May 9 marks 76 years since the Great Victory over Nazi Germany. Everyone in the Soviet Union was affected by the Great Patriotic War. Young and old rose to defend their country and embarked on a life-and-death struggle with the enemy hordes. Those from the creative fields: artists, musicians, literary figures were not standing aloof.
Russian Culture House (the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Ashgabat) has hosted an evening entitled ‘Courage Never Fades into Oblivion’ to pay tribute to the three war veterans – Eduard Asadov, Gennady Babikov, and Veli Mukhatov – a poet, an artist and a composer, whose lives and work were closely associated with Turkmenistan.
Arranged on the first floor, an exhibition featured works painted by Gennady Feodorovich Babikov in wartime. The artist was born in the town of Ranenburg (now Chaplygin) on January 18, 1911. In the autumn of 1934, Babikov and his family moved to Ashgabat, where he created a series of watercolors and sketches. It included ‘The Anau Mosque’, his wife’s favorite work.
When the Great Patriotic War broke out Gennady Feodorovich enlisted as a volunteer. Performing on a makeshift stage, Ashgabat-based ArtIst Theater actors portrayed one of the dramatic moments in the artist’s life, when he had told his family that he was going to the front…
This served as a prologue to the tribute evening, which opened with a welcome address by Evgeny Beloglazov, a representative of Rossotrudnichestvo in Turkmenistan.
… Gennady Feodorovich served as a cavalry soldier and topographical drafter in the Special Cavalry Group commanded by Lev Mikhaylovich Dovator. During the war, the artist created a series of portraits of his fellow soldiers. He was drawing them at the command headquarters where they arrived to be decorated with orders and medals.
When the war was over, Babikov returned to Turkmenistan. One of his sons was killed in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake. His second son, Stanislav, became a famous artist glorifying the beauty of Turkmen nature, like his father. They shared an affinity for Cheleken. The sudden death of his son on May 1, 1977 was a devastating blow to Gennady Feodorovich. He turned from watercolors to paintings influenced by his wartime experiences. Working towards his solo exhibition (that took place in 1987) helped Babikov to cope with his grief.
The artist passed away in Ashgabat in 1993.
The evening continued with a heartfelt recitation of Eduard Asadov’s poem ‘The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier’ by young Ashgabat residents.
Poet and war veteran Eduard Asadov was born in the city of Mary on September 7, 1923. Six years later, his mother and he moved to Sverdlovsk after his father had died.
Eduard began to compose poems when he was eight. He graduated from school in Moscow in 1941. The war began just a week after his graduation party, and he enlisted as a volunteer like thousands of his peers. At first, Eduard was a mortar gunner, and later an assistant captain of the battery of Katyusha rocket launchers on the North Caucasus Front and the 4th Ukrainian Front.
On the night of May 4, 1944, Eduard Asadov received a severe injury to his face caused by a shell fragment. Losing consciousness, he managed to drive the truck loaded with ammunition to the artillery battery. Lieutenant Asadov was decorated with the Red Star Order for his heroic feat. Then followed long-term medical treatment in military hospitals. Doctors saved his life, but could not save his eyesight.
In most of his poems Asadov, who was at the peak of his popularity in the second half of the 1970s, shared his memories of the war. In his poems, he often recalled the cities of Leningrad and Sevastopol he and his fellow soldiers had defended. In 1989, the poet was made an honorary citizen of the hero city he had fought for and where he lost his sight. Located on Mount Sapun, the Museum of Heroic Defense and Liberation of Sevastopol boasts a stand dedicated to Eduard Asadov and his poetry.
Eduard Arkadyevich died on April 21, 2004 at the age of 80.
The event also commemorated one more remarkable figure, Turkmen composer Velimukhamed Mukhatov. He was born in a rural family 105 years ago, in 1916. At 19, the talented young fellow finally came to realize that he dreamed of devoting his life to music. He attended Ashgabat Music School from 1935 to 1936. Later, he studied viola and composition for five years at the Moscow Conservatory’s Turkmen National Studio.
Veli Mukhatov went to the front in 1941 and served in the infantry. He fought valiantly and was wounded. Mukhatov graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1951. He dedicated many years to a teaching career. Works by Mukhatov, who was one of the founders of the Turkmen national school of music, are a perfect blend of distinctive folk melodies and characteristic features of 20th century music. Honored Artist of Turkmenistan, virtuoso pianist Vladimir Mkrtumov performed the composer’s ‘Impromptu’ at the event.
Sung by all the participants, the iconic song ‘Victory Day’ (music by David Tukhmanov, lyrics by Vladimir Kharitonov) brought the tribute event to a close. The song has become a musical symbol of the Holiday of peace, unity and mutual support.
Roman TEPLYAKOV
Photo: Yuri SHKURIN
