Today, we ride a troika. First off, the Red Army choir doing a killer rendition of my favorite old Soviet tune:
And now, the late, great Ivan Rebroff…
…who, despite his stage name, was actually a German (and won medals for distinguished conduct, not in the Red Army or as a Cossack, but in the Bundeswehr). He had me fooled for the longest time, since he sang in both languages quite fluently. He’s so good that he can even accompany himself with the clip-clop of the horses (which the Red Army choir needed a drummer to do). And, interestingly, he never married. Rumor had it he was gay. He never came out, so we’ll just have to draw our own conclusions.
Meanwhile, there’s no doubt about this Brit:
…who sings his own interpretation of the same song over a chorus of Russian navy sailors.
