Desiccation of the Aral Sea Music
The desiccation of the Aral Sea entered Soviet popular consciousness only as dust storms became impossible to ignore. These three songs trace that reckoning. Zemliane's "Forgive Me, Earth" (1983), from a band called "Earthlings," apologizes to a wounded planet. Sergei Belikov pleads with a freshwater spring to live (1986), as Karakalpak infants faced the USSR's highest mortality rate. Alisa Mon's "Living Water" (1989) sounds, by glasnost's end, like elegy.
Zemliane: Forgive Me, Earth / Земляне: Прости, Земля (1983)
Music: Vyacheslav Dobrynin. Lyrics: Leonid Derbenev.
Sergei Belikov: Live, Spring Waters / Сергей Беликов: Живи, родник (1985)
Music: Vyacheslav Dobrynin. Lyrics: Vladimir Diukov.
Alisa Mon: Living Water / Алиса Мон: Живая вода (1989)
Music: Sergei Muravyov. Lyrics: L. Kozlova. Performed by Alisa Mon and the group Labirint