[Belarusian SSR] Pesniary — Gusliar [Progressive Folk, Progressive Rock, Rock Opera] (1979)

Founded in Belarus in 1969 (originally as “Liavony “).

The group was created in Belarus (Byelorussia, the USSR) in 1967/68 as LIAVONY (‘Liavon’ is a popular male name in Belarus) by the jazz and folk enthusiast Vladimir Muliavin (1941-2003) and his mates, also musicians whom he met during military service. Vladimir Muliavin became the band’s constant leader. In 1969 LIAVONY changed their name to PESNIARY (“(The) Folk Tales Narrators/Singers”). The main specialization of the group was folk songs’ adaptation for modern rock instruments (and also violins, flutes, sax, folk whistles, hurdy-gurdy) with heavy accent on vocal harmonies. Their musical approach (not the sound, though) was somehow congenial with that of STEELEYE SPAN. In the very beginning PESNIARY were inspired by THE BEATLES; they (then LIAVONY) even performed “Yesterday” and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” with Russian lyrics. But in general, PESNIARY don’t sound like any of the mentioned bands. They were certainly pioneers of such music in the Soviet Union. The demanding selection by Muliavin resulted in an unusual amalgam of multi-instrumentalists with incredible voices, a unique band in the USSR (and in the world too).

The 70s.

The peak of the band’s popularity, albums were sold in millions of copies (don’t think they became millionaires, the one and only record label in the USSR, “Melodiya”, paid only symbolic money to artists; on the other hand, artists didn’t pay for studio time, promotion, etc). The band often appeared on TV and radio and constantly toured. PESNIARY played 2 – 4 concerts almost every day, but it was hard to buy tickets, they were sold out very fast.

Byelorussian folk songs (arranged by Muliavin) were the base of the band’s repertoire.

But there were also songs by Vladimir Muliavin (with lyrics of good Byelorussian poets) and songs of Soviet (Russian and Byelorussian) composers, arranged by the band. Arrangements are very important, because everything PESNIARY performed was made in their unique way. It wouldn’t be a mistake to call the band co-authors of songs written by other composers.

It is the period when the band was in constant progress.

In 1976 PESNIARY were the first Soviet rock band toured in the USA.

In the middle of the 70s Vladimir Muliavin decided that it’s time for concept works (or programmes, as the band called them).

Three big programmes were created:

– “Песня пра долю” (“The Song of Fate”), 1976-1977, music by Vladimir Muliavin, lyrics by great Byelorussian poet Yanka Kupala. Unfortunately it was never recorded in studio, only some poor quality live recordings exist.

– “Gusliar”, 1978-1979, – a poem-legend based on the Yanka Kupala’s poem “Barrow”, music by Byelorussian composer Igor Luchenok. “Gusliar” has been recorded on LP, in 2000 the label “Boheme Music” released it on CD.

– “Календарно-обрядовые песни” (“Calendar and Ritual Songs”), 1979, – a suite of Byelorussian folk songs with complex vocal and instrumental arrangements.

The line-up was extended up to 15 musicians for these programmes.

The following musicians were the core of the band in the 70s:

– Vladimir Muliavin / leader, vocals, guitars

– Leonid Bortkevich / vocals, hurdy-gurdy

– Anatoliy Kasheparov / vocals, bayan

– Vladislav Misevich / sax, flute, whistles, vocals

– Valeriy Dayneko / vocals, viola

– Leonid Tyshko / bass, backing vocals

– Aleksander Demeshko / drums, vocals

– Vladimir Nikolaev / keyboards, backing vocals, trombone, sax

– Cheslav Poplavskiy / violin, backing vocals

– Anatoliy Gilevich / piano, keyboards