Voices From Russia - Wellness Check

[Mariott]

Today I was remembering Russian romances, a unique genre of Russian song. This short lyrical work, dedicated to describing deep love experiences and feelings, is sung with an intimate and confessional tone. Romances are usually sung by women, but there are also songs written for men. The genre was revived in the 1970s, at the same time many female singers appeared. In essence, it is a kind of intermediate between "high" academy culture and popular culture.

I suggest you to listen to the Russian romance "Fragrant bunches of white acacia", written for the movie "The White Guard" based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov. It is sung by Lyudmila Senchina, a popular singer of the early 80s.

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[Mariott]

Since our voices from Russia in this thread sound mostly like song, let's talk about Russian singing today. Russian traditional polyphony is a difficult song to sing, each participant (there can be up to 50 of them) performs his or her part and should not disturb others, be late or enter early. But it sounds very interesting.
At first there are only male voices.

This is a historical television record:



And this is the modern version:

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[Mariott]

And some female voices:



These songs were sung on long fall and winter evenings at gatherings, so the script suggests cheerful dancing:

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[Mariott]

And this is something else entirely, a religious chant.​

Molokans are a Russian Christian movement that separated from Orthodoxy in the 18th century and has its own views, ideology, chants, and doctrines, which have been preserved to this day. In particular, a musically special vocal tradition and style of singing psalms and spiritual songs.
My maternal great-grandfather was a Molokan (and I think my grandfather was too), so I know something about their religion and culture. Listen to this chant, it's very beautiful.

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Molokans of the Kochubeyevskaya community sing the psalm "Sice Glagollet" (Book of Zechariah, 8:23).
August 2022, Stavropol Krai

 

[Mariott]

Since our voices from Russia in this thread sound mostly like song, let's talk about Russian singing today. Russian traditional polyphony is a difficult song to sing, each participant (there can be up to 50 of them) performs his or her part and should not disturb others, be late or enter early. But it sounds very interesting.
At first there are only male voices.

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[Rina RUS]

In this beautiful video Chechnya sings in Chechen language



(Chechen is a state language in the Chechen Republic – together with Russian language)

 

[Mariott]

It's a song many people know from their grandmothers, but usually only remember the first line of... it's nice to be able to listen to the whole song
As a rule, Russian songs sound just like this, long, chanting, sad, soulful.

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[Mariott]

I was reminded today of Alexander Mitta's children's (not really) movie "A Fairytale of Wanderings"
I think it's worth watching. It is a kind of parable about gift, talent, aspiration, resistance to fate and destiny. It also has very intense visuals, lots of details that are scary to the point of hiccups.

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The boy May has an amazing gift - he is able to find gold and treasure. He is stolen by cruel robbers who dream of getting rich, and his sister Martha goes on a journey in search of her brother. Many dangerous adventures happen to her, but the most terrible was the change in May: living near the bandits, he turned into a heartless scoundrel. But the girl's kindness and unselfishness eventually triumph over evil.

 

[Mariott]

There are English subtitles​

 

[Mariott]

Once upon a time, somewhere in Russia

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[Mariott]

Since we're having a nice winter that has already given us a good cold snap, I'm in a winter pre-holiday mood. I want to share it with a cheerful song about cold winter by Eduard Khil (also known as Mr. Trololo thanks to a meme).
This is one of the touching and tenderly favorite songs about winter in Russia. I hope you enjoy it too!

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[Mariott]

@LolaSkatesInJapan I know you love Russia and ballet, and I found a wonderful movie for you with a Japanese actress when I was choosing films for a new class on Soviet cinema that I want to offer to students. It's beautiful and melodramatic, but very sad.

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[LolaSkatesInJapan]

Hello @Mariott ! Thank you so much for thinking of me, I really appreciate it!
Even though I currently live in Japan, I'm not very familiar and haven't watched much of their films/television, I mostly watch films and series from my own country or from European countries I've been in/lived in and Russia as well.
I can't wait to watch this film and will do so today after I'm finished working! Looking forward to it!
Thank you so much again, I hope you're having a wonderful day!

 

[Diana Delafield]

A doll-collecting friend in Russia who knows I skate sent me this cartoon as a sort of Christmas card. I must say some of their pairs moves are quite familiar ! She's a fan of skating, so I'm coaxing her to join Golden Skate.

ÐÑ Ð¿Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð¸ Ñанго на лÑдÑ

ÐÑ Ð¿Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð¸!, вÑпÑÑк 8

youtu.be

 

[Rina RUS]

New Year greeting cards by a famous artist Vladimir Zarubin

СовеÑÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð½ÑÑ Ð¾ÑкÑÑÑка. Ð¥Ñдожник ÐÐ»Ð°Ð´Ð¸Ð¼Ð¸Ñ ÐаÑÑбин.

ÐÑедÑÑавлена подбоÑка 127 Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð½Ð¸Ñ Ð¾ÑкÑÑÑок ÑÑдожника ÐладимиÑа ÐвановиÑа ÐаÑÑбина. ÐеÑиод 1962-2015 года.

www.youtube.com

(I was telling about them in the “celebrations” thread)

May the new year be good
May all of us manage to become better

 

[Mariott]

A Happy New Year!

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[Mariott]

A doll-collecting friend in Russia who knows I skate sent me this cartoon as a sort of Christmas card. I must say some of their pairs moves are quite familiar ! She's a fan of skating, so I'm coaxing her to join Golden Skate.

ÐÑ Ð¿Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð¸ Ñанго на лÑдÑ

ÐÑ Ð¿Ð¾Ð³Ð¾Ð´Ð¸!, вÑпÑÑк 8

youtu.be

These are scenes at the beginning of one of the episodes of the iconic animated show " Nu, pogodi!" (in context, the title can be translated as: " Be prepared, I'll have my revenge on you soon"). The wolf (the chaser) and the hare (the pursued) get into various situations against the background of typical USSR locations surrounded by animals with anthropomorphic features (a favorite cameo character is a pig in a swimsuit with 3 tops for 3 pairs of nipples).

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It's similar to "Tom and Jerry", but there aren't as frequent scenes of cruelty and there's a lot of humor and kindness. This show is wildly popular and it's insanely funny, our golden fund of cartoons. Some episodes are about sports, and this one really starts with figure skating at an outdoor ice rink.

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[Mariott]

It's Christmas today, and I want to shared a very Merry Christmas story - The Nutcracker. It is my affectionate favorite classic 1973 cartoon with classical music by Tchaikovsky. There are some changes to the story, but the holiday spirit has certainly been preserved.

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[Mariott]

Merry Russian Christmas! (no, it's not too late, it's only been a week)

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[Mariott]

"But my friend's the best at playing the blues."

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