Bulat Okudzhava

Bulat Okudjava (born Boulat Shalvovick Okoudjava) was one of Russia's greatest 20th century songwriters. A regular performer on Russian radio and television, during the '50s, Okudjava's most enduring songs were featured in such films as The Star of the Alluring Happiness, Belorussian Train Station, and The White Sun of the Desert. The son of a Georgian father and an Armenian mother, Okudjava struggled with political oppression as a teenager. In 1937, his father was shot by the Russian military and his mother was exiled. Initially drawn to poetry, Okudjava's earliest work wa...