"Is It True?" - PRAVDA?

A special feature article on "Is It True", Iceland's Eurovision entry 2009 was published in today's issue of the Ukrainian edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda... Does anyone remember the "Pravda" anecdotes during the communist times? :-) It's still one of the leading post-USSR newspapers today, it really is!

Ironically, "pravda" translated from Russian means "true"... if you also add a question mark to "pravda?" it can be interpreted as "is it true?"

And so it's true... Have a look for yourselves!

In War & Peace

Amidst numerous speculations about the situation in Georgia and the relationship between Georgia and Russia that has escalated to a political conflict between the two nations over the past couple weeks, many have tried to place the blame on both leaderships depending on the country of origin of the media source and their political affiliation.

On a personal note, I have found it to be a rather tricky political game way out of my apolitical reach to judge this or that political party, but at the end of the day, trying to remain unbiased initially, I realized that common sense can at times be much more valuable and objective than a direct affiliation with one leadership or another.

When your home country is under attack by the country where you spent your entire formative years, it is at the very least a personal dilemma...

Having spent most of my childhood in Moscow after my family moved to Russia when the civil war broke out in Georgia around the time of the Soviet collapse, I quite naturally made friends for life in Russia, studied in both Moscow-based international school and the Moscow State University and also made my very first steps in my musical career opening the first Russian film festival in Cannes at the age of 14 - all of this took place during the years I spent living in Moscow, the capital of the country that is now in war with my country of origin, Georgia.

I keep reminding myself that any political conflict is between politicians and not civilians, therefore, friends that have become my other family back in Russia and our close ties both historically and personally between the two nations should not have to suffer from these recent tragic events that took place between Georgia and Russia in South Ossetia and beyond. But at the same time, there's an inner conflict that makes all of this far more complicated to handle than mere words on paper and biased news here, there and everywhere (so is the nature of the media speculations and journalistic wars between different sources, unfortunately.)

This evening I came across a couple of interviews by Eduard Shevardnadze, who is best known for his role as Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. The man who helped end the Cold War and reconcile Moscow with the West later ruled his native Georgia for a decade, albeit not too successfully perhaps as his presidency resulted in a hugely publicized overthrow in the "rose revolution" triggered by the youthful, pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003.

But that aside, even the former Georgian President admitted that this current conflict between the two neighboring countries could only have lose-lose consequences for all parties concerned, including Russia: " Whatever the price, we have to fix the relationship between Georgia and Russia. For two centuries we have lived together..."

"Georgia was a Russian colony for more than 200 years ... But this is the 21st century, the time for colonies is over. Georgia now has the strong support of the outside world," Eduard Shevardnadze told Reuters earlier today. And it is true.

This war is beginning to affect the civilians and those who lived as neighbors for years on end. With so many Georgians living in Russia (and Russians, too, do live in Georgia and have been known for having mixed Geo-Ru marriages for so long now) how do they live together in peace, for every one of us is entitled to defending their own country and leadership - except that's not always positive, given the magic of "common sense" and open-minded understanding of the bigger picture.

Another point that Shevardnadze made in his interview to Reuters, which really is well on the money was the explanation of how a Georgian mind works... That is, with regards to how like everywhere else, the country and its citizens were split into pro-Saakashvilians and those against his politics and actions.

"You know what mistake the Russian leadership is making when they say they don't want to deal with Saakashvili - that he should resign and only when there is a new president, they will start a new conversation with Georgia? Previously, when the military campaign in Tskhinvali failed, and Georgians subjected Saakashvili to serious criticism, most of the people were against the president. But when Russia began to ask for his resignation, most of the people began to support him. It is the Georgian nature, you have to understand."

And this is coming from the man who was overthrown by Saakashvili in 2003! At times, good diplomacy really works - especially at times like these.

All of this said, the dilemma remains the same - when a war breaks out so close to home with another country that became my surrogate home for years while I lived, studied, made friends and learned the ABCs of life and took my first musical steps, I can't help but feel torn...

But at the end of the day, when I hear the news - from sources other than those of Georgian or Russian affiliation - about Georgian people, my people, suffering as a result of this tragic conflict, living in fear day to day, expecting the war to resume any day (and let's hope this really is the end), that's when I realize that no matter what, it's the civilians affected by any political conflict whatsoever who are the ones suffering the most - there are no winners in such cases, never.

I find it to be ridiculous when the media start to speculate about the winners and losers of the war. It's very sad. But that's the nature of journalism, I guess - everything has to have a logical beginning-middle-and the end, otherwise the story won't stand the editorial examination prior to deciding whether the material deserves a column or not.

One last thing - when I was little, I couldn't really understand the mass obsession with the pompous "world peace" propaganda in every corner of the world and in every industry, including music. And as it turns out years later, ultimately this is all we can really hope and pray for (alongside health and well-being of the ones we love) because everything else is so minuscule and so very trivial...

Finally this really is starting to makes sense now - "world peace" isn't just a pompous demand, it really is the core of it all, the big goal that we, the humanity, strive to achieve in this struggle against war - any war, be it the one on a large political scale or the war within us and among us as people.

And everything else... Well, we've just go to keep it in perspective. It is so easy to take the security of the countries we live in for granted, and at moments like this, you just realize how quickly for some people that security can go - practically overnight...

Ladies & Gentlemen: Please Enjoy Capitalism!

12.30 a.m. in New York City and a sudden craving for none other than a shrimp salad sandwich literally caught me off guard. Having had a full day and only one meal through it all (is it possible to get too engaged in one's daily activities and forget to eat? You bet!) I realized a little too late that a quick bite could only help before calling it a day.

What does one do past midnight about getting a very specific sandwich, given that I'm a bit of a choosy eater when it comes to late-night cravings (always has been the case, not a recent phenomenon, that's for sure) ?

Back in Russia, at least before the whole "Westernization" period when late-night supermarket, 24-hour McDonald's spots, etc. opened throughout the city of Moscow, solving a simple dilemma like this particular one at any given time of the day, let alone way past midnight, would have been next to impossible. Queuing up for hours on end for bread and butter was the norm back than - that is, unless you belonged to the "foreign" circle of Westerners, whereby you were admitted to the "foreign currency only" specialized stores. But that was far from an easy achievement for a Sovietsky person, therefore, I would have been stuck 20 years ago back in the USSR under these circumstances....

However, we now live in a capitalist society and it is, after all, the 21st century - and plus, this is the Big Apple:

10 minutes after the initial craving, I was already paying for my double-decker sandwich (shrimp salad, naturally - as ordered by her majesty!) with a credit card on the Avenue of the Americas.... And you know something - a decade or so ago, all of this would have sounded like a sci-fi fairytale to my post-Communist regime ears.

But hey, that's what makes all of this so exciting - having had the opportunity to experience life on both sides of the fence. Whereas, I am sure, a lot of you, my readers, have long taken all of these "supernatural" opportunities for granted!

They say you should never forget your roots - and I certainly won't (in fact, I'm growing so fond of the whole pre and post Soviet regime collapse history - at the moment I am literally engrossed in all sorts of literature in any way connected to that era!) - but there's something similar to a quiet relief and silent joy in the very knowledge of being able to live and experience that, which back "then" seemed truly impossible.... Unbeatable, really!

Rocking Russkies: "Oh, Sweet Home Alabama...!"

The other day, a friend of mine from London sent me an email attachment with a subject that read, rather pompously: "Globalization".

"Oh, not again!" I thought to myself, "How much more of this bureaucratic talk can one tolerate without feeling like an amateur politician?"

On the contrary to my initial gut feeling, the video proved an ultimate proof that globalization is, indeed, a phenomenon which is growing by the day - both online and offline.

As you all know, back in the USSR, the Soviet Red Army was quite famous for its impressive (mainly in size) official choir composed of soldiers turned into musicians and vice versa. Even in the 21st century, many years after the Soviet regime collapsed, the Red Army choir is still going strong, performing extensively nationwide to this very day.

Up to this point, it's all very sweet and patriotic, but what about globalization, you may ask? Good point! :-)

Having imagined a very Sovietsky-looking army choir consisting of nicely groomed musical soldiers of the Red Army, how one mixes that group with a Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys is quite a stretch, no doubt.

And it gets better, too...

Not long ago, The Leningrad Cowboys (remember how Leningrad was initially called St. Petersburg, way before our time, and in the post USSR climate was reversed back to the same identity?) held a concert in Russia for a screaming group of Russian teenagers. As a special "patriotihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifc" flavor for the crowd, they invited the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a special performance of a VERY unexpected number... "SWEET HOME ALABAMA"!!!

As "To the Point News" agency suggested, one couldn't have made this up - no way!

To see this spectacular video, do make sure you click on this link !

My Soviet Correspondence

It was a cold winter’s day in Moscow in 1999. I still remember being wrapped up in a warm pullover with a cup of cocoa on my desk, as I surfed the internet on my brand new computer that my dad had just brought to me as a Christmas present.

I started searching the web very actively, looking at various “White Pages” for musicians, both well-known and completely unknown ones.

Some of those names rang a few bells here and there but one particular listing caught my eye almost instantly. I will let you, my readers, figure out who the legend was, but he is an amazing musician - truly. I was convinced that it was either a typo or perhaps a different musician with the same name…

As I kept on staring at the listing, I remembered my childhood when my father used to play X's records at home back to back. It was at the time when foreign music, especially Jazz was forbidden in the Soviet countries, and buying a Jazz record was close to committing a serious crime.

One day Dad showed me a newspaper article in one of the soviet papers when I was a little girl: “A certain well-known Georgian architect/painter is buying numerous Jazz records throughout the Soviet Union as well as high-end sound equipment (i.e. expensive speakers, valve amplifiers, etc.) - beware of the gentleman and anyone else who is hugely involved in promoting American music in the USSR, which, we believe, corrupts our nation as a whole - they are DANGEROUS." It was about my father, a rare music lover.

Carried away by those memories, I accidentally double-clicked the link on the webpage and ended up sending an empty email to "him". But thinking (and secretly hoping) that he would ignore the blank note from an unknown address, I decided not to worry about it too much; there was no way he would even consider replying to a completely unknown .ru email address, clearly located somewhere in distant Russia.

I somehow managed to quickly get over the accident and carried on surfing the internet for hours on end…

The accident seemed so passé by the end of the day, but something was prompting me deep inside to check my email “just in case.” I couldn't sleep, it was almost 2 am and let's not forget - I had to be up within a few hours to make it in time for an early lesson at school the following morning.

Yet, that gut feeling, or intuition, coming from nowhere eventually took over and I quietly got up on my tiptoes and walked over to my new electronic friend to check the incoming mail.

To my amazement, there was one unread message in my mailbox – a quick note from "X" in response to my “blank letter”. He politely apologized for his “low-tech” email and asked me to kindly resend the letter once more as he could not decode the characters the first time. Needless to say, I could hardly believe my eyes...

I was so excited and ecstatic: wearing nothing but my dad’s XL-size bathrobe and slippers, I immediately ran over to my parents, who, meanwhile, were enjoying some late night tea with my uncle and aunt in the kitchen.

Obviously they were furious to find their daughter so wide awake at first, but when I told them in great detail about the online accident, my dad, especially, was completely thrilled that his daughter had gotten through to one of his all-time favorite musicians, someone he’d admired for such a long time and regarded as a real out-of-this-world genius all of his life.

Clearly, going to sleep straight away so that I could more or less get up at 7 am as usual was well out of question by then – I absolutely HAD to reply to X's note - it was now or never.

Immediately after writing a full-blown letter, I anxiously awaited his response every day but nothing came through for what seemed like forever...

After weeks of waiting for the letter from X, I had almost given up my fantasy about hearing from him again, when to my great surprise, the great musician DID write back to his young fan.

I still remember how warmly and enthusiastically he congratulated me on "all the impressive accomplishments at such an early age" and also pointed out that my family sounded so extremely supportive, which can be such a vital point (I definitely agree!) X told me about his life at the moment and how he had slowed down in recent years but still continued to make music on regular basis. To my astonishment, X also asked me to send my music straight to his home address that he willingly provides in the same email. I could NOT believe it!

As soon as I got the email and read it to my folks, a quick concern crossed my mind... (And being a worrier by nature, it wasn't surprising at all!!!)

“What if he’s expecting something more from my singing than it really is and gets disappointed when he hears the cassette? He doesn’t know that I didn’t make any of these recordings in a professional studio – and that’s something he must be so used to by now…”

Nevertheless, I immediately puts a package together for X – five of the songs that I had recorded on my sound system along with several pictures taken with Mom and Dad.

In my hand-written letter, which I quietly drafted during a school class, I thanked him for taking the time to write to me and also for giving me the opportunity to send my tape directly to my musical inspiration. I think I even apologized for the quality of the demo tape and told X about the songs that I had recorded on my sound system, a couple of which had been his projects originally!!!

The next day my dad sent the parcel to the US via DHL (quite a rarity at the time!) and from then on, I started checking my mail every single evening after school (do you remember dial-up and not being able to "connect" some of the time??? Nightmare!), hoping and praying that one of these days I'd get a letter from him once more – and this time with his opinion about MY singing…

Several more weeks went and the long-awaited letter finally reached the Soviet destination - I anxiously opened the email. I was blown away, and in fact, I have kept that letter to this date... He described his young fan as “extremely musical with a wonderful voice and ‘great ears’ to be able to sing exactly along with the original singers”. As for the pictures, “my wife, and I loved your photos… very stylish! And your parents look terrific, you must be so proud of them! Maybe someday we will all be able to meet in person. But in the meantime, keep singing!!” I was speechless!!!

To my great joy and pride, we actively start to communicate via email on regular basis and engaged into a series of dialogues about music, art and the different lives in ex-Soviet Union and modern America. It was so fascinating and so unlike anything else I had ever encountered!

I actually had the guts to send my songs to this great legend on regular basis for his advice and guidance, always getting his feedback in return, thus developing a musical and also a human bond with this great man without us ever meeting each other face to face - even to this very day, almost 10 years later, we still haven't met.

Bearing in mind that all of this happened at the time when the internet was a brand new communication tool and spam, myspace, chatting were not yet known to the mass audience, it really was a very special discovery and a connection that I still value and cherish so close to my heart. Every time his new album hits the stores, I literally run to get my hands on a copy - not a digital one but an actual "tangible" CD... Can't beat a physical CD with liner notes, credits, etc. if you're a real fan - that's impossible!!!

It's so amazing when those you truly admire and look up to don't disappoint nor demystify your perception of their personality behind the great talent - I strongly believe that true talent isn't always accompanied by huge egos and other unpleasanteries.

Oh, and by the way, I wonder if any of you have guessed who this great man is? He is among my friends on myspace.... Quite a drag to try and figure it out, I am sure!