Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
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"Picnic Quintet." "Picnic Suite" for guitar, flute, and jazz trio.
Juggling styles these days is either tiring or confusing—and not just in music (how long have you been yearning to visit a fusion restaurant?). And yet, against this backdrop, the Moscow Picnic Quintet suddenly records Claude Bolling's Picnic Suite and reminds us why we even need such experiments. French elegance and baroque discipline, jazz freedom and academic precision truly merge here in friendly harmony and informality, just as a good picnic should.
Bolling, the patriarch of French jazz, is better known to the general public as a film composer, having composed music for over a hundred films during his long career—including such memorable European hits as Borsalino, The Magnificent, and Passengers. He composed this suite in 1980 as a dialogue between guitar and flute and a jazz trio. In the Picnic Quintet version, everything sounds cleaner and warmer, like a restored watercolor: Dmitry Andreyev's guitar is dry and transparent, Yuliana Padalko's flute is bright and slightly dreamy, Olga Zaikina's piano holds its shape, and the rhythm section provides a gentle pulse, preventing the music from becoming stagnant.
Makhfirat Khamrakulova. "Chants of Love" ("Sozi Ishq")
Melodiya continues to unearth amazing Soviet-era artifacts from its archives. Now comes the turn of the Soviet Tajikistan's leading star, Makhfirat Hamrakulova (who, incidentally, celebrated her 70th birthday this year). In the 1980s, she was both a symbolic "liberated woman of the East" and a source of pride for her compatriots—and now they, too, have their own, distinctive yet contemporary pop singer. Hamrakulova began as a soloist with the Gulshan ensemble, the republic's premier pop group, where she received a solid foundation. Today, her solo recordings, where European orchestrations accompany Central Asian melodies and modern synthesizers accompany folk instruments, sound surprisingly fresh and professional.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of civil war in Tajikistan, Khamrakulova left her native Dushanbe, moving first to Moscow and then emigrating overseas. However, she did not abandon her singing career and continues to perform—both in New York, to a sizable diaspora, and in her homeland, where her concerts are said to be invariably sold-out. A collection of her best recordings from the early 1980s clearly explains the reasons for her unwavering public love—even without understanding the lyrics, it's hard not to be captivated by these languid ballads and relaxed pop thrillers with the flavor of an oriental bazaar.
Vladislav Krylov, Izvestia, November 1, 2025
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