Beauty, Bravery, Blood and Glory: Ancient Virtues and Vices in Modern Popular Culture.
Conference by the Classics Department, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, and the Department of General History, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, 10-11 June 2013, Israel; organisers: Dr. Lisa Maurice and Dr. Eran Almagor.
Hava B. Korzakova, Bar Ilan University
Classics in the modern Russian underground culture: Psoy Korolenko as a modern aoidos.
Indirectly the classic tradition was known in Russia since its christianization in 988 C.E. or even earlier, but a significant classical impact on the Russian culture starts in 1678 with the establishment of the Slavic Greek Latin Academy by the initiative of the poet-monk Simeon Polotsky. Since then not only the classic images and plots are incorporated in different arts in Russia but the classic ideas find their place in the Russian mind. We are talking of course first of all about the elite culture, but they invade deeper and wider, mostly through the poetry. And the poetry becomes even more known because of its more popular form – the songs.
In the modern culture the song finds its ways to the hearts of the audience easier than a poem which is supposed to be read or recited only, and its audience is wider. Here in Israel we can see that the only recent poetry which is known and significant to the people is one of the poets like Neomi Shemer and Ehud Manor who presented their poems as songs. But now we can see or the singers who perform somebody else's songs, and the lyricists who give their poems away to the singers, or the poets who perform their own songs, so called bards. This phenomenon is particularly popular in Russia and among the Russian-speakers abroad since the second half of the XX century.
I think that the unique figure in this sphere is that of Psoy Korolenko (the stage name of the poet and the philologist Dr. Pavel Lion, who specializes in Russian literature). For two decades Psoy performs his own texts, his and others' translations and the songs of others, creating a unique synthetic art. He reminds by that the ancient Greek aoidoi who also performed their own pieces along with large fragments taken from the others and have created unique units two of which we know as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". Another similarity is that Psoy calls himself "a wondering scholar", a definition we can use in a sense towards the aoidoi too (Homer is called "the Father of all the sciences"); until 10 years ago Psoy was teaching literature in the Moskow State University, and still gives lectures here and there, including a lecture in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem three years ago.
Another justification for calling him a modern aoidos is that some people who write about him or make interviews with him indeed call him "aed" (aoidos in Russian; aed clearly reminds of a yid, "a Jew" in Yiddish, a common word for a Jew among the Russian Ashkenazi Jews), and recently Psoy himself is using it too. Another definition used by himself and the others is akyn (a parallel to the Greek aoidos in Kazakh and Kyrgyz culture; akyns are also reciting and improvising to the accompaniment of the string instruments such as a dombra or a qomuz).
One more similarity is the oral character of his art; there are written texts of course, small part of them was published in the book "The hit of the century" ("Shljager veka", Novoje Literaturnoje obozrenije, Moskow, 2003), but they are meant mostly to an audial perception, better along with the visual one, and published mostly as You-tube videos and during the multiple concerts he gives worldwide, including US and Israel. Usually Psoy performs in small places, like pubs and bars, containing up to 60 people, and in festivals where the audience is bigger. He appeared as a singer in the movie "Dust" (2005) and recently on the 1st channel on the Russian national TV. His most famous clip "An asshole" ("Ujebische") has gathered more than a million views on You-tube.
Psoy Korolenko, "An asshole and a good one"
An asshole I am, a good one you are.
Lacking your cleanness, I will not get far. (twice)
A good one I am, an asshole you are.
Lacking your filthiness, I will not get far. (twice)
I live like a pig, I live like a shit,
You're toiling away, and I don't give a shit. (twice)
You live like a pig, you live like a shit,
I'm toiling away, and you don't give a shit. (twice)
Again I'm a jerk, again I'm a dick,
Again my behavior is ugly and sick. (twice)
Again you're a jerk, again you're a dick,
Again your behavior is ugly and sick. (twice)
May I burn in flames, be stomped by a horse,
No matter what happens, you're mine and I'm yours. (twice)
May you burn in flames, be fucked by a swine,
No matter what happens, I'm yours and you're mine. (twice)
An asshole I am, a good one you are.
Lacking your wholeness I will not get far. (twice)
A good one I am, an asshole you are.
Lacking your emptiness, I will not get far. (twice)
(Translated by Mike Lion)
Original video (with Natalya Belenkaya / Grinberg):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23jahRXMPjEA fragment in English (with Daniel Kahn):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci3iGc9SzD8I think that this text is a kind of parallel to Horace, Odes, III, 9: at least it has the same dynamics.
There are differences of course between Psoy and the aoidoi, and the main one is the multilingual nature of his art. It is though not his invention, there are roots of that already in the classic tradition: in Rome the literary tradition was bilingual, and it becomes wider in the new age, so that Alexander Pushkin, the most significant figure in the Russian poetry (lived in XIX cent.), says in his version of Horace's Monumentum (Odes III, 30):
I shall be noised abroad through all great Russia,
Her innumerable tongues shall speak my name:
The tongue of the Slavs' proud grandson, the Finn, and now
The wild Tungus and Kalmyk, the steppes' friend.
(Translated by Babette Deutsch)
Psoy takes it further and performs his own songs and the songs of the others, translated by him and the others, fully or partially, sometimes as musical and textual macaronic pieces or as centones, in Russian, Yiddish, English, French and other languages. Cento as a genre has been started in the ancient parody samples of which we can find in Aristophanes, and the macaronic style was invented later, probably by Ausonius who is also known as a composer of centones (IV cent. C.E.).
Some times Psoy turns directly to the classic tradition. For instance, he just speaks Latin, by relatively known and understandable Latin phrases, in order to express very personal feelings which are common and eternal, along with only one Russian phrase, which says "And I want to hold your hands, and I want to strain you to my heart, wildly" ("Dicunt", a song by Svetlana Periverzeva):
Dicunt: separatum longum, (4 times)
Dicunt: coniugatum breve, (4 times)
But I want to hold your hands, and I want to strain you to my heart.
Dicunt: dum spiro spero, (4 times)
Dicunt: ora et labora, (4 times)
But I want to hold your hands, and I want to strain you to my heart.
Dicunt: memento mori, (4 times)
Dicunt: suum cuique. (4 times)
But I want to hold your hands, and I want to strain you to my heart, wildly.
.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OacVtm7-k64His song "Pythia" reflects hesitations of a poet who knows well that his only way out to the hearts of the public is through the music. A poet who is vates, a prophet, by himself, can be recognized as such by the audience only by getting closer to them by the means of the music. It is where the aoidoi ended, and it is where a modern poet finds himself again. Use of the Greek word "pythia" instead of the Russian synonyms clearly indicates a cultural context wider than just popular contemporary Russian culture, but Psoy also plays with the word using its first syllable as onomatopoeia for bird's shout.
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
Just listen, hey, just listen, hey,
What the Pythia is going to say.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
A little tiny Pythia.
Just listen, hey, just listen, hey,
What Pythia is going to say.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
And so it was, and so it was,
I'm gonna tell you how it was.
An so it was, and so it was,
I'm gonna tell you how it was.
Nobody thought I was a Pythia,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
No one believed I was a Pythia,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
The only feedback to my work
Was "Asshole! Jerk!", just "Asshole! Jerk!"
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I tried to foist on them my rhyme,
And they were like: "That's all? Oh, fine!"
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I tried to foist on them my text,
And they were like: "You're done here? Next!"
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I tried to foist on them my word,
And they were like they hadn't heard.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I tried to foist on them my plot,
And they were like: Oh, what a clot!
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I 've got it, I have had to split,
Or I'll be in the deepest shit,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I 've got it, I have had to split,
Or I'll be in the deepest shit,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I 've got it, I have had to split,
Or I'll be in the deepest shit,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I got it: poetry? Сome on!
I'd rather do a little song.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I got it: poetry is wrong!
Instead I'll do a little song.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I got it: poetry? Move on!
I'd rather make a little song.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I got it: poetry, so long!
Instead I'll sing a little song.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
And here I'm singing all along,
I vex you with a ringing song.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
To sing for you is now my work,
I have become a shameless jerk,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
To sing for you is now my feast,
I'm as productive as a beast.
The people know I am a Pythia
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
They all believe I am a Pythia
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
The world has recognized my work.
There's no more asshole, no more jerk.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
The world has recognized my work.
There's no more asshole, no more jerk.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
The world has recognized my work.
There's no more asshole, no more jerk.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
The world has known I'm Pythia.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
They world believes I'm Pythia.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
The world has recognized my work.
There's no more asshole, no more jerk.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth...
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
A little tiny Pythia.
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
The world is owned by Pythia.
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
The world has come to Pythia.
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
They world is loving Pythia.
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
The world is fine with Pythia.
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
The world remembers Pythia
I'm Pythia, I'm Pythia,
A little tiny Pythia.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth.
Just listen, hey, just listen, hey,
What Pythia is going to say.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth.
Just come and taste, just come and taste,
What Pythia is gonna waste.
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth.
Just come together and rejoice!
The Pythia is here! No choice!
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth,
Pyth-pyth, pyth-pyth.
(Translated by Hava B. Korzakova, authorized by Pavel Lion)
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9-dk_0iaL0About four years ago Psoy has started to perform a real epos, an endless story about a modern Russian Jew called Abrasha who goes through various adventures, including fantastic ones, just like Odysseus. The first part was composed by Psoy in Russian, than Daniel Kahn, his friend and collegue, has translated it to English, than additional parts were composed and translated by both of them, so it pointless to bring here the lyrics, but I want you to see a small fragment in English just to get a taste of this epos (you can find the rest of it on the You-tube).
Video (with Daniel Kahn):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWHiVg6XpyQAnd another Psoy's idea which reminds me of aoidoi: he claims that sometimes, when certain elements of the song are already known to the audience, the whole thing will work even if the other elements are new. It is not exactly the same thing which does Homer when he introduces his own version of a myth or a description of an object composed by him, like Nestor's cup or Achilles' shield; as I have said, the multilingual nature of Psoy's art is something which differs from the art of aoidoi, but still I think that there is kind of similarity here. I don't bring here the lyrics of the last song, "Moskve", I want you to hear today, just on that purpose: everyone can get some kind of impression from the parts he understands and from the parts he does not.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu_SDbl--j8![]()
