Auld Lang Syne in Russian.

Last year I published a Russian version of Auld Lang Syne. Enjoy two more videos of the New Year's festive song in Russian.

The first is a clip from the 1973 Soviet film 'He Who Shies Hardship Never Finds Happiness' ("Горя бояться - счастья не видать".) It is sung by the Belorussian folk-pop group Pesnyary ("Песняры") who were part of the Russian folk revival at the time. Lead vocal is by Leonid Bortkevich, musical version by O.Yanchenko, Burns' lyrics translated by Samuil Marshak.



In this second clip from 2009 Auld Lang Syne is sung by the chamber choir of the Mary Republic Technical University (Mary-El is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation.) The singing starts at 1:45 minutes into the video. Apparently this is from the choir's tenth anniversary celebration ceremony.

Auld Lang Syne in Russian.

Russian version of this post is here
and see more clips in the 2012 post here.

Auld Lang Syne is well known in Russia – and throughout Russophonia – both as a melody and in Samuil Marshak's translation of Robert Burns' poem, though not necessarily as a New Year celebratory song. The Russian version is called Zastolnaya – Drinking Song. Can't limit this just to New Year, can we?

Забыть ли старую любовь
И не грустить о ней? Забыть ли старую любовь
И дружбу прежних дней?

(Full text is here)

This is the 1973 song version by the Belorussian group the Pesnyary. The sound is not very good, but it gives an idea of their trademark folk-pop interpretation and a distinct Belorussian accent. 

Music by O.Yanchenko, original lyrics by Robert Burns, translated by Samuil Marshak. Leonid Bortkevich, the group's lead singer, was married to Olga Korbut, the legendary Soviet gymnast, also a Belorussian. The photos in the clip are of them as a family couple.  

And here is a humorous medley, that includes the Pesnyary version too: