Stakhan Rakhimov and Alla Yoshpe - the legendary duo of the Soviet era

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The pop duet of Stakhan Rakhimov and Alla Ioshpe turned 55 this year. All these years the partners have been together - both in life and on stage. In the second half of the 70s, they moved from universal favorites to the category of enemies of the people. How did the duo manage to save themselves during the years of oblivion and triumphantly return to the big stage? What is the secret of family longevity?

Pages of Stakhan Rakhimov's biography

The uniqueness of the duet is that both of its members came to the stage from amateur performances. Stakhan and Alla are the same age, at the time of their acquaintance, which took place at one of the competitions in 1961, they already had families.

In December 2017, Stakhan celebrated his 80th birthday. A native of Uzbekistan, Stakhan Rakhimov is the son of a brilliant singer who began her career in Andijan, Shakhodat Rakhimova. She moved to Tashkent, where she received a luxurious apartment in the center of the capital, which allowed rumors to appear about her romance with Usman Yusupov, secretary of the Central Committee of the republic. Presumably, it is he who is the father of the future famous performer. Stakhan himselfneither confirms nor refutes this information.

His childhood was spent in various circles of the Palace of Pioneers, where he was engaged in dancing, singing and even boxing. But the music won, although the young man entered MPEI and worked for four years in one of the design bureaus.

Family and Creative Union

Stakhan Rakhimov, whose biography is devoted to the article, married in Moscow a Russian girl named Natasha. The couple had a daughter, Lola, but the marriage did not last long. The young man moved his family to Tashkent, and he himself continued his studies in Moscow. In 1961 he met Alla Ioshpe.

It happened at the competition, where both sang: the girl completed the first concert section, and Stakhan - the second. Alla so subdued the young man that he thought: if she waits for his performance, it means to be with him. And so it happened.

For this, Alla had to leave the family. Her first husband was a young man whom she met at the age of 15. By the way, he was the brother of Allan Chumak. The couple had a common daughter Tatyana, who today everyone considers the daughter of Stakhan Rakhimov, because she lived and was raised in their family. The lovers also formed a creative union.

Since 1963, Alla Ioshpe and Stakhan Rakhimov began to perform together. They had a common perception of music, a unique fusion of voices and such mutual understanding that they even took their breath at the same time.

Alla Ioshpe and Stakhan Rakhimov: all songs

It's easy to list all the songs of the duetImpossible, there are more than a thousand of them. Alla, being a soloist, began with bard compositions, Stakhan successfully sang "Arabic Tango". But only together they gained popularity, entering the top five artists of the Soviet Union. The most respected composers of the country began to write songs for them.

The first among them was E. Kolmanovsky. His composition "My comrade will come" Stakhan Rakhimov still cannot listen without tears. And on Alyosha, as D. Medvedev once said, the whole country grew up. Among the best songs can also be called "Crane", "Forgive me", "Grandma's tango".

A. Eshpay always regretted that he did not become the discoverer of a wonderful duet, but he wrote for them "Native Heart", "100 rains will pass, 100 snows" and others.

The duet with M. Fradkin turned out to be a long-term collaboration. They even wanted to release a separate disc with their favorite compositions - "Love will come to you too", "Affectionate song". But we didn't.

O. Feltsman occupied a special place in their work. "Gray Anniversaries", "Bedside Table", "Autumn Bells" are touching compositions written in verse. Y. Garina.

Recently, the duet has been actively collaborating with A. Morozov, recording 14 songs. Among the best are "Prayer", "Inconspicuous Beauty".

The artists themselves consider the song that led them to success, "Meadow Night". It was written by G. Dekhtyarev. The duet popularizes Uzbek andJewish culture, since Stakhan is Uzbek, and Alla is Jewish. The author of many compositions is A. Ioshpe herself: "Lechaim, gentlemen!", "Ro-sha-shana" and others.

Time to forget

Why did the duet of Alla Ioshpe and Stakhan Rakhimov disappear into oblivion in the late 70s? The biography of celebrities published in the media provides an answer to this question. Since childhood, the singer suffered from leg disease. There was even a period in her life when there was talk of amputation. In 1979 there was a crisis. Previous operations in the country did not help, so the couple asked for permission to travel to Israel.

They were not just denied - a real persecution began. Stakhan Rakhimov was forced to put his party card on the table. The duet was not only not released on television and banned from performing, but the existing recordings were also demagnetized. For almost ten years, the favorites of the national stage felt almost under house arrest. They were regularly called to the Lubyanka.

Stakhan did his best to support his family. The most terrible thing seemed to be the expulsion of her daughter from the university, but a real disaster happened. The singer's mother could not stand the pressure and died from the experience.

New ascent

Artists cannot but perform, so the couple began to invite guests to their apartment every month, gathering 60-70 people each. They called these events "Music in Rejection" theater. Spectators carried gifts, and the same as them, refuseniks, took part in concerts with pleasure. Among them were V. Feltsman, N. Sharansky, S. Kramarov.

BAt the end of the 80s, the duet turned to a number of newspapers, telling the truth about their fate and desire to work on stage, because the police were too interested in meetings at the place of residence. After that, the artists were allowed to tour in the outback and finally released in the United States. Today, many are interested in why they did not leave the country when such an opportunity arose. Moreover, the tour overseas was successful. The answer lies on the surface - Stakhan Rakhimov and his wife never thought about emigrating.

In closing

In the 2000s, a new streak began in the history of the duet. The fiftieth anniversary of their creative activity was celebrated at the Variety Theater, where there was not a single empty seat. In 2002, both were awarded the title of People's Artists of Russia. Every year, the duo invites their colleagues to Hanukkah, offering a creative program called "Ioshpe and Rakhimov invite". They are still gathering halls, both celebrating their 80th anniversary last year. And, no less valuable, they showed the country an example of how one can adequately live one life for two, if people are united by love.