Author: Alex Siniavski

This author has written 33 articles

Those Were the Days “Дорогой длинною” – Balalaika Lesson 30

Click here or on the image for a balalaika tutorial video. This is an abridged version of a lesson, for the full duration and HD quality please consider becoming a member. For previous lessons please visit Archives.

Those Were the Days, probably, is one of the most popular Russian songs in the West. It was written by a composer Boris Fomin and poet Konstantin Podrevsky in Paris sometime in the 1920’s. The earliest recording by Tamara Tsereteli is marked 1925. Fomin was born in 1900 and that makes him a pretty young man to write such a great song.

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Kalinka “Калинка” – Balalaika Lesson 29

Click here or on the image for a balalaika tutorial video. This is an abridged version of a lesson, for the full duration and HD quality please consider becoming a member. For previous lessons please visit Archives.

“Kalinka” (Russian: Калинка) 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.

Kalinka was made famous in the West by the Soviet figure skaters Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov. Since then it is the most requested tune on any Russian gig.

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Where to Get a Good Balalaika

A lot of people have asked me the same question: where to get a good quality inexpensive balalaika?

To me “a good quality inexpensive” is almost an oxymoron.

People do not mind buying cars. Fifteen grand on average for something that will be worth next to nothing in the next 5 years! But paying one or two thousand dollars for something that will only increase in value frightens them.

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