Song of the Volga Boatmen - Aleksandrov Red Army Choir

A well-known traditional Russian song collected by Mily Balakirev, and published in his book of folk songs. It is a genuine barge-haulers’ shanty. Balakirev published it with only one verse (the first). The other two verses were added at a later date. The song, also called The Volga Burlak’s Song, was inspired by Repin’s famous painting, Burlaks on the Volga, depicting the suffering of the people in the depth of misery in Tsarist Russia. The performance is from the Total Balalaika Show, which took place on 12 June 1993 on Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland. The event drew a crowd of approximately 70,000 people from two nations - Finland and Russia - that had been engaged in a state of “peaceful coexistence“ during the Cold War.