Vladimir Visotsky

Bard, poet, writer, actor - Visotskii had an all pervading influence during his relatively short career (he died in 1980 at the age of 42). His musical style was one that has never really been taken up in Britain, singing songs of the darker side of life, accompanied by his guitar, character studies, songs about hardship and songs which were critical of the regime. The nearest comparison might be Jacque Brel. But in Russia, Visotskii cut across the taste and age spectrum. An important artist to old and young alike, inspiring many of the rock bands of the seventies and eighties. His acting career was also of note - he took, amongst many others, the lead role in the drama serial 'The Meeting Place Cannot be Changed', and was performing in a stage version of 'Hamlet' at the time of his death. It is not too hard to find his music, I've even found old vinyl albums in charity shops in the UK, and some of his films are available on DVD now. Probably much harder to find his poetry.

Little Russia: A biography in English (and the classic, moody image used above!) and a number of audio files.
Visotskii: A large site with English pages and more audio.
Music: A collection of recordings of Visotskii in high quality MP3.