“Art of Victory” - Murad Sadykov: “Smuglyanka”

A door opened with a sign “Quiet. The exam is in progress! ”, a handsome junior researcher from Water Resources Research Body appeared before the Turkmen State Musical College commission. The first reaction of commission members is to ask: "Are you in the right room?" The applicant stated his name clearly, Sadykov Murad. The commission members are experienced people, they meet people with different talents, but an applicant who is a researcher was something new. However, as soon as he began to sing the harsh examiners’ hearts melted.

His singing, one might say, began in the war years, when a pretty boy with a mandolin in his hands used to come to the hospital for wounded soldiers who were brought to Ashgabat, and in a high, clear voice in pure Russian started singing, "Apple trees and pears were blossoming ...". The soldiers were smiling and crying, asking him to come again.

They say that Leonid Bykov (director), in search of a performer of the song "Smuglyanka" for the film "Only "Old Men" Are Going to Battle", listened to several recordings of different singers, without knowing their names and when he heard Murad's voice he said, "This Russian guy sings great ". Someone remarked, "But he is not Russian." “It can't be!” exclaimed the director. And Murad Sadykov’s unique voice was heard in the famous Soviet film.