Bluegrass Ambassadors Podcast: Ep. 3 - From Russia with Love

Hear the newest Episode of the Bluegrass Ambassadors podcast through the links below and all your favorite apps and outlets. For additional photos and videos mentioned in the episode, check out the bonus content a little further down!

Direct links to Episode 3: iTunes - Stitcher - Sound Cloud - Spotify - RSS Feed

YOUTUBE

Hear the unique perspective of a Russian woman who worked for the US Embassy in her home country for more than twenty years. Yulia helped create and run US cultural outreach programs in the Ural Mountains, hosted bluegrass bands like the Henhouse Prowlers and became a conduit of communication between two cultures that have historically struggled to find common ground.

BONUS CONTENT

Yulia told a bunch of wonderful stories, but we wanted to drop the photos and videos that go along with them for context. Feel free to email contact@bluegrassambassadors.org if you have any questions or comments.

Admission into the Pioneers, with their music and their red scarves, was placed under the patronage of Lenin himself. The pledge enjoined children from age 9 to love the USSR and defend the CPSU. Activities ranged from scouting to picking up recyclable litter.

The b+w video above here is the Young Pioneer’s motto and extremely surreal if you were ever a boy scout in the US or anywhere else. It’s so clear they go their cues directly from the scout program in the states. To the right is the song from the podcast with some incredibly iconic 80’s Soviet imagery.

"...children must smile and live in a peaceful world!" Pioneer anti-war song that was popular in 1980's in the Soviet Union. Music: Yuriy Chichkov Lyrics: Mikhail Plyatskovskiy Singer: V.Popova, D.Mashnin, O.Novikova Lyrics(Russian) Детство, детство, Детство - это свет и радость, Это - песни, это - дружба и мечты.

The line between Europe and Asia.

Ufa, Russia.

The Soviet’s were proud of their jets, which were everywhere.

Russian iconography is EVERYWHERE there. I imagine Russians find statues of Lincoln and Mt. Rushmore just as strange as we did finding busts of Lenin. (This was backstage at a show,, fwiw.)

This was a great moment when two musicians swapped instruments. That’s our old guitar player Starr Moss!

Yulia was quite difficult to get on camera. Of the many hundreds of photos we took, I only found three with her in it.

Henhouse Prowlers at the school for the blind + deaf.

The mall in Ufa that Yulia arranged for us to play in at the last minute.

Singing with the babushkas on our second trip to Russia.