A promising but rather controversial new Norwegian series, Occupied, co-written by Jo Nesbo, has just started on Swedish telly. A newly-elected Green government in Oslo have closed down all the oil fields and as a result the Russians, with EU support, have seized control of them.
It’s probably made me paranoid. So when the AW site crashed this moring and there was rumour of a cyber attack, I jumped to the obvious conclusion: it was probably the Russians.
Maybe the Kremlin is annoyed because we haven’t had a thread recently on balalaikas in contemporary Russian rock?
Please, I really don’t want to start my day with the words “Resource Limit Is Reached!”
So here it is: a toe tapping thread on the Russian national instrument. Please post your favourite clips.
If you don’t have any sizzling balalikas, I’d be equally happy with shapely lady tractor drivers or Siberian amusement parks. Photos of Boris would also be Godunov.
Let’s Rocket to Russia!
Enjoy!
It’s been a while sing anyone posted Eduard Anatolyevich Khil, “People’s Artist of the USSR” in 1974. That could also explain why the Russkies are a little frosty.
The only band I can think of that have a drumset that doubles as a tractor: from Finland, The Leningrad Cowboys!
Sorry, folks.
It’s the way he says “we haven’t had a thread recently on balalaikas in contemporary Russian rock”…
He should seek help.
Silence is golden, Mini! I’d have moved on to something else if you hadn’t jogged my memory.
Here’s a clip that will cheer you all up. Muddy Russian Tractor Racing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE5WDl_YNbU
It was a toss up between that and Sexy Russian Ladies Mud-wrestling but that was NSFW, even if you work as a tractor driver.
Boris Gobshitenikov (bloody spellcheck!) and Robert Wyatt
I’d like to hear some more of Boris.
Ne mogu otorvat’ glaz ot tebya
And now here’s a complete concert. Even though I don’t understand a word, the arrangements and the fine playing by the band make it a very agreeable listen.
Boris is an interesting chap and has lived a real rock and roll life with no shortage of persecution from the authorities. A Russian superstar in fact.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Grebenshchikov
That was gorgeous, Retro. Checked it out on Spotify and Boris’s name was in Cyrillic script. My first experience of that on Spotty.
Would you believe it? There’s a balalaika orchestra in Los Angeles? Quite a relaxing noise they make too.
Tum Balalaika
Black Eyes
Re the Wyatt collaboration, RW came out of self-imposed retirement specially, and contributes the trumpet.
I’m really glad you posted Boris @retropath2. Having asked around I realise that he is a gigantic figure in Russian music. He came to Europe during Pereshtroika and got help from some very prestigious friends. But the album he made, Radio Silence, bombed.
Thanks to @salwarpe for introducing me to this bloke this morning.
Now The Flying Balalaika Brothers from Austin, Texas.
One of them used to be in Los Angeles balalaika surf band (!), the Red Elvises.
Ready for an Estonian boy band who are enormous in Russia? I thought you would be.
Steklovata performing Steklovata.
The band name means glass wool.
¨
The Oddee website comment.
“The lyrics in translation are something like that: It’s all your own fault, you’re thorny like glass wool, glass wool, glass wool, our love turned to be evil, ’cause you’re like glass wool’.”
One more from them!
No balalaikas in earshot, but here’s some rather good post-metal from St Petersburg’s Ypres
(waits for the inevitable torrent of up arrows that come every time I start rambling about extreme metal here)
Have an Up from me, Kid. Exciting to hear bands who are so far from the geographical mainstream. Rather promising.
I’m not very knowledgeable about metal but this sounds refreshingly different and surprisingly melodic.
Russian math rock doesn’t get posted so often here.
So here are mtcrss playing Woods.
It’s not completely unlistenable. Which makes a change on this thread!
Read more on the Russian math rock scene:
http://feckingbahamas.com/north-winter-math-rock-russia
I’m thoroughly enjoying this excursion deep into the frozen bosom of Mother Russia.
VulgarGrad are not so frozen: they are from Australia. But extremely promising on the basis of this song and their Facebook page. They have a nice sense of humour.
I found this treat on their FB page. Experimental balalaika stuff from Vitaly Beletsky.
Mmm! Nice! Book him for Jazz Club.
A very informative review of VulgarGrad’s album.
“VulgarGrad play adaptations of music that spring from the Russian criminal culture, specifically the thieves. They are songs (blatnye pesni) performed by, for, and about criminals in the prisons, gulags, and seedy bars of Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. ”
They are rather a find.
http://blogcritics.org/music-review-vulgargrad-king-of-crooks/
Alkoholik
As the evening wears on, the balalaikas seem to be getting bigger and bigger and the costumes wackier and wackier. Perhaps it’s time for bed?
Genesis with extra added balalaika
I’d forgotten that those wonderful Norwegians had a bass balalaika. Excellent!
There seems to be an awful lot of music of many different kinds being made in St Peterburg. Here are three local ska bands.
St Petersburg Ska-Jazz Review – Too good to be true
Markscheider Kunst – Kvasa kvasa
Spitfire – Думай обо мне
Itching here to go cross-border into a battle zone, but you can’t really consider this sort of music without acknowledging the Ukraine
I don’t we need to consider geo-political borders too much. The Ukrainians was a great choice.
Over to Californian now for a listen to Camper Van Beethoven’s instrumental Balalaika Gap which features some fine plucking.
This thread is taking me to some very strange places. Two bands who I suspect would go down a storm on the boat to Finland after a bottle or two of vodka.
I’d never heard Billie Jean played on the balalaika before I discovered the Bryats Band
And now some leggy Russian ladies who seem to taken the same name.
Widescreen romance. An epic tale of love in a time of war. The world’s most handsome man. The most beautiful woman.
There’s a balalaika in there somewhere.
Dr Zhivago
Maurice Jarre
Julie Christie! Julie Christie! What man in his right mind was not madly besotted with her?
Thanks for reminding of that @Fin59.
Talking or Russian epics, did anyone else see the recent BBC adaptation of War and Peace starring Paul Dano and Lily James? When I saw the trailer my enthusiasm was lukewarm: the longest novel on the planet, innumerable frocks, interminable battle scenes…
But Mrs KFD wanted to see it and I was soon hooked, I’ve not read the novel so I don’t know how much Andrew Davies needed to prune out. But the end result was six episodes of top notch telly.
Strayg from Russia but staying in Eastern Europe, this seems a perfect chance to post a track by the excellent Warsaw Village Band. Stupendous stuff!
At my mother’s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeQ5fwSj1VE
The last Empress of Russia was something of a balalaika fan and liked to listen to it being played in the evening when staying on the royal yacht on the Black Sea. Her son, Alexei, must have shared her interest. With all those curls, he looks like a mini Russian Marc Bolan.
http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u417/John_Farrow/Alexei%20with%20balalaika_zpsgkz6daiv.jpg
It was her search for a cure for his illness that led her into contact with Rasputin, “Russia’s greatest love machine”. The rest is history.
Oops! I”ll try again.
And again!
[URL=http://s1066.photobucket.com/user/John_Farrow/media/Alexei%20with%20balalaika_zpsgkz6daiv.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1066.photobucket.com/albums/u417/John_Farrow/Alexei%20with%20balalaika_zpsgkz6daiv.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
A husband and wife duo, Denis Zabavsky on balalaika and Elena Zabavskaya on domra, trwating us to some virtuoso fretwork.
No way around it. Either you’re a balahater or a balalaika.
Here’s Alexey Arkhipovski, the bloke in the OP, again. On record , he sounds not so unlike the Durutti Column. Some gorgeous playing here anyway.
Basement Jaxx certainly know how to make an entertaining video. This one reminds me of some of the bars I used to drink at in Helsinki. And it has balalaikas of every shape and size.
I’ve had several complaints that this thread has not featured enough Soviet era balalaika jazz.
“Keep the punters happy!” is my motto, so here you go!
I suspect that Tovarich Beanykov has at least one album by Werner Muller and his orchestra. And quite rightly too.
This one is lushly and extravagantly orchestrated as the Tsar’s Palace.
From Russia with love.
Soviet space age surf music from 1966.
What’s not to like?
I can’t compete with your erudition @kaisfatdad, so, here is a lame contribution, proof that Russians has also talent in play-back, I prefer this version from the original:
Brilliant find @pizon-bros. Bonya & Kuzmich are fun.
Here they get their teeth in Justin Bieber. Wonderfully bizarre.
But now it’s time for balalaika bossa nova! It had to be done.