Estrada: what is this in the general sense of the term?

In our minds, such a notion as "variety art" is firmly rooted. What is that? Many associate this term with pop music, although in reality these concepts can not be confused. Pop music is one of the components, and the concept itself includes quite a few genres.

Estrada: what is that generally?

In general, if we follow some sources, it is very simple to define the concept of variety art. For example, the same "Wikipedia" claims that the stage is a kind of stage art, mainly an entertaining genre, although in fact this concept is much broader. And that's why.

A more extensive interpretation explains that the stage is a kind of exaltation of the performer when he enters the stage and performs a short number, which includes completely different directions and is accompanied by a compere (the artist's performance on stage). For today, the variety includes several main genres:

• song;
• Dance (choreography);
• Circus art;
• Illusion;
• clownery;
• Conversational genre;
• parody;
• Pantomime, etc.

As you can see, the notion of variety is quite wide. However, in our understanding, the stage is for some reason associated with music. So it should not be.

The Soviet stage

Of course, the song has always occupied one of the most important places in a person's life. At the very time of the Soviet Union, when the notion of variety art appeared, there were a lot of pioneers. This is Muslim Magomaev, Eduard Khil, Edita Pieha, Lev Leshchenko, Iosif Kobzon, Alla Pugacheva, at last. All of them are stars of the stage of their time.

Of course, we can not ignore the circus. What a noticeable trace in the history of variety art circus art left such stars as Oleg Popov and Yuri Nikulin, who mixed in the arena more than one generation!

At that time Tarapunka and Shtepsel dominated the conversation genre , not to mention such a master as Arkady Raikin. It was only then that Petrosyan, Zadornov, Zhvanetsky and many others appeared. And what about the Obraztsov Theater?

A special place was occupied by the then VIA (vocal-instrumental ensembles). That there are only Pesnyary, Syabry, Verasy, Flame, etc. The same "Earthlings" - also a platform, although for some reason they are considered to be rock bands.

Foreign stage music

Abroad, variety art also did not remain without attention, but it was subordinated to making money (show business).

For our listener at that time, the stage is two world-wide bands - Boney M and ABBA. Sometimes this pair is also referred to as Eruption, but this is especially the brainchild of Frank Farian (the founder of Boney M), who wrote the most famous hits for the band.

By the way, such a popular program as the "Benny Hill Show" can also be attributed equally to the standard variety genre, despite the fact that this program is television. And if you remember the festivals in San Remo, once very popular all over the world, it will immediately become clear that the stage is not only music or any other kind of scenic art, but the real show itself.

It is interesting that the rudiments of variety art could be found in Russia with its buffoons, and in the West - with court jesters.

By the way, you can add that today on western television you can meet a lot of parody gear. In Germany, for example, the RTL2 channel is leading in this respect. In the sense of circus art, the "Du Soleil" troupe plays an unquestionable primacy here, in which there are quite a few of our compatriots and artists from other countries performing absolutely unthinkable numbers and tricks, which are simply breathtaking.

Instead of the total

Of course, not all aspects of the variety concept are considered here, however, and so it should be clear that this concept includes a lot of genres and to speak of it exclusively from the point of view of music is completely wrong. There are so many directions in there that it just does not fit in your head. And it's not for nothing that most of the educational institutions at one time were called circus and circus schools. Apparently, this is a certain reason.

It goes without saying that it will not be possible to describe all the genres in detail (this will take too much time). But it is also clear that the stage is more than just pop culture. And to list the genres available in this sense can be very, very long. On the other hand, even such a short digression into history will help to understand what is really a variety genre.