The Songs of My Mother

The Songs of My Mother (Песни моей мамы) is a Russian album by the singer Vitas. It was released on the 3rd of April 2004.[1][Note 1] Together with the previous album Mama, the two albums were a tribute to his late mother. Songs from these albums featured heavily in the setlist of Vitas' extensive world tour The Songs of My Mother, performed at hundreds of venues in several countries from 2004-2006.[2]

Songs of My Mother
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 3, 2004 (2004-04-03)
Recorded2001–2003
GenrePop, folk
Length43:19
LabelIceberg Music
ProducerEduard Izmestyev
Vitas chronology
Mama
(2003)
Songs of My Mother
(2004)
A Kiss as Long as Eternity
(2004)

While Mama included several new songs written by Vitas, Songs of My Mother consists entirely of cover versions of popular older songs, described as "the gold reserves of Russian pop music",[3] including the 1980 song, The Bird of Happiness, composed by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov (from Yuri Ozerov's 1981 film O Sport, You - the world!), previously recorded by the vocal – instrumental ensemble Zdravstvuy, Pesnya, among others.[4][5] The song The Bird of Happiness became from 1981 on forward the most successful in both Russia and China,[6] and is still often performed by Vitas on stage. The song Chrysanthemums Have Faded was previously included on Vitas' Smile! album. All the other tracks were newly recorded for Songs of My Mother.

Vitas performed a piano-backed arrangement of Winter on a Russian New Year TV show in 2002.[7]

Track listing

edit
No.TitleLyricsMusicEnglish titleLength
1."Птица счастья"Nikolai DobronravovAleksandra PakhmutovaThe Bird of Happiness3:25
2."Любите, пока любится"Mikhail RyabininAleksandr MorozovLove While You Can3:22
3."В краю магнолий"Yuriy MartsinkyevichMorozovIn the District of Magnolias3:56
4."Всё могут короли"Leonid DerbenevBoris RychkovKings Can Do Everything3:33
5."Зима"Sergey OstrovoyEduard KhanokWinter3:12
6."Гадалка"DerbenevMaksim DunayevskyFortune Teller3:40
7."Букет"Nikolay RubtsovAleksandr BarykinBouquet3:04
8."Морская песенка"Mikhail Slovodskoy, Vadim DykhovichniyNikita BogoslovskyA Sea Song2:30
9."Говорящая кукла"Grigoriy GorbovskiyMorozovThe Speaking Doll2:53
10."Отцвели хризантемы"Vasiliy ShumskiyNikolai KharitoChrysanthemums Have Faded3:54
11."Горький мёд"Vadim PavlinovOleg IvanovBitter Honey3:41
12."А цыган идёт"Rudyard Kipling, translated by Grigory KruzhkovAleksandr PetrovAnd the Gypsy Is Going2:59
13."Одесса"Arkadiy UkupnikMikhail TanichOdessa3:07
Limited edition CD bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."Птица счастья" (Trnceformer remix)3:31

Personnel

edit
  • Sergey Pudovkin – production
  • Mikhail Dobrotvorskiy – management
  • Dmitriy Dobrotvorskiy – direction
  • Eduard Izmestyev – production, arrangement
  • Mikhail Grishin – engineering
  • Ilya Grebenyuk – keyboards
  • Aleksandr Gruzdev – guitar, saxophone
  • Rashit Kiyamov – bass guitar
  • Rushan Kharryasov – drums, percussion
  • Oboz Design Studio – sleeve design

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Most sources, including official ones, incorrectly state that it was released in 2003. This confusion stems from the fact that the tour promoting both this album and "Mama", which had the same name, began in 2003. But, according to press releases from the time, the actual album was, in fact, released on the 3rd of April 2004.

References

edit
  1. ^ "КЛАССИКУ СОВЕТСКОЙ ЭСТРАДЫ ВИТАС ПОСВЯТИЛ МАМЕ". Intermedia. 25 March 2004. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023.
  2. ^ Press release Archived September 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Ticketone biographical information
  4. ^ Video on YouTube
  5. ^ Video on YouTube
  6. ^ Video on YouTube
  7. ^ Vitas singing Winter live, New Year 2002 on YouTube
edit