lovetheslavs-blog - Tumblr blog

[lovetheslavs-blog]

okay. since somebody actually reads this blog, here's a portugese song by pelageya from russia and elvira kalimullina from tatarstan—a republic pretty much inseparable from russia. the accent gives away that the girls actually don't know portugese, if you know the language, but i think their voices are beautiful, and i love how pelageya stitches a russian folk song in the very end of canção do mar (which is portugese for 'a song for the sea')

[lovetheslavs-blog]

piano music, anyone? pink floyd, anyone? this girl's name is vika yermolayeva, and she is absolutely amazing. she mainly covers metal music, but also has some other amazing covers, like this one. check out her channel on youtube, she's vkgoeswild there.

i love watching her hands.

[lovetheslavs-blog]

alina orlova lives in lithuania, and this particular song is in lithuanian, but she is 'of mixed polish-russian heritage', as wikipedia suggests. she has several songs in russian and is rather popular in russia. 'lijo' means 'it's pouring', and somebody has translated the song in the comments on youtube if you're curious. i think alina looks like an angel and sings like one, too. 

[lovetheslavs-blog]

well… okay. this is not exactly good music. but it's definitely otherworldly. it's a song from a 1978 soviet movie about the three musketeers. the hairy being on the left who looks like he's an 80's porn actor is the russian d'artagnian, and the hysterical guy on the right is athos. i love the mimics here and the DRAMA! it's beyond language and borders, i swear! athos says: 'so this friend of mine, let's call him count de la fere , fell in love with a girl. she was as beautiful as love itself!' and then he sings: 'count de la fere's bride is only sixteen'. (the 80's permacurled blonde that shows up after this line was a soviet sex symbol called margarita terekhova) 'her manners were so exquisite she had no rival in provence! she had the depth and she had the modesty, and the count was intoxicated with his passion for her…' and then the chorus: 'in the count's park, there's a black pond where lilies grow. oh, how they grow.' 'count de la fere's young bride becomes his wife. a hunt is announced to commemorate this. and the young couple ride through the forest hand in hand…' (chorus) (check out the touching candles in the chips of broken china!) then he says: 'my dear d'artagnian, your tragedy is really a comedy.' - 'what do you mean by that?!' - 'that love is a game where the winner is rewarded by death!' ta-da-da-daaaaaam. oops, sorry. he sings on: 'but wait, what happened to the wife? her horse tripped, and she fell to the ground! and the count tears the dress off her shoulder to help her breathe… and as the fabric tears away and reveals her shoulder, the count sees that she is branded with a lily.' aaaawwwwwww. poor athos. it's also amusing how he shoots at the lily that he draws on the wall, but when we see it the next time, there's no bullet hole. 'yes, dear d'artagnian, i consider you extremely lucky for losing the game of love. i suggest you always lose. sorry, i always tell people scary stories when i have too much to drink.' the music is also so typical for that time. so pathetic. so terrible. so goooooood. :) :)

[lovetheslavs-blog]

in russia, christmas takes place on january 7th and is strictly a religious holiday, while new year's day is celebrated like the christmas you know. and this is a song that every person with a soviet childhood knows by heart. it's from a 1956 musical comedy. here's the translation, which is also a good postcard to all of you i think. five minutes aren't' much of a reason for a song, but i hope that everyone will join and sing along i want it to reach everyone in the world, i want it to be a gift to every boy and girl, i want everyone to be happy during these five minutes five minutes, five minutes, soon the clock will strike new year's midnight five minutes, five minutes, if you have any hard feelings, let them go now! five minutes, five minutes, doesn't seem like much, but sometimes five minutes are just enough. the new year is only five minutes away, the new life is almost upon us, in a bunch of seconds we'll wish each other a happy new year, in just five minutes dear friend, don't lose time, if there's something left unsaid, say it now, don't wait till next year you still have five minutes left for some people, five minutes are enough to decide they don't ever want to get married, but then one single minute changes everything once and forever etc. etc. )) HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

[lovetheslavs-blog]

no words this time. this is possibly russia's best guitarist, with an unremarkable name, ivan smirnov, which is like john doe. but he is fantastic, and if you're into paco de lucia and guys like that, you'll agree with me. he also writes the music himself. the guitar really begins around the 3rd minute of this music. the piece is very meditative and laid-back, i suggest you listen to it without watching the video, just let it play in the background. it reminds me of hari prasad's chaurasia. 

[lovetheslavs-blog]

this is another mysterious song in russian sung and composed by non-russians. it's called 'tender owls' and was written by a french lady who studied russian. i believe her name should be spelled as 'julie gruen', but i'm not sure. she's not a native speaker, so the song, along with its wording and accent, befuddled the russian audience. at some point, a whole livejournal community was dedicated to solving the mystery of this song, performed by a french band, les piers, somewhere in 1995. even if you cannot hear how funny the accent sounds, you will still probably agree with me that the lyrics are… well… SO FUCKING STRANGE! yeah. ooi-yooi. but i like the song anyway though. oh, before i forget: ignore the video, it's random. the text is as follows: i'm lying in my attic room at home i'm so bored i could die but suddenly i hear the tender owls going 'ooi-yooi' and i instantly feel better i'm walking down the road to visit a friend he's a bandit, but i'm all alone in this foreign land i feel sad, but suddenly i hear the tender owls going 'ooi-yooi' and i instantly feel better a-lai-lai-lai, i instantly feel better i'm hanging on a rope, my legs a'dangling i'd really appreciate it if i could breathe, but i can't and suddenly i hear the tender owls going 'ooi-yooi' and i instantly feel better i'm boiling in a giant cauldron in hell it's too late to cry or regret my sins but suddenly i hear the tender owls going 'ooi-yooi' and i instantly feel better i'm lying in my attic room at home i'm so bored i could die but suddenly i hear the tender owls going 'ooi-yooi' and i tell them, let's sing together: a-lai-lai-lai, a-lai-lai-yeeeeeah, that's what i tell the owls.

[lovetheslavs-blog]

these girls call themselves ptitsa tyloburdo. they're from udmurtia which is technically a part of russia, but they have their own language. they're amazing because they collect and preserve traditional music with no support whatsoever. it's their own initiative, they don't get paid, and they're not very famous (although i hear that they frequent russian folk festivals of all kinds, but unadapted traditional folk music isn't a genre that leads to fame). theirs is a uralic language, i don't understand it, so i don't know what the song is about. i decided to post this here just for collection's sake, but if someone else likes this but me, well, awesome!

[lovetheslavs-blog]

this one may not be much music-wise, but it is one of the most famous soviet songs from WWII, by a singer with an absolutely non-russian name, mark bernes (the video is from a 1943 soviet movie). i love his voice, it literally sends chills down my spine. especially when i think about the words. imagine all those soldiers, thinking of their women somewhere god knows where, waiting, clueless if they're dead or alive. it's certainly wonderful that war can be inspiring like this, but it's so tragic when you think about it in a time with cell phones and internet and twitter. those women were heroes. and so were those men. the night is dark. the bullets are whistling through the air and the wind is humming in the high voltage lines and the stars are dim. as i stare at them, i know that you're not asleep, my dear that you're sitting by our child's cradle wiping away a secret tear i love the depth of your tender eyes and i wish i could touch them with my lips right now this dark night is between us, my dear and the ominous black battlefield separates us i believe in you, my dear, and this faith is what has kept me alive so far my heart is at peace even when things get dire in battle i know you'll be waiting for me till the end, no matter what i do not fear death; i've met her many times out there in the field and it's circling above my head this very moment too but you're waiting for me over our child's cradle and that is how i know that no harm will come to me

[lovetheslavs-blog]

zdob si zduuuuuuuub! these are some crazy noisy moldovians. theirs is a romanian language, not slavic, but they're certainly slavic by spirit if you listen to as much slavic music as i do. the balkans have much in common with their northernly neighbors, though quite frequent people say the're closer to gypsies than to russians. i dunno. i think the russians have a lot in common with gypsies, for that matter. duh. anyway! here is zdob si zdub singing a song by a russian musician called victor tsoy. well, he was korean by heritage i think, but he was born in soviet russia and was a superstar in the 80's. here's what the song means. we went out when all the normal people put the lights out in their windows we saw the last tram drag itself to the last stop we could still catch a cab, but we ain't got any money and there's no reason to ride when you can walk and when the song is over we'll just switch to the next track (chorus) we saw the night, we walked through the night call back home, tell them not to wait for you tonight let them lock the door and go to sleep take off your shoes, we're gonna go barefoot we've got cigarettes and matches and a bottle of wine and that's all we need to get us through the night that's all we need but each other

[lovetheslavs-blog]

this is a neat video that seems to fit the holiday spirit because it's about universal good and stuff. besides, the buddhist aesthetics seem to always 'work' in a calming way. is it because the buddhists are maybe the only religion that doesn't try to take the world by force? look at those faces. they're just so peaceful. i dunno about the song itself; i think it's just a pretty random piece of reggae. but pretty nevertheless. it's written by lyapis trubetskoy who is belarussian, but he also sings in russian, ukrainian and polish i think. this song is in russian, so i was able to translate it. adam and eve woke up in the morning to watch their friend helios do his work in the sky according to the oracle of delphi it's gonna be hot all week long the celestial dwarf, the fast-winged colibri is drunk from the morning dew the zebras, the centaurs, the wolves and the tigers are all bathing in the river of universal mythology the ancient vulcan is lighting a fire to make the god thor a new mighty hammer the almighty monogod is holding his hand over a map where a new city will appear soon the legends make us wiser they make us feel the pulse of the cosmos st. peter the apostle, the heavenly key keeper, is dancing a waltz with helen of troy (chorus) i believe in jesus christ and i believe in buddha gautama i believe in mohammad the prophet, and i believe in krishna, and i believe in garuda i believe in jesus christ and i believe in buddha gautama and i believe in jah. and i always will that's it for today, guys; and i hope you've had a wonderful christmas.

[lovetheslavs-blog]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, boys and girls! you did know that one of the most famous christmas carols is of ukrainian origin, didn't you? in case you didn't, 'carol of the bells' was really  written by composer mykola leontovych and based on an actual ukrainian folk song called 'schedrik', a pre-christian chant greeting spring's arrival. later it got adopted by christianity as a christmas carol. anyway, you can look for schedrik on youtube and find some traditional versions, but i thought this one would be more appropriate today. it's a cartoon, and the cover is by oleg skrypka (he's the lead singer of vopli vidoplyasova, i posted something of theirs earlier). i loved the flutes.

[lovetheslavs-blog]

well, this time the music is beethoven's, but the animation is by a russian. it's a nativity cartoon by mikhail aldashin, made in 1996. very indie. 

[lovetheslavs-blog]

well, here's another mad russian band called S.P.O.R.T. with some batshit crazy ska (or at least i think it's ska. is it?) i think they inherited the madness of madness. i can't even begin to guess what the lyrics are about, and translating them literally word for word would be kind of dumb. i like the video and i think i'll use this song for my workout because it makes me feel like jumping. so maybe it's even better NOT knowing what it's about (you remember that 'i wanna fuck you in the ass' commercial from the cannes festival, don't you?)

[lovetheslavs-blog]

now, if i'm right, this is what all the russian teenage girls are listening to nowadays. the band is called nervy ('the nerves'), and the boy is ukrainian but sings in russian. this is one of his wishy-washy girly songs, but he has other stuff that rocks. i couldn't resist the drama in this one, though, so i'm posting it here. i think the meaning is pretty clear without the translation, as teenage angst is a thing beyond language and culture, but here's the text anyway: coffee is my friend music is my drug i can turn anything i see into chords the sky is my poetry book as long as we're together, we won't fall asleep the night awaits me behind the wet windows the night, she understands me without words i strum my feelings and it makes you cry you're crying? oh well i guess it's all gone too far

[lovetheslavs-blog]

this is a love song by another ukrainian band, called okean elzi. gosh, i miss this kind of passion in my life.

anyway, all i could understand is 'i won't give up without a fight' from the chorus, but i've just googled up a russian translation, and here's my attempt to put it into english (just so that you'd understand what it's about; it's no proper creative translation or anything):

i couldn't stop in time and now it's too late please don't go it's so dark out there i'll pour us some wine. i'll sweeten the night up with honey. who are you? you took my life and didn't give it back who are you? you drank all my blood and poisoned yourself whoever you are, whoever you are, i'm not giving you up i was too weak, i couldn't stop myself i couldn't stop you either it's too cold outside if you have to go, please wear something warm i'm so lost without you i'm not giving you up. not without a fight.

[lovetheslavs-blog]

behold vopli vidoplyasova, a ukrainian band with one of the world's sexiest men as the lead singer. oops, did i let that slip? well, he doesn't always wear make-up. i don't know ukrainian, but i did understand 'chio-chio-san'. i can only repeat one of the comments on youtube: 'i have no idea what the hell i just watched, but i like it'.