''This article is partly or fully translated from the Swedish Wikipedia article''. "''Tingaliin''" (full title: "Tingaliin (Russian Bass-Lovers Remix)"), is song performed by, among others, the Swedish comedian

Henrik Dorsin Per Henrik Dorsin (born 20 November 1977) is a Swedish actor, comedian, singer and revue-artist. Dorsin started his career as an extra in the 1996 film '. He started his television career in the satire show ''Detta har hänt'' in 1998. He then ...

, who says it aims at showing common Swedish prejudices towards Russia. The song faced severe criticism from Russian embassy in Stockholm for its image of Russia. "Tingaliin" was the last of the series of Tingeling songs performed by Dorsin during the intermissions of the

Melodifestivalen 2009 2009 was the 49th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 7 February and 14 March 2009. The winner of the competition was Malena Ernman with the song "La Voix (song), ...

in preparation for

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Eu ...

, scheduled to be organized in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. "Tingaliin" is a Russian version of the Tingeling song, credited to P-Bros featuring DJ Trexx & Olga Pratilova. It reached the top of the

Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name s ...

on 27 March 2009 and stayed at the top of the charts for 4 weeks. "Tingaliin", the Russian version, was designed as the final entry of the "Tingeling" series, at Melodifestivalen in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. The Russian segment consisted of a pre-recorded sketch followed by a musical anthem performed on-stage.

Content

The sketch was set in

, where the characters Pål Potter, (played by the actor Rikard Ulvshammar) and music director Rolf Pihlman, wearing a fur hat (played by Henrik Dorsin) contact the Russian " Schlager mafia" and the Russian

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer Olga Pratilova to get her to perform Tingeling, resulting in a stage appearance with a remix partly in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, called ''"Tingaliin (Russian Bass-Lovers Remix)"''. The performance is full of Russian

cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...

s and stereotypes, such as an army choir,

matryoshka doll Matryoshka dolls (), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside another. The name ''Matryoshka'' is a diminutive form of ''Matryosha'' (), i ...

s, cossack dancers,

tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

, the

National Anthem of the Soviet Union The State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was the national anthem of the Soviet Union and the regional anthem of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1944 to 1991, replacing "The Internationale". Its original ...

and

Korobeiniki "Korobeiniki" () is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song that tells the story of a meeting between a '' korobeinik'' (peddler) and a girl, describing their haggling over goods in a metaphor for seduction. Outside Russia, "Korobeiniki" is wide ...

. The text contains also Russian phrases such as "Do svidanija Putin" (’Bye bye Putin’) and "Na zdorovje Lenin" (’Cheers Lenin’).

Controversy

"Tingaliin" led to strong criticism and protests from the Embassy of Russia in Stockholm. Anatoly Kargapolov, an embassy spokesman, said in an interview with

The Local ''The Local'' is a multi-regional, European digital news publisher targeting expats, labour migrants and second home owners. It has nine local editions: The Local Austria, The Local Denmark, The Local France, The Local Germany, The Local Italy, ...

newspaper that "it is for us, unimaginable that Sweden can show such an ignorance and misleading image of Russia. The depiction is disgusting."''The Local'': Russian disgust over Sweden Eurovision skit
/ref> The following days, the controversy got attention in TV-news, radio programs, and morning- and evening newspapers. The project manager Ronnie Lans later apologized and sent flowers to the Russian Embassy, but the Swedish TV network

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

withdrew the apology.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Russian sketch and the "Tingaliin" song
2009 singles Number-one singles in Sweden 2009 songs