Portrayal of Exuberance

I don't have a long story to tell about this one. For one thing, I have no memory of where I got it, although I think it was around 1986 or so. And for another thing, I only have the vaguest of ideas of what is being sung about - I'm sure that, if I were to be able to learn the title of the song, it would be nothing similar to the title "Spring Song" with which I've labeled the recording.

The first thing to say is that, perhaps more than anything else in music, I love the sound of children singing. The second is that this song, and others, proved to me that it wasn't necessary for me to understand what they were singing for me to love certain recordings of children singing.

I can't seem to find this record right now, so I don't have a picture of the label. But the label of the 10" record this song comes from is written almost entirely in Russian, as are all of the songs on the album. None of the other songs stood out as anything I needed to hear more than a few times, but near the end of the second side, I heard this marvelous, chugging accordion (or whatever it is), with lower notes provided either by the same instrument or something else (it sounds almost like a pump organ), and I was immediately captivated.

And then the singing began....

What a marvelous, unrestrained and inspired vocal. It is life-affirming, exciting and adorable, too, uninhibited and wonderfully emotional. And then, just when that was getting really good, a whole chorus of like-minded, and like-voiced kids join in to sing a refrain, in each case made up of what I think is a part of each verse the soloist had just sung.

That paragraph really sums it up. This is just a wonderful sound - three minutes or so of absolute exuberance, which I find completely intoxicating. 

Download: Russian Choir - Spring Song

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I once had a friend take the song to a relative who spoke Russian, and she returned with a written description of what the song was about, rather than a translation. I no longer have that description, but as I recall, the song is about Spring in some unnamed town: courtship and other related happy, youthful Springtime experiences. Sounds like the right story for this music to me.

ADDENDUM, MARCH, 2022: I reposted this track at WFMU, three years later, and received a more or less complete description of the story the lyrics tell. Rather than being a celebration of Spring, it is more or less a celebration of the local "Collective Farm", as well as a celebration of the singer's boyfriend. It's also been suggested that what I've heard as children's voices are actually at least older teens if not adults, and that I've mistaken their style of singing for that of children. Could well be. Also, just within the last two months, I've finally come across this 10" album, and the label photos are below (I don't have the cover). If anyone would like to translate this for me, I'd be MUCH obliged. I can't even tell which part of this writing contains the track titles, but if someone else can, this song is the next to last song (out of five total) on the side with a lot of staining, seen first, below.