Aida Vedishcheva
Encyclopedia
Aida Semёnovna Vedishcheva ' onMouseout='HidePop("87466")' href="/topics/Kazan">Kazan
) is a Soviet singer of Jewish descent (Kievan Jews). In the 1960s she contributed songs to several film soundtracks, including "The small song about bears", "Help me", "Forest deer", "Bear-mama lullaby", and "Chunga-changa".
(administrative center of Tatar ASSR) in the family of professor of medicine Solomon Vais, who arrived from Kiev
just before World War II. In 1951 her family relocated to Irkutsk
in Siberia
. There Vedishcheva finished her Music School, where she performed in the student theater of musical comedy. Afterward she enrolled (by her parents' request) into the Institute of foreign languages, where she studied both the German and English languages. Upon graduating from the institute, Vedishcheva left for Moscow, where she tried to enroll into the Supreme Theatrical Institute of Shchepkin, but did not succeed. After that she began her singing career due to her strong and beautiful voice.
She began her singing performance from the start of the 1960s in the Kharkiv
philharmony. Vedishcheva sang in the Oleg Lundstrem
orchestra and then Leonid Utёsov
. Since 1966 she was performing along with the "Meloton" ensemble as well as the Vocal-instrumental ensemble (VIE) "Blue Guitars" led by Igor Granov. The same year (1966) Vedishcheva became a laureate of the First "All-Union Concourse of a Soviet Song". She achieved national recognition after singing "The small song about bears" in 1967 for the movie Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
(7 million records were released). In 1968 for her song "Geese, geese" ("Gusi, gusi") she received a diploma at the Sopot
International song festival
(the Polish Baltic Sea
coast). That was followed by such songs as "Volcano of desires" ("Help me") for the movie The Diamond Arm
(1968), "Comrade" ("For the friendship was carried by comrade on waves...", 1970), "Forest deer" for the movie Way to go Nastia! (1972), and others.
Not paying attention to her success among the listeners, she met numerous obstacles, as did several other song performers of Jewish descent (including Vadim Mulerman, Larisa Mondrus, Maya Kristalinskaya). Among such obstacles were cases of her name not making into movies credits, cancellation of concerts, cold receptions on television, a prohibition of concert tours abroad, demagnetized tapes with her records on radio. For example, her song "Forest deer" was recognized as the Song of the Year, but on the television it was performed by the Loktev ensemble. From the mid-1970s Vedishcheva disappeared from the credits of movies and cartoons. She finally left with her mother and son for the United States in 1980.
In America, Vedishcheva had to start her singing career from the ground up. She enrolled into the four-year theater college where she learned American cinematography and dance. At first Vedishcheva resided in New York
, then she moved to Los Angeles due to the climate causing her some health problems. In the USA she was able to receive her recognition, creating her own theatrical troupe and a show on the TV in California
. Vedishcheva, under the pseudonym Amazing Aida, was performing mostly the American repertoire: songs of popular Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies, and beside them the songs of Michel Legrand
, Russian and Gypsy romance songs, as well as Jewish traditional songs.
In the beginning of the 1990s she was diagnosed with cancer of third degree. Despite doctors' precautions Vedishcheva insisted on her surgery, going through chemotherapy
, after which the disease yielded.
In 1998 Vedishcheva put on the show Miss Liberty for the new millennium. After the September 11 attacks she wrote the musical "Masterpiece and the singing Liberty" and dedicated it to the Statue of Liberty
. The musical was performed on Broadway in 2007.
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
) is a Soviet singer of Jewish descent (Kievan Jews). In the 1960s she contributed songs to several film soundtracks, including "The small song about bears", "Help me", "Forest deer", "Bear-mama lullaby", and "Chunga-changa".
Biography
Aida Vedishcheva was born in KazanKazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
(administrative center of Tatar ASSR) in the family of professor of medicine Solomon Vais, who arrived from Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
just before World War II. In 1951 her family relocated to Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. There Vedishcheva finished her Music School, where she performed in the student theater of musical comedy. Afterward she enrolled (by her parents' request) into the Institute of foreign languages, where she studied both the German and English languages. Upon graduating from the institute, Vedishcheva left for Moscow, where she tried to enroll into the Supreme Theatrical Institute of Shchepkin, but did not succeed. After that she began her singing career due to her strong and beautiful voice.
She began her singing performance from the start of the 1960s in the Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
philharmony. Vedishcheva sang in the Oleg Lundstrem
Oleg Lundstrem
Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem was a Soviet and Russian jazz composer and conductor of the Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra, one of the earliest officially recognized jazz bands in the Soviet Union Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem (also spelled Lundstroem, Lundström, ; April 2, 1916, Chita—October 14, 2005, near...
orchestra and then Leonid Utёsov
Leonid Utyosov
Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utesov ; real name Lazar Vaysbeyn or Weissbein , was a famous Soviet jazz singer and comic actor of jewish origin, who became the first pop singer to be awarded the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR .-Biography:Leonid Utyosov was brought up in Odessa...
. Since 1966 she was performing along with the "Meloton" ensemble as well as the Vocal-instrumental ensemble (VIE) "Blue Guitars" led by Igor Granov. The same year (1966) Vedishcheva became a laureate of the First "All-Union Concourse of a Soviet Song". She achieved national recognition after singing "The small song about bears" in 1967 for the movie Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
Kidnapping, Caucasian Style
A she-prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures , also known as Kidnapping, Caucasian Style is a Soviet comedy film dealing with the theme of bride kidnapping....
(7 million records were released). In 1968 for her song "Geese, geese" ("Gusi, gusi") she received a diploma at the Sopot
Sopot
Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
International song festival
Sopot International Song Festival
The Sopot International Song Festival is an international song contest held in Sopot, Poland. It was the biggest Polish music festival altogether with the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and one of the biggest annual song contest in Europe...
(the Polish Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coast). That was followed by such songs as "Volcano of desires" ("Help me") for the movie The Diamond Arm
The Diamond Arm
The Diamond Arm is a 1968 Soviet comedy film filmed by Mosfilm and first released in 1968. The film was directed by slapstick director Leonid Gaidai and starred several famous Soviet actors, including Yuri Nikulin, Andrei Mironov, Anatoli Papanov, Nonna Mordyukova and Svetlana Svetlichnaya. The...
(1968), "Comrade" ("For the friendship was carried by comrade on waves...", 1970), "Forest deer" for the movie Way to go Nastia! (1972), and others.
Not paying attention to her success among the listeners, she met numerous obstacles, as did several other song performers of Jewish descent (including Vadim Mulerman, Larisa Mondrus, Maya Kristalinskaya). Among such obstacles were cases of her name not making into movies credits, cancellation of concerts, cold receptions on television, a prohibition of concert tours abroad, demagnetized tapes with her records on radio. For example, her song "Forest deer" was recognized as the Song of the Year, but on the television it was performed by the Loktev ensemble. From the mid-1970s Vedishcheva disappeared from the credits of movies and cartoons. She finally left with her mother and son for the United States in 1980.
In America, Vedishcheva had to start her singing career from the ground up. She enrolled into the four-year theater college where she learned American cinematography and dance. At first Vedishcheva resided in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, then she moved to Los Angeles due to the climate causing her some health problems. In the USA she was able to receive her recognition, creating her own theatrical troupe and a show on the TV in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Vedishcheva, under the pseudonym Amazing Aida, was performing mostly the American repertoire: songs of popular Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies, and beside them the songs of Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
, Russian and Gypsy romance songs, as well as Jewish traditional songs.
In the beginning of the 1990s she was diagnosed with cancer of third degree. Despite doctors' precautions Vedishcheva insisted on her surgery, going through chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
, after which the disease yielded.
In 1998 Vedishcheva put on the show Miss Liberty for the new millennium. After the September 11 attacks she wrote the musical "Masterpiece and the singing Liberty" and dedicated it to the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
. The musical was performed on Broadway in 2007.
Songs
- Be with me as before (music V. Shainsky, words А. Nagorniak)
- Cranes (music E. Khanok, words А. Dostal)
- Love (music О. Feltsman, words N. Olev)
- Answer (music S. Pozhalkov, words N. Malyshev)
- I will wait for you (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
- Geese, geese (music S. Pozhalkov, words N. Malyshev)
- Comrade (music О. Ivanov, words А. Prokofyev)
- In any way you will be mine (music А. Zatsepin, words L. Derbenev)
- You argued without purpose (music B. Savelyev, words V. Kharitonov)
- Simply the age is such (music B. Savelyev, words М. Pliatskovsky)
- Be as it may (music Ya. Frenkel, words М. Tanich)
- Steps in Grass (music М. LegrandMichel LegrandMichel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
, words I. Reznik)
In movies
- White piano — Road Song (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
- White piano — First Spring (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
- White piano — Song about Dushanbe (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
- Way to go Nastia! — Forest deer (music Ye. Krylatov, words Yu. Entin)
- Kidnapping, Caucasian StyleKidnapping, Caucasian StyleA she-prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik's New Adventures , also known as Kidnapping, Caucasian Style is a Soviet comedy film dealing with the theme of bride kidnapping....
— The small song about bears (music А. Zatsepin, words L. Derbenev) - The Diamond ArmThe Diamond ArmThe Diamond Arm is a 1968 Soviet comedy film filmed by Mosfilm and first released in 1968. The film was directed by slapstick director Leonid Gaidai and starred several famous Soviet actors, including Yuri Nikulin, Andrei Mironov, Anatoli Papanov, Nonna Mordyukova and Svetlana Svetlichnaya. The...
— Help me (music А. Zatsepin, words L. Derbenev)
In cartoons
- Umka — Bear-mama lullaby (music Ye. Krylatov, words Yu. Yakovlev)
- Katerok — Chunga-changa (music V. Shainsky, words Yu. Entin)
External links
- Program with Aida Vedishcheva on the "Autoradio" (wma)
- Two interviews
- Interview to "Nezavisimaya gazeta"
- Aida Vedishcheva, a singer behind a scene ("Kopeika", February 10, 2006)
- Program "Celebrities"
- Somewhere in the world… («Moskovskij Komsomolets»)
- Aida Vedishcheva: nobody wanted to leave (Radio of Russia)
- Planida of Aida. Visiting the "Krugozor" journal, a legend of the Russian pop-music Aida Vedishcheva