Булат Окуджава
Okuđava U Zagrebu

Булат Окуджава

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet poet, writer, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author's song" . He was of Armenian-Georgian origin, born in Moscow and died in Paris. He was the author of about 200 songs, set to his own poetry. His songs are a mixture of Russian poetic and folksong traditions and the French chansonnier style represented by such contemporaries of Okudzhava as Georges Brassens. Though his songs were never overtly political , the freshness and independence of Okudzhava's artistic voice presented a subtle challenge to Soviet cultural authorities, who were thus hesitant for many years to give official sanction to Okudzhava as a singer-songwriter.