music is our job the army our destiny. yes of ago i always say that we are on the front line. was our weapons are our instruments our voices our choreography. and he and jen. said you are still missing and some of.

the. things that are going on with we've come to realize that the performances which fascinate big audiences in some petersburg moscow and in foreign cities some hollywood don't strike as much of a chord with our own soldiers. are just sitting 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 finally come for the soldiers to admit defeat we play material. but you know 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 will still stay young hearts. present i don't think that any of these modern knights can compare to songs like the farewell of slough younker so . often fight if you go when the trumpet sounds don't talk as though your funeral thirty six year old conductor. appreciates at respects the musical army's past

achievements but he believes that it now needs to tune in with the times is if you see ethically implemented with forms that were introduced several years ago. that's rocking eventually of course that's a very short time for a unit like us. to keep it off but still we have managed to make some changes mean. you know what are. the attorneys stablished nurturing a song and dance ensembles in the late one nine hundred twenty s. they were originally intended to boost military morale and promote patriotism. over time the ensembles became powerful soviet propaganda weapons by the time the u.s.s.r. collapsed they were fearing for her truth and sounders 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 miss crack musical unit has managed to preserve many of its glorious traditions and is now

desperately fighting to win back and modern and demanding 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. hammer it's a turn off climate to walk mark or to stay on song book 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 a given line. to get where you can look at your foot. turn your body off of. 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 downtown sambal

in new york the other contagious call up papers for military service in in russia. it's compulsory for men to serve a failing military conscription is a criminal offense carrying a two years' 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 and you hardly ever hear anyone speaking calmly people are very polite it's a cultural thing. where they'll put away those jackets but when you hide them somewhere. and the caps to that's that's so then. close the door i said. everybody is a score that this must be the front of here but for a little. there has so. composer looks on their for. the national

anthem of the russian federation. of. oh oh oh no gentleman don't sing so high they smiled and as there are beginning all the guys no group had to memorize piles of poznań songs some just couldn't do it i was one of them had been told that before so they looked us all in one room until we learned it all by heart and it wasn't funny but it was fair. that singing is really hard 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 possibly can even to alter a stool and everything you didn't before with this song and dance on sunday it was good but sheer work no professionally you know nor perhaps nobody else has told you before but she has a lover really is much higher with one with the wing and you need to understand that the was going to hold and now there are some folk song. this song and dance ensemble is the only military units where soldiers actually have to smile the only where the soldiers voices are louder than their command is it's 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. when

the people of 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 and 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 ensemble. good afternoon comrades good afternoon korea colonel what maddie's. you look tired because today is your first day off and even then all of you will get much rest. everybody must go to their location for a cleaning geordies 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 us so we're all together i mean we all have our own tutti to perform don't so must 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 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 concert 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 try.

stalled there stop what are you doing with your feet that that one two three that you did that it was a face you know what you look like right now we'll make it mean face. that that. there were many people at my choreography school didn't matter so much here there are a lot of men 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 was something like that so in the end it turned out that my height is an advantage becomes in hunting.

we may see this week to harbor miniatures show one scene here. in the albert hall but it's not just there is a military and there is another tree on the street. but 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 them were as foreign as who've never seen russian soldiers on stage before surrender to their charm one. acts the dull it's

absolutely amazing amazing. since we travel a lot to all sorts of countries we can usually see that people approach short 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 about the audience is on our site . let me let me one will let me ask you

a point. here on this network is what we're having the thing we have or another name ses. believed to be the site's bad staying there again here in the situation we're being idle or even talk about surveillance me. oh. oh oh. that was a new alert animation scripts scare me a little league. there is breaking news tonight and we are continuing to follow the breaking news leaks the alexander family cry tears of the war you and your great things rather that. we ever read or get a quart of water found alive is

a story made sort of movies playing out in real life. is it possible to navigate the economy with all the details such as dixon information and media hype we'll keep you up to date by decoding the mainstream status if in your mind. the logo. ah.

yesterday we called back talk or to sit around twelve quick and went straight to sleep. in this state we were up at seven even though it's a sunday when we 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. 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 a concert yesterday i really didn't expect that because i've never done it before so now i work in. my decree of the russian empress nikolai the second they've let him in a 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 a to our performance of song and dance free of charge and maybe the dressing rooms no 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 to whether it's good in the stages with me so i won't be slippery it's like this every time the rapid deployment force getting ready for landing. and then comes when the concert begins first of all you congratulate the audience and then introduce the ensemble. through all the all over the. whole. it's the military that's like it's like. it's normal where you stay away people may feel abrasions it's what we do.

at first only the children seemed 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 hard pressed 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. because we have to improvise on the spot because some mikes were changed and others were cancelled. command 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.

things come one. come. on only you see the. band on the. other 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 years and it's their baby never even i listened to. the rock n roll news that's not what we're about so he knows what i think i went pretty. otherwise there would you say

if a man deserves praise all openly acknowledge his talents and say that it's the real thing though i'm through it all but if it's all about this. like you can it's distasteful i feel insulted for the team not for him but for the whole ensemble. but 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 the 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 better guys so it was great. for

a much younger people here naturally they want something that's smaller and chewed 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 soldier constantin delighted to get his service he could hardly wait for it to end so that he could go dance in 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.

classical program was arranged in one nine hundred twenty eight the chorus the orchestra of 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 we play songs for this for george acknowledge those 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 for a little while. and

i've got the lyrics for a new song the also says he wants to be a kind of retsina so quite soon we're going to be from an arab song. 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 we have good music russian press a call for the people who are all. ensemble veteran 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 over audiences like to see johnny faces these days. as it stars i am to my best to stay in shape for the woody i have a lot of experience and sometimes i listen to me but sometimes they just

seriousness of us you know from the last century old man. hold on don't lean on me it'll fall night wanted secured whereas if you know. how to get together you. will both have to carry a. lego room with your own a one hour we're going to have sound rules or with already been here for five minutes and you send half an hour to have twenty five minutes before the concert and you still keep saying half an hour all the time. captains in incl can't hide his anxiety this is the moment of truth very soon he will find out if the ensembles modernization has been a success and if it can stay in tune with the times or should the also be 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 where was established eighty five years ago but now the crowd appears downcast tired and very skeptical. so 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 a last an hour with one or two would be better. hold of 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. political and i think they enjoyed the concerts we really stuck them up at the end they were shouting and whistling while the posting out went down really well and they like. that then they would totally engage with the concept i think they were all moved but. most of the show was completed on mission successful is so now we're off to near a household's you know that's.

you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. i would rather as questions for people in positions of power instead of speaking on their behalf and that's why you can find my show larry king now right here on r.t. question more.

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into our washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture americans reaction to george zimmerman's not guilty verdict with a mixture of anger frustration and outrage while the trial may have ended the conversation about race in america is just beginning or that with joe madison just a moment and mainstream democrats and many leading. hundreds of the so-called liberal media have spent the past month attacking n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden these same people have been as kneejerk in their defense of the n.s.a. and the president george w. bush were the one in office.