''Total Balalaika Show'' is a

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

film by director

Aki Kaurismäki Aki Olavi Kaurismäki (; born 4 April 1957) is a Finnish film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the award-winning '' Drifting Clouds'' (1996), ''The Man Without a Past'' (2002), ''Le Havre'' (2011) and ''The Other Side of Hope'' (20 ...

featuring a concert by the Leningrad Cowboys and the Alexandrov Ensemble. The concert took place on 12 June 1993 on Senate Square in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The event drew a crowd of approximately 70,000 people from two nations –

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

– that had been engaged in a state of "peaceful coexistence" during the Cold War. The concert featured an

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

mix of Western rock and Russian folk music, and folk dancers performing to rock songs. ''Total Balalaika Show'' was a critical success, scoring a 77% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Songs

The "

rockumentary A concert film, or concert movie, is a film that showcases a live performance from the perspective of a concert goer, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by either a musician or a stand-up comedian. Early history The ...

" features 13 songs from the concert: * Finlandia * Let's Work Together *

The Volga Boatmen's Song The "Song of the Volga Boatmen" (known in Russian as Эй, ухнем! y, ukhnem!, "Yo, heave-ho!" after the refrain) is a well-known traditional Russian song collected by Mily Balakirev and published in his book of folk songs in 1866. It was s ...

* Happy Together * Delilah * Knockin' on Heaven's Door * Oh, Field *

Kalinka Kalinka may refer to: Places *Kalinka, Kardzhali Province, Kardzhali Municipality, Bulgaria *Kalinka Temple, a temple in northern India *Kalinka, Lublin Voivodeship, a village in the Lublin Voivodeship, Poland *Kalinka, Russia, the name of several ...

* Gimme All Your Lovin' * Jewelry Box * Sweet Home Alabama * Dark Eyes *

Those Were The Days Those Were the Days may refer to: Music Albums * ''Those Were the Days'' (Johnny Mathis album) (1968) * ''Those Were the Days'' (Cream album) (1997) * ''Those Were the Days'' (Dolly Parton album) (2005) * '' Those Were the Days – The Best of L ...

DVD release

The film is available on three DVD releases. The first, released by

Sandrew Metronome Sandrew Metronome is a Scandinavian film distribution company formed in the 1990s. It was one of the biggest distributor companies in the Nordic countries. Sandrew Metronome was established by the Swedish company Sandrews and the Danish Metronome. ...

in 2004, is for

DVD Region 2 DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD-Video, DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all acc ...

. The second, released by Facets, is for all regions. The third is by The Criterion Collection in an

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

box set with the two original films.

Soundtrack Album

External links

Balalaika music records SKAZ
*
Criterion Collection Essay
1994 films Swedish comedy films Finnish comedy films Finnish rock music films Concert films Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki 1990s Finnish-language films Films shot in Finland Swedish documentary films Finnish documentary films 1990s Swedish films {{Finland-film-stub