Archive for November, 2009

This song is about the fate of the 17th century Russian rebel, Stepan Razin. The lyrics were written in 1864 by novelist Alexander Alexandrovich Navrotsky who was also a member of Narodnaya Volya (Russian: Народная Воля), a secret revolutionary organization perhaps best known for assassinating Tsar Alexander II on March 13, 1881. The song was an anthem for revolutionaries of the late 19th and early 20th century in Russia; Lenin often sang it with his comrades-in-arms. The song is still culturally central to Russia. Leonid Kharitonov remembers:

“My solo career truly began with a concert in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses on April 22, 1965, dedicated to the 95th anniversary of Lenin, when I sang “There is a cliff on the Volga.” [Click here to listen to this performance.]

We are proud to announce that as a result of the recent joint efforts of an international team of enthusiasts, an article has been published on the international, English-language free encyclopedia “Wikipedia” with information about the life and creative work of singer Leonid Kharitonov.

A few days after the article was finished, on October 14, 2009, Wikipedia administrators found this story interesting enough to post it on the Wikipedia front page under in the “Did You Know …” section; (see screenshot.) In fact, of one of the moderators of this portal commented: “The article is very worthwhile, and you’ve all done some great work on it. His voice is really magnificent too!”.