October 30, 2024

The Music of War


The Music of War
Central Military District ensemble and Yulia Chicherina during a performance VKontakte, Central Military District ensemble

The Ensemble of the Central Military District is one of 13 song-and-dance groups under the Russian Ministry of Defense. Many were formed during World War II, initially performing at the front to boost soldiers' morale. Since then, the ensembles have performed at patriotic events in Russia and alongside Russian forces abroad, including in Afghanistan, Syria, and, most recently, Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Central Military District ensemble has staged over 600 performances in the “special military operation zone.” According to Ensemble Head Lt. Col. Anton Sholokhov, song and dance ensemble members perform at the front line daily.

The ensemble aims to attract a younger audience by sharing festival stages with popular Russian  bands like IOWA, using LED screens, and recording performances with drones. The group’s repertoire includes songs that mock the Ukrainian military and celebrate Russian soldiers' actions in Ukraine.

The ensemble collaborates with other pro-Russian musicians, including Yulia Chicherina, who is sanctioned by all EU countries. Chicherina and the ensemble previously performed for Russian forces in Syria, staging a joint concert in 2016 at the Khmeimim airbase, which has been under Russian control since 2015. Now, Chicherina continues to perform alongside the ensemble for Russian soldiers. Lt. Col. Sholokhov calls her a “combat girlfriend” and “the creative banner” of the ensemble.

Rock musician Vadim Samoilov, a former member of the popular Russian group Agata Kristi, is also a frequent collaborator. Samoilov, who calls himself a “fan of the army,” has committed to a long-term partnership with the Central Military District ensemble.

Another regular partner is Akim Apachev, a former pro-Russian war correspondent from Mariupol, who now performs propagandistic "Z-music" and filmed a video at a destroyed Ukrainian site at the Azovstal plant.

According to a former employee of the Central Military District ensemble, performers believe they bring “light and kindness,” despite promoting militarism. They receive the same salary as other Russian soldiers in Ukraine, around R210,000 a month (just over $2,000). “With a regular military contract, there’s a risk you’ll be sent to the front lines and might not live to see your second paycheck. In the ensemble, the pay is the same, but you don’t have to kill anyone. You dance, sing, and get feedback from the audience,” the former employee said.

Ensemble members also profit from military-themed performances outside the war zone. According to the independent news outlet DOXA, violinist Anna Pasta of the ensemble offers “thematic corporate party” performances featuring military songs. Her five-song set costs R30,000 ($300), while soloists from the ensemble charge R25,000 ($250) per performance.

You Might Also Like

A Singer Diversifies
  • October 20, 2024

A Singer Diversifies

The notoriously pr-Kremlin rock star Shaman has filed trademarks for alcoholic beverages, household goods, and sex toys.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

A Taste of Chekhov
December 24, 2022

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

Driving Down Russia's Spine
June 01, 2016

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Survival Russian
February 01, 2009

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.

A Taste of Russia
November 01, 2012

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.

Murder and the Muse
December 12, 2016

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.

Steppe
July 15, 2022

Steppe

This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices
May 01, 2013

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

Bears in the Caviar
May 01, 2015

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955