During a gala dinner at the Troika Russian restaurant, organized in honor of the birthday of a famous businessman in Dubai (and beyond), performances of two very different, but no less beloved performers, were Grigory Leps and Efrem Amiramov. The guests, having forgotten about the treats, applauded the talent of the artists, and we took this opportunity to arrange an exclusive interview with Ephraim for our magazine. And now he is sitting in front of us, gray-haired, with deep brown eyes in which you want to drown, with a sad smile, unusual charm and charm, evoking revelation and disposing of any interlocutor.
Ephraim, the geography of your travels is very extensive. However, it was so unexpected to meet you here in the United Arab Emirates ...In Dubai, I came to a friend, one might say, an older brother, for his birthday, and this can not yet be called a tour. Although, perhaps in the fall I will already be performing here with a concert.
And as a tourist I have not been traveling for twenty years. And so all the time on the road, everywhere as a tourist I live. What is most surprising - I travel to countries, but I don’t see cities, I just don’t have time. Airport - hotel - concert hall - again the airport. He was in France several times and had never seen Paris! After all, tours are not just trips to different cities and countries, this is work. My whole program depends on the organizers, who sometimes do not even want to take a group, invite me alone.
Is your home Russia?
My home is a road, I live constantly on the road. Basically, these are, of course, Russian roads. I don’t have my own apartment, I don’t have my own house, I don’t have a car. I do not need them; I am far from a craving for material things. I can live where I want, and I feel free. I don’t have a “den” where one day you can relax and forget about everything. Although I feel best in Israel, I really have a rest there. I have a condition close to euphoria - this is beyond words.
So what do you think life values are?
In life itself. Although sometimes despair visits, it is bad, difficult, unbearable, but still I really like to live.
Throughout your journey, you have to make a choice: to stay human for someone, for someone else you become a naive fool. I’d better be the bait for some scum, but the one who really needs help will find a person in me. This is not a victim, but a worldview.
Why couldn’t you forgive others?
First of all, I can’t forgive myself. All human vices are concentrated in me.
The only thing I don’t want is for someone to bother my loved ones. I myself can defend myself, but there are situations when it is impossible to resist the pressure of force. I hate people who, having power, use it to humiliate. These are limited people.
In my opinion, only a person who has risen to the stage at which he can hold on and not fall can be truly strong. "Lowering", it is impossible to rise. Strength is when you yourself have created such a foundation that will never collapse, no matter what happens. And do not be afraid of someone, fear that you will fall. Shyness makes a person do things that are not inherent in him.
Does it seem that you have developed a certain theory of faith?
Is it possible to believe in God, but not be religious? Many do not follow the rules, saying that God remains in the heart: In fact, all this is an excuse, true faith never "burdens" a person. It is difficult only to those who do not believe. It is in prayer, in compliance with certain rules, that faith is created in the soul. And it is necessary for man. A person who has lost faith will lose the whole world. Can I say poetry?
But defeating stubborn drowsiness,
I realized in a painful pursuit,
That faith in God is just faith in justice,
That does not accept lies and alms.
And keeping this highest hope
And raising her to the heights of faith
Love - of course, unearthly -
It will save me from the terrible claws of a chimera:
And let me measure my life with sins,
But the thought of doubt does not eclipse me a heap:
I dare to claim that I believe:
Since childhood, I believed in the justice of a miracle!So all my so-called theories, if anyone wants, can be heard in my songs, poems, poems.
So we come to your creativity. Yesterday, along with famous songs, you performed several new ...
Yes, these were songs from the new album "Inspiration", which was released just a few days ago. For some reason, its original title, “The Color of the Night Sky Between the Stars,” was criticized terribly. And although the song with the same name is still there, you will not find either the name or even my name on the disc itself, only the symbol is my symbol of the Universe, as I called it for myself.
Are your songs biographical?
I would not say. Any song is a fragment. Sometimes it’s just a piece of mood, a surge of emotions associated with some person or events that influenced the writing. Much depends on inspiration, which, alas, does not visit as often as we would like.
And what does its appearance depend on?
Well, firstly, the inspiration for me is not “it”, but “she”. I don’t know where, but when She appears, I try to keep Her near me as long as possible ... It doesn’t matter at the desk or in bed.
I always sing new songs at first only for myself, alone, and if I don’t get tired of them, it means that it will not be embarrassing for others to sing. The artist first creates a black-and-white contour, and only then adds paints: I want to be a bright paint, which is indispensable. Although, alas, the most necessary paint is still black.
I also have such an album, "Hysteria - Black Pathos," which I still can not show to people. There was such a mood (a look, if you like) on real life that I wanted to throw out. By the way, in some of my songs that I play now, I had to replace the words, make them softer.
Quite by chance I happened to read some of your poems that have never sounded in the song repertoire ...
The fact is that it’s hard for me to pick music for ready-made verses. And vice versa - if the melody, the theme "took place", I can not find a word for it. For me, a song is a whole. A sort of "stuffing" of flesh and soul at the same time ... And poetry should be present in everything. It can be both prose and painting, only the form of presentation varies. Poems are needed in order to express your opinion, attitude to life. In them is the main thing that a person has taken out of his life. Poems give Heaven.
And I write when the soul burns
And melts in the lying flesh of the shell.
And every time he says different things
One and the same quivering line.
Have your poems been published?
I wrote a book, but still do not know if I will publish it or not. Once, everything was ready for her to leave, but if I tell you why she never saw the light, you will laugh.
We promise to take it seriously ...
I made a selection of my works, it turned out about 400 pages. But a book can only be released if you do not want to close it in the second minute. I came to this conclusion when I ran out of cigarettes. And, sorry for the detail, I always have a bundle in the toilet. When I went in to get it, I paid attention to the books that are there - Ilf-Petrov and a volume of Shakespeare's sonnets. What do the books in the toilet mean when there is toilet paper? The fact that these books are always, at any time you want to take and open. And I suddenly realized that my books would never be in anyone's closet. It's horrible. Perhaps this is even a kind of selfishness and too pretentious, but I decided not to release what I do not want to read every day, from any page. So the book never went to print ...
Ephraim, recently you can rarely be seen on TV, your discs are quite difficult to find ...
I do not do my promotion, I do not pay money for flickering on the screen. I don’t want to feel like a product that needs to be advertised in order to sell. I am only where they invite me. This is not ambition, but a principle. If what I write is pleasant to others, it only makes me happy. And the hall always feels everything - listens, absorbs, understands. How much you give to people, you get so much, no more and no less. When you share all the most beautiful that is in you, the same also comes back. I don’t know how to explain it, there are things that need to be felt.
Do not want to try yourself in something new? Some new round of creativity?
I really want to. But perhaps what I can praise myself for is that I’m already trying not to do what I don’t know how to do. All my life I dreamed of painting - and wrote. But ... it looks like scrambled eggs that you offer guests - try what I "bungled" here. It’s ridiculous. From what I give people, from A to Z, I am not ashamed of either inhaling or exhaling.
And which song is most dear to you?
It all depends on the mood. For my loneliness, I sing the song "Guitar". Still, no matter how corny it sounds, "Young" is one of my favorite songs, only now I dedicate it to the Motherland. And love songs are often sung by my daughter, because love rules the world.
Which of today's artists do you like or dislike?
I can’t criticize anyone. One thing I know for sure, because I asked myself this question more than once after the death of this person. If Vysotsky was alive, perhaps I would not write to the public, "I ate his songs like fresh bread." And now no one can satiate me.
Yes?
When a person lives as he wants, he is happy. I am grateful to fate that she presented me with the opportunity to live the way I want. When I want to drink, I always have money for tea. If I want to go somewhere, I'm going. When I want to love, I love. Isn't that happiness? I am a happy man.
Text and photo: Irina Ivanova, Elena Balina.
