Biography
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (Okudjava) was born on May 9, 1924, in Moscow, Soviet Union. His father, Shalva Okudjava, was a high-ranking Communist Party official in Tbilisi, Georgia; he moved to Moscow to advance his career but was arrested and executed in 1937 during Stalin's Great Terror. His mother was imprisoned in the Gulag for 18 years. Raised by his grandmother in Tbilisi, young Okudzhava volunteered for the Red Army during World War II, serving as infantry on the front lines; he was seriously wounded and discharged in 1944. In 1950, he graduated from the Philological Department of Tbilisi State University. Okudzhava was barred from returning to Moscow until after Stalin’s death. From 1950 to 1956, he worked as a schoolteacher in the village of Shamorodino and later in Kaluga, Russia, where he published his first poetry collection in 1956.
In 1956, Okudzhava returned to Moscow and gradually earned a reputation as an independent poet and free thinker. He published his second collection, Ostrova (Islands), in 1959. Initially, he was less recognized than contemporaries such as Yevgeniy Yevtushenko, Bella Akhmadulina, Andrey Voznesenskiy, Robert Rozhdestvenskiy, and Vasiliy Aksyonov—figures later known as the 1960s generation. Okudzhava took up the guitar and gained popularity as a singer-songwriter during the cultural "Thaw" initiated by Nikita Khrushchev. He wrote lyrics for the popular 1970 film Beloe solntse pustyni (The White Sun of the Desert). His solo recordings earned acclaim among Soviet intellectuals, though official Soviet publication of his works was not permitted until the late 1970s. Meanwhile, his literature was celebrated by the Russian-speaking diaspora worldwide. Vladimir Nabokov referenced his poetry, and his works were first published abroad before appearing in the Soviet Union. During the 1980s, his recordings were officially released, and his prose and poetry began to be published in the USSR. In 1991, he received the State Prize of the USSR, and in 1994, he won the Russian Booker Prize for his autobiographical novel The Snow is Over.
Okudzhava introduced a new tone to Moscow urban folklore: cathartic, wistful, and enlightening. Some of his songs offered witty political satire of the Soviet regime. His tape-recorded performances spread widely across the former Soviet Union throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, resonating with audiences who appreciated his empathetic, nostalgic songs. Despite lacking a powerful voice, Okudzhava was beloved for his warm and sincere singing style, vocalizing his melodious verses with charm. His recordings primarily appealed to intellectual audiences and were admired by millions of Russian speakers both within the former Soviet Union and worldwide. Many of his lyrics became as popular as those of Vladimir Vysotskiy. Among his best-known songs are "Polnochny Trolleibus" (A Midnight Trolley, 1960), "Molitva" (A Prayer, 1963), "Nam nuzhna odna pobeda" (We Need One Victory, 1969), and others. His song "Gospozha Udacha" (Lady Luck, 1968), featured in The White Sun of the Desert, became a hit performed by actor Pavel Luspekayev.
Bulat Okudzhava passed away on June 12, 1997, in Paris, France, and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.
