Mavericks From the Other Side of the Curtain: A Soviet Jazz Mix
Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa revisits the forgotten yet rich rich musical exchange between East and West during the Cold War.
Photo via Zois Berlin/Patrick Johnson
Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa wants to remind you that the Iron Curtain couldn't stop the music.
Sometimes we are surprised by the enormous consequences that the ideological and geopolitical barriers of the past have left us. Throughout the Cold War, the world was bitterly divided into West, that we felt as “our thing”, and East, “the other”, and during these years artistic, musical and cinematographic exchanges between these factions were severely limited, depriving millions of an invaluable cultural arsenal for decades.
However, now that we live an uncertain, confusing 2021, in which we live consumed by the exploitation and accumulation of the Capitalist machine that has already compromised the future of the planet through the catastrophe of climate change, and at the same time immersed in a global health crisis that is undoubtedly also a by-product of Capitalist societies' insatiable depredation, we cannot help but look back with a certain nostalgia to a past that offered us an alternative. Young people of this generation re-read Marx looking for answers, and thanks to the Internet revolution, we can see images, sounds and testimonies of those years in "the other half" of the world.
But there was a rich musical exchange between East and West, even in the midst of this conflict. There were always those passionate adventurers who traded records and tapes at both ends of the iron curtain; brave renegades who risked their freedom and even their lives in the sacred task of sharing the best music of the different genres and movements of the era. Without these true heroes, styles like Latvian bebop, Armenian swing, Azeri fusion and Estonian funk just couldn’t have made it all the way to our ears.
This mix, an introduction of the different forms of jazz that developed during the Soviet era, is a tribute to those mavericks.
Tracklist 01. Vram Grigoryan & Combo of Radio & TV of Armenia feat. Marina Grigoryan – Maqur Yerkinq Qaz Yerevan 02. Melik Mavaisakalyan & Radio & TV Symphony Orchestra of Armenia – Lerneri Par 03. Konstantin Orbelyan – Dilijan 04. Lithuanian SSR Conservatory Big Band & Tatevik Hovhannisyan – Concerto for Voice and Big Band 05. Levon Malikhasyan – F Blues 06. Elvina Makaryan, Melik Mavaisakalyan & Radio & TV Variety Orchestra of Armenia – Veradardz 07. Georgiy Garanyan – Caravan 08. Artashes Kartalyan – Toccata 09. David Goloshchekin & Leningrad Jazz Ensemble - Prijatnym zvukom 10. Tonu Naisoo Trio – Echo of Recollections 11. Vyacheslav Ganelin Trio – Ex Libris 12. Vackhtang Kakhidze Quartet – Composition 13. Vagif Mustafazadeh & Mugham – Recollections of Tbilisi 14. Kurt Yarnberg Quintet – Serenity 15. Rafik Babayev Quartet – Song of the Inhabitants of the Mountains 16. Vyacheslav Zakharov Quintet – Oleo 17. Anatoly Kroll Quintet – Composition in three parts 18. Tallinn Jazz Quartet & Lembit Saarsaly – Malish 19. Armenian Quartet “Zvedzichka” – Khorodov 20. Zvezdochka Quartet – Khorovod 21. Dzhazovoe Trio & Rajmondsa Raubishko - Piramida Hefrena 22. Tiit Paulus – Topi 23. Kvartal – Zamerzla 24. Gunesh – Kechpelek