Biddu Appaiah is an Indian-born in 1944 , England-based singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer – who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades.
Biddu held an interest for bigger things in popular music, and in 1967 left for England. He traveled through the Middle East, earning money by singing catchy numbers and playing the guitar. Biddu arrived in England at the age of 23, a few months after leaving India. About his arrival in England, he said in an interview to the BBC:
"I didn't really know too much about England or anything – I'd just come here on the chance of meeting the Beatles and doing some music. Everything that I did had this danceable flavour".
Within a few months of his arrival, he had met The Beatles, but expressed disappointment that "Lennon was dressed so badly."
The vocal and instrumental ensemble "Kobza" was created in 1971 in Kiev, consisting of Alexander Zuev (musical director, keyboards), Konstantin Novitsky, Vladimir Kushpet, Alexander Rogoza (bandura players), Georgy Garbar (flute, pipe), Valery Viter ( vocals) and Anatoly Lyutyuk (percussion instruments).
In September 1971, the company "Melody" ordered from the leading Ukrainian singer Valentina Kuprina to record a small disc, VIE "Kobza" was invited to accompany him when recording. The three songs recorded with Kobza were so liked by the editors of Melody record company that it was decided to record a solo record of the ensemble ... This record gained phenomenal popularity not only among listeners in the Soviet Union, but also throughout the world.
And in 1973, the first official recognition came to VIA Kobza - at the “All-Union Competition of Vocal Instrumental Ensembles” in Minsk, she shared the third place with the Muscow ensemble. The first time received the "Pesnyary", the second was not awarded to anyone. Such a successful performance opens up great opportunities for the ensemble to tour not only in Ukraine, but throughout the Soviet Union.
Since 1979, the most striking rise in popularity has begun at VIE Kobza. The ensemble prepares new programs, updates stage costumes, gives solo concerts several times a year on the main stage of the country - the Ukrainian Palace. "State Concert", which at that time was engaged in foreign tours, puts the ensemble on a regular schedule, where trips are scheduled for 5 years in advance. And, in general, in the 80s of the 20th century the ensemble becomes one of the most touring groups of the “Ukr-contsert”, giving more than 200 concerts in a year. The travel geography covered the entire former Soviet Union, European countries, Canada, Japan, etc.
The basis of VIE Kobza’s repertoire was composed of Ukrainian folk songs, to a lesser extent songs by Soviet composers. Several records and music videos of the songs performed by the ensemble have been published.
Unfortunately, the life of creative teams is often not cloudless. Musicians are unyielding, rebellious people, their emotions clearly prevail over the radio. According to the classical definition, the real life of the theater team is one and a half decades. This postulate was also true for VIE Kobza. Artistic directors changed, the fluidity of the composition exceeded all permissible limits, the repertoire ensemble lost its originality, except for the name, however, remained intact. Old baggage could not save anything. From the mid-80s, the ensemble began to decline.
Blue Guitars is a vocal and instrumental ensemble created in early 1969 by composer and pianist Igor Yakovlevich Granov.
In 1968-1969, as part of the Soviet Music Hall, conductor Igor Granov was on a long tour on the American continent, during which he met Louis Armstrong in Mexico City. The experience and advice of L. Armstrong gained on these tours suggest Granov the idea of creating a new genre on the Soviet stage.
So in 1969 appeared “Blue Guitars” - a vocal and instrumental ensemble. The name was taken from German electric guitars with blue color. In the 1970s, tours of the Blue Guitars, like many other VIEs, were sold out at all venues in the Soviet Union. In the 1980s, interest in the VIE genre subsided and the group tried to hold the attention of the audience by experimenting with the genre and style from pop to heavy metal and constantly changing its name (”Igor Granov Group”, “Igor Granov Synthesis Troupe”, “The Game”), but by the beginning of the 1990s ceases to exist.
