Putin pal is heading for a Grammy nomination
NewsThere is growing disquiet at the appearance on the jazz longlist for Grammy nominations of a musician who has regularly appeared with Vladimir Putin and endorsed his first Crimea proxy war in 2014.
The saxophonist Igor Butman holds both Russian and US passports. Bill Clinton once called him ‘my favourite living saxophone player’. Wynton Marsalis calls him ‘my brother’. Vladimir Putin calls him ‘my friend’.
In 2014 Butman issued this statement in support of Kremlin annexxation plans for Crimea.
In the days when the fate of our countrymen in Crimea is being decided, Russian cultural figures cannot remain indifferent cold-hearted observers. Our shared history and shared roots, our culture and its spiritual sources of our fundamental values and language have always united us. We want the commonality of our peoples and our cultures to have a strong future. That is why we firmly declare and reiterate support for the position of President of the Russian Federation in regards to Ukraine and Crimea.
Butman, 61, is longlisted for a Grammy for a track called ‘Only Now’.
Many congratulations to the great musician. It’s important we keep politics out of music.
Utterly disgraceful . The pious suggestion that it is desirable to keep politics out of music is, at a time of a vicious war waged by Russia , indicative of either intellectual incapacity or malevolent intent
There have constantly been wars since WW2. The wars in Iraq, Syria, South Africa, Afghanistan all involved the UK and USA governments. So if we boycott Russia we’d have to boycott the uk and the USA too. You see how this all doesn’t work?
This is why we should keep politics aside from music. If we keep them related, we’d have nothing left. And Wagner and Strauss would be banned immediately.
Bravo; finally a voice who remembers.
It is Butman who effectively introduced politics into music by publicly subordinating his work to promote the atrocities of the putin regime, thus manipulating the potential rewards of the Grammies to this end.
“There is growing disquiet at the appearance on the jazz longlist”
Source?
Butman supported a full invasion as well. It’s a shame to even consider his name for a nomination.
You have absolutely no idea what a full invasion looks like.
Butman was and is a russian war propagandist, if not a spy. I wonder why he still holds US passport. Maybe it’s a time to investigate his activity. And … internal revenue service would be helpful too.
Oh, like IRS investigating conservatives under Obama?
Must supress opposition with any means. Totalitarian.
American citizen Igor Butman repeatedly violated US sanctions prohibiting US citizens from visiting the annexed Crimea and doing business there. Quite recently, Butman gave a concert in the Crimea in front of military pilots bombing Ukrainian cities, killing civilians and destroying critical infrastructure. Millions of citizens of Ukraine now do not have water, heating and electricity. https://iz.ru/1371907/video/butman-vystupil-v-krymu-dlia-voennykh-letchikov
Crimea is Russia. Sorry to burst your bubble.
Of course, Butman’s name is also on lists of Putin’s representatives for his election campaign (доверенные лицa кандидата в Президенты Российской Федерации), along those of Gergiev, Matsuev, Netrebko and many others. Here’s the list of Putin’s little helpers from 2012: https://aif.ru/politics/world/30990
and here from 2018: http://xn--19-glci3aqdhefgyt.xn--p1ai/index.php/novosti/item/76-doverennye-litsa-putina-polnyj-spisok-2018
GRAMMY and war supporters??? Cannot believe! Shame on those who nominated him…
With all the validity of Obama’s two Grammys and Nobel Prize. Modern awards have been a joke for a couple decades now.
Listing Igor Butman for a grammy award is like listing a politically empowered (russian) David Duke with a saxophone in his hand for a grammy award. Butman has publicly endorsed the atrocities against Ukrainian people, not the least those who are Muslim and Tatar, by russian invaders since russia’s invasion and illegal takeover of Crimea in 2014. He has exerted his political power as a member of the Supreme Council of the leading russian party, yedinaya rossiya (united russia), to develop and force passage of constitutional amendments that criminalize being LGBTQ and establish the supremacy of russian ethnicity in the russian federation. He abuses his naturalized United States citizenship by remaining an official confidante of Vladimir Putin. It must have been Butman’s own record label that nominated him. I cannot see how any responsible, humanitarian artist would do so. To promote his work would effectively enhance financial support of the putin regime.
What a strange idea to reward an accomplice of bloody crimes because he, by chance, can play saxophone.
Longlisted? That’s a general entry. Any properly released recording can get “longlisted”. In the classical genre, there are hundreds upon hundreds of submissions. You can begin to sweat if he makes it into the “semis” list of fifteen that is sent to the classical committee to consider for an actual nomination. Only after that consideration and the subsequent submission to the membership does he have a shot at the prize.
Mr. Butman himself extended his political
reputation far beyond his musical activities. Butman, a US citizen, is a member of Putin’s “United Russia” party and has shown such
loyalty to the regime as to advance and become a member of the Supreme Council of the party
together with the highest ruling Russian “nomenklatura”. US citizen Butman made no secret of
his performances in Crimea, possibly in violation of the US Presidential executive order
imposing sanctions on the Russian-occupied region and prohibiting exports of US goods and
services there. US citizen Butman’s loyalty to Putin’s
regime of war and aggression has been lavishly rewarded. His orchestra and his Jazz Academy in Moscow are funded by the Russian government.
It’s good to see the Russian government funding their art institutions. I wish my government would spend more for the arts! Crimea is part of Russia. You must have missed the Referendum that took place in that region. I agree that America loves sanctions. It is no longer a believer in global free trade. I’m afraid by weaponizing our so called rules-based global financial and economic systems at Russia, America has exposed its impotence. We need to go back to old fashioned diplomacy which we used to do well, but now have forgotten how.
Oh, that one. I thought it was the cellist.
Mr. Putin has just granted almost a billion or roubles for propaganda, so I expect more voices congratulating “great artists” and keeping politics out of “music”.
Jazz music breaks down barriers. There’s a funny musical comedy, Мы из джаза, which pokes fun of the Communist dour attitude toward American bourgeois music of the 1920s, i.e., Jazz. So glad that Putin, Clinton, and Marsalis share in the joy of Igor Butman’s music making.
Another Nazi gets nominated. What else is new?