More Russian Anthems Than You Can Shake a Stick At (MP3s)

What better way to escape the international soccer brawl I seem to have started than by celebrating a song of international unity and peace. My love for the last two Soviet/Russian national anthems was reignited when I found these two pages (by Vadim Makarov)  dedicated to the Soviet National Anthem and it's one-time anthem, The Internationale. The first link chronicles the history of the Russian /  Soviet anthem from the days of Peter The Great on to the days of God Save The Czar, then on to The Internationale, and then "The Hymn" of the Soviet Union, the same beautiful melody that is currently used as Russia's national anthem.

I previously posted about The Hymn here, and I did a radio show on The Internationale a few years ago. On the two pages linked above, there are a few interesting videos as well, including The Pet Shop Boys cover of a Village People song, Go West [download video, 49 megs, mpg format]. The melody to Go West is almost note for note identical to The Hymn, and the video is also laden with nationalistic Soviet imagery, yet The Pet Shop Boys pleaded ignorance when they discovered the melodic and ideological similarities to The Hymn.

Stranger still is this music video by Igor Ugolnikov of The Hymn: download video, 57 megs, mpg format]. The video features many popular Russian singers from the period, and although it is billed as a "parody," it comes off as a heartfelt nugget of Soviet patriotism, produced as the Soviet Union was crumbling. It comes off almost as a Bolshevik version of the Up With People Orchestra, right down to the 70's era fashion and haircuts.

For MP3s of The Hymn, The Internationale and all of the offshoots, check the linked pages. There are too many versions to choose a favorite, but here are ten wide-ranging or memorable versions of The Internationale:

Gypsy Swing version by Coco Briaval Quartet   |   Chinese Metal version

Hans Eisler   |   Tagalog version   |   1929 German version

Electronic version by Maxx Klaxon   |   German(?) Rap version

Vietnamese version   |   Japanese version   |   Greek version

Comments

[bryan]

In the Igor Ugolnikov video the music is strongly reminiscent of the theme from the TV show The Gummi Bears. "Dashing and daring! Courgeous and caring! Faithful and friendly with stories to tell!"

[bartelby]

I can't believe you didn't link to the Tuvan throat-sung version. Sounds a little reminiscent of Greensleeves but it along with every other version on the linked page blows the lame-Robert-Bly-early-'90s-ass Billy Bragg version out of the water and leaves it in a treetop amid a forest fire.
"All victims of aggression" in fucking deed

[Station Manager Ken]

The only problem with the "Tuvan Internationale" is that it's NOT The Internationale! It has no melodic resemblance to the song at all.

-ken

[bartleby]

Right, rather than go into the phrase mongering, of playing the same old Internationale it's a total re-working of it.
Compare that with the going through the motions version Billy Bragg treats us to. He's like the Dan Fogelberg of communism.

[Recordgeek]

The Soviet Union was all about international unity and peace.

[bartelby]

I get the feeling you're trying to say something other than what your words indicate. Is there some reason why, while posting anonymously on the internet in George W. Bush's america, you are afraid to be identified as an anticommunist?

While the Soviet Union was a police state that gave communism a bad name the primary aggressor in the cold war was unquestionably the U.S. From Hirohsima through the invasion of Grenada and the contra war this was the case. Let's not forget the backing of Islamic fundmentalists in the Afghan civil war which didn't work out so well, at least for me, being at 1 Whitehall st. on the morning of Spetember 11th 2001.

[Station Manager Ken]

Sorry to disappoint, Bartleby. I'm not posting anonymously - it wouldn't take much sleuthing to uncover "Station Manager Ken's" last name. And I'm not making a political point. I just love both songs, simple as that. I have neither love nor hatred for the Soviet Union, or for communism, which I consider a nice idea that fails miserably in practice.

-ken

[bartelby]

Oh, I thought it was someone else.

[Jonny Hirn]

This is so odd... I stumbled upon the site for "The Internationale" two days before it became immortalized on the WFMU blog. Must be some cosmic unconciousness thing happening here. A good source for more can be found on the external links on the Wikipedia page... Billy Bragg does a sock-o rendition of the tune.

[passing traveller]

thank you for your share,i love this viedo cery much
my english is poor sorry

[Snowy]

Salutin' Putin!