Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow on the 9th of May 1924. His parents were Georgian and Armenian communists who had moved to the capital from Tbilisi. They worked for the Communist Party during its early years. Shalva Okudzhava served as a political commissar during the Civil War. He held high rank under Sergo Ordzhonikidze until that leader died in 1937.
The Great Purge shattered this family in February 1937. Shalva Okudzhava was arrested and accused of Trotskyism. He was shot on August 4 along with his two brothers. Bulat's mother Ashkhen Nalbandyan was arrested in 1939 for anti-Soviet deeds. She spent time in the Gulag system before being released in 1946.
Ashkhen faced arrest again in 1949 and spent five more years in labor camps. Both parents were fully rehabilitated in 1956 after Stalin's death. The young Bulat returned to Tbilisi to live with relatives during these dark years. Vladimir Okudzhava, an uncle, was listed among passengers on Lenin's sealed train in 1917.
At age seventeen in 1942, Bulat Okudzhava volunteered for the Red Army infantry. He fought against Nazi Germany from that year onward. His service ended when he was discharged in 1944.
After leaving the army, he returned to Tbilisi to complete high school graduation exams. He enrolled at Tbilisi State University and graduated in 1950. Following university, he worked as a teacher in rural schools.
His first teaching post was in Shamordino village within the Kaluga Region. Later he taught in the city of Kaluga itself. This period shaped his understanding of ordinary Soviet life before returning to Moscow.
He worked as an editor at Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house. Later he became head of poetry division at Literaturnaya Gazeta. These were prominent national literary institutions in the former USSR.
During the mid-1950s he began composing songs while accompanying himself on Russian guitar. Soon he gave concerts using only a few chords without formal music training. His melodic gift blended perfectly with intelligent lyrics and his distinctive voice.
Okudzhava learned basic guitar skills through friends rather than formal instruction. He also played piano chords but focused on guitar for his performances. He tuned his instrument to Russian tuning: D'-G'-C-D-g-b-d'.
Often he lowered this tuning
by one or two tones to better match his vocal range. He played classical style finger picking strings in ascending or descending arpeggio patterns. An alternating bass line came from his thumb.
Initially taught just three basic chords, he claimed to know seven total by life's end. Many songs centered on C minor chord X00X011 then progressed to G 7 chord 00X0433. Some pieces used E-flat minor X55X566 or C major 55X5555 progressions.
Amateur recordings of Okudzhava spread widely as magnitizdat across the USSR and Poland. Young people picked up guitars to sing these unofficial copies themselves. These recordings achieved enormous popularity among the intelligentsia first within Soviet borders.
His lyrics appeared in the classic 1970 film White Sun of the Desert. Vladimir Nabokov cited Sentimental March in his novel Ada or Ardor. Though never published officially until late 1970s, his work reached Russian speakers globally.
Official state recognition arrived slowly due to his independent artistic voice. The government remained hesitant for many years despite growing public demand. By the 1980s recordings finally began appearing through official channels alongside poetry volumes.
Okudzhava won the Russian Booker Prize in 1994 for his novel The Show is Over. He received the USSR State Prize in 1991 after supporting reform movements. In October 1993 he signed the Letter of Forty-Two
advocating political change.
He died in Paris on the 12th of June 1997 at age seventy-three. His body was buried in Vagankovo Cemetery back in Moscow. A monument marks building 43 Arbat Street where he lived during later decades.
His dacha in Peredelkino now operates as a public museum. Minor planet 3149 Okudzhava discovered by Zdeňka Vávrová in 1981 bears his name. Songs remain frequently performed across Russia and beyond today.
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Common questions
When and where was Bulat Okudzhava born?
Bulat Okudzhava was born in Moscow on the 9th of May 1924. His parents were Georgian and Armenian communists who had moved to the capital from Tbilisi.
What happened to Bulat Okudzhava's family during the Great Purge?
The Great Purge shattered this family in February 1937 when Shalva Okudzhava was arrested and shot on August 4 along with his two brothers. Bulat's mother Ashkhen Nalbandyan was arrested in 1939 for anti-Soviet deeds and spent time in the Gulag system before being released in 1946.
How did Bulat Okudzhava learn to play the guitar?
Okudzhava learned basic guitar skills through friends rather than formal instruction. He initially taught himself just three basic chords and claimed to know seven total by life's end while tuning his instrument to Russian tuning.
Why did Bulat Okudzhava volunteer for the Red Army?
At age seventeen in 1942, Bulat Okudzhava volunteered for the Red Army infantry to fight against Nazi Germany from that year onward. His service ended when he was discharged in 1944 after fighting against Nazi Germany.
When did Bulat Okudzhava die and where is he buried?
He died in Paris on the 12th of June 1997 at age seventy-three. His body was buried in Vagankovo Cemetery back in Moscow.