![]() ![]() Since 1986, every 22 October, the Russian republic of Dagestan, the birthplace of the poet Rasul Gamzatov, holds "The White Cranes' Festival." Today, "Cranes" is still one of the most popular war songs in Russia. So much so that a range of World War II memorials in the former Soviet Union feature the image of flying cranes and, in several instances, even verses of the song, e.g., the Cranes Memorial of St. "Cranes" became a symbol of the fallen soldiers of World War II. According to Frenkel, "Cranes" was Bernes' last record, his "true swan song." Legacy Later on, "Zhuravli" would most often be performed by Joseph Kobzon. Bernes died on 16 August 1969, about five weeks after recording the song, and the recording was played at his funeral. One day I will join them, and from the skies I will call on all of you whom I had left on earth." The song was recorded from the first attempt on 9 July 1969. When Frenkel first played his new song, Bernes (who was by then suffering from lung cancer) cried because he felt that this song was about his own fate: "There is a small empty spot in the crane flock. The poem's publication in the journal Novy Mir caught the attention of the famous actor and crooner Mark Bernes who revised the lyrics and asked Yan Frenkel to compose the music. I’ll soar with cranes, and final rest I’ll find,įrom the skies calling – in a bird-like fashion –Īll those of you who I’ll have left behind.īut turned into white cranes that softly groan… The day shall come, when in a mist of ashen It might be so, that space is meant for me. In their formation I can see a small gap – Isn’t it why we often hear those bell chimesĪnd calmly freeze while looking in the sky?Ī tired flock of cranes still flies – their wings flap.īirds glide into the twilight, roaming free. They still fly in the skies and gently cry. Have not been buried to decay and molder,īut turned into white cranes that softly groan.Īnd thus, until these days since those bygone times, Sometimes I feel that all those fallen soldiers, ![]() Īn English translation of Gamzatov's poem by Leo Schwartzberg, an American poet, is provided here: Its famous 1968 Russian translation was soon made by the prominent Russian poet and translator Naum Grebnev, and was turned into a song in 1969, becoming one of the best known Russian-language World War II ballads all over the world. The poem was originally written in Gamzatov's native Avar language, with many versions surrounding the initial wording. Who have not returned from the bloody fieldsīut turned into white cranes." Translations Cranes in the sky The memory of paper cranes folded by this girl-a girl who to this day serves as one symbol of the innocent victims of war-haunted Gamzatov for months and inspired him to write a poem starting with the now famous lines: Following Japanese traditions, she constructed one thousand paper cranes, hoping (in vain) that this might save her life. The Dagestani poet Rasul Gamzatov, when visiting Hiroshima, was impressed by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and its monument to Sadako Sasaki, a girl who contracted leukemia as a result of the radioactive contamination of the city. Zhuravli (above the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier) on Russian stamp, 1995 Inspiration ![]() The song was composed by Yan Frenkel on translation of poem by Rasul Gamzatov and performed by Mark Bernes. " Zhuravli" ( Russian: «Журавли́», Cranes), first performed in 1969, is a famous Russian language song about soldiers who did not come back alive from battles. For the rural locality, see Zhuravli, Russia.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |