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Mikail Krug See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Krug

3 Songs about Russian Prison Life: "Kolschik" "Vladimirsky Central" "Magadan"

"Kolschik"

In the Kolshik video, Mikail Krug sings before a group of prisoners. The song is called "Kolschik",
which means tattooist. Krug was very popular in Russia among ordinary Russians, but not among
the authorities who criticized his songs for romanticizing prison life.

Image result for mikhail krug singing to prisoners

Image result for mikhail krug singing to prisoners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57aRmkua92o

In it he tells the tattoo artist to show on his body a Russian church with
its kupola dome, a cross, icons and bells so that he and the other prisoners
who see it can imagine they are listening to them ring. Then he sings, draw on me
a little cabin next to a stream which no fat judge can ever take away. Next
he asks the the tattooist to show a rising sun and some roses behind barbed
wire and write the phrase, "Mother, I am not guilty" so that it can never be
erased. And if there is still room on the canvass of my body, he sings, place a boat
whose sails are full of wind. This is the way I always want to be remembered.

Krug's "Vladimirsky Central" gives the perspective of being an inmate in Russia's
largest prison in Russia. There are more than 1200 inmates there. Most are serving a minimum
of ten years. It is a maximum-security prison.

Spring has come again
It brings a ray of warmth into my window...
But again its coming will tighten my chest
as sad memories come into my soul...

I think about that girl whom I loved so long ago.
How she went away and then returned.
Forget her? I won’t have the strength…

Vladimirsky Central - I feel its northern wind.
Its limitless evil weighs down upon my heart...
Vladimirsky Central - Its where I see how my
choices and bets have traded my life away.
But what kills you is it's no one thing. It's
eleven plus an ace…

I am glad that it has arrived, even if it's only this.
I still have this much. But how I need your love…

Magadan is a northern Siberian port city. Winters are very long. It was a major transit center for prisoners
sent to labor camps from 1932 to 1953. A vast forced-labor gold-mining operation dominated the area.

The wind has driven away the fog,

The sun is coming out through the rainclouds.

Greetings, my Magadan,

Hello, in the light of spring.

Next to the pub, a man

Lifts a mug to his lips

And Magadan with seagulls

Can be seen on his hand (a tattoo - he is probably a former prisoner).

Magadan, it means I'm going home again,

Into this magic dream.

Magadan, the dream where, during the short spring,

I'm madly in love like a boy...

The mountains are sleeping gloomily,

The leaden color of the sea.

Barges from the years of Kolyma (gold-mining operations)

Stand on the shore.

I long to fly away from that cove,

With the seagulls,

Cry a bitter tear

And sing a farewell song:

Magadan, it means I'm going home again,

Into this fantastic dream.

Magadan, the dream where, during the short spring,

I'm madly in love like a boy...