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Aida Vedishcheva

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Aida Vedishcheva
Birth nameIda Solomonovna Weis
Also known asAmazing Aida
Born (1941-06-10) June 10, 1941 (age 83)
OriginKazan, Soviet Union
GenresPop, Folk
InstrumentVocals
Years active1960–1990

Aida Semyonovna Vedishcheva (Russian: Аида Семёновна Ведищева, born Ida Solomonovna Wаis, Russian: Ида Соломоновна Вайс, 10 June 1941, Kazan) is a Soviet and Russian singer of Jewish descent. In the 1960s she contributed songs to several film soundtracks, including "The small song about bears", "Help me", "Forest deer", "Bear-mama lullaby", and "Chunga-changa".

Biography

Early life

Aida Vedishcheva was born in Kazan (administrative center of Tatar ASSR) in the family of professor of medicine Solomon Wais, who arrived from Kiev just before World War II. In 1951, her family relocated to Irkutsk in Siberia. There, Vedishcheva finished her Music School, where she performed in the student theater of musical comedy.

Afterwards, she enrolled (by her parents' request) into the Institute of foreign languages, where she studied both the German and English languages. Upon graduating from the institute, Vedishcheva left for Moscow, where she unsuccessfully tried to enroll into the Supreme Theatrical Institute of Shchepkin. After that, she began her singing career due to her strong and beautiful voice.

Music career

Aida Vedishcheva began her singing performance career in the early 1960s, in Kharkiv philharmony. Vedishcheva sang in Oleg Lundstrem and later in Leonid Utёsov orchestras. From 1966 on, she was performing along with the "Meloton" ensemble as well as the Vocal-instrumental ensemble (VIE) "Blue Guitars" led by Igor Granov. The same year (1966) Vedishcheva became a laureate of the First "All-Union Competition of Soviet Song". She achieved the national recognition after singing "The song about bears" in 1967 for the movie Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (seven million records were sold). In 1968, for the song "Geese, geese" ("Gusi, gusi") she received a diploma at the Sopot International song festival (the Polish Baltic Sea coast). That was followed by such songs/movie soundtracks as "Volcano of desires" ("Help me") for the movie The Diamond Arm (1968), "Comrade" ("For the friendship was carried by comrade on waves...", 1970), "Forest deer" for the movie Way to go Nastia! (1972), and others.

Despite her success among the listeners, she met numerous obstacles, as did several other song performers of Jewish descent (including Nina Brodskaya, Emil Gorovets, Vadim Mulerman, Larisa Mondrus, Maya Kristalinskaya) in the USSR. Among such obstacles were cases of her name not making into movies' credits, cancellation of concerts, cold receptions on television, prohibition of concert tours abroad, erased tapes with her recordings on the radio. For example, her song "Forest deer" was recognized as the Song of the Year, but on the television it was performed by Loktev ensemble. From the mid-1970s on, Vedishcheva disappeared from the credits of movies and cartoons. She finally left with her mother and son for the United States in 1980.

In America, Vedishcheva had to start her singing career from the ground up. She enrolled into Brooklyn College, taking a four-year theater program where she learned American cinematography and dance. At first, Vedishcheva resided in New York City, then she moved to Los Angeles due to the New York climate causing her some health problems. In the USA she was able to receive recognition, creating her own theatrical troupe and a show on the TV in California. Vedishcheva, under the pseudonym Amazing Aida, was performing mostly the American repertoire: songs of popular Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies, and beside them the songs of Michel Legrand, Russian and Gypsy romance songs, as well as Jewish traditional songs.

In the beginning of the 1990s, Aida Vedishcheva was diagnosed with stage III cancer. Despite doctors' precautions, Vedishcheva insisted on her surgery and went through chemotherapy - treatments to which the disease yielded.[1]

In 1998 Vedishcheva put on the show Miss Liberty for the new millennium. After the September 11 attacks she wrote the musical "Masterpiece and the singing Liberty" and dedicated it to the Statue of Liberty. The musical was performed on Broadway in 2007.[1]

Songs

  • Be with me as before (music V. Shainsky, words А. Nagorniak)
  • Cranes (music E. Khanok, words А. Dostal)
  • Love (music О. Feltsman, words N. Olev)
  • Answer (music S. Pozhalkov, words N. Malyshev)
  • I will wait for you (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
  • Geese, geese (music S. Pozhalkov, words N. Malyshev)
  • Comrade (music О. Ivanov, words А. Prokofyev)
  • In any way you will be mine (music А. Zatsepin, words L. Derbenev)
  • You argued without purpose (music B. Savelyev, words V. Kharitonov)
  • Simply the age is such (music B. Savelyev, words М. Pliatskovsky)
  • Be as it may (music Ya. Frenkel, words М. Tanich)
  • Steps in Grass (music М. Legrand, words I. Reznik)

In movies

  • White piano — Road Song (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
  • White piano — First Spring (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
  • White piano — Song about Dushanbe (music А. Zatsepin, words О. Gadjikasimov)
  • Way to go Nastia! — Forest deer (music Ye. Krylatov, words Yu. Entin)
  • Kidnapping, Caucasian Style — The small song about bears (music А. Zatsepin, words L. Derbenev)
  • The Diamond Arm — Help me (music А. Zatsepin, words L. Derbenev)[2]

In cartoons

  • Umka — Bear-mama lullaby (music Ye. Krylatov, words Yu. Yakovlev)
  • Katerok — Chunga-changa (music V. Shainsky, words Yu. Entin)

Awards

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sounds of Aida". Konstantine Ioch. "Russian newspaper" No. 244 (4801). November 23, 2008.
  2. ^ "Help me" (soundtrack to The Diamond Arm) on YouTube
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