Vladimir
VYSOTSKY

The life of a song, unlike a person’s life, can be prolonged. Songs have happier fates than people, because a decent, kind person worries a lot about his close ones and dies earlier than a bad person. With songs, it is the other way around: a good song can live a long life. *

Life experience? What vast life experience could a 26-year-old Lermontov possibly have? What is important is to have your own views on the world.

There is no real art without suffering. A person who has not suffered cannot create. It does not mean he should be oppressed or shot at, tortured or have his relatives taken away. But it makes a world of difference if an artist has felt this suffering for people or loved ones, or about some situation. This is what creates life experience.

At first, I tried to sing to the piano and accordion, because when I was a child, my parents – I want to thank them – forced me to study music. I know the notes, well I have forgotten most of it, but still that helped me learn to play the guitar, a very simple instrument.

Travel is true happiness. You don’t have to travel around the world, but you can travel inside someone’s soul, or to the world of a writer or a poet. And better not alone, but with someone you love.

Do I think of myself as a composer, poet or actor? I work mostly with poetry, of course. And I often feel this thing called inspiration that sits on your shoulder in the night so that by 6 am you are able to produce something good.

* The information is based on the accounts of the personas featuring in this section as well as accounts of their family members, acquaintances and colleagues