an “officer” Vasily Lanovoy.

Stas Sadalsky, once arriving with a performance in Rostov-on-Don, managed to break into a military hospital, visited the seriously wounded, burst into tears and immediately rushed to apply for a pension for the sergeant-sapper who had been blinded by a mine explosion. Got it. Whoever is going to throw a stone at the “vulgar” Sadalsky - let him remember the invalid of the Chechen war, who was ready to pray for Kirpich.
Visit to Chechnya by Yuri Shevchuk. Having learned that the artist (poet, musician) was giving concerts to the feds, Dudayev’s militants also wanted a cultural program for their own. They began to call Shevchuk. They promised mountains of gold for the concert. “There is no need for mountains of gold,” Shevchuk said, “it’s better to free our guys from captivity.” “Easily,” the militants agreed.
In general, we agreed. The feds brought the artist to the enemy. Shevchuk sang. I tried as hard as ever in my life. He strummed the last chord and said: “Well, now let’s bring the captured guys here. I'll take them." The militants laughed in his face. The usual gangster scam. But they promised with oath, they agreed on lists, quantities, names. Shevchuk almost crushed his teeth from anger, gritting his jaws. Thank God, at least they released him alive and didn’t ask for ransom. This was the very beginning of the war, the slave trade had not yet flourished...

Shamil Basayev hands over personal Tokarev Joseph Kobzon "Behind support ChRI", Grozny summer 1997

Basayev, who held high positions in the government of Aslan Maskhadov after the first war, was involved in it. First, Shamil, through his adjutant, gave me a letter with threats. Like, while you, Kobzon, were drinking wine with the Red Chechens, we were shedding blood for the freedom of Ichkeria, and now it’s time to answer for everything. If you don’t chicken out, come to Chechnya and we’ll talk. At the bottom there was a signature: Brigadier General Basayev. I remember being very surprised when I read the note. What kind of red Chechens are they? What other ones are there? Green? Gray-brown-raspberry? I sent the messenger to hell, and I myself flew to Aushev in Nazran for advice. Ruslan categorically objected to my visit to Grozny. But I explained: if I don’t come, Shamil will decide that he scared me. In a word, I went to Basayev. The conversation turned out to be sharp, nervous and lasted three hours. At that time I was involved in the charity program “Frontline Children of Chechnya”. Shamil accused us of wasting funds raised for disabled children and orphans. I showed financial reports, photographs of children who received specific assistance. Basayev got excited, saying that this was not enough and Ichkeria needed a lot of money. They say that it is necessary to manage the oil produced in the republic ourselves, to open gas stations throughout Russia... I told Basayev that he had come to the wrong address, it was necessary not to appeal to me, but to communicate with rich Chechens living in Moscow and other large cities of the country. Let them help. Shamil continued to press, demanding that I also get involved in the process. I remember I suggested that he buy sewing machines and distribute them to Chechen women: let them sew things to sell. Basayev found my words offensive... So we didn’t agree on anything, everyone remained to their own opinion. In the end, tired of bickering, I stood up and said that I was going to the concert in which I promised to take part. Shamil tried to hold me back, but apparently realized that he wouldn’t be able to command me. As a result, Basayev also came to the stadium where the concert was held, and after it ended, as a sign of reconciliation, he handed me a pistol, taking it out of the holster on his belt. At the same time, Shamil said: “Ichkeria suffered greatly from the war, we cannot, as before, give guests beautiful horses, but military weapons are still in our hands.” It’s customary among the Vainakhs: if they give you a pistol or a machine gun, you must shoot it into the air. I knew about the tradition, but the then Minister of Culture of Chechnya, Akhmed Zakayev, who accompanied Basayev, decided to remind him of this, just in case, whispering quietly in his ear: “It is necessary, dear!” I had to explain that I respect other people’s customs, but I won’t shoot anywhere, because I don’t want shots to be fired on Chechen soil. My accompanist Alexey Evsyukov later lamented: “Oh, they didn’t shoot in vain, Joseph Davydovich! If they had unloaded the clip into Basayev, they would have become a Hero of Russia.” Well, yes, I say, posthumously... But jokes aside, I regret that neither Shamil’s pistol nor his note survived.