Anthology of Tatar Amateur Composers cannot be obtained by the music authors themselves
Who wrote 'Min Yaratam Sine, Tatarstan,’ ‘Ayrilmagy’ and other hits? Amateurs!
Less than six months have passed since the publication of the Anthology of Tatar Amateur Composers. But in Kazan, this edition can no longer be found on sale — everything has been distributed to educational institutions, among which there are no music ones. This was reported at the presentation of the book in the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan. Many heroes of the anthology were among the guests.
“Is this one really an amateur? And this one?”
Last year, on 26 April, at the traditional meeting of Rais Rustam Minnikhanov with the Tatar intelligentsia, at the very end, outside the protocol, Rif Gataullin came out to the head of the republic and asked for help in publishing an anthology of Tatar amateur composers. Much of what was announced that day is still in the process of being implemented, but the book has been published.
Back in 2022, Gataullin won a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan. He himself recalled that in the process of preparing the book, he showed the materials to the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan Irada Ayupova:
“She was surprised: is this one really an amateur? And this one? They are all familiar to the people, their music sounds. But in the end, they were left on the edge, as amateurs.”
Rif Gataullin began writing songs while studying at the vocal department of the Kazan Conservatory, that is, he was not a professional composer then. Later, he entered the theoretical and composition faculty. He created the symphonic bait Sak-Sok. This is one of the works for which Gataullin was nominated for the Tukai Prize in our time.
In 1991, he created the Public Organization of Amateur Composers, attracting participants even from abroad, holding festivals, seminars, master classes. Thanks to Gataullin, many author and collective collections were published.
From the 1940s to the present, from Yarullin to Gainullin
The book, more than 650 pages long, contains biographies and notes of 194 composers from Russia and the CIS countries, from the 1940s to the present. Unfortunately, for example, it was not possible to collect all the information on Finnish composers. Gataullin was assisted by books, newspapers, magazines, and radio broadcasts accumulated over many years. In addition to information about life and work, the anthology contains 1-2 songs from each composer. Studying the book is interesting even at the content level. Among the first amateur authors of the 1940s were the first Tatar professional harmonica player Fayzulla Tuishev and the author of Tukay’s MarchZagidulla Yarullin. In the 1950s — ex-director of the Jalil Theatre Masgut Imashev. In the 1960s, the author of the songs (Golmaryam, Sin Sazyny Uynadyn) was Ilham Shakirov himself.
There were especially many composers in the 1970s — conductor of the Kamal Theatre orchestra Fuat Abubakirov, Salavat’s best friend Firzar Murtazin, the chief arranger of the 20th century Vadim Usmanov (author of the song Chulpan). The 1980s section features the author of the timeless Aerylmagyz Chulpan Zinnatullina-Gusamova. In the 1990s, it was Robert Andreev (“Min yaratam sine, Tatarstan”). And in the 2000s, it was the honoured European accordionist Aidar Gainullin and hitmaker Oskar Usmanov.
By the way, sometimes it is hard to find the line between amateurism and professionalism. Is the Gnesin College graduate Gainullin not a professional? Well, he showed himself more as an instrumentalist. But Oskar Usmanov earned his living by writing songs.
We would like to mention Roza Mukhutdinova separately. She studied at the Pedagogical Institute in the music department, worked as a teacher at the Arsk Pedagogical College, and began writing songs. She interned at the conservatory with Rashid Kalimullin, who advised her not to limit herself to small forms, but to write instrumental pieces as well. This is how the oratorio Bolgar Jile, cantatas Iske Kazan, Idel Yort and, of course, Tamyrlar appeared.
“I thought about who to start with, I decided with Yarullin, from the 1940s, when music schools and colleges appeared, understanding musicians appeared not only in villages and cities. In Soviet times, there were clubs, choirs, schools in the villages, the people were Tatar-speaking, unspoiled. I tried to include special composers. There are both collective farm and school songs. I was already able to catch the authors of the 1960s,” Gatullin said about the progress of the work.
Many new authors sought to get into the 2000s section, the composer noted, he offered them to join the organization first. In the future, Gataullin hopefully indicated, either new anthologies or digital archives will probably appear.
The composers' relatives, especially their wives, provided great assistance in the work on the publication. In particular, it became known at the meeting that the wife of accordionist Rustem Valeyev, Dilyara, is preparing a book about him.
Where to buy the book
The published anthology was distributed to general education institutions. It only did not make it to music schools and colleges. 140 out of 194 composers are alive, others, of course, have relatives. The authors of the book were unable to give the publication to any of them. The print run of 1050 copies did not go on sale — it was all distributed among the regions.
“We told the composers — go there, take a look. But in the regions — Tomsk, Mordovia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan — no one got the books there,” they said at the meeting. The authors even asked for documents from Tatgiz to understand where the books went.
In search of money, they contacted Tatneft, but to no avail. Now there is a certain chance that an additional print run of the book will be printed for the planned National Assembly where this year the World Congress of Tatars will organize the World Forum of Tatar Women, the World Forum of Tatar Youth and the All-Russian Forum of Tatar Regional Studies. The Public Organization of Amateur Composers also asked for the opportunity to hold a composers' festival. In this way, they hope to convey information to the regions.
