Katyusha (song)

Katyusha, Katusha or Katjusha (Russian: Катюша) is a Russian wartime song composed in 1938 by Matvei Blanter with lyrics from Mikhail Isakovsky during the Second World War. The song depicts a girl longing for her beloved husband who is off on military service. It was first performed by Valentina Batishcheva in the Column Hall of Moscow's House of the Unions. Later it was performed by Lidiya Ruslanova and other singers. It is part of the repertoire of the Alexandrov Ensemble. In 2010, Russian countertenor Vitas covered a version of this song.

Katyusha is a tender diminutive from the female name Ekaterina (Katherine): Katya is the nickname and Katyusha, a tender diminutive.

The Russian song also gave name to the BM-8, BM-13, and BM-31 "Katyusha" rocket launchers that were built and fielded by the Red Army in World War II.

World War II

The song was first sung by female students from a Russian industrial school in Moscow to bid farewell to Russian soldiers going on the battle front against Nazi Germany in July 1941, who were deeply touched by the song. The song quickly became popular throughout the USSR; it instigates the soldiers to fight against the invading Germans. This helped play a role to the eventual victory of the USSR.

Italian song to the tune of Katyusha

Italy surrendered and joined the Allies in 1943. During the next two years (1943-1945) Italian partisans fought against German forces in Italy and Italian Fascists. Felice Cascione (1918 - 1944) wrote Italian lyrics for the Russian song Katyusha. The song, titled Fischia il vento ("The Wind Blows"), became (with Bella ciao and La Brigata Garibaldi) one of the most famous partisan anthems.
In 1969 the melody of Katyusha was used as base for the song Casatchok (a free transliteration of the Cyrillic Казачок), sung by Dori Ghezzi.

The Hebrew version of Katyusha

Katyusha has become a folk song in Israel, as did many other old Russian songs. It was translated into Hebrew by the Belorussian born author and poet Noah Pniel in 1940, while he was in Lithuania, and prior to his arrival in Israel. The song became very popular among the Jewish pioneers at the time and later on became popular in the youth movements in the young state of Israel and in the Kibbutzim. It also later had a famous rendition by the Gevatron, a popular Kibbutz group that specialized in Russian and Soviet era covers. The song is often called "a pear and an apple blossomed" or "Livlevu agas vegam tapu'ach" (לבלבו אגס וגם תפוח) after the first line of the lyrics in Hebrew. It is very popular to this day, in the early 21st century, in community singing in Israel.

French version of Katyusha

Performed by Rika Zarai under the name Casatschok.

The Greek version of Katyusha

During the Greek Civil War (1946-1959) Greek partisans, members of the National Liberation Front ("Εθνικό Απελευθερωτικό Μέτωπο", ΕΑΜ) who had also fought against the German Invasion in 1941, wrote their version of Katjusha named "The Hymn of EAM" ("Ο ύμνος του ΕΑΜ"). Almost all partisan songs were passed from Panos Tzavelas but were recorded much later by Thanos Mikroutsikos and sung by Maria Dimitriadi. Nowdays there are many versions of this song by various artists and composers. The Greek version of the song speaks about EAM and its achievements during and after the war.

Text

Russian text: Катюша	Transliteration: Katyusha	Translation: Katyusha[citation needed]
Расцветали яблони и груши, Поплыли туманы над рекой. Выходила на берег Катюша, На высокий берег на крутой. Выходила, песню заводила Про степного, сизого орла, Про того, которого любила, Про того, чьи письма берегла. Ой ты, песня, песенка девичья, Ты лети за ясным солнцем вслед. И бойцу на дальнем пограничье От Катюши передай привет. Пусть он вспомнит девушку простую, Пусть услышит, как она поёт, Пусть он землю бережёт родную, А любовь Катюша сбережёт.	Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi, Paplyli tumany nad rekoy. Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha, Na vysokii bereg na krutoy. Vykhodila, pesnyu zavodila Pro stepnovo, sizavo arla, Pro tovo, katorovo lyubila, Pro tovo, ch'i pis'ma beregla. Oy ty, pyesnya, pyesenka devich'ya, Ty leti za yasnym solntsem vsled. I boytsu na dal'nem pogranich'e Ot Katyushi peredai privyet. Pust' on vspomnit devushku prostuyu, Pust' uslyshit, kak ona payot, Pust' on zemlu berezhyot rodnuyu, A lyubov' Katyusha sberezhyot.	Apple and pear trees were blooming. O'er the river the fog merrily rolled. On the steep banks walked Katyusha, On the high bank she slowly strode. As she walked she sang a sweet song Of her silver eagle of the steppe, Of the one she loved she loved so dearly, And the one whose letters she had kept O you song! Little song of a young girl, Fly over the river and in the sunlight go. And fly to my hero far from me, From his Katyusha bring him a sweet hello. Will he remember this plain young girl, And her sweet song like a dove, As he stands guarding his proud nation, So Katyusha will guard their love.

Italian (cover): FISCHIA IL VENTO	Greek Text: Ο ΎΜΝΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΑΜ	Greek Transliteration: YMNOS TOY EAM	Greek Text Translation: Hymn of EAM[citation needed]	Sinhala Text Translation: '[citation needed]	Malay (Indonesian) Text: KATYUSHA
Fischia il vento, urla la bufera, scarpe rotte eppur bisogna andar: a conquistare la rossa primavera dove sorge il sol dell'avvenir. Ogni contrada è patria del ribelle, ogni donna a lui dona un sospir; nella notte lo guidano le stelle forte il cuore e il braccio nel colpir. Se ci coglie la crudele morte, dura vendetta sarа del partigian; ormai sicura è giа la dura sorte del fascista vile e traditor. Cessa il vento, calma la bufera: torna a casa il fiero partigian, sventolando la rossa sua bandiera vittoriosi al fin liberi siam. (E noi faremo delle camice nere un sol fascio e poi le brucerem.)	Τρία γάμματα μόνο φωτίζουν Την Ελληνική μας την γενιά Και μας δείχνουν φωτεινό το δρόμο Για να φέρουμε την λευτερία Είναι του αγώνα μας τα φώτα Κι ο λαός ακολουθεί πιστά Νέοι, γέροι όλοι μαζί φωνάζουν Ζήτω, ζήτω το ΕΑΜ(x2) To EAM μας έσωσε απ' την πείνα Θα μας σώσει πάλι απ' την σκλαβιά Κι έχει πρόγραμμα λαοκρατία Ζήτω, ζήτω το ΕΑΜ(x2) Έχει ενώσει όλο το λαό μας Έχει την ΕΠΟΝ και τον ΕΛΑΣ Κι έχει πρόγραμμα λαοκρατία Ζήτω, ζήτω το ΕΑΜ(x2)	Tria gramata mono fotizun tin Eliniki mas tin genia kai mas dichnun fotino to dromo gia na feroume tin lefteria Ine tou agona mas ta fota Ki o laos akoluthi pista nei geri oli mazi fonazun Zito, zito to EAM(x2) To EAM mas esose ap' tin pina Tha mas sosi pali ap' tin sklavia Ki echi programa laokratia Zito, zito to EAM(x2) Echi enosi olo to lao mas Echi tin EPON kai ton ELAS Ki echi programa laokratia Zito, zito to EAM(x2)	Three letters only illuminate Our Greek generation And show us the bright way To bring back Liberty They are the light of our struggle And the people, loyally they follow Young and Old men all together shout Hail, Hail To EAM(x2) EAM saved us from starving It will now save us from slavery It wants congregationalism Hail, Hail To EAM(x2) It has united all our people It has EPON and ELAS It wants congregationalism Hail, Hail To EAM(x2)	ඇපල් පෙයාස් ගස් පල බරව නැවිලා ඒ ගං ඉස්මත්තේ මීදුම පහව යන්නේ කත්යූෂා දැන් එහි ආවේ...කත්යූෂා.. කත්යූෂා..කත්යූෂා දැන් එහි ආවේ කදු බෑවුමෙන් වට ගං ඉවුරේ සිට රාජාලියෙකු ගැන ගී ගයන්නී පෙම් හසුන් රැකෙන බව ගයන්නී පෙම් හසුන් රකින බව ගයන්නී ගීතය...ගීතය පියාඹා යනු මැනව ඈවෙතින් සුබ පැතුම් ගෙනයනු මැනව මේ මිහිරි හඬ ගෙන යනු මැනව දේශය රකින ඔහු වෙතට යනු මැනව මේ සරල කෙල්ල ඔහුට සිහි උනාවේ මවු බිම ඔහු අතින් සුරැකුනා වේ දේශය ඔහු රකිනා අයුරින්ම අත්නොහැර රකින්නී ප්‍රේමය....කත්යූෂා ( හෙළ බසට නැගූම තනුජා ධර්මපාල විසිනි)	Bermekarlah pokok pir dan apel Kabus lebat turun di sungai Datanglah Katysha gadis ayu Datanglah ke jurang di pantai Datanglah sambil menyanyi lagu Tentang Si dia gagah dan berani Yang dicintakan tanpa ragu-ragu Yang suratnya simpan di hati Lagu itu lagu gadis ayu Terbang cepat ke garis sempadan Dan sampaikan salamnya dengan bayu Untuk kekasihnya di medan perang Biar ia ingat gadis kampung Biar ia ingat lagunya Biar ia membela tanah air Sedang Katysha bela cintanya Bermekarlah pokok pir dan apel Kabus lebat turun di sungai Datanglah Katysha gadis ayu Datanglah ke jurang di pantai

External links

• Lyrics and mp3 at Marxists.org.
• Katyusha sung by Vitas
• Article about the song
• Sheet music
• English translation at Poems Found in Translation.
• Lyrics

Use in popular culture

The song was featured as the background theme music for the USSR level of the Nintendo Entertainment System video game Super Dodgeball. A remixed version of the song, composed by DJ Rasputin was used as the music to which 2005 Rhythmic Gymnastics World Champion Olga Kapranova used in the 2008 Olympic Games for her ribbon routine. The Soviet figure skaters two-time Olympic Champions and four-time World Champions Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov during the Olimpic Games in Calgari (1988) performed their exhibition dance using this song. The song also appears in the film The Deer Hunter and Downfall and its soundtrack CD, albeit under the different name of "Jablotschko". A slightly more upbeat-dance version was featured in the game The Next Tetris.

Nat King Cole recorded a song with the same melody entitled Katusha.