Author: Bulat Okudzhava
Alternate names: Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava; Bulat       Cdmusr        748872 Okudzawa; Bulat Shalvovich Okhudzava; Bulat Shalvovich Okudshava; Bulat Okudzawa; Bulat Okudshawa
Born: 9 May 1924
Died: 12 June 1997
Bio: Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (Russian: Булат Шалвович Окуджава; Georgian: ბულატ ოკუჯავა; Armenian: Բուլատ Օկուջավա) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter of Georgian-Armenian ancestry. He was one of the founders of the Soviet genre called "author song" (авторская песня, avtorskaya pesnya), or "guitar song", and the author of about 200 songs, set to his own poetry. His songs are a mixture of Russian poetic and folk song traditions and the French chansonnier style represented by such contemporaries of Okudzhava as Georges Brassens. Though his songs were never overtly political, the freshness and independence of Okudzhava's artistic voice presented a subtle challenge to Soviet cultural authorities, who were thus hesitant for many years to give him official recognition.