'Narodniye' Russian bands

When your Russian keyboard has died and you're looking for songs from the 90s from over there, na russkom, it's not an easy task, especially if the band itself doesn't list them - speaking of gruppa lyube there.

Some of the lyrics:

Very, very rough translation:

When those fatal minutes arrive, and the black waves rise to the heavens, in this unkind hour, this hour of destiny, have mercy, Lord, save us miserable sinners.

And if you can, carry this cup, not past us, and not just once, but over and over.

There's a word in Russian - 'narodni' - and it vaguely means [don't attack my translation here] 'from the heartland', or something which is homeland or a national treasure.  In the US south, it might be Lynyrd Skynyrd for example, overall JJ Cale or CCR. 

Widely respected. 

In Britain, maybe the Kinks or the Who, maybe Oasis, the Clash.  Certainly Queen.  I'm not crazy for Oasis nor Queen but there's no point attacking them because ... well ... they just are ... all right?

Important distinction here - this 'heartland' music was NOT the slick, billionnaire pseudo pop on glitzy glam shows on TV.  Not at the start, these bands below were those who did it the hard way in Soviet days - they were almost all bad boys using the samizdat, they were banned, shut down, sent to the gulag, their cred is just beyond now, even though they've been accepted into the mainstream as you'll see in the next song.

From attempts at metal, to hard rock, to rock and then to softer music which TV audiences can accept, this is the journey of such singers and bands. Bands such as DDT:

The chorus:

Fairish transliteration which you can sing along to:

Eta vsyor, chto osta-netsa, pos-le men-ya; Eta vsyor, chto voz-mu ya sso-boi.

Fairish translation:

That's all that's left after I'm gone, that's all that I'll be taking with me.

Other lyrics which would have you slitting your wrists [so let's not print them] include: "Draw something on the window and whisper goodbye to the river."  Nobody does tragedy like the Russians and Ukrainians, except perhaps the Bard himself. Personally, there's only so much tragedy one can take - we have enough out there now.

Two events, sadly, have caused a rupture in this happy 'nostal-giya'.  One was the Ukrainian events not so long ago and the other was where Crimeans voted to rejoin Russia [my language here gives me away as more pro-Russia than the CIA-NATO-Ukraine].  The band below, Chaif, are at odds with each other when some supported Russia, some supported the Ukraine over the 'Krim'.  

Sad in the case of DDT above because it led to vilification of the singer and it's still a touchy issue within Russia itself. That song above was from happier times.  [Always remember that the Wiki descriptions are mainly western, so they lose all the nuances.  Calling DDT popular now is not keeping up with events.]

And so to this song by Chaif, one of the very first Russian songs I heard after arrival and one I still feel nostalgia for:

Some of the lyrics:

For what to know when he passes away

For what to know about what he sings

For what to know that which he knows not himself

For what to know whom he loved

For what to know about what he asked

For what to know about what he was silent about?

Po-plach o nyom, po-ka on zhivoi; lyubi yevo, takim kakoi on yest; Po-plach o nyom, po-ka on zhivoi; lyubi yevo, takim kakoi on yest

[If you must, then] cry about him while he's still alive.

Love him for whom he is right now.

Cry about him while he's still alive.

Love him for whom he is now.

It's a reference to the young soldier gone to war and his girl weeps for him now, long after all their fights and so on.  At one point, it says that she already sees herself in the role of a widow.

And now to a very special verse, the last one - you can hear the band quieten down before the finale [no transliteration for this, just a translation of the last line]:

Today you die, tomorrow they call you a poet.

This post above is one of the key reasons I am so angry with the ruling cabal of every land.  These people at these concerts are clearly ordinary people, I lived among them, and yet politicians and royalty sent them to fight the British and the donkeys on our side led a charge of the Light Brigade.

Why on earth would you try to kill these people on their own soil?  For what?  Because the leaders tell you to?  Have to be better reasons than that for me. 

And America, the Deplorables - why on earth would I wish to fight my cousins?  For what possible reason?  Why would they ever fight me?  Because Biden tells them to?  Bush?  Obama?