“Courtesy of Natalie Meledjuk
Before digital photography, X-rays were developed on thick, plastic-like materials. The doctor clips them onto a table that projects light from the back of the image and displays it, revealing ghostly images from inside the body.
But during the Cold War, X-rays were used to illuminate other things.
Joseph Stalin banned jazz and much other Western music in the former Soviet Union from 1946 until his death in 1953. However, pirates have found clever ways to circumvent the ban. They sold copies of records etched into old X-ray surfaces on the black market.
Recordings of artists such as Elvis Presley and Ella Fitzgerald were inscribed over photographs of rib cages, skulls and thigh bones. Used radiographs were a good substitute for real vinyl records. At that time, because of World War II, hospitals were flooded with X-rays. So there was no shortage of demand or supply.
We have a dedicated website for keeping these records. A violinist named Natalie Meledjuk found another way to remember them.
Merezuk is a classically trained violinist born in Russia. She released an album of jazz her violin music in honor of her x-ray recordings of jazz that were sold in the back alleys of the Soviet Union. Her album title is “Jazz on Bones”.
She spoke with Morning Edition’s Leila Fadell about her album and the history of jazz in Russia.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
interview highlights
On the Soviet ban on jazz
I first learned about this history when I heard various slogans that existed in the Soviet Union. “First, he listens to jazz, and then he’s trying to sell his country.”
It’s interesting that when my grandparents were my age they either weren’t allowed to listen to this music or they were sent to prison.And now I can make a career out of it.
How to make an X-ray record
in the recording studio [store] It was common back then to record voice memos on small postcard records that could be sent to family etc. So daytime is like the front line they would have. and then cut out circles. And they had these machines that cut the records into X-rays.
On the connection between Russian jazz and Ukrainian folk music
I discovered that many of the frontrunners of Soviet jazz were Ukrainians, among them Leonid Utyosov. He was actually a Jew from Odessa. And I think it is very important for the Russian people to see clearly historically important people and understand their backgrounds. Respect is important.
On how Merezuk chose his music jazz on bones
At the beginning of this historical quest, I chose songs that spoke to me as a Muscovite but were popular during that Soviet era. But it was basically a blend of my love for Moscow, my admiration for it, and my exploration of its history.