Jean Arutyunovich Tatlian (Russian: Жан Арутюнович Татлян; born 1 August 1943, Thessaloniki, Greece), also known as Djan Tatlan,[1] is a Soviet singer of Armenian ancestry. In the late 1960s he enjoyed great popularity in the USSR. He emigrated to France in 1971.[2][3][4] Jean Tatlian considers himself the first chansonnier of the Soviet Union.[5]

Jean Tatlian

Biography

Tatlian was born in an Armenian family in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 1 August, 1943. He was the youngest of three children. In 1947 the family moved to the USSR, to the Armenian SSR and then to Abkhasia. As a schoolboy, Tatlian bought himself a guitar with money he earned from painting houses. He studied guitar at the Sukhumi Philharmonia and before the age of 16 was already earning money from concerts in nearby republics, in which he performed songs by French and Italian chansonniers. Later he studied in a workshop of variety art in Kiev, where the 19-year-old (not yet 18 according to other sources[6]) was noticed by the conductor of the State Armenian Orchestra, Konstantin Orbelian, who invited him to join the orchestra as a soloist in a tour across Ukraine. Around the same time, in the early 1960s, he had his first success, with the song "Street Lamps" ("Уличные фонари"), for which a video was shot and shown on television. The song became popular. After a while Tatlian moved to Leningrad. He loved the city and lived there from then on.[7] In Leningrad he founded his own orchestra and would give 350–400 concerts per year[6] working with Lenconcert (a concert association that organized concerts in Leningrad) until the late 1960s. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, following a disagreement with a female director of the Orel Philharmony,[8] Tatlian was effectively banned from any concert activity[9] (and also, from the very beginning, he was de facto banned from leaving the Soviet Union), and in 1971 emigrated to France.[10]

Among the songs Tatlian is most known for are: "Street Lamps" ("Уличные фонари"), "Autumn Light" ("Осенний свет"), "Song About Water Drops [During a Thaw]" ("Песня о капели"), "Old Tower" ("Старая башня"), "Starry Night" ("Звёздная ночь"),[11][12] "Воздушные замки", "Бумажный голубь", "Осенние следы", "Ты поверь",[8] "Самая красивая", "Свет маяка", "Ласточка".[13] He also was the original performer of the song "Best City in the World" ("Лучший город Земли", about Moscow) composed by Arno Babajanian and best known for the version sung by Muslim Magomaev, who recorded it a year later.[8][14]

References

  1. "Djan Tatlan – Djan Tatlan (1977, Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  2. Федор Раззаков (2004). Жизнь замечательных времен, 1970–1974 гг: время, события, люди. Eksmo. ISBN 9785699053940.
  3. "Borscht Belt". New York. 19 October 1987. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  4. "В Москве состоится концерт звезды 60-х Жана Татляна". PanArmenian Network. 22 January 2009.
  5. Летопись газетных статей, Выпуски 1–13. Всесоюзная книжная палата. 1994.
  6. 1 2 ""Радио Шансон" и "Шансон-ТВ" – информационные спонсоры концерта Жана Татляна". OnAir.Ru. 22 January 2009.
  7. "20 ноября в Абхазской государственной филармонии состоится концерт эстрадного певца Жана Татляна". Abkhasian state news agency Apsnypress (Государственное информационное агентство Апсныпресс). 9 November 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
    "Сегодня в Абхазской государственной филармонии состоится концерт эстрадного певца Жана Татляна". Abkhasian state news agency Apsnypress (Государственное информационное агентство Апсныпресс). 20 November 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
    "Жан Татлян: "Я еще молод, мне остался 31 год до ста лет!"". Abkhasian state news agency Apsnypress (Государственное информационное агентство Апсныпресс). 21 November 2012. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 Жан Татлян, Жак Дувалян – невозвращенцы по-армянски (in Russian). Novoye Vremya (Armenian newspaper).
  9. Фёдор Раззаков (1 October 2013). Скандалы советской эпохи. Litres. ISBN 9785425088208.
  10. Фоторепортаж с концерта Жана Татляна (in Russian). Афиша Mail.Ru. 18 October 2010.
  11. "Жан Татлян даст большой сольный концерт в Театре эстрады". Utro.ru. 27 January 2007.
    "Жан Татлян даст концерт в Москве". Ореанда-Новости. 28 January 2009.
  12. ЖАН ТАТЛЯН: ИЛИ ОЧЕНЬ ХОРОШО, ИЛИ ЕЩЕ ЛУЧШЕ. Trud (#161, 30 August 2000) (in Russian). 30 August 2000.
  13. Savchenko, Boris (2008). Кумиры российской эстрады. Panorama. ISBN 9785852205636.
  14. Artemy Troitsky. Артемий Троицкий о песнях о Москве [Artemy Troitsky on the songs about Moscow]. Cosmopolitan (in Russian) (September 2010).
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