Category Archives: People About Russia

Russian Video: The Votians…

The Votians live in the North-West of Russia, where the River Luga flows into the Gulf of Finland. Fishing has always been the main source of income for the Votians, smoked fish is their favorite national dish. Their language, Votic or Votian, closely related to Estonian, is spoken only in Krakolye and Luzhitsy, two villages in the Kingisepp district, and there are only 62 speakers left. Every summer, the Votians celebrate the Luzhitsy bounty, the festival of the Votian people. The girls go into the woods with beautiful pine baskets to collect medicinal leaves for tea while the children make a Votian goblin out of straw for the festival.

Russian Video From Russia…

Russian Video: Singing grannies…

A group of crooning village pensioners has got Russians singing along and is set to have a shot at greater stardom at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

­“Any granny has to be able to sing, dance, smile and have fun,” Galina Koneva, a singer from Buranovskie Babushki, told RT. “We’re no stars, we’re just ordinary grannies.”

“Buranovskie Babushki”, or “Buranovo Grannies”, have put their village in the Central Russian Republic of Udmurtia on the map, winning hearts with tunes in their native Udmurt language and English.

The newly-minted celebrities, whose combined age is over 600 years old, sport traditional costumes and birch bark shoes. That is exactly what their fans like, claiming this unmistakably ethnic feel represents the real Russia. Indeed, in this country, folk songs and dances, with their colourful costumes, fiery moves and heartfelt lyrics, have never fallen out of fashion.

“These songs come from our ancestors. They’ve always been a huge part of village life, of our roots,” Zhanna Rusakova, artistic director of Slavyane Folk Band, told RT. “That’s how people expressed themselves. It’s all about our traditions that represent something for every generation. Russia is not Russia without its folk songs.”

In Soviet times, folk tunes were even specially promoted as “the people’s music” and received important state support, with the aim of rivaling Western pop culture.

Today, scores of performers have made folk songs and dances their speciality, like the Moscow-based band “Slavyane”, or the “Slavic Singers”. Another award-winning song-and-dance company revives and promotes the traditional culture of the Cossacks of southern European Russia.

“The Cossacks have songs for both wartime and peace, songs about battles and about festivities,” Andrey Tolstyakov, artistic director of the “Volnaya Stanitsa Cossack Ensemble”, told RT. “It’s important to get the details right. We’ve got the uniforms that were standard in 1914 – the blouses, the boots and special hats called papakha. A Cossack always kept all his documents in it, so if he ever lost it, it was only together with his head.”

After a string of young Russian pop stars, it is now time for more mature folk to aim for Eurovision glory. The singing grannies from Buranovo get their shot at the big time in late May in Azerbaijan.

Russian Video From Russia!

Russian Video: The Highway Fight: Ringside seats…

This is a great video and it is about road rage in Russia. The roads in Russia can become very testing to anyone’s patience. I myself have had many moments when I want to express myself as such over the stupidity that they do in Russia while driving…

These guys decide to go at it and just when you think they are best buddies again, they get mean one more time…

I laughed my head off at this video and yes this is Kyle not Sveta… 🙂

So enjoy a 9 round boxing match on the streets of Moscow…

Russian Video From Russia!

Moscow Russia and Her Therapy!

Svet shoot this video next day after the tragedy. I took what she shot with her camera and removed the static background sound. Added a beautiful piece of music called Serenity Funeral! It came out pretty good for a bumbling bear like me…
Good to watch and absorb facts that people die everyday because of senseless acts of violence…
I hope you like it!
Russian Video from Russia
Svet and Kyle

comments always welcome.

Russian Video: Abigail's Interview About Russia!

Hello,

Today we want to introduce you a very interesting person: Abigail Faust – an American student who spent 10 months in Russia in Sibirea last year as an exchange student. With great interest we follow her blog Learning to Speak” (From the Wilds of Siberia to the Wilds of a College Campus). We started to follow her blog when she was still in Russia. Today Abigail told in her blog that recently she have given an interview to Roomie and this interview is already published here. When I’ve watched this interview I just felt that I must republish it here.

Best wishes,
Russian Video from Russia

Svet and Kyle

comments always welcome.