Igor Talkov

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Igor Talkov Игорь Тальков
Stamp of Russia, devoted to Igor Talkov, 1999, 2 rub. (Scott № 6549)
Background information
Birth name	Igor Vladimirovich Talkov
Born	(1956-11-04)4 November 1956 Gretsovka, Shchyokinsky District, Tula Oblast, RSFSR, Soviet Union
Died	6 October 1991(1991-10-06) (aged 34) Leningrad, Soviet Union
Genres	Russian rock Bard New wave russian chanson
Occupation(s)	singer-songwriter, film actor
Instruments	Vocals Guitar Bass guitar Accordion Piano Drum kit
Years active	1973–1991

Igor Vladimirovich Talkov (Russian: И́горь Влади́мирович Талько́в; 4 November 1956 – 6 October 1991), was a Soviet Russian rock singer-songwriter and film actor.^[1] His breakthrough came in 1987 with the David Tukhmanov-composed song "Chistye prudy" which was an instant hit. Talkov's lyrics are mostly about love, but also contain social critic of the Soviet regime. He was shot dead in 1991.

Early life and career[]

Igor Talkov was born in Gretsovka, Tula Oblast, Soviet Union on 4 November 1956.^[2] He grew up in Shchyokino.^[3] After leaving the army, Talkov started singing in the restaurants of Moscow and Sochi.^[3]

Talkov's breakthrough came in 1987 with the David Tukhmanov-composed song "Chistye prudy" which was an instant hit.^[2] While he is mostly remembered for songs about love and fate, most of his work held a clearly political message against the Soviet regime, calling for a change. This is one of the reasons why Talkov was never popular with the Soviet government; even as a performer renowned and loved throughout the whole Soviet Union, he lived in a small two-room apartment with his wife and son, composing his lyrics and music "on top of the washing machine in the bathroom", according to the rumours.^{[citation needed]} He was not satisfied with Perestroika, claiming it to be nothing but the same regime under a different guise.^{[citation needed]} In his post-Perestroika songs, he openly mocked the changes, calling them a ruse.^{[citation needed]} Talkov was an avid reader of pre-revolutionary Russian history, which served as the inspiration for many of his songs. He even guaranteed at his last concert that he was willing to "back up" his lyrics with historical facts.^{[citation needed]}

Talkov also made a brief presence in the cinema, acting in the films Behind the Last Line (Za posledney chertoy) and Tsar Ivan the Terrible (Tsar Ivan Groznyy). The latter film he disliked, apologizing to a preview audience for participating in the film.^{[citation needed]} Since Talkov refused to complete post-production sound on the film, his character was voiced by another actor.^{[citation needed]}

Talkov's songs also have much in common – particularly from a lyrical perspective – with Russian bard music.^{[citation needed]}

Death[]

Events before the murder

Palace of Sports "Yubileiny" in St. Petersburg, where on October 6, 1991 Igor Talkov was supposed to participate in a concert

Sports complex Jubilee When considering murder in modern documentary and journalism, as a rule, attention is drawn to a number of previous events, which, presumably, are directly or indirectly related to the murder.

Igor Talkov's wife Tatyana pointed out that shortly before the murder, the spouse applied either to the Ministry of Internal Affairs or to the KGB with a request to provide him with a professional security guard with the right to carry firearms so that he was constantly with the group, and a few days before the murder, when Talkov was absent at home, they called him, and one of the representatives of these bodies asked Tatyana to tell her husband that this issue had been resolved positively. In early 1991, Talkov acquired a gas pistol, which he constantly forced his wife to take with him, saying that if they wanted to do him badly, they would act through the family [5] [6].

Since June [5] or since August [7] 1991, Talkov had a new commercial director Valery Shlyafman (he worked with Lyudmila Senchina [8]), and it is often noted that with his arrival, constant conflicts began to flare up in the group, and Talkov involuntarily found himself involved in their resolution. According to Tatiana Talkova, Shlyafman specially infiltrated Talkov's team in order to create any unsafe situations around the singer [5].

Tatyana Talkova recalls [5]: ... shortly before the tragedy, Igor fired from the group a man who at one time worked for us as a driver, was in the wings, did not shy away from the work of a porter (carried equipment), then somehow he began to quickly move to administrative work, with Shlyafman. But, as in the well-known fairy tale, his requests grew unreasonably, and he began to claim official powers, which he did not correspond either professionally or in human, moral qualities. There was a break, he was removed from work in the team, which led to threats from him. Around October 3–4, a short telephone conversation took place, during which Igor was very laconic, nevertheless, a principled one sounded: “Are you threatening me? Okay. Declaring war? I accept it. Let's see who comes out the winner. "

Also, the singer's widow recalls that the producer Ismail Tagi-Zade called them at home, who had a conflict with Talkov on the set of the film "Tsar Ivan the Terrible". She answered the phone. Tagi-Zade voiced threats against her husband, mixed with profanity ("Who is he? Yes, I'll do this to him!") [3]. The musician's son Igor Talkov Jr. said that shortly before his death, his father scolded terribly on the phone with the words: “Why are you sticking? I have no more than a month left to live anyway ”[9].

Talkov's arrival in St. Petersburg In the evening of October 5, 1991, Talkov left by train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, where on October 6, together with his musical group "Lifebuoy" he planned to perform at a combined concert of Soviet pop stars at the Yubileiny Sports Palace, organized by the LIS'S production company in honor of opening a branch in St. Petersburg [10]. The concert was also supposed to take part "Cabaret-duet" Academy "" (Alexander Tsekalo and Lolita Milyavskaya), Zhenya Belousov, Igor Nikolaev and Natasha Koroleva [11], Oleg Gazmanov, Olga Kormukhina, Mikhail Muromov, Andrey Derzhavin, Aziza [12 ]. The concert was attended by the director of the group "Squadron" Oleg Gazmanov Alexander Tolmatsky. [13]

According to the memoirs of the actor Evgeny Sidikhin, who starred with Talkov in the film "Beyond the Last Line", the singer planned this fateful trip to St. Petersburg exactly one year before his death [14].

Tatyana Talkova recalled that her husband was not originally going to perform at this concert. On the same day, October 6, he was to fly to Sochi for three or four days, to close the season in the Festivalny Concert Hall. However, in November he was expected to perform a series of solo concerts at the Olimpiyskiy sports complex in Moscow with an audience of up to 30 thousand spectators, for which special equipment was needed, which only the LIS'S production company had. It was her leader, Sergei Lisovsky, who organized this concert in St. Petersburg, and Talkov, deciding to participate in the planned LIS'S concert, hoped to resolve the issue with the equipment for the upcoming concerts at the Olimpiyskiy [5].

Upon arrival in St. Petersburg, Talkov was greeted by representatives of St. Petersburg television at the Moscow railway station at the exit from the train, where he gave a short interview. Then he and other Moscow artists were settled on the ship "Alexei Surkov", in the restaurant of which he gave another interview for television [15], which was the last for the musician. In it, he stated that from now on he would oppose the former communists who called themselves democrats. The television staff invited him to watch a video recording of a concert on Palace Square, held on August 22, 1991.

Aftermath[]

While Valeriy Schlyafman, Talkov's one time manager, was suspected of the murder by a Russian court in 1992, he fled through Ukraine to Israel before he could be arrested.^[2][4] He remains in Israel to this day, insisting he is not guilty of the crime while Israel refuses to extradite him. Schlyafman and his supporters have claimed that the KGB orchestrated the murder.^{[citation needed]}

In 1999 Talkov was honoured with his image portrayed on a Russian postage stamp. There is an Igor Talkov Museum in Moscow.^[5]

Popular Songs[]

• Chistye prudy ("Чистые пруды")
• Letnii Dozhd ("Летний дождь")
• Rossiya ("Россия")
• Moya Lyubov ("Моя любовь")
• "Bivshiy Podesayl" ("Бывший подъесаул")
• Y Tvoego Okna ("У твоего окна")
• Rodina moya ("Родина моя")
• KPSS ("КПСС")
• Stsena ("Сцена")
• Pamyat ("Память")
• Primerniy Malchik ("Примерный мальчик")
• Stop Dumayu Sebe ("Стоп! Думаю себе")
• Kremlevskaya Stena ("Кремлёвская стена")
• Spasatelniy Krug ("Спасательный круг")
• Gospoda Demokrati ("Господа демократы")
• Gospodin President ("Господин президент")
• Ya Vernus ("Я вернусь")

See also[]

• List of unsolved murders

External links[]

• Igor Talkov at Find a Grave (in Russian)

References[]