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anyone playing Russian music these days?

Pretty sure he meant it sarcastically, lol. The Beatles specifically, managed to bring to light the small-mindedness of a hypocritic society, just with one humorous remark. I am sure the oldtimers here will vaguely remember.
 
Hell, yes, I'm still loving Russian accordion music, specifically minor/modal dance-derived Russian folk music. True, right at this moment I'm more hepped up on Polish/Jewish tango music from Warsaw in the period between the World Wars as touched on in the recent thread on "Ostatnia Niedziela."

But I love all the haunting Eastern European genres, and I'm not crossing The Bear off the list just because of one more deranged tinpot dictator. Plus, a lot of accordion folk music dubbed "Russian" is Ukrainian anyhow. Actually just nabbed this one:

Russische Volksmusik Volume 1 Accordion
 
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The essential-to-existence Kammen International Dance Folio collections are full of great stuff from Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Wouldn't be without the well-worn folios No. 9 and No. 1! Can't believe their 1934 copyright dates!
 
The essential-to-existence Kammen International Dance Folio collections are full of great stuff from Russia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Wouldn't be without the well-worn folios No. 9 and No. 1! Can't believe their 1934 copyright dates!
Yes, i have them in C and accordion arrangements of them as well. I haven’t looked at them recently, though. i also have some of Yale Strom’s stuff.
 
My latest arrangement is Russian: the first two Polovetsian dances from the opera Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin.
Borodin could not help it that over a century later Russia would get this horrible dictator...
Frankly, I am not sure that creating a pseudo-historical national Russian musical identity in St Petersburg had nothing to do with Putin's notions and ambitions toward cultural imperialism, cf the Wikipedia treatise about "The Five". The music certainly ended up more valuable than the underlying inspiration, lending it credence it did not likely deserve.

By the way, the synopsis of "Prince Igor" as listed by Wikipedia states "It is set in the 12th century, when the Russians, commanded by Prince Igor of Seversk, determined to conquer the barbarous Polovtsians by travelling eastward across the Steppes. The Polovtsians were apparently a nomadic tribe originally of Turkic origin who habitually attacked southern Russia."

Does this preemptive defense storyline ring a bell? So while one should not be mixing up the centuries, separating old and new nationalism is a tricky endeavor, particularly when there is an active interest in keeping them entangled. Sad for the music that gets entangled with the rest.
 
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This may be a nice juncture to savor the incredible gifts of the Alexandrov Ensemble, aka the Red Army Choir, 64 of whom were lost in a military aircraft crash in the Black Sea in 2016. Here they are in full flame in Helsinki at the legendary 1993 concert, "The Total Balalaika Show," cooked up by Finland's subversive art provocateurs and musical mischief-makers, the Leningrad Cowboys. Glasnost was glimmering, and the Red Army Choir had a couple of empty spaces on their dance card. The entire glorious mayhem of "The Total Balalaika Show," attended by 70,000 delirious Finns and Russians, is available on DVD, and many sequences are on the 'tube, including several featuring the Red Army Choir and their mighty lead tenor.

Of course, "Kalinka" is my favorite, but they do a mean "Delilah" as well. All this and the accordions right up front, too. First link the full number with the great lead-in, second link is missing the lead-in but a bit better sound/resolution . . .

This is how it should be, volks, and may hopeful days return.


 
This may be a nice juncture to savor the incredible gifts of the Alexandrov Ensemble, aka the Red Army Choir, 64 of whom were lost in a military aircraft crash in the Black Sea in 2016. Here they are in full flame in Helsinki at the legendary 1993 concert, "The Total Balalaika Show," cooked up by Finland's subversive art provocateurs and musical mischief-makers, the Leningrad Cowboys. Glasnost was glimmering, and the Red Army Choir had a couple of empty spaces on their dance card. The entire glorious mayhem of "The Total Balalaika Show," attended by 70,000 delirious Finns and Russians, is available on DVD, and many sequences are on the 'tube, including several featuring the Red Army Choir and their mighty lead tenor.

Of course, "Kalinka" is my favorite, but they do a mean "Delilah" as well. All this and the accordions right up front, too. First link the full number with the great lead-in, second link is missing the lead-in but a bit better sound/resolution . . .

This is how it should be, volks, and may hopeful days return.


Love a bit of Red Army Choir. I wasn't aware of the accident in 2016.
 
🎶Land of Hope and Glory...🎶
🎶Rule Brittania...🎶


The British Empire
In 1913, 412 million people lived under the control of the British Empire, 23 percent of the world's population at that time. It remains the largest empire in human history and at the peak of its power in 1920, it covered an astonishing 13.71 million square miles - that's close to a quarter of the world's land area.

Hi fingers I think its inevitable we upset a few people over the years:ROFLMAO:
 
Is there still any such thing ?🤔😀
Hi Dingo Modern country ?

Probably my favourite musician and some of my favourite tunes "Ives" traditional American.
I,m half Irish but somehow this calls to me
You can skip the Bach "I can't believe I actually said that":ROFLMAO:6.30

 
The British Empire...


Hi fingers I think its inevitable we upset a few people over the years:ROFLMAO:

"Destroyed" rather than "upset" would be a more appropriate word.

I have been reading rather a lot of history over the years, especially the devastating and on going effect of the British invasion of Australia, where I now live.
 
"Destroyed" rather than "upset" would be a more appropriate word.

I have been reading rather a lot of history over the years, especially the devastating and on going effect of the British invasion of Australia, where I now live.
Hi fingers I,m something of a fan of the pragmatist philosophy
“the truth is what works”

Violence, conflict,suffering have been the catalyst for much of the technological and medical advancements

operation paperclip?what technological advancements came from that.

Some of the quite frankly obscene historical experimentation and subjugation has benefited humans as a species immeasurably.
Just look at the proliferation and increase of life expectancy in humans.

“you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs”

The trouble is the eggs don't realise that their suffering, oppression,and misery is irrelevant.
As they are merely an ingredient in the making of the omelette.
 
Late to this thread, but getting back to the original question...

While I might be more careful in a public performance (where it might be misconstrued as an endorsement), I'm not letting current world events dictate what I play/practice for myself, or listen to, read, etc.

I think it's possible--and maybe even required--to separate the actions of a government from the people of the state being governed and their rich culture.
 
I think it's possible--and maybe even required--to separate the actions of a government from the people of the state being governed and their rich culture.
That doesn't work in a state where the government controls all information reaching the people, where propaganda is reaching more people than information, and where the culture is appropriated as a justification for squashing other cultures.

To quote Yogi Berra: "It's déjà vu all over again." Sometimes there is no way around having a regime end before being able to separate government and people again.
 
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