Kalinka
Encyclopedia
"Kalinka" is a Russian song
written in 1860 by the composer and folklorist Ivan Larionov
and first performed in Saratov
as part of a theatrical entertainment that he had composed. Soon it was added to the repertory of a folk choral group
.
The refrain of the song refers to the kalinka, which is the snowball tree
. It has a speedy tempo
and light-hearted lyrics.
In 2003, Roman Abramovich
bought Chelsea FC. Since then, "Kalinka" has been associated with the London based football club and is often played before or after important matches, including the Champions League clashes with FC Barcelona
and the Carling Cup final.
In 2000, the German
female group Yamboo performed a techno/pop version of the song, using only the chorus and adding their own English lyrics to the song. Yamboo performed Kalinka in Berlin
, Germany
on New Years Eve the same year.
On the Italian
television show, Non è la RAI
, Russian contestant Yelyena Mirzoyan performed the song during the third season of the show.
A techno infused version of "Kalinka" plays when Detroit Red Wings
forward Pavel Datsyuk
scores a goal.
In 1993 the Welsh tenor Wynford Evans sang "Kalinka" at Cardiff Arms Park
Stadium accompanied by the largest ever male choir of 10,000 voices, known as the World Choir. The concert also featured among others, Shirley Bassey
and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
.
In 1998
the Danish band Infernal
covered the song to popularity in Scandinavia
.
Part of Kalinka can be found in the Arsenium song "Love Me, Love Me".
A balalaika
version of Kalinka can be found in a record shop, at the map "Terminal", in the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
, released by Activision
in 2009.
Another remix of Kalinka can be found in the Nintendo 64
game "The New Tetris
"
The 2011 Hindi
film '7 Khoon Maaf' directed by Vishal Bhardwaj
features a track called 'Darling' and 'Doosri Darling' which is a cover with its own lyrics in Hindi.
In 2010, Russian
countertenor
Vitas
covered the song on his album Masterpieces of Three Centuries.
Russian singer Alexey Vorobyov also has a song called New Russian Kalinka (in English) and Novaya Ruskaya Kalinka (in Russian), which is a cover of the song.
. The first Ensemble soloist to perform this was Pyotr Tverdokhlebov, but the first tenor to earn the title of Mr Kalinka was Victor Ivanovich Nikitin
at the Berlin peace concert of August 1948, where he sang three encores of the song. The title is unofficial and awarded by the audience and journalists present at successful Ensemble concerts where Kalinka earns numerous encores. A definitive recording of Kalinka was made in 1963 at the Abbey Road Studios, London by the lyric tenor Evgeny Belyaev
, with the Alexandrov Ensemble, under the direction of Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov
. Belyaev earned the Mr Kalinka title at the London concerts of 1956 and 1963. Since then there have been several Mr Kalinkas, including Vasily Ivanovich Shtefutsa
and Vadim Petrovich Ananyev
.
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
written in 1860 by the composer and folklorist Ivan Larionov
Ivan Larionov
Ivan Petrovich Larionov was a Russian composer, writer and folklorist. He is mostly remembered for the famous song "Kalinka", that he wrote in 1860....
and first performed in Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
as part of a theatrical entertainment that he had composed. Soon it was added to the repertory of a folk choral group
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
.
The refrain of the song refers to the kalinka, which is the snowball tree
Viburnum opulus
Viburnum opulus is a species of Viburnum, native to Europe and Asia. Some botanists also treat the closely related North American species Viburnum trilobum as a variety of it , or a subspecies, Viburnum opulus subsp...
. It has a speedy tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
and light-hearted lyrics.
Lyrics
| Russian Russian language Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics... |
Transliteration Transliteration Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another... |
English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
|---|---|---|
Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя! Ах, под сосною, под зеленою, Спать положите вы меня! Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, Спать положите вы меня. Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя! Ах, сосенушка ты зеленая, Не шуми же надо мной! Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, Не шуми же надо мной! Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя! Ах, красавица, душа-девица, Полюби же ты меня! Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, Полюби же ты меня! Калинка, калинка, калинка моя! В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя! |
Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya! V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya! Akh, pod sosnoyu, pod zelenoyu, Spat' polozhite vy menya! Ay-lyuli, lyuli, ay-lyuli, Spat' polozhite vy menya. Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya! V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya! Akh, sosyenushka ty zyelyenaya, Nye shumi zhe nado mnoy! Ay-lyuli, lyuli, ay-lyuli, Nye shumi zhe nado mnoy! Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya! V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya! Akh, krasavitsa, dusha-dyevitsa, Polyubi zhe ty menya! Ay-lyuli, lyuli, ay-lyuli, Polyubi zhe ty menya! Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya! V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya! |
Little snowberry, snowberry, snowberry of mine! Little raspberry in the garden, my little raspberry! Ah, under the pine, the green one, Lay me down to sleep, Ah, rock-a-baby, Lay me down to sleep. Little snowberry, snowberry, snowberry of mine! Little raspberry in the garden, my little raspberry! Ah, little pine, little green one, Don't rustle above me, Ah, rock-a-baby, Don't rustle above me. Little snowberry, snowberry, snowberry of mine! Little raspberry in the garden, my little raspberry! Ah, you beauty, pretty maiden, Take a fancy to me, Ah, rock-a-baby, Take a fancy to me. Little snowberry, snowberry, snowberry of mine! Little raspberry in the garden, my little raspberry! |
Recordings and cultural influence
"Kalinka" was one of the songs used as background music in the Atari arcade version of Tetris.In 2003, Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich
Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian businessman and the main owner of the private investment company Millhouse LLC.In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky...
bought Chelsea FC. Since then, "Kalinka" has been associated with the London based football club and is often played before or after important matches, including the Champions League clashes with FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
and the Carling Cup final.
In 2000, the German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
female group Yamboo performed a techno/pop version of the song, using only the chorus and adding their own English lyrics to the song. Yamboo performed Kalinka in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on New Years Eve the same year.
On the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
television show, Non è la RAI
Non è la RAI
Non è la RAI was an Italian TV show, on air from 9 September 1991 to 30 June 1995. Initially broadcasted by Canale 5, from January 1993 it was moved to Italia 1....
, Russian contestant Yelyena Mirzoyan performed the song during the third season of the show.
A techno infused version of "Kalinka" plays when Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
forward Pavel Datsyuk
Pavel Datsyuk
Pavel Valerievich Datsyuk is a professional ice hockey player from Russia and alternate captain for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League . He is known for his stick-handling and is considered the best two-way forward in the game today, having won the Frank J. Selke Trophy in the...
scores a goal.
In 1993 the Welsh tenor Wynford Evans sang "Kalinka" at Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park
Cardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
Stadium accompanied by the largest ever male choir of 10,000 voices, known as the World Choir. The concert also featured among others, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
Owain Arwel Hughes
Owain Arwel Hughes CBE is a Welsh orchestral conductor. Among his numerous titles are Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony in Denmark and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales and Principal Guest Conductor of the Cape...
.
In 1998
1998 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1998.-Events:*January 28 – "Weird Al" Yankovic gets LASIK surgery to cure his myopia...
the Danish band Infernal
Infernal (band)
Infernal is dance/pop group from Denmark, consisting of members Lina Rafn and Paw Lagermann. They made their Danish debut in 1997 with the release of the track "Sorti de L'enfer", and have gone on to international chart success in recent years. Their most successful single to date has been "From...
covered the song to popularity in Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
.
Part of Kalinka can be found in the Arsenium song "Love Me, Love Me".
A balalaika
Balalaika
The balalaika is a stringed musical instrument popular in Russia, with a characteristic triangular body and three strings.The balalaika family of instruments includes instruments of various sizes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, secunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass...
version of Kalinka can be found in a record shop, at the map "Terminal", in the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles and the Microsoft Windows operating system. Officially announced on February 11, 2009, the game was released worldwide on...
, released by Activision
Activision
Activision is an American publisher, majority owned by French conglomerate Vivendi SA. Its current CEO is Robert Kotick. It was founded on October 1, 1979 and was the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for gaming consoles...
in 2009.
Another remix of Kalinka can be found in the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
game "The New Tetris
The New Tetris
The New Tetris is a puzzle video game for the Nintendo 64. The game was developed by H2O Entertainment and published by Nintendo, based on the latter's popular Tetris series...
"
The 2011 Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
film '7 Khoon Maaf' directed by Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj is an Indian film director, writer, screenwriter, music composer and playback singer.-Early life:Bhardwaj was born in Bijnor but raised in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh to Satya Bhardwaj, a homemaker, and Ram Bhardwaj, a popular poet and lyricist. His father was a government employee and...
features a track called 'Darling' and 'Doosri Darling' which is a cover with its own lyrics in Hindi.
In 2010, Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
countertenor
Countertenor
A countertenor is a male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of a contralto, mezzo-soprano, or a soprano, usually through use of falsetto, or far more rarely than normal, modal voice. A pre-pubescent male who has this ability is called a treble...
Vitas
Vitas
Vitaliy "Vitalik" Vladasovich Grachyov , better known by his stage name Vitas , is a Russian singer-songwriter.Known for his high falsetto voice, he has been given the nickname "Prince of the Dolphin Voice" in China...
covered the song on his album Masterpieces of Three Centuries.
Russian singer Alexey Vorobyov also has a song called New Russian Kalinka (in English) and Novaya Ruskaya Kalinka (in Russian), which is a cover of the song.
Mr Kalinka
It was Dmitri Oleg Yachimov who created the arrangement of Kalinka which is traditionally performed by the Alexandrov Ensemble, and who turned the frivolous song into an operatic ariaAria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
. The first Ensemble soloist to perform this was Pyotr Tverdokhlebov, but the first tenor to earn the title of Mr Kalinka was Victor Ivanovich Nikitin
Victor Ivanovich Nikitin
Victor Ivanovich Nikitin,, was a Soviet tenor soloist of the Alexandrov Ensemble, born in Voronezh ca.1914 and died in Moscow ca.1988.Information from Leonid Kharitonov, soloist of the Alexandrov Ensemble...
at the Berlin peace concert of August 1948, where he sang three encores of the song. The title is unofficial and awarded by the audience and journalists present at successful Ensemble concerts where Kalinka earns numerous encores. A definitive recording of Kalinka was made in 1963 at the Abbey Road Studios, London by the lyric tenor Evgeny Belyaev
Evgeny Belyaev
Evgeny Mikhailovich Belyaev, also written as Yevgeny Belyayev , was a Russian tenor soloist of the Alexandrov Ensemble under Boris Alexandrov...
, with the Alexandrov Ensemble, under the direction of Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov
Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov
Major General Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov was a Soviet Russian composer, and, from 1946 to 1986, the second head of the Alexandrov Ensemble which was founded by his father, Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov...
. Belyaev earned the Mr Kalinka title at the London concerts of 1956 and 1963. Since then there have been several Mr Kalinkas, including Vasily Ivanovich Shtefutsa
Alexandrov Ensemble soloists
This is an alphabetical list of the basso profondo, bass, bass-baritone and tenor soloists who have performed with the Alexandrov Ensemble since its establishment in 1928. It is difficult to differentiate between regular and guest soloists, since many have alternated between the one category and...
and Vadim Petrovich Ananyev
Alexandrov Ensemble soloists
This is an alphabetical list of the basso profondo, bass, bass-baritone and tenor soloists who have performed with the Alexandrov Ensemble since its establishment in 1928. It is difficult to differentiate between regular and guest soloists, since many have alternated between the one category and...
.