Putin appoints international bass as cultural adviser
UncategorizedRussian state media report that the bass singer Ildar Abdrazakov has been appointed to the Russian Presidential Council for Culture and Arts. A decree to that effect has been signed by Vladimir Putin.
Ildar Abdrazakov, 49, is the first opera singer to be co-opted onto the council. State media praise ‘his willingness to sacrifice foreign contracts for Russian projects.
This week he gave a concert in Kranoyarsk, honouring the memory of his late friend Dmitri Hvorostovsky, who died eight years ago.
Italian media report that Abdrazakov has been engaged to sing Don Giovanni in Verona in January.
These ‘cultural’ people are probably trying to provoke Meloni into a conflict and make headlines.
The words ‘Putin’ and ‘culture’ in one context form a blasphemy of everything the notion of culture stands for. It is like excrements being smeared over a Leonardo da Vinci painting.
And this singer, who apparently had no qualms to sell his soul to the devil, should be banned everywhere in the West forever.
In some Western circles, excrement smeared over a Leonardo da Vinci painting would be praised as a work of art superior to the one by the the original Old Master. Unfortunately, the West is showing signs of terminal decline.
The only places you’ll find art made with actual excrement are in the West. You would do well to take a look at the moral failings on your side of the continent.
Girls, girls, girls…let’s stick to the topic of the thread. You’ll get your turn.
Singers are not moral philosophers or martyrs, no more than taxi drivers, if Putin gets into your taxi, you drive, if Putin tells you to sing, you sing.
I think any decent taxi driver would refuse to bring Putin to any other destination than the local prison.
A bit simplistic.
I assume you live in a country where freedom of speech will not land you in jail or worse?
Mr. Abdrazakov has at least two children with two different wives, therefore he has family ties that would make any move out of the country difficult, if not impossible, assuming that was even a consideration.
Ildar had a highly successful international career. Either he is being used as a tool of Putin or it is his choice. Only he knows.
We live in a terrible time when people have to make terrible decisions. Judge not.
Or you leave and take up residence elsewhere and continue with your career.
A bit simplistic.
I assume you live in a country where freedom of speech will not land you in jail or worse?
Mr. Abdrazakov has at least two children with two different wives, therefore he has family ties that would make any move out of the country difficult, if not impossible, assuming that was even a consideration.
Ildar had a highly successful international career. Either he is being used as a tool of Putin because of his celebrity or it is his choice. Only he knows.
We live in a terrible time when people have to make terrible decisions. Judge not.
Do you have any idea how hard it is for Russians to get residency anywhere in the Western half of Europe? Sanctions apply to all Russians whether or not they support the war. Where are you expecting them to go exactly? You can’t have it both ways, you must either make it possible for Russians to emigrate, or stop judging them for staying put.
I needed to start the day with a good laugh…‘his willingness to sacrifice foreign contracts for Russian projects.”
Poor deluded man.
I see the phrase “artistic freedom” remains an oxymoron in Vladimir Putin’s Ru$$ia. And Abdrazakov, by playing along with this gangster regime, reveals himself as either a fool at best or a willing calloborator at worst. Why a nation so marvelously blessed with a rich cultural heritage continues–seemingly always–to struggle under the ruthless thumb of authoritarianism is a cruel vagary of history.
Some day Russia’s citizens may insist on a better future. Artists like IIdar Abdrazakov, who clearly play along to get along, hardly advance that cause. I know it’s easy for me to pontificate from my comfy chair in Upstate New York. Be we in the U.S. face our own challenge barely over the horizon. I firmly believe Americans will ultimately reject the fascistic movement that currently poisons our body politic. But creeping authoritarianism seems to lurk in corners around the globe. Those who value personal, artistic, and political freedom take heed: Complacency always leads to ruination. Liberty lost is never easily regained.