Every Tuesday afternoon - starting 1:30 pm - the Russian Center located in a nice and clean, rehabbed, three story building located at the very heart of famous Chicago's - Uptown - right down the street from the well known junior college - the Truman College - the Ezra Russian Center has been hosting a lot of super good concerts - free of charge. You need to understand Russian - however - if you are to enjoy yourself.
On June 4 - 2013 - the accomplished pianist/arranger Ms. Olga Bashkena organized a terrific afternoon concert consisting of a lot of magnificent pieces composed by a famous Russian composer - who created more than 1500 successful songs performed by the most prominent Russian vocalists - such as Leonid Utesev, Mark Bernes, Irina Allegrova.
The composers' name is Oskar Feltzman who graduated with distinction from Odessa Conservatory of Music - majoring in composition and he passed away from heart failure at eighty three - in the United States where he lived towards the end of his life.
"The Ballad of War Colors" moved me to tears since it reminded me how my mother loved to listen to it - many years before I heard it last Tues. June 4 - 2013 - performed in an almost totally professional manner by Mr. Marat Vilenski - an older tenor.
It was a funny feeling of almost meeting a deceased composer after I heard and loved his song which I knew for many years and have forgotten it - in the interim - busy with my life. I never knew who composed this beautiful ballad. They lyrics skillfully written by Mr. Roshdenstvensky are simple -
"A plain but good woman gave birth to two sons - one had red hair - she whispered that she brought into the world a 'boy sent from the sunshine' - while the second son had a pitch black hair - like shiny tar glistening on the rooftops."
When the Great War broke out - both boys had to go fight Hitler so they respectfully said goodbye and left their mother's home. She waited and worried but kept the upbeat thoughts in her head and she was very lucky - both of them returned from the War but both of them had white hair since the War colors turns the young men's hair - white."
If you live in Chicago area, understand Russian and like Russian culture - you will have a lot of fun during the Tuesday afternoons at the Chicago's Ezra Russian Center.
Copyright@L. Hadley 2021
