Qalam strives to explore the interpenetration of different cultures. To this end, we have decided to launch a series of playlists in which music mediates between different geographical and ideological spaces. Our first playlist is called ‘West to East: One Hundred Best Songs’. It will be updated several times a week, and its curation will focus on how Western pop culture has reflected the realities of the East, whether they are musical, geographical, religious, or political. (The terms ‘West’ and ‘East’ should be taken as broadly and arbitrarily as possible.)
What’s the connection between Vladimir Vysotsky and Leon Trotsky? The answer lies in the Japanese city of Nagasaki. A fictional Nagasaki resident became the heroine of a port song from the early twentieth century, composed by the Soviet composer Pol Marcel (born in Marseille to a family of Jewish emigrants from Rostov).
The lyrics were written by Vera Inber, who later became an officially recognized Soviet literary figure, but in her early years, she dabbled in decadent poetry about lilac stockings, sleeping cockatoos, cherry pies, and, of course, green-eyed girls from Nagasaki. Interestingly, she had a personal connection to the revolution—Trotsky was her father's cousin. Since then, the original song has changed significantly (for instance, the mention of a small chest was not in the original), and Vysotsky performed a more semi-folkloric version in public. This is, undoubtedly, not the strongest piece in Vysotsky's repertoire—his energy and intensity always shone brighter when he was performing his own lyrics. However, no one has sung it better than him—not Kozin, not Vertinsky, and certainly not any current musicians.