“Smuglianka“ - Soviet Folk Song (Rare Version)

I love this song so much I’m amazed this version hasn’t been uploaded to YouTube yet, it’s by far my favourite “Смуглянка-Молдаванка“/“Smuglianka-Moldavanka“ (Swarthy Moldavian [Moldovan] Girl) is a Soviet patriotic folk/military song composed by Anatoly Novikov and written by Yakov Shvedov in 1940. It was originally created for the Kyiv Special Military District ensemble but remained unpublished before the war. Four years later, the song resurfaced when Alexander Alexandrov, the artistic director of the famous Red Army Choir, requested new songs for a program. Novikov presented this song, which was well-received and first performed in 1944 at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. While the song portrayed events from the Russian Civil War, it came to be associated with the liberation of Moldova during the Great Patriotic War. Over the years, “Smuglianka“ has been performed by notable artists and featured in films such as “Only Old Men Are Going to Battle“