Autumn rain

While the rain is drumming on my rooftop for one of the last times in my old home, the fragile voice of Olga Krasko fills the room: жаркий огонь полыхает в камине / тень, моя тень, на холодной стене. (the hot fire whirls in the chimney / shadow, my shadow on the cold wall)

This brings together some intersting features. First of all Olga Krasko's voice. She was born 25 years ago in Kharkiv, which now lies in Ukraine. She plays the character Varvara in the movie Turkish Gambit after a novel by Akunin.

The poem that was used for this song is Песенка Изабеллы (Дождик осенний) by Bulat Okudzhava, one of the USSR's most celebrated bards:

жаркий огонь полыхает в камине,
тень, моя тень, на холодной стене.
жизнь моя связана с вами отныне -
дождик осенний, поплачь обо мне.

сколько бы я не бродила по свету,
тень, моя тень, на холодной стене.
нету без вас мне спокойствия, нету -
дождик осенний, поплачь обо мне.

все мы в руках ненадежной фортуны,
тень, моя тень, на холодной стене.
лютни уж нет, но звучат ее струны -
дождик осенний, поплачь обо мне.

жизнь драгоценна, да выжить непросто,
тень, моя тень, на холодной стене.
короток путь от весны до погоста -
дождик осенний, поплачь обо мне.

It seems to have been used as such in the 1980s Soviet movie "Капитан Фракасс" (Le Capitaine Fracasse, after the 1863 novel by Théophile Gautier) by Vladimir Savelyev featuring the young Oleg Menshikov as Fracasse and Anna Isaikina as Isabella. The movie was shot at the Dovzhenko film studios in Kyiv. I wonder what the song sounds like in that movie.

I found the modern version of this song on the Turkish Gambit Soundtrack, which was done by Goran Bregović, one of my favourite composers or "one of the most recognizable modern composers of the Balkans" as Wiki calls it. (you'll hear more of him when you visit the movie "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan".)

It is strange that it took me almost a year to find the album. I have been looking for it in Kyiv at least twice (March, July) but no result. I finally found it here.

If you want to listen to a short clip, please copy and paste the following URL in the media player of your choice: http://www.freewebs.com/muumifoto/Dozhdik%20Osennij.mp3