state department sites but the problem is that only two percent of them actually use the sites so you get what you pay for a big bag of likes but few hardcore fans probably the most shocking example is a vision of america group in farsi made for rain yes which has gotten over four hundred twenty thousand members but only one percent of them is actually in iran where facebook advertising doesn't even exist that's affective getting lots of likes doesn't mean you are actually reaching people instead of paying for them why not you know get the next bar by providing interesting honest content on a regular basis oh wait that takes effort and honesty yeah you know what just keep wasting our tax dollars but that's just my opinion. music is our job the army our destiny.

yes of a i always say that we are on the front line. our weapons are our instruments our voices our choreography. and jen. has risen and.

instead of going the way we've come to realize stop the performances which fascinate big audiences in some petersburg moscow and in foreign cities somehow you don't strike as much of a chord with our own soldiers. are just saying on stage soldiers sleep in the audience this is how military units have always responded to the musical army's concerts time and time again would be able to win over the younger audience of today or have these weapons lost their power has the time for the soldiers to admit defeat but then we play material and you see most of them but there are songs about love for the motherland and sacrifice. but they don't seem to appeal to the modern audience. young people especially soldiers. they

seem to need a different rhythm now. singer alexander will soon turn eighty he has served in the musical army for most of his life he's convinced that because fashion changes all the time you can never keep up with it but he sure that the old tunes will still stir young hearts. as well i don't think that any of these modern nights can compare to songs like the farewell of slovyansk so. often fight if you go when the trumpet sounds don't talk as though your funeral thirty six year old conductor. appreciates and respects the musical army's past achievements but he believes that it now needs to tune in with the times if you see as the cli implementing reforms that were introduced several years ago. the smoking eventually of course that's a very short time for

a unit like us. thank you. but still we have managed to make some changes mean almost with you know what i will to. do it early stubbornness next three song and dance ensembles in the late one nine hundred twenty s. they were originally intended to boost military morale and promote patriotism and. over time the ensembles became powerful soviet propaganda weapons by the time the u.s.s.r. collapsed they were through for our military our solders touring throughout the biggest country in the world today only five star operate in russia the famous st petersburg song and dance and song is one of them this is we don't mean squat musical unit has managed to preserve many. and is now desperately fighting to win back a modern and to magic audience. it's not an easy mission but the commanders are confident and ready for the next offensive they call on the young warriors to join the fight

. it's a two and a half closer to walk mark or to the ensemble by first every morning then return for lunch and back again for a house after that we return to quarters for dinner so that's about ten kilometers a day all together. just like they came in line. and get where you can look at your foot. tell you. constantine beloved in a choreography student didn't join the army voluntarily six months ago he received two letters one was an invitation to join the traditional russian down in new york the other contained his call up papers for military service in russia it is compulsory for men to serve if eating military conscription is

a criminal offense carrying a two year jail sentence and so constantine had no choice but when his trip to america because he had to serve his country i was lucky to get into this ensemble because in the real army there's a bright different atmosphere just everybody shouts you hardly ever hear anyone speaking calmly people are very polite it's a cultural thing. i would have a little put away those jackets but hide them somewhere. and the caps to the shows and. close the door i said. everybody has a score just like that but this must be the front of your patrol they'll say no let's start there has so. composer looks on their faults and we call the national anthem of the russian federation. off. oh oh oh oh oh gentlemen you don't sing so high you small then as

a very beginning all the guys no group had to memorize piles of boston songs some just couldn't do it i was one of them would head bit towards the deformed six so they looked us all in one room until we learned old by huddling i said it wasn't funny but it was fair. that singing is really how to work it's not just sitting. and yelling. close and saw his need to take europe or america he'll find nothing like it by huge there are no other military ensembles like this. weekend and the same an oratorical a classical ballet anything more people plus the can even to alter a stool and everything you didn't before the song and dance ensemble it was good but sheer will work no professionally you know nor perhaps nobody else has told you

before but she has a lover really is much higher when with the when you do you need to understand that the was going to hold and now there are song. this song and dance ensemble is the only military units where soldiers actually have to smile only you that when the soldiers voices are louder than their command this is also the only that where the servicemen make use of their very own personal weapons thank you for this is a great violin meister a french must a craftsman made it around one hundred fifty years ago at the end of the nineteenth century because it cost us twelve thousand dollars my father managed to borrow the

money from work so the full amount try to way before. the tree combine it one of the best students at st petersburg state conservatory had gone to serve in a regular military unit he would have had to swap his file and food why full these days would have been spent on true combat and physical training which may not be so bad. some might even say it's good for. a musician to go for even a year without the cursing is a nightmare. to

the people that these young men have been in music for about ten to twelve years before coming here music is by and large their profession their future life if they don't want to lose their qualifications and hope to continue their musical careers in the future that they need to serve miss on sambal. good afternoon comrades good morning carol what maddie's. you look tired because today is your first day off and even then not all of you will get much rest. everybody must go to their location for a cleaning gertie's which must be finished by ten o'clock then you start your own preparations everybody stays at his own location. yes we're not divided here into soldiers not we're all together i mean we all have

our own tutors to perform don't almost always be perfectly tidy we always have to look good there should be no bad smells or anything like that our uniforms must be clean and everyone has to look after themselves. sometimes you feel so tired and worn out after a hustles you just run out of energy but you still have to clean up in the consul hall or something is that i tried to take it easy and roll with the punches of course it doesn't always work out but at least i tried. stall their start what are you doing with your feet that that one two or three that you did that it was a face you know what you look like right now we'll make it mean face.

that. there were many people at my choreography school didn't matter so much here there are a lot of men and so on stage they put the tallest guys in the front line and the shortest guys and i lost. that at first i didn't quite understand why i was in the back row and i thought i must have been dancing really badly and that was why they later told me it was just because of my height but you can always turn a drawback into something positive i do some trick dances they throw me up in there or something like that so in the end it turned out that my height is an advantage becomes in hunting. we. see this week too however minute true blood seen here. in the album

but it's not just there is a. there is a military all the stuff. you don't see so just. the parts and experience to say. this is a special program created for tourists in st petersburg no anthem no war songs no modern tricks only the tried and tested hits that have been popular for decades russian audiences bored with that were as foreign as who've never seen russian soldiers on stage before surrender to the. wonderful acts the. absolutely amazing amazing. well since we travel a lot of soul sorts of countries we can usually see that people approach our concerts with a measure of suspicion but after a while they start to warm up we can feel that the audience opens up people begin

to accept us when we get to the end of the first section the very final number in the first half of the concert we can already feel but the audience is on our side. mission. could you take three months for three. major three. three. three. three broadcast quality video for your media projects free media r t dog. tom in.

the east he told language the truth will use programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on the t.v. reporting from the world talks about six of the ip interviews intriguing stories for you to. see then try a small t arabic to find out more visit arabic don't all teeth dog call.

he flew all over the last. yesterday because the talk or to sit around twelve quick and went straight to sleep . like this innocence day we were up at seven even though it's a sunday when we're usually up at eight and that's because of the concert they we had to make it seven i think that's why from fell asleep in the bus. or we came back late yesterday and on top of that i had to work the night shift on the ship point and today they tell me i'll be huston's a concert yesterday i really didn't expect that because i've never done it before a concert so now i'm working on what i'll say for.

my decree of the russian empress nikolai the second they've let in their military camp was established here one hundred ten years ago the anniversary is celebrated in the open air at the very center of the garrison the tables are laid with quilts pork and the stage is set the garrison commander has had no doubt which bad would be invited to perform on the stage only the military ensemble can offer add to our performance of song and dance free of charge and need me the dressing rooms the rehearsal time that's the last time we had a concert at our school it rained in the stage became a skating rink but we kept going the weather is good in the stages with me so i won't be slippery i guess it's like this every said i'm from the rapid deployment force getting ready for landing you get those and then comes when the concert begins first of all you congratulate the audience and then introduce that ensemble . that all the all over the.

whole world to lead him to. yet. right. it's the military that's right it's like that's. normal where you'd stay away people mean celebration it's what we do. at first only the children seem to be happy to see the musical army the same performance that only yesterday want to plus from foreign tourists is now greeted with a barely lukewarm reception hardpressed soldiers can only be churned up by pretty girls dancing on stage many have already celebrated their motherland their friends health and the success of russia's armed forces they couldn't care less about what's happening on stage despite the tough audience the musical army refuses to give up. leave.

we're going to have to improvise on the spot because some mikes were changed and others were cancelled. and had high expectations for the new dance but it failed to be an effective weapon and the units armory it did however change the course of the battle there were still more surprises in store. the. company. on. the on the on the mountain. did you like it thank you that was from the soul you're welcome thank you it was so great we loved it.

back in my day they wouldn't even have let me join the ensemble it's been. they'd never even listen to. rock n roll. that's not what we're about that's what i think and i won't pretend otherwise that would you say if a man deserves all openly acknowledge his talents and say that it's the real thing . but if it's all about this. like yeah it's distasteful i feel insulted for the team. for him but for the whole ensemble. i think it's just my own special kind of thing all this can sing romance and stuff like that and i can do rock'n'roll sing it and dance it discussions like that will never cease our team is very diverse when it comes to age we have eighteen year old boys and at the same time there are men who are well over seventy of course they feel much closer to the old soviet period style they don't quite understand what

we're doing now i think that deep down in their hearts they don't like the motor material and from time to time they say what they think still we all realize that there's no other way forward for the ensemble. one. yes that works for the guys that was great. much younger people here naturally they want something that's smaller and shooting with their time. it's true that rock n roll was all the rage back in the fifty's but even now it's a giant leap forward for the military. when soldiers. began his service he could hardly wait for it to end so that he could go to new york but now he's even considering staying here in st petersburg. if there were to offer me an extension of my contract. i'd probably agree with the prospects here it

gets people here have somewhere to live and you can have quite a good life on the salary. simply what our classical program was arranged in one nine hundred twenty eight the chorus the orchestra or the ballet all these elements had a patriotic touch to them on top of that we had to show our great culture but we had to change we began to take up new modern dances and that's led to a new kind of vocal and instrumental and song.

to have a really spectacular show for foreigners it's quite different it was our own soldiers for them would play songs for this but george numbers things like that leave their morale and make them think at the same time we want to make them relax for a beat to forget about their military service for a little while. and i got the lyrics for a new song for the also says he wants to be a kind of retsina so quite soon we're going to do from an arab song that's him at the why on earth do we need this rapper soon i don't understand snow you would be told just flying around swinging one way then the other why do we have good music russian press a call for the people who are not all. ensemble that are in alexander has not performed

a solo part for several years he stands in the back row of the chorus singing out the low notes with his powerful bass he admits that his time is rapidly fading. would you. like to see young faces things to. fire that stars do my best to stay in shape to do for the wood i have a lot of experience and sometimes they listen to me but sometimes they just seriousness of us your from the last century old man. hold on don't lean on me it'll fall no one to secured whereas if you know. take it together. we'll both have to carry a. lego room with your own a one hour we're going to have sound. only been here for five minutes and you send half an hour to have twenty five minutes before the concert and he still keeps saying half an hour all the time. captains in can hide his anxiety

this is the moment of truth very soon he will find out if the modernization has been a success and if it can stay in tune with the times or should the old soviet weapon be discarded as obsolete. musical armies giving a concert for a regular military unit in fact this is exactly the audience that the song and dance ensemble was made for when was established five years ago but now the crowd appears downcast tired and very skeptical. since we don't have concerts every day so we want to see some sense specials not just the usual stuff but it's all one would be how i last an hour with one or two would be better.

although this piece is up almost half. of the soldiers had intended to go through the concepts but it actually woke them up they smiled a little at the comedy boxing but what really won them over was hearing a simple honest and humorous song about the harsh routine the military life. thank. you.

thank you be excellent brilliant concept it was really cool. it was all some really beautiful beautiful i like the trumpet most of all. the book. blood of attention fall in columns of three march. i think they enjoyed the concert we really start them up at the end they were shouting and whistling the posting out went down really well and they like. that then they would take to engage with the concept i think they were all moved by it. to the best of the completed our mission successfully so now we're off to do this.

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secret laboratory curbeam was able to build a new its most sophisticated robot which all unfortunately doesn't give a darn about anything tim's mission to teach music creation why it should care about humans in the world this is why you should care only on the. well to the. science technology innovation hall the list of melon minutes from around russia we've got the future covered.

breaking news for you this hour here on r.t. our sources say israel used turkey's army bases to launch one of its recent attacks on syria and that's despite the shop straining of relations. have been experiencing in recent years. meanwhile syria's military reportedly finds a rebel used to produce and stored chemical substances the claims coming straight from syrian state television. spreads across the u.s. with police firing rubber bullets at crowds protesting the controversial acquittal of george zimmerman he shot dead and a black teenager.