Without a voice

Joseph Kobzon died, a man who, by full law, was considered the main voice of the country, no matter how this country was called - the Soviet Union, Russia

He sang everything that we lived for the past half century: the perky and lyrical mood of the Khrushchev thaw, BAM, the dull days of the police, romances, hymns, arias. More than three thousand in the repertoire. He sang, blocking his powerful baritone with everything miserable, shameful, unworthy, clearly pronouncing words.

“Lenin is so young” - Kobzon. “Moments” from the “Stirlitz” is also him. “Smuglyka”, “and the battle continues again”, but “Hava Nagila”, and “apple trees will bloom on Mars”.

Everything that happened was Kobzon. Both bad and good. Chernobyl happened, he sang in Chernobyl. The gangster nineties began, they began to be accused of relations with the mafia. He led people out of the theater on Dubrovka while taking the hostages (“I tell them, guys, why were you so scared, the machine guns instructed me?”). “United Russia” appeared - became its deputy. The Ukrainian war broke out, supported the Donbass.

But this is a policy, and outside of politics, he completely disinterestedly helped thousands of people. There are a lot of grateful to Kobzon and his charity fund.

He was invited to the Kremlin Palace, awarded orders, given titles. He was condemned, scolded, subjected to obstruction. Now he is dead, and all this is not so important. There were songs that will listen and listen to. Because no one has done so much anymore.

He died for a long time since 2002. Fighted. He was regularly operated on, he returned to life, worked, and then again lay down on a hospital bed. He moved with difficulty, quickly lost his strength, but fought in desperately for his life. The long -standing friend of Kobzon, Alexander Gradsky, said: "The struggle was won, so we thought, and then sooner or later the struggle ends, unfortunately." He was 80. A long life, a strong character and a strikingly strong voice that absorbed the era.

Department of Culture