“People of his kind don’t die.” Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said that in 2003 during a memorial service for Vladimir Mulyavin, the USSR’s and Belarus’ People’s Artist, the founder and the irreplaceable leader of the music band Pesnyary. BelTA’s YouTube project “How it was: DOC” recalls how Belarusians and the head of state said farewell to the famous singer.
It happened in the early 2003. The famous Belarusian singer Vladimir Mulyavin died in the Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital. Vladimir Mulyavin had got into a car accident eight months before that. The accident left him immobile. Medics tried to fix the artist for more than half a year. However, the terrible traumas led to the demise of Vladimir Mulyavin at the age of 62 despite all the medics could do.
A memorial service for the leader of the Pesnyary band took place in Moscow first and then in Minsk. It is understandable because the music band was famous all over the Soviet Union in the 1970s. And far beyond: Pesnyary even toured the United States of America and sang the songs that millions came to love.
The memorial service in Minsk took place in the Central House of Officers. The head of state attended it. During the ceremony he could not help but cry.
“They say Mulyavin is dead. It is not true. People of his kind don’t die. Unfortunately, people like him leave us. But considering everything they have accomplished over the course of their lives, they stay with us for centuries. We sang songs, we thought, some dreamed in our own language. It is a great accomplishment of Mulyavin. It is Vladimir Georgiyevich [Mulyavin’s] phenomenon if you want. But his songs will be Mulyavin’s greatest remembrance. And in these songs he will always be with us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko was confident.
Archive footage of Vladimir Mulyavin’s memorial service where Aleksandr Lukashenko was also present can be found in the latest episode of the “How it was: DOC” project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
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