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People's Artist of Ukraine Nina Shestakova: “My mother is deaf and dumb…”. Download songs of Nina Shestakova Nina Shestakova year of birth

With a song for life

People's Artist of Ukraine Nina SHESTAKOVA: “My mother is deaf and mute, I don’t know my father... Until I was three years old, I grew up in a Baby House, then in an orphanage, then in an orphanage... We were beaten for every fault, thrashed on our legs with a skipping rope, lathered our eyes ..."

“I am a Ukrainian woman, I am Shestakova Ninochka,” she sings in one of her songs.

“I am a Ukrainian woman, I am Shestakova Ninochka,” she sings in one of her songs. Nina came up with these words herself, the rest were added by the poet. Powerful energy! When Shestakova enters the stage, she says: “Now we’ll fry it!”. It was about her that Yury Rybchinsky said: “Kharkov does not need a power plant if Nina Shestakova lives in this city.” But here another song sounds - "Deaf-mute love." The singer addresses the part of the hall where the deaf and dumb children are sitting. What can they hear? And then the singer, performing the song, simultaneously translates the words with gestures, facial expressions: “Deaf-mute love knocked on the windows, deaf-mute love knocked on the door, deaf-mute love knocked on the heart ...”. It's so touching that the audience is in tears, and I'm no exception. Children know and love the singer well, whose mother is the same as they are, a deaf-mute. Vasily Zinkevich once said about Nina: “Don’t pretend to be a girl, she knows the bidu.” And, in spite of everything, Nina took place as a singer, achieved recognition, became a People's Artist of Ukraine. Without any "blat-shmats", as she puts it. Her best discs are “I wish you love”, “Cherry Paradise” (this song is her visiting card), “Slave of Love”, “I am a Kharkiv citizen!”... Alas, her simplicity, openness, gullibility sometimes turn against her . Nina recently had a performance in Kyiv, on the stage of the Ukraine Palace. The singer was begged to come to the anniversary of one of the educational institutions of the capital. She agreed to sing for free, because there were disabled people in the hall. She only asked to pay for the fare from Kharkov and back, as at that moment she was experiencing financial difficulties. The organizers agreed. Nina went on stage with a temperature, but she performed brilliantly. After the concert, one of the organizers dropped the money into her bag. At the buffet table, she got them. I stood by. Guess how much the people's artist got? 170 hryvnia! The singer wept in humiliation. Trying to calm her down...

"MOM SAID THAT THE FATHER'S NAME IS IVAN: HE WAS A GOON, COP..."

- It turned out ugly ... With this money you can buy a ticket only in a reserved seat car.

- You see, Misha, the mood immediately broke off. Basically, such a ball falls on my soul. Everywhere - ball, ball and ball! No money left? And for this buffet, for such a banquet, they found ... In Kharkov, the same thing: “Ninusichka, be kind, sleep for us. There are no pennies, well, there is nothing. This is some kind of nightmare! Other artists basically don’t sing for free, only for money, they don’t care: disabled, not disabled (I don’t want to name names), but I can’t refuse, because I went through all this. My mom is deaf...

Is she like this from birth?

She was a year old when she contracted scarlet fever. Illness and gave a complication. From a year old - and for life. The doctors could not help... Because of this, when I was born, she handed me over to the Baby House, where I stayed until I was three years old. She will appear, breastfeed and run away to earn at least some penny.

- And who is the father?

- I do not know him. She knew him for one day, got pregnant right away, worked me up, as it were. Mommy came from the Vologda region, she was an interesting, fair-haired girl, and I was dark-haired - apparently, I went to the father. I didn't want to hurt her with unnecessary questions.

Deaf-mute people are extraordinary: they see differently, they feel differently... To understand this world, you have to be deaf-mute yourself. But somehow I asked: “Does my folder speak?”. She said that his name was Ivan, he was a redneck, a cop - he guarded the hostel where she lived. I was very angry with him...

After the Baby House, I was in an orphanage until I was seven years old. I have a photograph: I am standing with a short haircut in men's family shorts and holding a doll in my hands. Crazy photo!

“Did your mom teach you how to sign?”

— Who else? I already in the orphanage kheryachila hands with might and main! They lathered our eyes there as a punishment for leprosy. Scarecrows: "If you're going to play around, Babai will come before you!" In the evening, the nanny put on tarpaulin boots, changed into a peasant, all in black, and unexpectedly appeared at the bedroom door: “I’ll beat someone at once!”. I was scared: "That's it, I'm gone, now it will come to my bed." They also threatened to throw the offender into the washing machine. We were so afraid of it!

And then I ended up in a boarding school in Dergachi - there is such a village near Kharkov. It has already been closed, and I really regret it. I often dream: I walk along the corridor, I go into the bedroom ... Despite the cruel orders that reigned there, the boarding school was my home.

What do you think is cruel?

- I did not feel any attention, any warmth from our educators. Never, from anyone! For every offense they beat me, thrashed my legs with a skipping rope. All children had blue feet. Why did they raise orphans, half orphans like that? And we are small: it hurts, we cry.

They were even punished for helping grandmothers dig a garden. After all, we also wanted to have money, to buy something tasty. Especially since our food was being stolen: we saw how cooks and boarding school workers carried full bags home from gardens. There was only one cook, Aunt Galechka, who gave supplements. But I never complained to my mother about how bad it was for me, how hard it was. She endured everything. There was simply no other way out.

Have you been teased by older guys?

No, I was friends with everyone. My mother visited me once a week. She brought food, gifts, asked: “Daughter, give it to other children” ... They didn’t get me, probably also because I was very strong, quick-witted, leading in everything. She had an excellent reaction, quickly moved away from the blow. When I played volleyball, I gave such serves that no one took it. I had strong hands. She jumped and ran the best. We were engaged in either sports or music. Don't drink, don't smoke, what are you doing!

We were beaten, beaten - in the third grade, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth. I think: "How much can I?". When the weak were offended, my roof tore! In the ninth, I remember, I got a bad mark in mathematics. The teacher called me, began to swear, hit me. I swung and slammed my fist into his face! He just gasped. She said: "If you, bitch, still touch me, I'll kill you!".

— What is he?

- Nothing. I realized that there was strength in me, and did not touch me anymore.

"THINKING ABOUT SEX IN THE BOARDING HOUSE DID NOT HAVE TIME - YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE"

- They often write about the sexual harassment of boarding school teachers towards their pupils ...

- We were fine with that. It may have happened to some, but not to me. I'm telling you, they were afraid of me.

- Did you fall in love with each other?

- Certainly. I had a kid... I remember how we kissed.

- But only?

- But only! In the boarding school there was no time to think about sex, and we didn’t know the word for it either. I had to survive, my fish!

When did you discover your talent for singing?

We will all sing together in the third grade. I look: the singing teacher stops by my desk all the time. I think: "What does he want?". And he liked the way I sing, and he invited me to the boarding school choir. I went to different competitions, always won. Having heard that I was a musical girl, they wanted to take me to a music school, but the director said: “We ourselves need her” - and did not let go.

My grandmother Simfora was also from the Vologda region. She sang - wow! She said: “I sing in one village, and in another it is wonderful.” I went into it.

- I understand that you did not immediately appreciate your singing gift?

- Only in the 10th grade I thought that this might be my path in life. I went to a music school to enter the vocal department. They told me: "We can't take you, you don't know the notes." And what notes in the boarding school? Everything I hear...

They accepted me to the cultural enlightenment school at the wind department in the horn class. At festive demonstrations, our orchestra led the column of the Chervonozavodsky district of Kharkov. We play marches, and everyone looks only at me, showing with their fingers: “This is a girl blowing! Fuck yourself!"

This tool helped me - it developed my lungs. I began to sing stronger, better. And what just did not get involved! I ran to the vocal circle, to the dance, to the drama, to the sports, even to the circus. She could do splits, learned to juggle with six objects.

She graduated from college with honors. For some time she worked in the House of Culture as an entertainer, and in the 88th year she went to the local philharmonic society. I was given a rate of 9 rubles 50 kopecks - at that time it was such money! I traveled with concerts in the Kharkiv region: I had seven performances a day, then - 10! The side of the car was folded down instead of a stage, and I sang on it in front of milkmaids and machine operators ... Once I read an ad: admission to the Leningrad Music Hall, which was led by Ilya Rakhlin, was opening. I went, I did. I studied there for two and a half years.

"And how do you like it, Peter?"

- I liked everything there! I went to the theaters, in Badateshka (The Bolshoi Drama Theatre, directed at that time by Georgy Tovstonogov. — Auth.) watched all the performances. Loved Alisa Freindlich. In the sports and variety complex, she ran to variety concerts: to Sofia Rotaru, to Valery Leontiev, to Lily Ivanova ...

But the scholarship is 20 rubles, you can’t really accelerate. We went into the subway with my girlfriends in single file. And they entered pop concerts thanks to the fact that a grandfather from Ukraine, Mikhalych, as I called him, fell in love with me, an orphanage girl. “Ninusechka,” he said, “let me take you.” “What if I come with my music hall girlfriends?” “Come on, my birdie.” The uncle was the best.

— What did you learn there?

- Rakhlin told me how to behave on stage, right down to how to hold hands, how to look into the eyes. Other teachers taught stage speech, pop, dance rhythms, and the ability to make up. I soaked it all up like a sponge.

“MY MOTHER IS ILLITERATE. WHEN I DON'T FIND HER AT HOME, I DRAW HER tic-tac-toe"

- You are beautiful, the guys, probably, were fond of you?

— What are you! No guys were even close! I didn't even think about it. For me, the main thing was knowledge, knowledge! In the evening she worked at the music hall, singing in the Moldavian language. For eight rubles I bought a sopilochka and played on it. I didn't allow myself to waste precious study time on love, on kisses, on intimacy. Unless she could take a walk with her girlfriends on white nights. When I graduated from the music hall, I was offered to stay.

"And you didn't agree?"

“No,” she said, “I will go to my mother.” Spasms were in my throat when I left this city. I was madly worried, crying, but my mother is above all for me. How can I leave her? She lives separately, it's not far from my house. If only I could call her. And God forbid something happens? I have to come and open her apartment and see if everything is all right.

She is completely illiterate, she can only write: "Nina." She was also in an orphanage, she was beaten there. Grandmother took her home, said: "Let there be an illiterate, but healthy girl." And I, when I come to her and do not find her at home, draw crosses, zeroes, so that she knows that I came. She is already 77. Now she also sees badly.

- Do men often disappoint you?

- I did not have such a goal - to get married. I was thinking about a career, about creativity, sick of it all over. You have no idea how much I love the stage and work. Industriousness is gushing out of me!

“You can’t completely forget about your personal life ...

- I have a husband, we have been living in a civil marriage for 15 years. Everything is fine. He is a chef in New York, in Brooklyn. World! Cool! I'm flying to him now. His name is Anthony, with an accent on the first letter, and his last name is Stanislavchik. He is a Pole, has been in America for 29 years, and before that he was a chef on a ship.

- How did you meet?

- My friend, the director of the Kharkov circus, went to New York. He got a job in the restaurant "Ukraine". In 1994, they decided to hold a song festival there. The owner says: “I definitely need a singer from Ukraine!”. An acquaintance remembered me: "There is such a person - Nina Shestakova."

I've arrived. When she sang: “Yesterday we broke up with you. Without you, the vast world is not sweet to me ... ”, I look: a man in a chef’s hat is standing in the doorway and looking at me intently. The song ended - he disappeared. I sing the following song: “Guess, gypsy, the king, to be a queen is my destiny ...” - he stands again, in his eyes - admiration, delight! And so every time: when I sang, he appeared, when not, he went to the basement, to the kitchen. And he reacted only to my voice, he was not interested in other singers.

It was the chef. He covered such a clearing for me, cooked everything so deliciously, arranged it so beautifully - presented a bouquet of flowers, courted me like a queen - that I understood: “this is a mess” ...

She flew home. He called: “Ninusya, do you want to come again?” "Why not?" - Think. I really liked him as a person - open, sincere, simple. He won me over with his generosity. I'm easy with him. I go to him three or four times a year, I can stay there for a month. Now he works in the restaurant "Pastoral".

Does your husband know about your mother?

“Knows and loves her. On the 25th anniversary of my creative activity, I had a solo concert in Kharkov. He was sitting next to his mother in the front rows, and both were crying, and he was crying more, because he was very sensitive.

I have never been embarrassed that my mother is deaf and dumb. At the concert, she approached her and told her with gestures and facial expressions: “Thank you, mommy, that I have you. I love you very much! And thank you for everything!” The hall stood up, people were crying.

Anthony arrived in a beautiful suit. The first time I saw him like this, I exclaimed: “God!” He usually wears neat T-shirts. He brought with him four suitcases with food and prepared such dishes at the banquet that they were immediately swept away.

How did mom take it?

- She said: “Tosik is good: he doesn’t smoke or drink.”

— Tosik?

“That's what everyone calls him in Brighton, where he works.

“FOR CHRISTMAS, I GET A WISHING NOTE FROM UNDER THE PILLOW, AND IN IT: “TO HAVE A GIRL”

- You have been together for 15 years, and the child appeared only more than three years ago, when you were 43. What used to hold you back?

- I was always afraid that I would give birth to a child and my career would end there, everyone would forget me. And on Christmas, from January 6 to 7, 2004, I put a lot of notes with different desires under my pillow. I wake up, pull out one, read: "Give birth to a girl." And I thought about it the least, although my mother really wanted her to have a granddaughter.

- And what did you do?

- In the summer I flew to Anthony. After that, she began to eat sweets, gained weight - she had never been like that. Taya Povaliy remarked: “Where does your stomach come from? Are you eating a lot?" And then I guessed: “Are you pregnant?!”.

Until the ninth month, I went on stage. It was easy for me. Analysis is awesome! I was in the hospital, all my colleagues were happy for me. Sasha Peskov, my friend, called from Moscow. How many congratulations!

And I have a dream: evening, I'm in the temple. Suddenly a voice is heard: "Name your daughter like this: in the middle of your name, insert the first letter of your husband's name." I am Nina, the first letter of my husband's name on the passport is "A". What happens? Niana! Stunned! Niana Antonievna.

"Since your daughter doesn't see her father often, does she even recognize him?"

- Somehow we are walking down the street, the baby, pointing at some man, says: "Oh, this uncle looks like my dad." I remember Toshika! He is affectionate, kind, when he arrives, he plays with her a lot. Often calls - but what about? - asks: “How is my goat?” - that's what he calls her. This is his first child, and Anthony loves his daughter madly, maybe more than I do.

- Does it help financially?

- Oh, it helps, smart girl! Especially now, when I have almost no concerts and it's hard. He works a lot.

- What kind of rivalry did you have with Nadia Shestak?

“Not rivalry, but confusion. In 1985 I returned to the Kharkov Philharmonic (I was simply begged to return). A year later, she went to Khmelnitsky for the republican competition of pop artists. I sang the Leontief song “Where did the circus go?”, while still juggling, sitting on the twine. And she shared second place with Nadya ...

Our surnames are really very similar, we were often confused ... Once she was somewhat irritated or simply not in the mood, we slightly grappled. "Change your last name!" - speaks. But how can I change if my deaf-mute mother gave birth to me with her?

Now we are wiser. Why were those fights? We met somehow, and she says: “Ninusya, I listened to your tape. So you're doing a great job!" “Oh, God,” I think, “has Nadia finally seen the light that I am a normal singer?”

What kind of relationship do you have with other artists?

- I love Lorach very much (Ani Lorak. - Auth.) , she is also boarding school, I was very touched. I once gave her earrings. “I like it, my girl,” I say, “take it!”. At the “Song Vernissage”, Bilychka was pushed on the stage: “Irusya, why are you standing in the back rows? Go ahead so everyone can see you." And now, when she performs in Kharkov, she says from the stage: “Maybe that’s why I’m so popular now that Nina Shestakova once pushed me forward.”

At Slavyansky Bazaar, I see that Serduchka (Danilko was just starting his career then) has nothing to eat: “What, Andryukha, are there no food stamps? On you, my bird." I worked in Cyprus for half a year, I brought a feather boa from there. I gave it to him... We, the children from the orphanage, have always been open and generous. I've never been greedy in my life.

And everyone remembers this, which makes me very happy. All! Although a lot of time has passed. Serduchka will definitely come up and kiss. Lorachka, how she went, went! Let's go on the train together. I think they won't let her in now. They tell her: "Nina Shestakova is here." - "Let him come in." And I always visit Ira Bilyk in the dressing room.

- In which foreign country did you first tour?

- In Poland. I arrived from there and already dressed differently, I looked good. I met interesting artists there. In Poland, I found out that I was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine. Oh, how much joy it was, what are you! I received this title after I won first place at the Yalta-88 competition, and in 1997 I was given a national award ... But I always say: I am not a nationalist, I am normal!

Abroad, I have never had a language barrier. At school, English was easy, like seeds. There were no problems with other languages either: I can sing in Spanish, Italian, French, Hebrew. Traveled to 24 countries...

- How do you keep yourself in shape?

- I eat very little, once a week I arrange a fasting day - I starve all day, only water. I can eat today, and tomorrow I can switch to kefir ... We don’t eat for two days - and I fit into any dress. I have a crazy will since the orphanage, I can withstand everything.

Do other singers look after themselves like that too?

- In Ukraine, not all. We have a "Ukrainian kind", the girls are such donuts. It's all in Moscow - skinny, just chips!

- But we can sleep together ...

- Let's eat - great! Another thing is that we also need energy, professionalism, experience, the ability to move plastically and correctly on the stage. Some young performers just run back and forth, and Shestakova comes out, and - oops! - there's nowhere to go. Lyudmila Gurchenko said about me that I am a strong singer.

I worked in the Rotaru ensemble for two years. God, how we rode with her: we traveled around Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Baltic states. I always loved Sonechka as a singer, and she respected me, paid good money. We are still in touch with her.

What a beauty it used to be! The artists have a permanent job, we communicated with each other, Gena Tatarchenko wrote beautiful songs for me. How much I traveled around the Soviet Union! What kind of company was there: Iosif Kobzon, Valery Leontiev, Lev Leshchenko, Anne Veski ... There was also a beginner Maxim Galkin. And now I want a party - good, ours.

- All pop artists are trying to move to Kyiv, but for some reason you did not succumb to this fashion ...

- In 2000, Leonid Kuchma gave me an apartment in Kyiv, but it was very bad - scary, old, murdered, as they say. I had to sell. A two-room apartment in Kharkov was allocated to me by the mayor of the city, Mikhail Pilipchuk. Later, I told Kuchma about everything. He says: “Why didn’t you tell me before? I would help you,” but I was shy, afraid to say. Kharkiv is my native, beloved city. He is similar to me, to my character. Once I worked in Moscow, at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, I could have stayed there. But I won’t leave my mother, and she doesn’t want to go anywhere.

Are times changing for the better or for the worse?

— Of course, in the worst. I don't have a job. But I am in great shape, I have become stronger, more professional, more energetic. Others sleep on stage, but I have always been energetic. She just rushes out of me!

They gave me a national certificate in the year of the Ox. This is my sign. Cool! Bulls are hardworking, stubborn, achieving their goal. And next year is also mine. I'm looking forward to something interesting. The dream is to make a solo concert in the palace "Ukraine". I have a ready-made program, there is a lot of material. In general, there are more than a thousand songs in my repertoire.

What does it take to make a dream come true?

- All you need is grandmas - that's all! I also dream of singing a song for my mother, I already have poems. It will be called "Oh, if only you could hear ...".

Ukrainian singer Nina Shestakova celebrated a double anniversary - creative and personal. In honor of such a holiday, the artist pleased her fellow countrymen with a big solo concert, and the readers of Vecherniy Kharkiv with a frank interview.

For the first time in thirty years of creative activity, I wanted to give a concert on my birthday. I was very worried that people would not come to me - the day of my concert fell between the performances of popular singers Stas Mikhailov and Elena Vaenga. However, the hall was packed. When I went to the first song in a short dress, no one understood that it was Shestakova. Despite my age, I can afford to wear such outfits because I am actively involved in sports.

"He covered the clearing, and I realized - this is love"

- Do you live in Kharkov now?

Yes, although many consider me to be from Kiev, someone thinks that I left for my husband in America. I didn’t go anywhere, although ex-president Leonid Kuchma gave me an apartment in the capital and said: “What are you doing, live in Kyiv, we need you here.” I refused because I adore Kharkiv - my friends live here, my mother, I gave birth to my daughter here. By the way, my husband was in Kharkov only three times - when my daughter was baptized, on the 25th anniversary of my creative activity, and now, on the anniversary.

- Where did you meet?

In 1994, I performed at the New York restaurant "Ukraine", where my future husband, Antony Stanislavchik, a Pole by nationality, worked as a chef. There was a big concert, to which a lot of artists from different countries were invited. I remember singing - he stands on the sidelines and listens. Someone else performs - goes to the kitchen, I sing again - he comes out again. I noticed this and, when I was hungry, I asked him to eat. Tosik covered such a clearing that I immediately understood - this is love. And when I later came to visit him and got to know him better, I realized that this was not a random person in my life.

- You probably had many suitors ...

I was never preoccupied with finding suitors, I didn’t make eyes at anyone, all my love was on stage. All my suitors are my songs, and Anthony understood and appreciated this.

Children were beaten with jump ropes

- Have you dreamed of being an artist since childhood?

I grew up in a boarding school. I did not know my father, and my mother is deaf and dumb - she fell ill with scarlet fever at the age of one and received such a complication. Therefore, when I was born, she gave me to the Baby House. She comes, breastfeeds and runs to work. I studied at the Dergachev boarding school. In the third grade, the singing teacher, who really liked the way I sang, invited me to the boarding school choir. But then there was no talk of a profession - I thought how to survive, and not who to be.

- Was everything that bad?

Baba Galya is still working in that boarding school in the kitchen - the only one from whom you could ask for supplements. The rest stole food - through the weeds, through the reeds dragged bags home. They mocked us in every possible way, beat us with skipping ropes, all the children's legs were blue. I was a strong girl, went in for sports, for the time being suffered. And then, I remember, in the ninth grade, the teacher hit me for a bad grade - I swung and punched him in the face. He just gasped.

The owner of the "currency vote" jumped Povaliy and Kirkorova

- Did you study vocals?

After the boarding school, I went to a music school, but they didn’t take me there - they said that I didn’t know music. And what are the notes in the boarding school?! As a result, I entered the cultural enlightenment school at the wind department in the horn class, just to learn musical literacy. And in parallel I went to study at the circus studio. During the day she blew the French horn, in the evening she worked on the arena. She performed at some concerts for five rubles - it was good money, then you could sit in a restaurant for a triplet. And then she fell when she twisted somersaults, tore the ligaments in her leg and decided that it was time to tie it up. By this time, I had just graduated from a cultural and educational school, worked on distribution at the KhEMZ recreation center and decided to go to an audition at the Kharkov Philharmonic.

- And then you beat them ...

I had no doubt that they would take me! Together with two girls, we made up the Oksana trio, performed, traveled around the cities. Once I was walking down the street with my mother, I saw a poster: "Admission to pop vocals at the Leningrad Music Hall." I packed my bags and rushed over there. I arrive, and there are 270 people applying for four places. However, I decided to show what I can do. I remember I went out - I sing, I juggle, I do the splits, I twist the cane. When I told the Philharmonic that I had entered, no one believed me.

- Has your life changed after studying in Leningrad?

I was offered to stay to work in the music hall, but the artistic director of the Kharkov Philharmonic came for me, and I had to return home. Basically, I did it for my mom. Even then, I was strikingly different from many Ukrainian singers. I moved on stage - it was wild in those days. In the late 1980s and mid-1990s, I was in great demand and worked out many more concerts than today's "stars". In 1988, at the international competition in Yalta, I received the first prize. When they announced: "The singer of the Kharkov Philharmonic Nina Shestakova" - everyone was stunned. Among the nominees were both Kirkorov and Povaliy, and the first prize went to Shestakova. At the same time, I was automatically awarded the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine, and in 1997 I was given the title of People's Artist. There were a lot of envious people, but I did my job - when I go out, when I sing, everyone says: “We will immediately recognize your currency voice.”

“I get high when they cry at my concerts”

- Is your title worth something today?

For the "people's" a personal pension is due, and I believe that I have earned it. It just seems that singing is easy, but keeping a huge hall is a lot of work. I get high when people cry at my concerts. There are singers who seem to have a voice, but they do not touch, but I will wake the dead. After such concerts I get very tired, then I lie at home for days - I watch films, I read.

- If it's not a secret, how much does your concert cost?

It all depends on the situation: people have money - they give, no - it means how much they will give. If they ask me to speak in an orphanage or in front of the disabled, I never refuse and I don’t take money. Singers of such rank as Rotaru and Povaliy have fees from thirty thousand dollars to fifty. My tongue won't turn to name such an amount. The maximum that I was paid for a concert was one and a half thousand dollars. In the 1990s, it was good money, but I immediately carried it to the studio, bought songs. I have a lot of songs, but there is nowhere to sing them. All my colleagues are sitting without work - both Sandulesa and Kudlay gave way to the young.

I heard the name of my daughter in a dream

- Nina, you gave birth to a daughter at a fairly conscious age. How did you decide?

And what to decide, it was my chance. Either there were no housing conditions, then money, then I was afraid that I would go on maternity leave - and everyone would forget Shestakova. And only when I had all the titles in my pocket, I decided to ask for housing. In 2003, the then mayor Mikhail Pilipchuk gave me an apartment in Kharkov. I settled down and in the summer I went to my husband in America, and returned from there pregnant. I wanted a girl and Niana was born.

- Who came up with this name?

It dawned on me. It’s as if I’m standing in a temple and I hear a voice: name the child by your name, and in the middle insert the first letter of the husband’s name. I wake up in the morning and think: my husband is Anthony on the passport, I am Nina, it turns out my daughter is Niana. Now she is already six years old, and Tosik really wants to take Niana to America - there are more prospects there. And I'll stay here, I can't leave my mother.

- Nina, what is happening in your creative life today?

I perform a lot abroad - in Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, not to mention America. There I have familiar composers who provide musical material. There is a singer friend with whom we exchange songs. It turns out that I am in demand everywhere, but not in Kharkov, we do not know how to value our own people.

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Powerful energy! When Shestakova enters the stage, she says: “Now we’ll fry it!”. It was about her that Yury Rybchinsky said: “Kharkov does not need a power plant if Nina Shestakova lives in this city.”
“I am a Ukrainian woman, I am Shestakova Ninochka,” she sings in one of her songs. Nina came up with these words herself, the rest were added by the poet. Vasily Zinkevich once said about Nina: “Don’t pretend to be a girl, she knows the bidu.” And, in spite of everything, Nina took place as a singer, achieved recognition, became a People's Artist of Ukraine. Without any "blat-shmats", as she puts it.
Her best discs are “I wish you love”, “Cherry Paradise” (this song is her calling card), “Slave of Love”, “I am a Kharkov woman!” ...

Listen to the songs of Nina Shestakova.

Download songs of Nina Shestakova.

- For the first time in thirty years of creative activity, I wanted to give a concert on my birthday. I was very worried that people would not come to me - the day of my concert fell between the performances of popular singers Stas Mikhailov and Elena Vaenga. However, the hall was packed. When I went to the first song in a short dress, no one understood that it was Shestakova. Despite my age, I can afford to wear such outfits because I am actively involved in sports.

"He covered the clearing, and I realized - this is love"

– Do you live in Kharkov now?

- Yes, although many consider me a Kievite, someone thinks that I went to my husband in America. I didn’t go anywhere, although ex-president Leonid Kuchma gave me an apartment in the capital and said: “What are you doing, live in Kyiv, we need you here.” I refused because I love Kharkov - my friends live here, my mother, I gave birth to a daughter here. By the way, my husband was in Kharkov only three times - when my daughter was baptized, on the 25th anniversary of my creative activity, and now, on the anniversary.

- Where did you meet?

- In 1994, I performed at the New York restaurant "Ukraine", where my future husband, Antony Stanislavchik, a Pole by nationality, worked as a chef. There was a big concert, to which a lot of artists from different countries were invited. I remember singing - he stands on the sidelines and listens. Someone else is speaking - he goes into the kitchen, I sing again - he comes out again. I noticed this and, when I was hungry, I asked him to eat. Tosik covered such a clearing that I immediately understood - this is love. And when I later came to visit him and got to know him better, I realized that this was not a random person in my life.

- You probably had many suitors ...

- I have never been preoccupied with the search for suitors, I did not make eyes at anyone, all my love was on stage. All my suitors are my songs, and Anthony understood and appreciated this.

Children were beaten with jump ropes

- Have you dreamed of being an artist since childhood?

“I grew up in a boarding school. I did not know my father, and my mother is deaf and mute - she fell ill with scarlet fever at the age of one and received such a complication. Therefore, when I was born, she gave me to the Baby House. She comes, breastfeeds and runs to work. I studied at the Dergachev boarding school. In the third grade, the singing teacher, who really liked the way I sang, invited me to the boarding school choir. But then there was no talk of a profession - I thought about how to survive, and not who to be.

Was everything that bad?

- In that boarding school, Baba Galya is still working in the kitchen - the only one from whom you could ask for supplements. The rest stole food - through the weeds, through the reeds dragged bags home. They mocked us in every possible way, beat us with skipping ropes, all the children's legs were blue. I was a strong girl, went in for sports, for the time being suffered. And then, I remember, in the ninth grade, the teacher hit me for a bad grade - I swung and punched him in the face. He just gasped.
The owner of the "currency vote" jumped Povaliy and Kirkorova

- Did you study vocals?

- After the boarding school, I went to a music school, but they didn’t take me there - they said that I didn’t know the music. And what are the notes in the boarding school?! As a result, I entered the cultural enlightenment school at the wind department in the horn class, just to learn musical literacy. And in parallel I went to study at the circus studio. During the day she blew the French horn, in the evening she worked on the arena. She performed at some concerts for five rubles - it was good money, then you could sit in a restaurant for a triplet. And then she fell when she twisted somersaults, tore the ligaments in her leg and decided that it was time to tie it up. By this time, I had just graduated from a cultural and educational school, worked on distribution at the KhEMZ recreation center and decided to go to an audition at the Kharkov Philharmonic.

And then you beat them...

“I didn’t even doubt that they would take me!” Together with two girls, we made up the Oksana trio, performed, traveled around the cities. Somehow I was walking down the street with my mother, I saw a poster: "Admission to pop vocals at the Leningrad Music Hall." I packed my bags and rushed over there. I arrive, and there are 270 people applying for four places. However, I decided to show what I can do. I remember I went out - I sing, juggle, do the splits, twist the cane. When I told the Philharmonic that I had entered, no one believed me.

- Has your life changed after studying in Leningrad?

- I was offered to stay to work in the music hall, but the artistic director of the Kharkov Philharmonic came for me, and I had to return home. Basically, I did it for my mom. Even then, I was strikingly different from many Ukrainian singers. I moved on stage - it was wild in those days. In the late 1980s - mid-1990s, I was in great demand and worked out many more concerts than today's "stars". In 1988, at the international competition in Yalta, I received the first prize. When they announced: "The singer of the Kharkov Philharmonic Nina Shestakova" - everyone was stunned. Among the nominees were both Kirkorov and Povaliy, and the first prize went to Shestakova. At the same time, I was automatically awarded the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine, and in 1997 I was given the title of People's Artist. There were a lot of envious people, but I did my job - when I go out, when I sing, everyone says: “We will immediately recognize your currency voice.”

“I get high when they cry at my concerts”

Is your title worth something today?

- For the "people's" put a personal pension, and I think I've earned it. It just seems that singing is easy, but keeping a huge hall is a lot of work. I get high when people cry at my concerts. There are singers who seem to have a voice, but they do not touch, but I will wake the dead. After such concerts I get very tired, then I lie at home for days - I watch films, I read.

- If it's not a secret, how much does your concert cost?

- It all depends on the situation: people have money - they give, no - it means how much they will give. If they ask me to speak in an orphanage or in front of the disabled, I never refuse and I don’t take money. Singers of such rank as Rotaru and Povaliy have fees from thirty thousand dollars to fifty. My tongue won't turn to name such an amount. The maximum that I was paid for a concert was one and a half thousand dollars. In the 1990s, it was good money, but I immediately carried it to the studio, bought songs. I have a lot of songs, but there is nowhere to sing them. All my colleagues are sitting without work - both Sandulesa and Kudlai have given way to the young.

I heard the name of my daughter in a dream

- Nina, you gave birth to a daughter at a fairly conscious age. How did you decide?

- And what to decide, it was my chance. Either there were no housing conditions, then money, then I was afraid that I would go on maternity leave - and everyone would forget Shestakova. And only when I had all the titles in my pocket, I decided to ask for housing. In 2003, the then mayor Mikhail Pilipchuk gave me an apartment in Kharkov. I settled down and in the summer I went to my husband in America, and returned from there pregnant. I wanted a girl - and Niana was born.

- Who came up with this name?

- It dawned on me. It’s as if I’m standing in a temple and I hear a voice: name the child by your name, and in the middle insert the first letter of the husband’s name. I wake up in the morning and think: husband according to Anthony's passport, I am Nina, it turns out my daughter is Niana. Now she is already six years old, and Tosik really wants to take Niana to America - there are more prospects there. And I'll stay here, I can't leave my mother.

- Nina, what is happening in your creative life today?

- I perform a lot abroad - in Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, not to mention America. There I have familiar composers who provide musical material. There is a singer friend with whom we exchange songs. It turns out that I am in demand everywhere, but not in Kharkov, we do not know how to value our own people.

People's Artist of Ukraine Nina SHESTAKOVA: “My mother is deaf and mute, I don’t know my father… Until I was three years old, I grew up in a Baby House, then in an orphanage, then in an orphanage… We were beaten for every wrongdoing, thrashed on our legs with a skipping rope, lathered our eyes…”

But here another song sounds - “Deaf-mute love”. The singer addresses the part of the hall where the deaf and dumb children are sitting. What can they hear? And then the singer, performing the song, simultaneously translates the words with gestures, facial expressions: “Deaf-mute love knocked on the windows, deaf-mute love knocked on the door, deaf-mute love knocked on the heart ...”. It's so touching that the audience is in tears, and I'm no exception.

Children know and love the singer well, whose mother is the same as they are - deaf and mute. Vasily Zinkevich once said about Nina: “Don’t pretend to be a girl, she knows the bidu.” And, in spite of everything, Nina took place as a singer, achieved recognition, became a People's Artist of Ukraine. Without any "blat-shmats", as she puts it. Her best discs are “I wish you love”, “Cherry Paradise” (this song is her visiting card), “Slave of Love”, “I am a Kharkov woman!” ...

Alas, her simplicity, openness, gullibility sometimes turn against her. Nina recently had a performance in Kyiv, on the stage of the Ukraine Palace. The singer was begged to come to the anniversary of one of the educational institutions of the capital. She agreed to sing for free, because there were disabled people in the hall. She only asked to pay for the fare from Kharkov and back, as at that moment she was experiencing financial difficulties. The organizers agreed.

Nina went on stage with a temperature, but she performed brilliantly. After the concert, one of the organizers dropped the money into her bag. At the buffet table, she got them. I stood by. Guess how much the people's artist got? 170 hryvnia! The singer wept in humiliation. Trying to calm her down...

“MOM SAID THAT THE FATHER’S NAME IS IVAN: HE WAS A GOON, COP…”

It turned out ugly ... With this money you can buy a ticket only in a reserved seat car.

You see, Misha, the mood immediately broke off. Basically, such a ball falls on my soul. Everywhere - ball, ball and ball! No money left? And for this buffet, for such a banquet, they found ... In Kharkov, the same thing: “Ninusichka, be kind, sleep for us. There are no pennies, well, there is nothing. This is some kind of nightmare! Other artists basically don’t sing for free, only for money, they don’t care: disabled, not disabled (I don’t want to name names), but I can’t refuse, because I went through all this. My mother is deaf...

Is she like this from birth?

She was a year old when she contracted scarlet fever. Illness and gave a complication. From a year old - and for life. The doctors couldn't help... Because of this, when I was born, she handed me over to the Baby House, where I stayed until I was three years old. She will appear, breastfeed and run away to earn at least some penny.

And who is the father?

I do not know him. She knew him for one day, got pregnant right away, worked me up, as it were. Mommy came from the Vologda region, she was an interesting, fair-haired girl, and I was dark-haired - apparently, she went to father. I didn't want to hurt her with unnecessary questions.

Deaf and mute people are extraordinary: they see differently, they feel differently ... To understand this world, you must be deaf and dumb yourself. But somehow I asked: “Does my folder speak?”. She said that his name was Ivan, he was a redneck, a cop - he guarded the hostel where she lived. I was very angry with him...

After the Baby House, I was in an orphanage until I was seven years old. I have a photograph: I am standing with a short haircut in men's family shorts and holding a doll in my hands. Crazy photo!

Did your mom teach you to sign?

Who else? I already in the orphanage kheryachila hands with might and main! They lathered our eyes there as a punishment for leprosy. Scarecrows: "If you're going to play around, Babai will come before you!" In the evening, the nanny put on tarpaulin boots, changed into a peasant, all in black, and unexpectedly appeared at the bedroom door: “I’ll beat someone at once!”. I was scared: "That's it, I'm gone, now it will come to my bed." They also threatened to throw the offender into the washing machine. We were so afraid of it!

What do you think is cruel?

I did not feel any attention, any warmth from our tutors. Never, from anyone! For every offense they beat me, thrashed my legs with a skipping rope. All children had blue feet. Why did they raise orphans, half orphans like that? And we are small: it hurts, we cry.

Have you been teased by older guys?

What is he?

Nothing. I realized that there was strength in me, and did not touch me anymore.

"THINKING ABOUT SEX IN THE BOARDING HOUSE DID NOT HAVE TIME - YOU HAVE TO SURVIVE"

They often write about the sexual harassment of boarding school teachers towards their pupils ...

We were fine with that. It may have happened to some, but not to me. I'm telling you, they were afraid of me.

Did you fall in love with each other?

Certainly. I had a kid ... I remember how we kissed.

But only?

But only! In the boarding school there was no time to think about sex, and we didn’t know the word for it either. I had to survive, my fish!

When did you discover your talent for singing?

We all sing together in the third grade. I look: the singing teacher stops by my desk all the time. I think: "What does he want?". And he liked the way I sing, and he invited me to the boarding school choir. I went to different competitions, always won. Having heard that I was a musical girl, they wanted to take me to a music school, but the director said: “We ourselves need her” - and did not let go.

My grandmother Simfora was also from the Vologda region. She sang - in! She said: “I sing in one village, and in another it is wonderful.” I went into it.

I understand that you did not immediately appreciate your singing gift?

Only in the 10th grade I thought that this might be my path in life. I went to a music school to enter the vocal department. They told me: "We can't take you, you don't know the notes." And what notes in the boarding school? Everything I hear...

This tool helped me - developed my lungs. I began to sing stronger, better. And what just did not get involved! I ran to the vocal circle, to the dance, to the drama, to the sports, even to the circus. She could do splits, learned to juggle with six objects.

She graduated from college with honors. For some time she worked in the House of Culture as an entertainer, and in the 88th year she went to the local philharmonic society. They gave me a bet of 9 rubles 50 kopecks - at that time they were such grandmas! I traveled with concerts in the Kharkiv region: I had seven performances a day, then - 10! The side of the car was folded down instead of a stage, and I sang on it in front of milkmaids and machine operators ... Once I read an ad: a set is opening for the Leningrad Music Hall, which was led by Ilya Rakhlin. I went, I did. I studied there for two and a half years.

And how do you like Peter?

I liked everything there! I went to theaters, in Badeteshka (the Bolshoi Drama Theater, directed at that time by Georgy Tovstonogov. - Auth.) I watched all the performances. Loved Alisa Freindlich. I ran to variety concerts in the sports and variety complex: to Sofia Rotaru, to Valery Leontiev, to Lily Ivanova ...

But the scholarship is 20 rubles, you won't be able to accelerate much. We went into the subway with my girlfriends in single file. And they entered pop concerts due to the fact that a grandfather from Ukraine, Mikhalych, as I called him, fell in love with me, an orphanage girl. “Ninusechka,” he said, “let me take you.” - "And if I come with my girlfriends from the music hall?". - "Well, bring me, my bird." The uncle was the best.

What did you learn there?

Rakhlin told how to behave on stage, down to how to hold hands, how to look into the eyes. Other teachers taught stage speech, pop, dance rhythms, and the ability to make up. I soaked it all up like a sponge.

“MY MOTHER IS ILLITERATE. WHEN I DON'T FIND HER AT HOME, I DRAW HER tic-tac-toe"

You are beautiful, guys, probably, were fond of you?

What are you! No guys were even close! I didn't even think about it. For me the main thing was knowledge, knowledge! In the evening she worked at the music hall, singing in the Moldavian language. For eight rubles I bought a sopilochka and played on it. I didn't allow myself to waste precious study time on love, on kisses, on intimacy. Unless she could take a walk with her girlfriends on white nights. When I graduated from the music hall, I was offered to stay.

And you didn't agree?

- "No," she said, "I'll go to my mother." Spasms were in my throat when I left this city. I was madly worried, crying, but my mother is above all for me. How can I leave her? She lives separately, it's not far from my house. If only I could call her. And God forbid something happens? I have to come and open her apartment and see if everything is all right.

Have men ever disappointed you?

My goal was not to get married. I was thinking about a career, about creativity, sick of it all over. You have no idea how much I love the stage and work. Industriousness is gushing out of me!
Once Nina Shestakova worked in the ensemble of Sofia Rotaru. “God, how we rode with her: we traveled around Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, the Baltic States ... I always loved Sonechka as a singer, and she respected me, paid good money ...”

Don't forget about your personal life...

I have a husband, we have been living in a civil marriage for 15 years. Everything is fine. He is a chef in New York, in Brooklyn. World! Cool! I'm flying to him now. His name is Anthony, with an accent on the first letter, and his last name is Stanislavchik. He is a Pole, has been in America for 29 years, and before that he was a chef on a ship.

How did you meet?

My friend, the director of the Kharkov circus, left for New York. He got a job in the restaurant "Ukraine". In 1994, they decided to hold a song festival there. The owner says: “I definitely need a singer from Ukraine!”. An acquaintance remembered me: "There is such a person - Nina Shestakova."

I've arrived. When she sang: “Yesterday we broke up with you. Without you, the vast world is not sweet to me ... ”, I look: a man in a chef’s hat is standing in the doorway and looking at me intently. The song ended - he disappeared. I sing the following song: “Guess, gypsy, for the king, to be a queen is my destiny ...” - he stands again, in his eyes - admiration, delight! And so every time: when I sang, he appeared, when not, he went to the basement, to the kitchen. And he reacted only to my voice, he was not interested in other singers.

It was the chef. He covered such a clearing for me, cooked everything so deliciously, decorated it so beautifully - presented a bouquet of flowers, courted like a queen - that I understood: “this is a mess” ...

Does your husband know about your mother?

Knows and loves her. On the 25th anniversary of my creative activity, I had a solo concert in Kharkov. He sat next to his mother in the front rows, and both cried, and he - more, because he is very sensitive.

How did mom take it?

She said: “Tosik is good: he doesn’t smoke or drink.”

That's what everyone calls him in Brighton, where he works.

“FOR CHRISTMAS, I GET A WISHING NOTE FROM UNDER THE PILLOW, AND IN IT: “TO HAVE A GIRL”

You have been together for 15 years, and the child appeared only more than three years ago, when you were 43. What used to hold you back?

I was always afraid that I would give birth to a child and my career would end there, everyone would forget me. And on Christmas, from January 6 to 7, 2004, I put a lot of notes with different desires under my pillow. I wake up, pull out one, read: "Give birth to a girl." And I thought about it the least, although my mother really wanted her to have a granddaughter.

And what did you do?

In the summer I flew to Anthony. After that, she began to eat sweets, got fat - she had never been like that. Taya Povaliy remarked: “Where does your stomach come from? Are you eating a lot?" And then I guessed: “Are you pregnant?!”.

And I have a dream: evening, I'm in the temple. Suddenly a voice is heard: "Name your daughter like this: in the middle of your name, insert the first letter of your husband's name." I am Nina, the first letter of my husband's name in the passport is "A". What happens? Niana! Stunned! Niana Antonievna.

Since your daughter doesn't see her father often, does she even recognize him?

Somehow we are walking down the street, the little girl, pointing at some man, says: “Oh, this uncle looks like my dad.” I remember Toshika! He is affectionate, kind, when he arrives, he plays with her a lot. Often calls - but what about? - asks: “How is my goat?” - that's what he calls her. This is his first child, and Anthony loves his daughter madly, maybe more than I do.

Help financially?

Oh, it helps, smart girl! Especially now, when I have almost no concerts and it's hard. He works a lot.

What kind of rivalry did you have with Nadia Shestak?

Not rivalry, but confusion. In 1985 I returned to the Kharkov Philharmonic (I was simply begged to return). A year later, she went to Khmelnitsky for the republican competition of pop artists. I sang the Leontief song “Where did the circus go?”, while still juggling, sitting on the twine. And she shared second place with Nadyusha ...

What is your relationship with other artists?

I love Lorak very much (Ani Lorak. - Author), she is also a boarding school student, I was very touched by this. I once gave her earrings. “I like it, my girl,” I say, “take it!”. At the “Song Vernissage”, Bilychka was pushed on the stage: “Irusya, why are you standing in the back rows? Go ahead so everyone can see you." And now, when she performs in Kharkov, she says from the stage: “Maybe that’s why I’m so popular now that Nina Shestakova once pushed me forward.”

At Slaviansky Bazaar I see that Serdyuchka (Danilko was just starting his career then) has nothing to eat: “What, Andryukha, are there no food stamps? On you, my bird." I worked in Cyprus for half a year, I brought a feather boa from there. I gave it to him… We, the children from the orphanage, have always been open and generous. I've never been greedy in my life.

What foreign country did you tour for the first time?

In Poland. I arrived from there and already dressed differently, I looked good. I met interesting artists there. In Poland, I found out that I was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine. Oh, how much joy it was, what are you! I received this title after I took first place at the Yalta-88 competition, and in 1997 I was given a national award ... But I always say: I am not a nationalist, I am normal!

How do you keep yourself in shape?

I eat very little, once a week I arrange a fasting day - I starve all day, only water. I can eat today, and tomorrow I can switch to kefir ... We don’t eat for two days - and I fit into any dress. I have a crazy will since the orphanage, I can withstand everything.

Do other singers look after themselves like that too?

In Ukraine, not all. We have a "Ukrainian kind", the girls are such donuts. It's all in Moscow - skinny, just chips!

But we vmiemo sleep ...

Let's eat - great! Another thing is that we also need energy, professionalism, experience, the ability to move plastically and correctly on the stage. Some young performers just run back and forth, and Shestakova comes out, and - oops! - there's nowhere to go. Lyudmila Gurchenko said about me that I am a strong singer.

What a beauty it used to be! The artists have a permanent job, we communicated with each other, Gena Tatarchenko wrote beautiful songs for me. How much I traveled around the Soviet Union! What kind of company was there: Iosif Kobzon, Valery Leontiev, Lev Leshchenko, Anna Veski ... There was also a beginner Maxim Galkin. And now I want a party - good, ours.

All entertainers are trying to move to Kyiv, but for some reason you did not succumb to this fashion ...

In 2000, Leonid Kuchma gave me an apartment in Kyiv, but it was very bad - scary, old, dead, as they say. I had to sell. A two-room apartment in Kharkov was allocated to me by the mayor of the city, Mikhail Pilipchuk. Later, I told Kuchma about everything. He says: “Why didn’t you tell me before? I would help you,” but I was shy, afraid to say. Kharkiv is my native, beloved city. He is similar to me, to my character. Once I worked in Moscow, at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, I could have stayed there. But I won’t leave my mother, and she doesn’t want to go anywhere.

Are times changing for the better or for the worse?

Of course, for the worse. I don't have a job. But I am in great shape, I have become stronger, more professional, more energetic. Others sleep on stage, but I have always been energetic. She just rushes out of me!

And what does it take to make a dream come true?

All you need is money - that's all! I also dream of singing a song for my mother, I already have poems. It will be called "Oh, if only you could hear ...".

This April turned out to be rich in anniversaries at the Kharkov Philharmonic. One of the heroes of the celebrations is her soloist, People's Artist of Ukraine Nina Shestakova. However, she is doubly responsible: in addition to her jubilee birthday, these days she has another anniversary - the 35th anniversary of her work on the stage of the Moscow Philharmonic.

Of course, fans and members of fan clubs of Nina Shestakova, of which there are not so few in the former large country, would like to receive a new exclusive interview with their favorite. But, gentlemen, fans, in September the singer will have an anniversary benefit concert, then we'll talk. And today - we will regret the birthday girl and pamper her with a gift, we will offer a few words about her to her colleagues, teachers, associates.

Director and artistic director of the Kharkiv Philharmonic, conductor of the symphony orchestra Y. V. Yanko:

— Nina Shestakova is, of course, our pride and beauty, a wonderful soloist, in the best sense of the word, a pupil of the Soviet stage, who has passed all the steps on the way to the top, which she now occupies, she traveled all the cities and towns, she is really a hard-working singer , a very, very talented, musical and very beautiful woman. Her hands move wonderfully, in general, she looks great on stage. She always sings very sincerely, for her sincerity, perhaps, they love her most of all, while she still has excellent command of stage movement. This is a widely gifted person, who, of course, is the pride and glory of our dear Philharmonic, and we, of course, are proud that we have such a soloist. Also, she teaches our youth: how to work on stage, how to improve, how to move forward without repeating yourself. For example, I always listen to it with great pleasure. What she sings about always penetrates the very heart.

Composer, Honored Art Worker of Ukraine, repeatedly elected chairman of the Kharkiv branch of the Union of Composers of Ukraine N. G. Stetsyun:

“I have known Nina Shestakova for many years and, as they say, I am glad and proud that I was at the origins of her creative growth. Her fate is unusual and difficult. With a deaf-mute mother, Nina's childhood was spent mainly in children's institutions - a kindergarten, a boarding school, and at the end of the 10th grade, a musical girl was admitted to the Kharkov cultural and educational school, in the horn class. But she knows how to play well not only on this instrument, and when a vocal trio was organized at the Philharmonic, Nina joined it. Where only girls with concerts have not been! They traveled not only throughout the Kharkiv region, but also many cities of Ukraine - the team was a huge success with the public. But Nina always wanted to be a soloist, so she once came to the city on the Neva to Semyon Sorkin himself, the head of the Leningrad Music Hall, passed the competition and was invited to the team, even performed with him at the Rossiya Concert Hall in Moscow. But, having won, she returned to Kharkov and, of course, became a full-fledged soloist of the Philharmonic Society ... There is a new competition, already in Kyiv. Nina, of course, is coming! For the competition, I wrote the song "Gavrosh" - and again a victory, this song, together with Nina, was later sung by all of Ukraine. Then she was invited to the "Song Vernissage" - a popular program on Ukrainian television of that time. It was then that another Nina's talent showed up - she juggles great, and when she also sang and juggled on TV, the audience was delighted, many letters came to Kiev, and her record was played continuously for six months. After that, I wrote another song especially for her - “Planet Earth” to the words of Fazu Aliyeva, with which Nina performed again in Moscow at the days of Ukrainian culture in the capital. Again there was an undeniable victory, after which our Nina became an Honored Artist of Ukraine. She traveled, probably, the entire Union and everywhere represented the Kharkov Philharmonic. And also - I will never forget such a case: from our philharmonic society she went to the festival "Crimean Dawns", they performed songs from the Commonwealth countries, Sofia Rotaru was the chairman of the jury. What eminent singers were not there! Piekha's daughter, Kirkorov, someone else, but overtook everyone and received the first prize Nina Shestakova! And all thanks not only to his abilities, but also to his purposeful character. She did not become embittered, did not succumb to difficulties, but strove forward, as in the song “I am a Kharkov woman,” it seems to me that they complement each other.

— Nina Shestakova is a very talented person. Very talented! Gifted and emotionally filled, very expressive in the good sense of the word - emotions from it directly gush. Her talent charges the audience, so she is always in demand. One of the greats said well: everything in life can be repeated, but talent is a unique thing, so a talented person is always interesting. It is most important. However, no, there is another important thing - it is in demand! That's what I've always liked about her. Otherwise, of course, I don’t know her very well, but I know that she is a very kind person, she will always come to the rescue. Her friends told me how she came to the rescue in the most difficult moments of their lives. Moreover, both musicians and non-musicians are friends. It is known, after all, that although creative people are friends, they are jealous, to put it mildly, because they are competitors, but I heard just such warm words about her. In general, she is such a person: she always finds a keen interest in her work, will join any improvised ensemble, will sound with any instruments - even with a piano, even with folk, even with electric instruments.

“I have known Nina for a long time, she was a very talented girl. It remains the same, of course. Our creative relationship with her developed at the time of my writing the song "Mertisor", which in translation from Moldavian means the holiday of spring, with which she entered the Leningrad Music Hall. When it was shown, in my opinion, she sang 12 songs, and at the end of the commission decided that she sang only "Mertisor". With the poet N. Tomenko we wrote this song for Maria Biesu, who was going to perform with it at the festival in Chisinau, but the festival did not take place. And Nina sang this song on All-Union Television in a popular Sunday program, which, of course, was very pleasant to me. I also know that Ninochka plays brass instruments, that is, such a versatile and talented girl, and the fact that she made such a great career as a pop singer is not surprising to me - she deserves it. I have the most pleasant memories of talking to her.

“Nina,” I turn to the singer, “please answer a simple question for a pro: is it really Ukrainian pop music?

- Certainly! Ukraine is a melodious country. And in my time it was, and now it is. And there have always been pop singers, in my time - these are Ivo Bobul, Lilia Sandulesa, Oksana Bilozir, I loved them very much, made friends, now they have different names, they just now have many privileges, much more than we had. And there has always been a stage in Ukraine, how could it be without it?!

— But no one even utters such a word now, only pop music, show business, tare-bars at the expense of tare – this is what is now in the language and in favor.

— M-yes… Well, on the one hand, this is probably because the word itself is not fashionable. On the other hand, you can already hear it, a pop singer, jazz or folklorist. On the third, there are all sorts of TV contests that are now being organized, pop ones, although there, however, they mix genres as they like. What about the stage itself? To be honest, I never thought about it: the stage ... You have to think about it. Well, you puzzled me!

— This is an acquaintance!

“Yes, but there are pop departments in music schools, and pop singing is taught by teachers—professional pop singers.

— And wonderful teachers! But they themselves say that as soon as pop students become graduates, the word immediately disappears somewhere.

“Hmm, where does it disappear to? I don’t even know what to say, maybe ... in some ways it was more difficult for us, in some ways it is now for them. Money decides a lot: producers, authors, shooting clips, promotion - everything needs money, and a lot of it. And with us, with production in Kharkov, to put it mildly, it’s hard. Here, I think, it is also necessary to introduce such a specialty at pop faculties: producing. When a young performer is talented, every now and then you see how mothers are for producers or relatives, or even teachers. Maybe because now every singer starts with a producer, so the name of the song genre in which he sings disappears?

— Nina, how, why did you and everyone who started with you at about the same time do without producers?

- Don't even know. So now, probably, it is necessary, someone came up with this word - “producer”.

— And introduced it!

— Introduced. Well, we also had a director, leader of an orchestra, ensemble, etc., but no producers. And now no one can do without them anywhere, not a single singer. It is necessary to find money, without them it is impossible, this is the meaning of the concept of “producer” ... And there are talented young people, I try to help them as much as possible. At one time, I gave out a lot of arrangements, orchestrations, backing tracks for free, agreed on someone at the studio. True, there are those - unfortunately, there are many of them - who need everything at once: they want to quickly become popular, quickly get big money, but they don’t want to work!

- Here! It’s already warmer: they don’t understand that they need to work hard on their abilities, they just don’t develop like that, and the misunderstanding of the main task gradually dissolved, as if the word “stage” was erased with an eraser.

— Probably… But if it were only for that, it’s still bad that vocal abilities are not in the first place among the singers now…

— Speakers, more precisely.

— Ninochka, what is the most vivid memory from your real pop life?

— Of course, the international competition in Yalta in 1988, the moment when they announced that I won first place. This was incredible for me! I returned to Kharkiv and found out that before me, from similar - pop! - no one brought the main prizes to the city competitions. And also - studying at the Leningrad Music Hall ...

... We didn’t talk for a long time, we understood each other well, and yet, having agreed with everything, I can’t get rid of Chekhov’s “... but just now, Dmitry Dmitrievich, you were right, sturgeon with a smell.”

Nina Shestakova has long been on the crest - loved and in demand by the public, self-sufficient. Her peers are, too. But why are there so few good variety concerts, at least on television, why have people forgotten Ukrainian pop artists, who are only 50 plus or minus, who patiently followed the galaxy of the best Ukrainian artists, constantly learning from them, and not stepping over their heads? Who pushed aside, removed and gave all the cards to the young, of which few even want to work! Why? Because at one time they really worked, trying their best? Because they are worthy students of the Soviet song school, for which they are grateful to their teachers and do not hide it? For the fact that they looked for themselves in themselves and in us - the best and, going on stage, tried to dress, and not vice versa, and considered the voice and personal qualities to be the main advantage of the performer?

But let's not despair, the time will come, and those who can really sing so that they listen with bated breath will return to the stage!

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