Today we are going to talk about the Russian region called the Republic of Mordovia. This region is located between Moscow and the Volga, and interestingly, it is the closest republic to the capital, the city of Moscow. It is slightly larger than Northern Macedonia, and its titular nation is Mordvins, which makes up about 39% of the population. The peculiarity of the Mordvins is that it is essentially two peoples: Erzya and Moksha. Although many consider them the same people, among the Mordvins themselves the differences are considered quite significant. Their languages are not mutually intelligible because of their differences, so members of both groups often use Russian to communicate with each other. Although both languages belong to the Mordovian languages of the Finno-Ugric group. There are also noticeable differences in culture, customs, and so on, so there is no doubt that these are 2 different peoples.
The anthem of Mordovia, which has been used since 1995, tries to show the friendship and common fate of the three main peoples of the republic: Moksha, Erzya and Russians. The first verse is in Moksha, the second in Erzya, and the third in Russian, while in the choruses you can hear a mixture of Moksha and Erzya words. As always, I will provide you with the lyrics and the anthem itself for you to hear.
Lyrics
Bright day, Mordovia! From the bottom of thy heart,
Bright day, Mordovia! In thine eyes shineth light.
Glittering across Russia the star of Moksha,
Surrounding Russia the dawn of Erzya.
Chorus:
Hail! Hail, Mordovia!
Ring! Ring, Mordovia!
Land beloved! Thy flowering spring,
Land beloved of Moksha-Erzya!
Hail! Hail, Mordovia!
Sing! Sing, Mordovia!
May joyous life come into thy hearth!
Peace be upon thee, Mordovia!
Strong may thou be as the sun blazeth!
Thou, Mordovia, cross’d a path grim and hard,
Thou, Mordovia, stoodest erect and proud,
Vast Moksha and swift Sura gave thee strength,
Thy heart and soul still like a pure spring.
Hail! Hail, Mordovia!
Ring! Ring, Mordovia!
Land beloved! Thy flowering spring,
Land beloved of Moksha-Erzya!
Hail! Hail, Mordovia!
Sing! Sing, Mordovia!
May joyous life come into thy hearth!
Peace be upon thee, Mordovia!
Strong may thou be as the sun blazeth!
Thou, Mordovia, cross’d a path long and hard,
Thou wert with Russia always and proud,
The free Moksha and Sura gave thee strength,
Thy soul and heart remain strong.
Hail! Hail, Mordovia!
Ring! Ring, Mordovia!
Land beloved! Thy flowering spring,
Land beloved of Moksha-Erzya!
Hail! Hail, Mordovia!
Sing! Sing, Mordovia!
May joyous life come into thy hearth!
Peace be upon thee, Mordovia!
Strong may thou be as the sun blazeth!
Today we’re going to move slightly west from Bashkortostan, which I told you about last time, and pay our attention to a republic called Chuvashia.
Chuvashia is located mostly on the right bank of the Volga, Europe’s longest river, between a couple of its major tributaries. Being slightly smaller than Israel, it is not the largest region, but it still has something to offer its visitor, from the culture of its people to its nature.
The titular nation of Chuvashia is the Chuvash, comprising just over 60% of the population. They are a Turkic people, but they are pretty unique. First, the Chuvash are mostly Orthodox Christians, and second, their language belongs to an almost completely extinct group of Turkic languages, and has some differences from its closest relatives.
According to Chuvash mythology, the world consists of three parts: the upper world, the middle world (in which people live) and the lower world. Each part had several layers: three layers in the upper world, one in the middle world, and three more in the lower world.
According to their myths, the earth was a square, and the Chuvash lived in its center. The firmament in the middle was supported by the World Tree. On four sides, at the edges of the earth’s square, the firmament stood on four pillars: gold, silver, copper and stone. There were nests on the top of the pillars, with three eggs in each of them, and with ducks sitting on the eggs. In every corner of the Earth, the Chuvash placed mighty-defenders.
The shores of the earth were washed by the ocean, and waves were constantly destroying the shores. It was believed that the end of the world would come when the edge of the earth reached the Chuvash, as well as when the Chuvash people themselves would disappear.
As for the Chuvash anthem, it received official status in 1997, although it was written more than 40 years earlier. The anthem tells us about the national pride of the Chuvash and also tells us about the things they consider important to them. As always, you can find the anthem itself in the attachment, and the lyrics below.
lyrics:
When springtime world awakens
When trills of jolly day are heard
My soul rejoices, my heart beats
I want to sing about my country.
Chorus:
𝄆 Oh motherland, 𝄇
The unforgettable
Beloved motherland.
𝄆 Oh motherland, 𝄇
Praise be to you,
My native land!
When the young have fun,
When parents admonish.
My soul rejoices, my heart beats,
I want to sing about my country.
𝄆 Oh motherland, 𝄇
The unforgettable
Beloved motherland.
𝄆 Oh motherland, 𝄇
Praise be to you,
My native land!
When relatives come together,
And when the Chuvash world rises,
My soul rejoices, my heart beats,
I want to sing about my country.
𝄆 Oh motherland, 𝄇
The unforgettable
Beloved motherland.
𝄆 Oh motherland, 𝄇
Praise be to you,
My native land!
It’s been a few months since I wrote something on this blog. I do not know what caused this break. Maybe I just lacked inspiration, or the reason is something else. Anyways, I am here again and I am ready to continue to acquaint you with various anthems, more precisely, with the anthems of the republics that are part of Russia. We have quite a long way ahead, as Russia got 24 republics, and we have covered only 3 of them so far. But let’s finally get started.
The Republic of Bashkortostan is located near the Ural Mountains, occupying their slopes and some nearby plains. It is quite big, even a little bigger than Greece. And its population of almost 4100,000 people makes Bashkortostan the most populated republic in Russia. This region has not only interesting things to see and try, such as river rafting, ski tourism and many others, but is also very rich in natural resources, such as oil.
The titular nation of Bashkortostan is Bashkirs. They make up about 30% of the population and are a Turkic people whose language, not surprisingly, is called Bashkir.
The Bashkirs traditionally practiced agriculture, cattle-rearing and bee-keeping. The half-nomadic Bashkirs travelled through either the mountains or the steppes, herding cattle. Wild-hive beekeeping is another attested tradition.
Traditional Bashkir dish bishbarmaq, which can also be found in the cuisines of some other Turkic peoples, is prepared from boiled meat and halma (a type of noodle), sprinkled with herbs and flavored with onions and some qorot (young dry cheese). Dairy is another notable feature of the Bashkir cuisine: dishes are often served with dairy products, and few celebrations occur without the serving of qorot or qaymaq (sour cream).
As for the anthem of Bashkortostan, the music for it was written back in 1990 and was inspired by one of the Bashkir folk songs. It was first officially approved in 1993, but in its current form with lyrics has existed since 2008. Below I will leave the lyrics in English as always, as well as the anthem itself in the audio attachment to the post. Hope you will like it.
lyrics:
Bashkortostan, land beloved and graceful,
Thou rich cradle of folks bountiful.
From the Urals ancient and beautiful,
To this land natal and wonderful.
Chorus:
Glory to Bashkortostan!
Blessed be this land elegant and divine.
With Russia we are together as one,
Blossom ye, Bashkortostan!
Bashkortostan, thou’st traversed arduous paths,
Through defeat we’ve overcome thy hardships.
Thy destiny awaiteth all of us,
Wave thy banner proud and glorious.
Glory to Bashkortostan!
Blessed be this land elegant and divine.
With Russia we are together as one,
Blossom ye, Bashkortostan!
My republic, shine like a beautiful star,
Thou rejoicest in happy success.
In this land we shall with honour progress,
We chant thee thine anthem harmonious.
Glory to Bashkortostan!
Blessed be this land elegant and divine.
With Russia we are together as one,
Blossom ye, Bashkortostan!
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Exploring The FM Band Near Minsk 4
Here is the last, 4th part. The phone receives fewer and fewer stations, and as you will be able to hear, only one of them will remain in the end. Almost the entire recording is occupied by music as before, but at one point you will be able to hear social advertising prepared by gas services.
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Exploring The FM Band Near Minsk 3
Here is the third part. More interference appears on some stations, but otherwise it’s still music for most of the recording.
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Exploring The FM Band Near Minsk 2
Here is the second part. You can hear Even more music, as well as a return to the same radio play, since the FM band is not infinite and sooner or later you will return to where you started from.
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Exploring The FM Band Near Minsk 1
Minsk is the capital of Belarus with about 2 million inhabitants. Of course, in such a big city there is a fairly rich FM band, which has many radio stations, from news talk to musical. On Friday night, while driving near this city, I made a recording using my phone. Even though it’s reception qualities are far from ideal, it did a pretty good job in such conditions. The recording lasts 40 minutes, and during this time I drove about 80 kilometers, which is why there were some changes in the band due to the fact that my location was changing. In addition, the recording was done at night, so for the most part you will hear only music, albeit different. The recording will be divided into 4 parts of 10 minutes, and here is the first of them. In addition to music, an interesting part of it is a radio play in the Belarusian language, which was broadcast on one of the stations. Happy listening.
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Going To Belarus Tomorrow
Hello, dear readers. I’m thinking about publishing some text posts here from time to time, telling about various topics, from what’s happening to me to God knows what else. Some of them will be taken from my Russian-language Telegram channel, some will be written exclusively for my several readers here, as I definitely appreciate you all and am always happy to receive feedback from you. So, let’s try it.
I’m going to Belarus for a few days tomorrow. Although the reason for the trip is not pleasant, but because of the unusual season, it will become quite interesting for me. After all, even if I visited my homeland in the early winter, it was at an age that was not the most preserved in my memory. At least not in the last 12 years for sure.
If you ask me at what time of the year I prefer to travel long distances, then I will definitely choose summer. Of course, mainly because of the opportunity not to wear a bunch of all kinds of clothes, which can be very heavy in winter. Although it’s mostly just one jacket, it’s the same size as 4 summer sweaters. And in summer, just jumping outside for a couple of minutes to warm up is much nicer than in winter, when you rather want to climb back into the warmth, because it’s kinda cold.
I’m not even talking about the benefits for drivers, such as a longer daylight or the absence of any snow surprises on roads.
But it’s worth admitting that traveling in winter is also pretty cool, especially if you move from a colder region to a warmer one. I looked at the weather in Belarus, it promises to hang around zero all the time of my stay. Compared to -15 here and now, it’s even somehow good. And I’m not talking about the mud from melting snow, it doesn’t count, because this is a separate conversation at all. 😊
I will try to write or record something for you during this period, although I can’t promise anything. But anyway, have a good week you all. It, of course, is not particularly different from the others, but the holidays are slowly approaching, so…
Dagestan is a Russian region located in the North Caucasus, with access to the Caspian Sea. Its area is slightly larger than Slovakia, and its population is about 3 million people.
The southernmost point of Russia is located in Dagestan, at coordinates 41 degrees north latitude. And the region is also home to the oldest still existing city in Russia – Derbent, which is more than 2000 years old. A significant part of the republic is covered with mountains, which means that it is a pretty good place for mountain tourism.
A large number of different peoples live in the republic, and its constitution says that the official languages of the region are the languages of those peoples who live there. Of those languages that have a writing system and are mentioned anywhere, in addition to Russian, it is possible to see Aghul, Avar, Azerbaijani, Chechen, Dargwa, Kumyk, Lezgin, Lak, Nogai, Rutul, Tabasaran, Tat and Tsakhur.
In recent times the region has been recognized for producing some of the world’s best athletes in combat sports and produces the most MMA fighters of any region relative to population. Dagestani born Khabib Nurmagomedov was a UFC Lightweight Champion who retired undefeated.
Let’s talk about it’s anthem. It is quite new since it was adopted in 2016. The anthem is called "the Oath". Its lyrics are a translation into Russian of a part of a poem by the famous Dagestani poet Rasul Gamzatov, and the music was written by one of the Dagestani composers.
The Lyrics of the anthem in English are below as always.
Lyrics:
Down the peaks creeks stream into the seas,
Away the birds fly into the heights.
You are my heart, you are my fountain,
You are my oath, Dagestan.
Chorus:
To you I swear my loyalty,
You’re the air I breathe; you’re the air I sing.
Constellation of families aplenty,
O my little nation, yet so imposing.
Feats of highlanders, kinship, honour,
There you were, and now here you are!
O my Dagestan and my Russia,
Together and forever!
To you I swear my loyalty,
You’re the air I breathe; you’re the air I sing.
Constellation of families aplenty,
O my little nation, yet so imposing.
Dagestan!
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Song About a Vietnamese Friend
Vietnam and the Soviet Union were strong allies during the Cold War, from the USSR’s establishment of relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1950 through the three Indochina Wars. Vietnam was one of only three countries outside of Europe to join COMECON (the other two being Mongolia and Cuba). The two signed a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in 1978 and remained close economic and military partners through the years.
Some time ago, while searching the Internet, I found a Soviet-Vietnamese friendship song performed by one of the children’s choirs. In Soviet times there were quite a lot of similar songs dedicated to friendship with different countries, and this is one of them.
Below I will leave the lyrics in English, but since I will have to do the translation myself, please excuse me if it is not perfect.
lyrics:
When Nguyen arrived at the Russian city,
He looked at everything around him With love,
He struggled to find the words to talk to others,
But he remembered the word "friend" first.
Chorus.
Fly, the song, under the sky of our countries,
To Moscow to the north and Hanoi to the south.
You’ll say in Vietnamese: "bạn",
In Russian, I will answer: "friend."
Everyone loved Nguyen like a brother,
They liked him for his seriousness.
With the tenacity of a worker and a soldier,
He studied in Russian from his friends.
Fly, the song, under the sky of our countries,
To Moscow to the north and Hanoi to the south.
You’ll say in Vietnamese: "bạn",
In Russian, I will answer: "friend."
He shared the dream and bread with us together,
He learned the language of his friends perfectly,
But at the train station before returning home,
He forgot all the words in his excitement.
Fly, the song, under the sky of our countries,
To Moscow to the north and Hanoi to the south.
You’ll say in Vietnamese: "bạn",
In Russian, I will answer: "friend."