The Song of the Volga Boatmen is a genuine barge-haulers' shanty. Mily Balakirev, pianist and composer, famous for having promoted nationalism in Russian music, went around and collected folk songs and published them in a book. Balakirev published The Song of the Volga Boatmen with only one verse (the first). The other two verses were added at a later date.
I've had this very version of the song on a music cassette for ages, and only today did I see what the singers in the Red Army Choir who performed it actually looked like. I like the lead singer's eyebrow action.
I wanted to post this for so long... Yay!
ReplyDeleteWhee!
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