another USSR hidden classic...

La Musique Sovietique - From Palanga to Gurzufa - L’ete 69



Summer 1969
In the summer of 1969, in the USSR a collection of “beach music” was produced specifically for Intourist - the Soviet Tourism agency. Titled "From Palanga to Gurzoufa - Musique Sovietique. L'ete 69. " it was not intended for sale in the USSR, but to be the soundtrack of summer holidays for visitors from abroad. Whilst the word "beach" doesn’t appear on the cover, it is in the air in all respects : in the title, we see today the erotic subtext (69!), and in the selection of tracks, which was surprising.
As with all Inturist aesthetics with its restaurants, and hotels for foreign visitors, the main challenge "From Palanga to Gurzoufa" was to motivate and elicit a foreign audience, with sunny, open, half instrumental, half vocal music. But since this record was the first of its kind, there was guesswork involved. Hence the unusual colours musical material some of which are clearly outside the beach aesthetic.

Decree No. 319
The compilation never saw the light of day however (or should that be ‘the light of dusk‘?). May 20, 1969 the Council of Ministers of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic passed Resolution No. 319, declaring "The chief of Russian culture" should dissolve the entertainment community. In 1970, with huge celebrations of the anniversary of Lenin, the USSR would be entering a new era, whereas beach music conveyed a "message of bourgeois values" and were no longer desirable.

In 2004, at Melodia a team was set up to recover archival tapes of the rarest recordings that were in danger of complete disintegration - an undertaking of monumental proportions. The process was taking its course when in the winter of 2005 a tape box was found with the inscription "concert of Klezmer Festival Rural Folk performances. Third plate. " When the master tape inside was heard, there was confusion: Instead of rural folk it was vivid, original material. Melodia Editors Andrei Troshin and Dmitry Sanagursky investigated further and identified it as this record "From Palanga to Gurzoufa." It turned out that the editor entrusted to destroy the tape in 1969 decided not to follow the infamous decree. To steal the tape was tantamount to suicide, so what has been identified as an excellent compilation of music was hidden in the above box with a description unlikely to attract any negative attention. The finally-released collection is unchanged, all songs are in the order in which they were originally planned, uncompromised by the decrees of Soviet good taste or the whims of more recent fashion.

enjoy!

tracklist
01 Квартет «Электрон» – Мелодия из к/ф «Бум»
02 Капиталина Лазаренко – Офанона
03 Ансамбль И. Зевина – Хали-гали (Т. Руффо)
04 Анна Герман – Солнечный день
05 Юрий Мухин – Юмореска]
06 Ансамбль «Рококо» – Ленивый шейк
07 Джаз-ансамбль «Балалайка» – Дыхание юга
08 Анна Герман – Дай мне помечтать
09 Квартет «Электрон» – Вернись (М. Домингес)
10 Нина Пантелеева – Продавщица бананов
11 Гюли Чохели –Танцуем вместе (М.Суббота–Л.Дербенев)
12 Валерий Приказчиков – Вечное движение
13 Юрий Мухин – Клен ты мой опавший
14 Джаз-ансамбль «Балалайка» – Тульский самовар
CCCP’69 [192kbps]