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The Ivan Aufulich Papers
24. Sonya Peipermun
The All-Union Congress of Composers, in its annual meeting, was abuzz recently with the lobbying over the awards. Ordinarily this is all arranged behind closed doors, with the prize committee attending most carefully to the views of the Politburo (those few members thereof who can tell a waltz from a march) on the musical expression of patriotic sentiment; and only when those are voiced weakly or not at all giving a faint nod to musicality. This year, however, the enmity between the two factions of the pop wing, as exemplified by rocker Naina Intshnayls and balladeer Sonya Peipermun ("Sonya" is a diminutive for "Sophia"), spilled out into the corridors. Literally spilled, along with cheap vodka and blood from scalps over which bottles of the former had been broken. Of course such unseemly controversy cannot be permitted, and the partisans are expected to be assigned to roving balalaika bands in regions of high radioactivity. Thoughtful observers are now pondering the implications for supplies of #2 diesel oil in Azerbaidzhan, and the likelihood of under-reporting of hail damage to the turnip crop.
©1997 Grant Schampel