Trubnaya Ploshchad was the pre-Revolutionary home of Ptichy Rynok, the chaotic pet market that later moved to Taganka and is now way past the Moscow Ring Road. It was known as Konny Rynok back then, for its main business was horses, and it was surrounded by traktiry, or cheap cafes, that were favored by various pet traders. One was known as the bird sellers' traktir, another one was for dog lovers, and so on.
But no matter what traktir you were in, the main attraction was a small Russian canary that would sing its heart out, attracting visitors from far and wide with its vocal dexterity.
The canary may seem like a feeble beast, but it has a long history in Russia, twittered Roman, a jolly 57-year-old psychologist whose passion for the small yellow birds knows no end.
The Russian canary, known for its song, has been chirping in this country for at least 300 years, he said. Peter the Great is suspected of bringing some birds from Holland. Nicholas II was a fan too. Today there are three canary clubs in Moscow -- but, as yet, no museum.
In tsarist times they sang "God Save the Tsar"; in Soviet times they sang the Internationale, he said. And now? Well, they can imitate up to 20 different doorbell chimes, he said, before adding proudly that he has higher hopes for his beauties (he bred 30 this year). He hopes to train them to sing Mozart's "Turkish March."
It takes a year and a half to train a bird. Roman used to record the songs he wanted his birds to sing on old Soviet tapes. Now he mixes MP3s on his computer for the birds to listen to -- and they can sing just about anything.
Modern-day canary lovers used to meet at the old Ptichy Rynok, where they stood around discussing grain and the best way to teach your bird to sing classical music rather than the Viktor Tsoi that the neighbor plays day and night.
But after the market moved past the Moscow Ring Road, there was no room at the soulless new place. Roman wants to revive the traktir tradition. He also wants to create a museum. But for now, all that he and his canary-loving friends want is a place to meet once a month so they can have a drink and talk about birds.
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