In a propaganda war, familiar songs suddenly take on unexpected meaning. Grebenshchikovs song, Train on Fire, was used in a program by journalist Arkady Mamontov on the state television channel Rossia 1. The songs excerpt with the words It is time to take this land back was recorded over footage of the now-disbanded Berkut riot police attacking protesters on Maidan. Recorded by Akvarium in 1987, Train on Fire was a protest song urging people to deal with the 70 years of the Soviet era and get back to normal life, free of enforced ideology. In the Rossia 1 version on Feb. 25, it was used to support state violence and repression. Grebenshchikov reacted several days later. I am touched that you decided to use an excerpt from my song Train on Fire in your program, he wrote on his Facebook page addressing the channels editors. But once you do it, have the courage not to tear out a line from the song, but play it in full, including the words, I saw generals, they drink and eat death. Most recently, both Shevchuk and Grebenshchikov signed an anti-war letter from Russian intelligentsia on March 13 as a reaction to an official petition in support of Putins policy over Ukraine and Crimea published on the Culture Ministry website on March 12. --- https://youtube/watch?v=_lA3mrpbYkY
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 21:17:41 +0000