      January 26 2012 - A bright literary and musical night, the festival of bard song and poetry, known as "Bard Reading" opened the new creative season for 2012 at the Russian Cultural Center in Tel Aviv. Opening the concert, the Head of the FA Rossotrudnichestvo Representation in Israel, Alexander Kryukov, welcomed the participants of the evening, as well as the initiators of the festival and its regular hosts - writer, author, singer Irina Mauler (Rishon le-Zion) and the well-known poet and bard Marina Melamed (Jerusalem). read more (English & Russian) >>> 
|
Michael Yudson interviews Irina Mauler: poet, artist, singer
Irina Mauler - Israeli poet, singer, author of three books of poetry and six music CDs, laureate of international festival of art song in Moscow and Kaliningrad, the finalist of the international poetry competition "Emigrant's Lyre" in Brussels. In addition to poems and songs is interested in painting - painting oil paintings. Member of the Union of Artists .
Recently, Irina and the Russian Cultural Center in Tel Aviv held a festival "bard reading", which brings together the best poets and bards of Israel.
- Irina, what, in your opinion,is the cause of vitality and popularity of the art song is Russia?
- It's been twenty years since we, former compatriots, as we are called today left for different countries. We are many, we are living in Israel and the United States, Germany and Australia, France and England ...
We do not need to list, because I think there is no country in which there wouldn't be today,a "Russian community". There were times when we were separated, left isolated, and with the birth of the Internet, "Russian-speaking" expanded over the entire globe.
Today you can easily spill over not only by word, written in Russian, but also by song. A bard songs will live for as long as people express themselves through music and word, in this case through the word "in Russian," and it does not matter in which country the author is physically located.
- Tell us about the festival "bard reading."
- The idea of combining the bards and poets together, it seems to me, has long been in the air. Bard festivals in our country are, poetry, too, and there was no common reason. But the bard song is poetry, singing poetry.
So many talented writers live in Israel and now they find themselves living next door to us, but not claimed by the will of the time. As the poet said, "do not pick the time, they live and die." And we thought, together with Marina Melamed, bard, novelist, poet, that perhaps it's time that our Russian-speaking community hears about how they live, what they breathe, that they care, not from the TV screens, not the pages of newspapers, but first hand - through the heart and the word of the poet and bard. Hearing and maybe seeing something important that we can not see in our everyday life. With this idea we turned to Alexander Kryukov, a professor at Moscow State University, Director of the Russian Cultural Center in Tel Aviv. And we were heard.
Three festival concerts were a great success in a crowded hall. In fact, today there are many international festivals in many countries, but not yet in Israel. I think it would be a godsend for all of us to make such an international festival. But for that we need sponsors - our government, despite a strong "Russian" lobby, sofar does not support us. I hope just yet ...
- You have twenty years of living in the Holy Land, in Rishon Lezion, and before that you lived in Moscow, graduated from the Moscow State Automobile and Road Institute. Moscow is always present in your poems and songs, "I transplanted itself in this heat, I'll let go of yourself with towers ringing." Is this nostalgia?
- Over the twenty years I have had different states of mind - and a deep longing for Moscow, and an emotional reunion with her. But I love Israel as much, I feel here at home, on its own land. And while no coincidence I appeal to Moscow and as a person who is also in love.
- You often gave concerts in Israel and Russia. What is different about the audience, say, in the hall of the Jerusalem library bard and sitting in the Moscow cafe "Gnezdo glukharya?"
- The audience, of course, is different, as they can not be the same people who live in a different reality, though speaking the same language. Russian viewers - clearly know what they want, and having this huge selection. And, despite the fact that the audience knows this,they are open and appreciative.
In Israel, the attitude is more rigorous. Our audience is exacting and demanding, but if I did get through to them - I am very grateful.
- Do you feel happy with the fate of the "culture of the Cyrillic alphabet" in Israel?
- I think that no other country where the Russian language is not public, the culture of the Russian language is more lucky than Israel. After all, there lives a very large community of intelligent people,who not only did not forget their native language, but also try to instill a love of it to their children.
Television, radio, newspapers in large numbers - is that not good fortune?
Another question is how long it will last ... Of course, this is only one side of the coin, the other - not so lucky - Hebrew readers are shielded from the "culture of the Cyrillic alphabet". In Israel they do not seem to notice that, in parallel with the culture of the Hebrew language exists another life of Russian-language culture, which so many stories to tell.
- They say that cats are anticipating an earthquake, and poets - social disasters, fluctuations and breaks the crust of culture. How do you see today's Israel - the country and the people?
- Israeli society - is a world in which I live, and, of course, I was very worried about this condition. When I came to this country, we had a very idealized representation of the people among whom I live. I, then a young girl, it seemed that all Jews - brothers in spirit, purposes, and, of course, in Israel live only intellectuals and intellegenca. The reality was sobering - it is not a perfect society, where the lamb and the wolf get along with each other, but can not require it. The Messiah has not come yet. So, what I see, a person in the creative space of the Russian language on the one hand and in the Hebrew-speaking area of daily life - on the other? The country is small, crowded intellectuals on the one hand, and inadequate and does not want to develop as a part of the population - on the other. The competition is localized in each of the groups and between groups. To put it simply, no one likes anyone. Poets, painters, artists, engineers,drivers (which, by the way, are mentioned in daily reports of accidents on the roads), not to mention contempt for the politicians to the needs of the voters. Further - more, not like religious secular, the Ashkenazi community - the east, and all together - the Arab sector.
But the most interesting, and it is perhaps this country gives life - all together I like Israel. Here's a paradox of the Middle East.
Interviewed by Michael YUDSON, Israel
