Mikhail Savoyarov

Mikhail Savoyarov (Russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Савоя́ров, Mikhai'l Nikoláevič Savoyárov) (18 November [O.S. 30 November] 1876, Moscow – 4 August 1941, Moscow) was a Russian chansonnier, composer, poet, comic actor, mime and the only fumist on the stage of the Russian Empire. In the first quarter of the 20th century he was a famous satirical singer-songwriter. His popularity peak was in the years of war (1914–1917) when he began to be called the «King of eccentrics». It was also the time when he became friends with Aleksandr Blok. Considering that the period of his greatest popularity was almost at the exact time as the brief period of renaming the capital, Savoyarov can be called the Petrograd artist in the strict sense of the word.