Белое злато - Beloe Zlato - White Rose

Frank da Cruz
1 September 2022
Updated: 6 June 2023
Dedicated to my high-school Russian teacher, Mr. Thompson
Посвящается моему школьному учителю русского языка мистеру Томпсону.

Click to see photo gallery

Singers from a collective farm near Norilsk, Siberia, 300km north of the Arctic Circle and about 2800km ENE of Moscow. The balalaika player is Катя (Katya, left); the high voice is Валерика (Valerika, third from the left). That's all I know. There are different groups with the same name; I don't know which one is the original, but I like this one best. The links below are to Youtube videos, which as of 2022 are impossible to watch because of nonstop intrusive ads, so I signed up for Youtube Premium, $11.99/month USD, well worth it if only for just these videos; whenever you're in bad mood, just watch a few of them! (This is not an ad for Youtube, it's just facing reality.)

By the way, this page was created on a Linux host accessed via C-Kermit for Windows, whose terminal emulator lets me paste or type Cyrillic text, and in the case of typing can be configured to assign the letters to English keys "by sound" so I can touch-type in Russian (see table) (see script). Kermit also uploaded the images and it even made the gallery.

Videos

First group: individual songs, mostly filmed on the farm (kolkhoz means collective farm). The ones marked "spoons" have wooden spoons used like castenets.

Youtube link	Русский	English
e4My2EGFxkI	Как хотела меня мать	Everything as my Mom wants
O3Auj58oyaM	На горе колхоз	The kolkhoz on the mountain
ipTJk4rU2TU	Сирень	Lilac
CV-BCRZTjNk	Я когда-то была молодая	Respect your elders (new June 2023)
skbBs00H3AY	Ах, вы сени мои, сени	You are my shelter
62eoBRSr7js	Ах, мамочка	Oh, mommy! (extra singers)
nDYQsBHSAT4	Мы на лодочке катались	We rode on a boat (spoons, snow)
vkL3bMVfkMU	Течет ручей	The Stream is Flowing
aOdtctv88-I	Июль	July
twDQxoe9c6g	Баба-шутница	Woman-Joker
hlx6Lo_Hvjo	Я когда-то была молодая	When I was young
_FZwLHLX8Zc	Ой, снег-снежок	Oh snow snow
OgCPIgqY44c	Трактористка	Tractor girl
XSNJMQpHosw	Егорушка	Yegorushka (a capella)
EQkN8UvpwKc	Ночь	The Night (a capella)
25DlgqZTmiY	Крапива-лебеда	Nettle-quinoa
oR4fRrAhklY	Миленький мой	My little one
Bmx196CRlG0	Люблю тебя	Love You (spoons)
dauVhyFBbQs	Ах, судьба моя!	Ah my destiny!
8HjKozAhe20	Выйду на улицу	I will go outside
F3rfiQR7AiQ	Колечко	The Ring
hmB-pKZbhfw	Старый дед	Old grandfather
RZbjFN8l0RU	Верила	I had believed
xjiP4J5VbXo	Как родная меня мать провожала	My Birth Mother
xVozDB-Juno	Коробейники	Peddlers (spoons)
5FXwRYMcTTo	Ромашка	The Chamomile
rOGuSTt6ErY	Кадриль	Quadrille
YoE6KinOLCU	Миленький мой	You are my dear
r2757JlMGkI	Под окном	Under the window
NPf0WEe14Rg	Тарантасик	Tarantass
7kWGjhVWkHE	Марусенька	Marusen'ka
w0BMpAMJbpw	Ухарь-купец	Ukhar the merchant
Re5dr5qD1NI	Подай балалайку	Give me balalaika
EvKnHBS4deU	Елочки-сосеночки	Spruces pine trees
gFG78XGoGS0	Ой, сад во дворе	The garden courtyard (a capella)
TMZZLqfj6Kk	Думы	Thoughts (a capella)
VHTv9XwbdFk	Курочка	Hen
gqYgLZz2XoM	Роза	The rose
n9cY00_jzi4	Называют меня некрасивою	They call me ugly
Sq5zSBwWzp8	Костры горят далекие	Far bonfires are burning
woAPS483KS8	А я люблю женатого	I love the married one
16-IeNObDnI	Цветочки	The florets*
PxbugQs1Q1Q	Белоснежная вишня	Snow-white cherry*
8MylyFtfYiM	На горе колхоз	The collective farm on the mountain*
YI6_U1Z_hZs	Цладкая ягода	Sweet berry*
7hrvqcOhSCI	Я когда-то была молодая	When I was young*
NZ-eWQjcsXQ	Кольчики на пальчики	Rings on Fingers*
mE7i0aVfUoY	Мечты о Калифорнии	California Dreamin'
* New November 2022, several of them filmed at a recording session at Радио Шансон (Radio Chanson). Second group: cooking lessons with a capella singing, a slightly different group, 10-16 minutes each, English subtitles. In the Chicken Cutlet video we learn that Katya is a vegetarian.
Youtube ID	Русский	English
dCZ42Px0f_Q	Куриные котлеты	Chicken cutlets, several songs (16min)
G1eX4SVyfWA	Витаминный салат	Vitamin salad (13min)
VKpwOH07bzE	Как сделать Блины	How to make Blini (10m)
ZGOoTakgzAQ	Идеальный борщ	Classic Red Borscht (16m)
Fg8KHNjasgQ	Оливье Новогодний салат	Olivier Russian Salad*
Third group: Shorts - New June 2023
ASZXJVMK2DA	Огней так много золотых ч.1	So many golden lights part 1
R9aU3Wh7dso	Роза	Rose
R9aU3Wh7dso	Мария Пахомова	Maria Pakhomova
azdhQsO3kS4	Ромашка	Chamomile
NTqErCczbYM	Вишня	Cherry

And now for something completely different (but also from Russia)... Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-minor played on the баян (bayan) by Сергей Телешев (Sergei Teleshev). The bayan resembles an accordion but has the power of a mammoth cathedral organ.

I first studied Russian at the US Army Frankfurt High School in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1960-61.