A large gypsy camp roamed around the world. There were twelve families in it, and maybe more, who knows. Everyone was related to each other. The leader of the camp was Melentiy Sokolov, a handsome gray-haired old man, a man of mighty strength and enormous stature. Even at ninety years old, he did not lose the strength of his hands and quickness of mind. And how Melenty played the guitar!
The gypsies in the camp were busy with horses, trading, bartering - everything was as usual, but the camp would stop for the night and the gypsies would gather around the fire, there would be songs and dances, and the fun would flow. Melentius's daughter Dasha usually sang, and Plato, the leader's favorite son, echoed her in bass. And then the gypsies joined in chorus. The guitars rang and the forest fell silent, listening to the songs.
Once a camp stopped on the lands of Count Dibich. The gypsies unharnessed their horses and went to cut the forest for firewood. to light fires. Here the count's servants found them. They began to drive away the gypsies, but can you take such fellows by force?! The gypsies have become a wall - you can’t approach them. And Melentius came forward and said to the count’s servants:
“It’s in vain that you want to take the camp by force.” If Their Excellency needs anything from us, let him come to us himself. And we will remain in this place.
The servants ran to the count and said that the gypsies were cutting down the forest and poisoning the meadows with their horses. The count got angry and ordered the carriage to be harnessed. In the evening Count Dibich went to the gypsy camp. He drives up to the tents and hears: a song is flowing freely. The count listened, and when the song ended, he came closer and asked:
-Who is the eldest among you?
Melenty came forward, invited the count to drink some gypsy tea, sat the nobleman down on a trough, and placed a samovar and a tray in front of him. The gypsies began to treat and treat the guest.
“I won’t hide it,” said Count Dibich, “I wanted to drive you out of my lands, but as soon as I heard your songs, I changed my mind about doing it.” Won't you sing again?
Melenty Sokolov took the guitar and walked through the frets, and everything inside the count broke down. He forgot where he was and why he came. When Melenty finished playing, Count Dibich stood up, hugged the old man and promised to give him his best guitar. Since then, the famous guitar made by a French master, a gift from Count Dibich, began to wander with the camp. There were no expensive decorations on this guitar, but it sounded in such a way that it turned your heart inside out.
For many years Melentius drove his camp along Russian roads, and when death approached, he called his son Plato and said to him:
“I’m leaving, Platosha, my time to wander the earth has passed. Your time has come to lead the camp. I leave all my wealth to you, but most of all, take care of your guitar. If you die, tell a worthy person to keep it and play it so as not to disgrace your ancestors.
And Melenty Sokolov’s guitar went from father to son, from son to grandson and further, from generation to generation. Platon Sokolov passed it on to his son Miron, from him the guitar went to Prokhor, a well-known strongman and handsome man in the camp, and then to Ephraim, Ivan, Trofim. Dying, Trofim handed the guitar to his son Fyodor Sokolov. And now Fyodor Sokolov is leading a gypsy camp. And the famous French guitar wanders with him, already with the sixth generation of the Sokolov family...
It so happened that the gypsies ended up in the possession of Count Orlov. It is a well-known fact what the attitude of the Russian nobility was towards the wandering gypsies: drive them away, and that’s all. The count's servants came to drive away the gypsies. And Fyodor Sokolov came out to meet them and calmly said:
- Why are you needlessly angry? Okay, let it be your way. We’ll just spend the night, and the next morning we’ll harness the horses and leave. We don’t need your goods, we have enough of our own.
The servants conveyed the leader's words to the count. He became furious:
- They must leave immediately, otherwise it will be bad for them! The count chose the strongest young men from among his servants and went to drive out the gypsies himself. He drove up and stood rooted to the spot. He hears: the song is flowing. The count was surprised: how well the gypsies sing. He dismissed the servants and went alone to the camp. Fyodor Sokolov met the Count as befits, bowed, invited him into his tent, and seated him in a place of honor. He showed off his granddaughter, the beautiful Stesha. And then the songs began. And the count felt so good with the gypsies that he sat with them all night.
And from that time on, the count ordered not to touch the gypsy camp, so that they would remain in his possessions. And the count liked Fyodor Sokolov so much that he began to invite him to his palace along with the gypsy choir. The count began to show the gypsies to his guests, and they admired the singing and dancing. And in order to make an even greater impression on his guests, Count Orlov came up with a gypsy costume, which has since been worn by gypsy artists...
After Fyodor’s death, the camp was led by his son Osip, and when death crept up on him, he called Ilya, his son, and ordered him to stand at the head of the camp and lead it. And he handed the guitar to him, because no one in the camp could play better than Ilya.
– Thank you, dado, for your love and trust, thank you for the guitar that our ancestors valued. But I can’t accept the camp. My soul is not in favor of being a nomad. I will not help my brothers in the gypsy business.
The father was saddened, but said:
“I regret that it is not my son who will lead his native camp along difficult roads.” But you're honest. It’s better that you said this now than if you later brought trouble on your brothers. Do as you please. Just take care of your guitar...
Osip died. He chose a camp of another leader and left for gypsy happiness, and Ilya Sokolov gathered his whole family and began traveling around Russian cities to surprise the public with his guitar playing. After long wanderings around the world, Ilya Sokolov came to Moscow and began working at the famous restaurant Yar. This is the song from then on:
Have you heard the choir at Yar?
He was Pisha famous.
Sokolov guitar
It still rings in my ears.
Yar’s idols were Stesha, the granddaughter of Fyodor Sokolov, the same Stesha whose singing so captivated Count Orlov, Pisha the beauty, whose name was included in the song, Tanya Demyanova, with whom Pushkin was a great friend. The fame of the Sokolov Choir thundered throughout Russia.
After Ilya’s death, his son Gregory assembled a new choir and moved to St. Petersburg, and with it the family guitar. What a choir it was, what guitarists there were! Is it possible to forget Fyodor Gubkin? Prince Kochubey himself knelt before him, persuading him to play the Gypsy Hungarian. How the old man played! Nowadays they don’t play Gypsy Hungarian like that. There were many wonderful guitarists in the choir, but no one could compare their playing with Uncle Fedya - Fyodor Gubkin. He was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow, and a metal roller with a recording of his performance of the Gypsy Hungarian was placed in the monument. And every day, at twelve o’clock, the sounds of Sokolov’s guitar were heard over the cemetery. It was Uncle Fedya Gubkin who played for the living after his death...
When Grigory Sokolov died, Nikolai Shishkin, a Kursk gypsy, a favorite of the writer Kuprin, became the director of the choir. And from Nikolai Shishkin the famous guitar passed to the daughters of Grigory Sokolov - Kapa and Kontralyusha. Capa usually played the Sokolovskaya guitar, and she kept the guitar until her death. By inheritance, the Sokolov guitar was supposed to go to his nephew Kolya, nicknamed Payala. He received this nickname for his eternally blue nose, but Capa did not dare to give the guitar to Payala. Although he played beautifully, he was a bitter drunkard, and Capa was afraid that he would exchange his guitar for a bottle of vodka. And so the guitar passed into another family - the Pankov family. It went to Valentina, a virtuoso guitarist. From Valentina the guitar was supposed to go to Nikolai Pankov. Fyodor Gubkin himself gave this guy a start in the artistic life. Many times Nikolai Pankov replaced Nikolai Shishkin and conducted the choir. But the First World War was going on, and everyone considered Nikolai Pankov missing in action...
In nineteen nineteen this happened: they buried Valentina. Gypsies gathered at the cemetery. They mourned the deceased, and then, according to the will, they broke the famous Sokolov guitar into chips, lit a fire and cooked jelly on this fire. This is how the story of the Sokolov guitar ended.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru