Kola Beldy (Beldy) Nikolay Ivanovich

Year of birth: 1929

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Year of death: 1993

One of the most famous Nanaians, a popular entertainer of the 1950s-1980s, Honored Artist of the Russian SFSR, Honored Artist of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. His famous song “I Take You to the Tundra” became an unofficial hymn to the peoples of the North. He was born in a small village of Mukha in the Nanaisky district in a hunter's family. He early became an orphan and grew up and brought up in a boarding school, from where he escaped to the front during the war, attributing himself two extra years and became a cabin boy of the Pacific Fleet.

He was a part of Song and Dance Company of the Pacific Fleet. In 1957 he became a laureate of the World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow. He was noticed by many workers of culture (M. Koltsov, S. Mikhalkov, E. Furtseva). The artist was invited to work in Moscow. And in 1960, Kola Beldy already became a laureate of the All-Russian Contest of Entertainers. He sang famous hits on the stage for a while, but soon he returned to folk songs of his land.

In the early 1970's there was a whole program “Northern Rhapsody” where he accompanied by the ensemble “Akhondo”, Kola Beldy sang Nanai, Yakut, Even, Chukchi and Itelmen songs.

In addition, the program included the songs of Soviet composers about the North (“Naryan-Mar”, “Song of the Smitten Yakut”, etc.).

The artist performed in a Nanai costume. His singing is characterized by a soft manner of performance, without tearing, although with some sort of variety eccentricity. With his songs, the artist traveled around the whole country, he performed in 46 countries of the world, becoming in Europe, for example, as recognizable and popular as in the USSR. In 1973, Kola Beldy became a laureate of the international vocal contest in Sopot. He was the first Soviet singer awarded with such a high title on the international arena. In 1990, the singer left the prosperity and stability of Moscow's life and moved closer to the land of his ancestors-Nanaians in Khabarovsk. He got married. In early 1991, his daughter Elena was born.

Kola Beldy suddenly died of a heart attack two years later. He was buried in Khabarovsk. After Kola's death, his wife, the doctor of a children's polyclinic, organized a public foundation for his name. The motor-driven ship of the Amur steamship line was named after Kola Beldy.