The story of the hit that made the Yalla ensemble Uzbek favourites

There's not a person who hasn't heard of Uchkuduk with three wells. This song has attained the status a timeless hitBecause of this, it is well known even by the modern generation. Although at the time of its creation, few people believed in the success of the composition, which sang of an unremarkable unremarkable industrial town Uzbekistan with a population of a few tens of thousands of people... only Yuri Entin felt something incredibly appealing about those lines. And I was right!

An all-time hit that came about by accident

As is often the case, a future hit song was born quite by accidentand its potential success seemed to the members of the Yalla Ensemble. impossible. But Yuri Entin, who was not unknown at the time. classicswho has more than one first-class hit under his belt - had a different opinion on the matter.

At the beginning of the 80-х "The Yalla's came on tour to a small gated town called Uchkuduk. Few people knew about it - it's far from the kind of place people go on holiday! And that's why singing about it industrial corner of Uzbekistan to the musicians seemed ridiculous at the very least. Entin, who wrote the legendary lines, travelled with them as an assistant. And so, the story goes, while strolling through Uchkuduk the famous poet suddenly shouted:

"Friends! I've just had a brilliant poem about Uchkuduk!"

To the musicians at Yalla, it seemed like some sort of absurdity! Ensemble leader, Farrukh Zakirovhe recalled:

"Entin was so inspired that he wouldn't stop: "Come on, get up! Let's play something!" - he echoed. And we were all tired, it was hot as hell! But I realised that Yura wouldn't just let us go. I took my guitar and started playing - more mockingly than trying: "Uchkud-u-u-u-u-uk - three wells." I think: well, what is so attractive in this city to sing about it? And Entin revived: "Here, here! Keep it that way! Don't change a thing!" I was surprised, of course, I thought maybe the heat had had such an effect on him. But we still wrote the song - it took about forty minutes to write the melody, no more than that.

The surprise and gratitude of the public

The song was born and became a hit in one day! Yes, yes, on the same day VIA "Yalla" performed their new masterpiece at the concert. in Uchkudukand the audience could not help but react. According to the participants' memories, there were a lot of tears! People were surprised and thankfully musicians for a song about their hometown, even if it's not attractive, but it's their hometown.

"What happened to people - words cannot describe it. Everyone was crying and thanking us," Zakirov recalled.

The plan was "Uchkuduk - three wells" will grace the programme "Song of the Year."! But something went wrong...

A ban that didn't really happen

During the rehearsal there was an entertaining story, because of which the schlager about Uchkuduk dusted on the shelf year! But as it turned out later, completely in vain... Word Farrukh Zakirov:

"The rehearsal was held in Tashkent, in the presence of the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Uzbek SSR, Grekov! He listened attentively to our chants, and then suddenly asked: "A song about Uchkuduk?" There was a lot of surprise in his question..."

At the time, that tone was seen as indignationand eventually they banned the song! For a year it sat dusty on a shelf, until the chairman of Central Television Lapin at his own risk, he didn't dare let her in. on air. You already know the fate of the hit song.

What's more interesting is that it later turned out that Grekov wasn't at all. didn't hint on the ban! Zakirov recalls:

"I met him by chance in the nineties, talking about music. When he heard about "Uchkuduk", he exclaimed: "God forbid! I didn't mean anything like that! There was no question of banning it!"

"This song saved me."

Many years later. Zakirov that song literally saved his life!

"One day I flew to Moscow. It was late at night, and I was met by Alyona Kozhenkova, our costume designer. We decided to buy something, I don't remember, but we stopped near a convenience store: Alyona rushed inside, and I stayed outside. I decided to have a smoke. I was enjoying the night air and the moment, so to speak, when suddenly a crowd of suspicious guys approached me. They surround me and one of them says: "Uncle, lend me some money". I'm at a loss, and then another one comes out from somewhere - their leader, as I realised. He saw me and said, "Are you a Uchkuduk?" In the end, the situation was resolved safely!"