CC BY
36
14 Иванов Д.И. Рок-альбом 1980-х годов как текст: Ю. Шевчук «Пластун». - Иваново, 2008. -С. 32.
15 Под «героической эпохой» в русском роке понимается период 1980-х гг. (см.: Кормильцев И., Сурова О. Русская рок-поэзия: возникновение, бытование, развитие // Русская рок-поэзия: текст и контекст: Сб. науч. тр. - Тверь, 1998. - С. 15). Д.И. Иванов внёс временное уточнение, отнеся к «героической эпохе» конец 80-х (см.: Иванов Д.И. Указ. соч. - С. 29).
16 Юрий Шевчук и Желя реанимировали первоначальное значение слова «победа»: как известно, оно восходит к древнерусскому «побОда» - поражение, последствие беды; старославянское «победный» означало «несчастный».
17 Цит. по: «ДДТ». Альбом «Пластун» [Аудиозапись] / «ДДТ». - СПб.: DDT records, 1995. - 1 CD-ROM.
18 Цит. по: Цой В. Мы ждем перемен: стихотворения. - М., 2012. - С. 107.
19 Цит. по: Дмитрий Ревякин. Альбом «Всякие разные песни» [Аудиозапись] / Д. Ревякин. -М., Moroz Records, 1997. - 1 CD-ROM.
20 В практике панк-движения принцип прохождения цикла от записи до распространения альбома получил название «D.I.Y» (от англ. do it yourself - сделай это сам).
© Г.В. Шостак
Д.-Э. ВИКСТРЁМ
Мангейм, Германия
POST-SOVIET EMIGRANTS IN GERMANY, THEIR MUSIC AND RUSSKIIROK
«Geographically it is the 15 former republics [of the Soviet Union] or people who come from these republics, because I try to pay attention to so called emigrant music»1
(Gurzhy 2005)
Describing the musical concept of the Russendisko Yuriy Gurzhy, one of the event's DJ's, stressed that the music played is from the former Soviet Union2. However, due to Gurzhy's emigrant focus, the Soviet Union is here more an imagined community than a fixed geographically bounded entity. Russendisko (Russian disco) normally implies a discotheque for Russians. This particular fortnightly event located in Berlin, however, is primarily aimed at Germans and tourists. Run by two emigrants from the former Soviet Union, Wladimir Kaminer (Russia) and Yuriy Gurzhy (Ukraine), the Russendisko has become a cultural phenomenon in Germany and Austria. Fueled by Post-Soviet migration to Germany, stereotypes of the East and a history of Russian images in German (and European) popular music the event shows one aspect of the complexities surrounding the Post-Soviet emmigrant community in Germany.
My previous research (cf. Wickstrom 2010; Wickstrom 2011) has focused on transcultural flows which aid in the distribution of music to new locations as well as the shift of meaning that happens in that process. Drawing on fieldwork in St. Petersburg (2004-2006) and Berlin (2005, 2006) I have outlined some of
the new meanings ascribed to music from the former Soviet Union when it appears at the Russendisko. I have argued that the music has been ascribed a new, homogenized meaning linked with images of the savage, vodka infused East. The music itself has been a combination of elements from ska-punk, klezmer and what is labeled «Balkan music».
The emigrant community's music is, however, to a large extent not even included in the Russendisko. There are numerous popular music groups, events and even a national popular music organization, Pi-Rock, with strong ties to the community active in Germany. This article explores this network of lesser-known Post-Soviet musicians catering to a Russophone audience in Germany and the references they create in their music to their country of origin. I argue that they not only include references to contemporary Post-Soviet popular music, but also to the heydays of what now is labelled russkii rok (Russian Rock), the 1980s. The findings are based on fieldwork conducted in 2009 in Berlin.
A Russian Diaspora?
The concept of diaspora seems suitable to grasp the Post-Soviet emigrants in Germany (cf. Darieva 2004). Living in a host country they have a common origin, the former Soviet Union. They also have common points of reference like language (Russian), socialization and Soviet popular culture. Furthermore, they not only maintain transnational contacts with friends and family back in the former Soviet Union, but also with people dispersed across the globe3.
Diasporas challenge national boundaries, something that Gurzhy's opening quote demonstrates: The music promoted at the Russendisko comes from a transnational network of residents in and emigrants from the former Soviet Union.
At the first look the concept of diaspora seems apt to grasp this network of (primarily) Russian-speaking inhabitants in Germany. The term, especially when applied from outside the community, hides the fact that this group is not homogenous. It consists of both different ethnicities as well as religions.
Tololyan argues that the notion of diasporas only emerging from homogenous groups
«emphasizes the preservation and/or non-discontinuous evolution of a single, previously available identity, and tends to overlook the possibility that quite loosely related populations possessed of many different, locally circumscribed identities in their homelands, but regarded as 'one' in the hostland, can be turned into a diaspora by the gaze of that hostland». (Tololyan 1996, 13)
In our case this homogenizing identity is die Russen used both by the emigrants as well as by people living in Germany:
«Schum is a radio show about 'Russian' music [...]. 'Russian' in quotation marks since for most Germans (and often for the Russians themselves) all russophone people are 'the Russians'. And so we also play Ukrainian, Moldavian, Be-
lorussian, Jewish music and collect them under the term 'Russian'»4. (Schum n.d.)
This quote is taken from the website of the now defunct monthly radio show Schum (Noise) based in Halle. It reflects the overarching use of the term «Russian» to designate the russophone immigrant community.
The quote also points out that the group of emigrants from the former Soviet Union is not homogenous. It can be split into 3 groups (cf. Dietz 2000, 642ff) - something that makes Germany special in terms of PostSoviet migration:5
• Ethnic Germans6 who tend to be protestant. They come primarily from Kazakhstan, Russia, Kirgistan and other central Asian states. In German they are referred to as Spätaussiedler, Russlanddeutsche and Wolgadeutsche. Their return is guaranteed in the German constitution1 and in the Federal Expellees Act.8 With their repatriation certificate these immigrants receive the German citizenship (Federal Ministry of the Interior 2005, 80). In the period 1991 to 2005 1 931 083 ethnic Germans moved to Germany (Kiss and Lederer 2006, 65).
• Jews9 who primarily come from the urban centers in the European part of the former USSR. They were accepted through the Quota Refugee Act, originally established 1980 to admit refuges from South-East Asia as humanitarian refuges (e.g. Vietnamese Boat People) (Dietz 2000; Ostow 2003). They can apply for citizenship once they become eligible (normally after 8 years of residence in Germany) (Federal Ministry of the Interior 2005, 56f). By December 31st, 2005 205 645 Jews from the former Soviet Union had emigrated10.
• Ethnic Russians (Ukrainians etc.) who are primarily Russian-Orthodox. These consist of asylum seekers, professionals, students and marriage migrants. About 185 931 Russian, 130 614 Ukrainian and 18 031 Belorussian citizens, to name a few Post-Soviet nationalities, were residing in Germany in 2005. The problem with these numbers is that they include Jewish emigrants, since they -as mentioned - do not automatically receive the German citizenship on arrival (Statistisches Bundesamt 2006, 39).
Thus, based on these numbers and a conservative estimation there are at least 2.6 Million Russian speaking migrants in Germany at the moment. Putting this into context, there were 1.256 Million registered foreign citizens residing in Germany 2006 (in 2011 there were 1.310 Million). This is about 8,81% of the total population of 82.315 Million (in 2011: 81.831 Million - Statistisches Bundesamt 2012).
According to both Germans and emigrants I talked to the community in Berlin, where I conducted my research, is fractured. The migrants frequent different cultural institutions and to some extent also live in different regions of the city11.
At the first glance this segregation seems logical based on the emigrants' ethnic backgrounds. The European ethnologist Darieva (2004, 11ff) argues, however, that the categories ethnic German and Jewish are primarily imposed
by the host country, Germany. These ethnic categories which in Germany are linked to different expectations and institutions (Jewish community, organizations for ethnic Germans) were for the majority almost void of meaning in the Soviet Union. Thus Darieva argues that the German state creates an artificial split, which she labels re-tribalisations. This was reflected in answers I got from musicians who were uncomfortable in using the official labels in the interviews.
Darieva (2004, 262ff) argues that the language «Russian» is used as a super-ethnic collective identity category in Russian language print media in Berlin and London. While this is primarily seen from the print media's perspective and not the individuals' a language based approach can be used here as well:
The local discotheques and youth clubs catering to ethnic Germans and Jews focus on Russian-language popular music like Russian pop/estrada, hip hop and house. On the other hand, the Russendisko caters primarily to a German speaking audience. Thus, a more useful distinction when discussing the musical production of the Post-Soviet community is target groups: a Russian-speaking and a non-Russian speaking audience. Here a clear difference can be heard in the music played (cf. Wickstrom 2011 for a discussion of the German speaking audience).
One organization catering towards the Russian-speaking audience is the organization Pi-Rok. Providing a platform for promoting music the organization targets emmigrants singing in Russian. The music hosted on the organization's website ranges from what is perceived as Pop to Rock. Furthermore, the organization regularly hosts festivals. While the organization was weak in Berlin there were some bands registered with them which I contacted during my fieldwork in 2009.
While it is hard to generalize their musical style, there are some interesting observations to be made. Most bands are made up of amateurs who play as a hobby. Besides the language (primarily Russian) the music does not seem to differ from popular music produced by their non-migrant peers. If one listens closely, however, there are some interesting observations to be made which links the music with the musicians' former country of origin.
Crossing
One example is the group Crossing, based in Berlin. Founded in 2004 the group consists of ethnic Germans from Russia and Kazakhstan who at the time of the interview were between 25 and 40 years old. The name is an allusion to them being at the crossing of two cultures - that of their origin and Germany. When I interviewed them in 2009 they rehearsed in a youth/girl's club - located in a residential area in Marzahn - a borough in the eastern part of Berlin where a lot of ethnic Germans were settled.
Their 2007 album Chast' Zhizni (Part of Life) and 2009 album Ia ne Gagarin (I'm not Gagarin - both Crossing n.d.) consists of guitar driven songs within a rock idiom and with Russian lyrics. When I played the album to some musicians in St. Petersburg after the fieldwork the first response was «This sounds like Makarevich, that sounds like Chaif, Splin, Chizh etc.» In other words,
Crossing's music was compared with singers and groups from the 1980s and 1990s. This is both based on the language, vocal timbre, harmonization and intonation as well as the guitar riffs, groove and the overall sound.
I made similar observations with the other bands I talked to during that fieldwork stint: the music played by the bands often sounded like well known Soviet and Post-Soviet bands - clearly presenting a musical link between Berlin and the musicians' country of origin. In Crossing's case this link is reinforced by including covers by bands like Kino and Chaif in their repertoire (Baburin et al. 2009).
This was also acknowledged in the interviews - the musicians were very upfront with pointing out what music they listened to and what musical influences were important. Here Soviet and Post-Soviet music was part of their listening biography. This is not that surprising considering that the musicians were born in the former Soviet Union before emigrating, spoke Russian and some still had family in their country of origin. Furthermore, the bands they mentioned were active while they lived in the Soviet Union, Russia respectively Kazakhstan. At the same time this music does not reflect the local popular music from e.g. Kazakhstan but a regional Soviet / Post-Soviet popular music from the centers St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Russkii Rok
What was interesting, however, was the selection of music they listened to - especially compared to the musicians I interviewed in St. Petersburg. For this a brief return to the Soviet Union is necessary: St. Petersburg has since the late 1970s been a major center of Soviet rock music. This has resulted in the city being the home to some of the most important Soviet rock groups like Akvarium, Alisa, DDT and Kino. The music is today commonly referred to as russkii rok. In Russia these bands remain popular especially among the last Soviet generation and teenagers. However, many musicians I talked to in St. Petersburg who played within the rock-idiom showed a clear disdain for the music. The main points of critique were that the music is too focused on the lyrics and musically uninteresting. That said, contemporary groups in St. Petersburg are at the same time influenced by the russkii rok-tradition in their creative work (cf. Wickstrom 2007; Wickstrom 2011 for a more detailed discussion).
Another important discourse in St. Petersburg was underground vs. commercial which boils down to a general rock vs. pop discourse. While this can be seen as an authenticity discourse used as a band marketing tool it is also more specifically influenced by Soviet popular music history. This goes back to a Soviet rivalry between state sanctioned estrada (officially approved popular music) and non-sanctioned rock. While bands playing beat and rock music emerged in the 1960s, rock was first officially recognized after 1985 (Steinholt in press).
In other words, musicians within the rock-idiom in St. Petersburg have strong opinions regarding what is considered russkii rok. They draw a line between their music and both russkii rok as well as popsa (pop).
The groups I talked to in Berlin, however, had a lot more relaxed relationship to both russkii rok-groups as well as popsa-bands. In addition to the groups considered russkii rok (Chaif, Kino, Splin and Chizh) Crossing's definition of russkii rok included Smyslovye Galliutsinatsii, Liube and Bi2 - bands that would not have been included in that category in St. Petersburg (Baburin et al. 2009). Instead those three groups were placed in a continuum spanning from pop-rock to popsa. Another example was given by Anton Gornung (2009), the Berlin-based singer of the Metal-band Affekt. The band is inspired by the Soviet/Russian Metal Band Aria and by its former singer Valerii Kipelov. During the interview Anton mentioned that he also liked the compositions of Konstantin Meladze. Meladze, both a producer and composer, is clearly linked to popsa and no musician within the rock idiom I talked to in St. Petersburg would have admitted to liking Meladze.
While the discourses are in part used by St. Petersburg-based bands to position themselves in the market the Berlin-based bands do not have this need: They are primarily amateur bands playing within the emigrant community and do not have to regularly compete for venues to perform in. Instead the groups collaborate sharing rehearsal rooms and performing together at club festivals. Thus the music feeds on memories of their past and functions more as a reminder of where the musicians came from and the music they listened to before emigrating.
At the same time the musicians also listen and play contemporary popular music from the Post-Soviet sphere. One example was Crossing playing the riff to Okean El'zy's (Lukava) Kishka (Sly cat - Okean El'zy 2003) during a break while I heard them rehearse in Berlin on December 7th, 2009. This can also be heard when listening to Radio Russkij Berlin (Radio Russian Berlin) a Berlin-based Russian language radio station.12 Aimed at the emigrants the music played on the station primarily consists of popsa but it also includes russkii rok as well as contemporary groups within the rock-idiom. This is a format that does not exist within the playlists of local St. Petersburg radio stations. As the website puts it:
«Radio Russkii Berlin - that is new and old hits from Russia. [...] The radio station strives to support its listeners in maintaining their cultural roots while at the same time creating a link between German and Russian cultures»13. (Radio Russkii Berlin 97 n.d.)
Another important fact linked to radio is that by living away from the centers of Post-Soviet popular music the emigrants are also limited in their exposure to new music. One way of keeping up to date is by radio, however the selection aired is filtered by the station's format thus limiting the exposure to other musics. While the internet theoretically provides a useful tool to finding new music it still poses the challenge of information overload making it difficult to uncover new influences.
In other words, the music played by these emigrants reflect on a listening
biography influenced by the time they lived in their country of origin and Soviet and Post-Soviet bands from the centers - not local or regional popular music from e.g. Kazakhstan. Living in Germany and seldomly returning to their country of origin they are not so much affected by local discourses in the former Soviet Union. Thus the Berlin-based bands tend to have a broader acceptance for Soviet and Post-Soviet popular music than their St. Petersburg based peers. This is in part also influenced by the music played by local media at concerts.
Finally, this article has argued that the Post-Soviet emigrant community in Germany is not homogenous hence making it difficult to speak of one diaspora. What, however, remains to be seen is how the 1st generation of Post-Soviet emigrants born in Germany develop and what music they will draw on.
Bibliography and discography
Crossing. n.d. Mul'timeniia [sic]. http://www.crossing-rock.de/Page5_1.html
(accessed 16.11.2012). Darieva, Tsypylma. 2004. Russkij Berlin - Migranten und Medien in Berlin und
London. Münster: Lit Verlag. Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Aussiedlerfragen und nationale Minderheiten. 2003. Deutsche Aussiedler - Zahlen Daten Fakten. Edited by Jochen Welt. Vol. 116, Info-Dienst. Bonn: Bundesministerium des Inneren.
Dietz, Barbara. 2000. German and Jewish Migration From the Former Soviet Union to Germany: Background, Trends and Implications. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 26 (4): 635-52. Federal Ministry of the Interior. 2005. Immigration Law and Policy. Berlin:
Federal Ministry of the Interior. Kiss, Antje, and Harald Lederer. 2006. Migration, Asyl und Integration in Zahlen. 14 ed. Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, Referat 124 - Geschäftsstatistik. N.N. 1953. Gesetz über die Angelegenheiten der Vertriebenen und Flüchtlinge
(Bundesvertriebenengesetz - Bvfg). Okean El'zy. 2003. Supersymetriia. Lavina music. CD.
Ostow, Robin. 2003. From Victims of Antisemitism to Post-Modern Hybrids: Representations of (Post)Soviet Jews in Germany. European Judaism 36 (2): 110-11. Parlamentarische Rat. 1949. Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Bonn.
Radio Russkii Berlin 91,2 FM. n.d. Profil' Radiostantsii. http://www.radio-
rb.de/page/senderportrait.html (accessed 16.11.2012). Schiller, Nina Glick, Linda Basch, and Cristina Szanton Blanc. 1995. From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration. Anthropological Quarterly 68 (1): 48-63. Schum. n.d. Radiosendung.
http://www.newchance.de/schum/index.php?menue=radio (accessed
18.11.2008).
Statistisches Bundesamt. 2006. Ausländische Bevölkerung - Ergebnisse des Ausländerzentralregisters 2005. Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.
Statistisches Bundesamt. 2007. Statistisches Jahrbuch 2007 für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.
Statistisches Bundesamt. 2012. Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit -Ausländische Bevölkerung Ergebnisse des Ausldnderzentralregisters 2011. Online ed. Fachserie 1 Reihe 2. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.
Steinholt, Yngvar Bordewich. in press. Russian Rock / Russkiy Rok. In The Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World, edited by John Shepherd, David Horn, and Dave Laing.
Tölölyan, Khachig. 1996. Rethinking Diaspora(s): Stateless Power in the Transnational Moment. Diaspora 5 (1): 3-36.
Wickström, David-Emil. 2007. 'Kholodnie Choboti': Strategiia Postroeniia Samoidentifikatsii v Populiarnoi Muzyke Sankt-Peterburga. In Russkaia Rok-Poeziia: Tekst i Kontekst 9, edited by M.B. Voroshilova, Iu.V. Domanskii, and A.P. Chudinov, 238-43. Tver', Ekaterinburg: Tver', Ekaterinburg.
Wickström, David-Emil. 2010. Kasatchok Superstar - Post-Sovetskaia Populiarnaia Muzyka, «Russendisko» i Traditsiia Russkogo Fol'klora v Evrope. In Russkaia Rok-Poeziia: Tekst i Kontekst, edited by M.B. Voroshilova, Iu.V. Domanskii, E.E. Nikitina, O.E. Nikitina, and A.P. Chudinov, Ekaterinburg, Tver': Ekaterinburg, Tver'.
Wickström, David-Emil. 2011. Okna Otkroi! - Open the Windows! Scenes, Transcultural Flows, and Identity Politics in Popular Music From PostSoviet St. Petersburg. Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag.
Interviews
Baburin, Dmitrij, Sergej Fiedler, Nikolaj Leinweber, and Sergej Stehr. 07.12.2009. Berlin (Germany). Interviewed by David-Emil Wickström.
Gornung, Anton. 08.12.2009. Berlin (Germany). Interviewed by David-Emil Wickström.
Gurzhy, Yuriy. 05.10.2005. Berlin (Germany). Interviewed by David-Emil Wickström.
1 «Geographisch sind das also die 15 ehemaligen Republiken oder die Leute, die aus diesen Republiken kommen, weil ich [...] versuche halt mehr Aufmerksamkeit [...] zu so genannten Emigranten Musik [...] zu gewinnen.»
2 This article is based on a paper presented at the Biennial IASPM-UK/Ireland conference in Salford on September 7th, 2012. I would like to thank Dmitrij Baburin, Dmitrii Bekker, Dima Dobrovolskij, Sergej Fiedler, Artur Gorlatschov, Anton Gornung, Victor Harder, Dima Kalchert, Nikolaj Leinweber, Ilja Matushinskii, Sergej Stehr as well as my co-panelists from Salford, Ivan Gololobov, Kirsty Lohman, Polly McMichael, Hilary Pilkington and Yngvar B. Steinholt for their time and comments.
3 The degree of transnationalness depends, however the musicians I talked to where firmly embedded in transnational networks with nodes in continental Europe, Israel the Post-Soviet space and the United States. Another way to group the emigrant community commonly referred to as Die Russen (the Russians) is through the term transmigrants (Schiller et al. 1995). The term stresses a strong tie between host and home-land. The term transmigrant, however, does not really include the transnational network beyond the home and host country which is an important component of this group.
4 «Schum ist eine Radiosendung über 'Russische' Musik [...]. 'Russisch' in Anführungszeichen, weil für die meisten Deutschen (und häufig für die Russen selbst) alle russischsprachigen 'die Russen' sind. Und also legen wir auch die ukrainische, moldauische, weissrussische, jüdische Musik auf und fassen sie unter dem Namen 'Russisch' zusammen».
5 Due to a legistlationary shift in Germany regarding immigration the statistics presented here are only until 2006.
6 The ethnic Germans are descendants of Germans who emigrated to inter alia Russia (especially along the Volga and Central Asia), Rumania, Hungary and the Ukraine in the 18th and 19th century. These migrants were marked as a minority not only due to their language, but also religiously, being predominantly protestants. This is also reflected in the statistics: Religiously the ethnic Germans who moved to Germany in the period 2000 to 2002 primarily consisted of Protestant (144 161) followed by Roman-Catholic (52 702) and Russian-Orthodox (43 388) belivers (Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Aussiedlerfragen und nationale Minderheiten 2003, 18). Ethnic German also refers to those living in Western Poland dispersed due to the second World War. The repatriation is based both on the imagined blood-lineage with todays Germany as well as the persecution of ethnic Germans in former Eastern Europe.
I «Art 116 (1) Deutscher im Sinne dieses Grundgesetzes ist vorbehaltlich anderweitiger gesetzlicher Regelung, wer die deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit besitzt oder als Flüchtling oder Vertriebener deutscher Volkszugehörigkeit oder als dessen Ehegatte oder Abkömmling in dem Gebiete des Deutschen Reiches nach dem Stande vom 31. Dezember 1931 Aufnahme gefunden hat». (Parlamentarische Rat 1949).
8 Originally from 1953, the version from 1993 provides the only definition of who is ethnic German as mentioned in the German constitution: «§ 4 Spätaussiedler (1) Spätaussiedler ist in der Regel ein deutscher Volkszugehöriger, der die Republiken der ehemaligen Sowjetunion nach dem 31. Dezember 1992 im Wege des Aufnahmeverfahrens verlassen und innerhalb von sechs Monaten im Geltungsbereich des Gesetzes seinen ständigen Aufenthalt genommen hat» (N.N. 1953).
9 After initial resistance by the German State, Israel and the Jewish community in Germany the Jews have been accepted due to Germany's eminent role in the extermination of the European Jewry. While being a symbolic gesture of asking for forgiveness it also aimed to rebuild and strengthen the Jewish communities in Germany. (Ostow 2003) Ironically, it has had the opposite effect to the point of almost splitting Jewish communities.
10 As of 2005 the Quota Refugee Act which is also known as the Act on Measures in Aid of Refugees Admitted under Humanitarian Relief Programmes (Gesetz über Maßnahmen für im Rahmen humanitärer Hilfsaktionen aufgenommene Flüchtlinge), has been replaced by the stricter Immigration Act (Zuwanderungsgesetz, also called Gesetz zur Steuerung und Begrenzung der Zuwanderung und zur Regelung des Aufenthalts und der Integration von Unionsbürgern und Ausländern). The numbers are based on Kiss and Lederer (2006, 68) which covers 1993 through 2005. This number also includes 8 535 Jews who immigrated to Germany before November 10, 1991 - before the procedures of the Quota Refugee Act were adopted (Federal Ministry of the Interior 2005, 58).
II I was told that the Jews tend to live in Charlottenburg (The main orthodox synagogue is in the Joachimstaler Str. 13 in Charlottenburg) while the ethnic Germans live in Lichtenberg, Marzahn and Spandau. The third group which was labeled the alternatives (maybe Russian-speaking bohume is more fitting) is centered around Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg. This overlaps with Darieva (2004, 121f) who writes that the preferred settlement areas are Charlottenburg, Wilmersdorf and Schöneberg. A part of the ethnic Germans coming from Siberia and Kazachstan have settled in the outer boroughs Marzahn, Hohenschönhausen and Lichtenberg (partially due to the statesrs settlement policy). Dietz (2000) discusses this as well, pointing out that the Jewish migrants center themselves around the Jewish communities while the ethnic Germans remain within a community of other ethnic Ger-
mans.
12 The radio station belongs to the media group Rusmedia which among others also publishes the newspapers Russkaja Germanija, Russkij Berlin and Rheinskaja Gazeta.
13 «Радио Русский Берлин - это новые и старые хиты из России. <...> Радиостанция стремится поддержать своих слушателей в сохранении их культурных корней, создавая одновременно связи между немецкой и русской культурами».
© Д.-Э. Викстрём
С.В. СВИРИДОВ
Калининград
«МАНХЭТТЕН-БЕРЛИН # 2» ВАСИЛИЯ К.: ПОЭТИКА ПЕРЕСКАЗА
Василий К. - русский поэт-певец, в настоящее время работающий с группой «Интеллигенты» и выпускающий сольные релизы. В пору творческого становления он несколько лет жил в Швеции, где с группой «The Kurtens» записал свои первые по-настоящему успешные альбомы. Композиция «Манхэттен-Берлин # 2» написана «по мотивам» песни Леонарда Коэна «First We Tarke Manhattan» и входит в альбом «Мой Коэн» (2002), состоящий из выполненных Василием русских переводов песен знаменитого канадца. Нам придётся много раз обращаться к тексту песни «Ман-хэттен-Берлин # 2» и к авторскому комментарию, размещённому на официальном сайте Василия К., поэтому будет удобно сразу, в начале статьи, привести и текст, и фрагменты автокомментария.
Нахально, хотите сказать? Претенциозно? Возможно. Но у меня есть оправдание - та любовь и уважение, которое я испытываю к творчеству этого канадского поэта. <...> Я не ставил перед собой цели воссоздать с максимальным приближением на русском языке атмосферу его песен, по крайней мере, не во всех случаях. Часто это просто невозможно. <.. > Эти песни и стихи настолько вросли в меня, а я в них, что они мне кажутся почти моими собственными.
<.. > «Манхэттен и Берлин #2» - вообще не перевод, а впечатление; когда я сочинял этот опус, я ещё не знал английского1.
Манхэттен и Берлин # 2
Сначала были песни чужестранцев Пришедшие из благостной земли И снилось нам, безвестным оборванцам Как мы возьмём Манхэттен Потом возьмём Берлин
Нам нравилось решать, кто здесь прекрасен Нам нравилось решать, кто здесь кретин Но как ни пей и как не пой, герой и господин Возьми сперва Манхэттен
