"Kalinka" () is a Russian folk-style song written in 1860 by the composer and folklorist

Ivan Larionov Ivan Petrovich Larionov (; January 23, 1830 – April 22, 1889) was a Russian people, Russian composer, writer and folklorist. He is mostly remembered for the famous song "Kalinka (1860 song), Kalinka", which he wrote in 1860. Larionov was ...

and first performed in

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

as part of a theatrical entertainment that he had composed. Soon it was added to the repertoire of the folk choral group. Since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the song has been popularized by the

Alexandrov Ensemble The Alexandrov Ensemble (), commonly known as the Red Army Choir in the West, is an official army choir of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Russian armed forces. Founded during the History of the Soviet Union, Soviet era, the ense ...

, the official army choir group of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

Song

The refrain of the song refers to the ''kalinka'', which is the snowball tree ''(Viburnum opulus)''. The song has a speedy

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

and light-hearted lyrics. The main refrain (''Калинка, калинка, калинка моя!'') increases in tempo each time it is sung. One of the best-known singers of this song was

Evgeny Belyaev Evgeny Mikhailovich Belyaev (11 September 192621 February 1994) was a Russian tenor soloist of the Alexandrov Ensemble under Boris Alexandrov. He is remembered in the Soviet Union as the Russian Nightingale and in the West as one of the definiti ...

(1926–1994).

Lyrics

Recordings and cultural influence

Kalinka is considered one of the most famous Russian folk and folk-style songs in Russia, and all over the world. It appeared in the 1953 film ''

Tonight We Sing ''Tonight We Sing'' is a 1953 American musical biopic film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring David Wayne, Ezio Pinza, and Roberta Peters. It is based on the life and career of the celebrated impresario Sol Hurok. The film is based on the ...

'', performed by

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

operatic bass and actor

Ezio Pinza Ezio Fortunato Pinza (May 18, 1892May 9, 1957) was an Italian opera singer. Pinza possessed a rich, smooth and sonorous voice, with a flexibility unusual for a bass. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 75 ...

. The film was a semi-biography of the Russian bass

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

who famously sang and, during the early days of recording, recorded the song for

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

and Victor. Pinza's recording was included on the 10-inch LP

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

album release of the same year, coincidentally from

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

. In

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

's 1988 version of ''

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 ...

'', Kalinka is featured as one of its theme songs; however, it is labelled "KARINKA" in the

NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

version. Since then, Kalinka has often been included in licensed Tetris games, alongside ''

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 ...

'' and ''Troika'', the former of which is now commonly known as "the Tetris theme". The 2011

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film ''

7 Khoon Maaf ''7 Khoon Maaf'' (; read as "''Saat Khoon Maaf''"), released internationally as ''Seven Sins Forgiven'', is a 2011 Indian Hindi-language black comedy film directed, co-written and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Priyanka Chopra ...

'' directed by

Vishal Bhardwaj Vishal Bhardwaj (born 4 August 1965) is an Indian filmmaker, music composer, and playback singer. He is known for his work in Hindi cinema, and is the recipient of nine National Film Awards and a Filmfare Award. Bhardwaj made his debut as a mu ...

features a track called 'Darling' and 'Doosri Darling' which is a cover with its own lyrics in Hindi. In the video game ''

Payday 2 ''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...

'', released in 2013, "Kalinka" is sometimes sung by Vlad after completing the Four Stores heist. In the video game ''

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege'' is a 2015 tactical shooter game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players. Each player assumes control o ...

'', released in 2015, "Kalinka" is used in the introductory video of Tachanka. In the video game ''

Civilization VI ''Sid Meier's Civilization VI'' is a 2016 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K (company), 2K. The mobile and Nintendo Switch ports were published by Aspyr Media. It is the sequel to ''Civilization V'' ...

'', released in 2016, "Kalinka" is the theme of the Russian civilization, played when the civilization is present in a game. As the player progresses throughout the different civilization eras, additional complexity and layers are added. "Kalinka" has been played during the closing ceremony of the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia by Russian soprano singer

Aida Garifullina Aida Emilevna Garifullina (, ; born on 30 September 1987) is a Russian lyric soprano of Tatar descent. She was the winner of the 2013 Operalia competition and has featured in a number of productions staged at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersbur ...

, featuring the famous former football player

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or left winger. Widely reg ...

Mr. Kalinka

The arrangement of ''Kalinka'' which is traditionally performed by the

turned the frivolous song into an operatic

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

. The first ensemble soloist to perform this was Pyotr Tverdokhlebov, but the first to earn the title of Mr. Kalinka was Viktor Nikitin at the Berlin peace concert in 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

, with the Alexandrov Ensemble, under the direction of

Boris Alexandrovich Alexandrov Boris Aleksandrovich Aleksandrov (; 4 August 1905 – 17 June 1994) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian composer and, from 1946 to 1986, the second head of the Alexandrov Ensemble which was founded by his father, Alexander Vasilyevich Ale ...

. 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.

References

External links

Music sheet of Kalinka
{{authority control Russian folk songs 1860 songs Songs about trees Soviet songs