International Fest '09: The Bear in Madison

After listening to the Madison Männerchor, The Dulcinea and I headed to the Capitol Theatre to hear another group who is at the International Festival every year – the UW Russian Folk Orchestra. I am a quarter Russian (well, Ruthenian, actually) so I thought it would be good to check out the musical side of that part of my ethnicity.



Victor Gorodinsky led an army of balalaikas & domras through several tunes including what Gorodinsky called the most popular Russian folk song, "The Moon is Shining".



Lennart Bäckström was the guest baritone for a couple songs.

If the Madison Männerchor left me thirsty for some beer, then the UWRFO left me wanting vodka. And I presume The Dulcinea wanted to watch Eastern Promises again as she loves Viggo Mortensen with his Slavic accent. I was also reminded of my great aunt Olga who, after a couple cocktails at family gatherings, would start speaking to me in Russian assuming, for some reason unbeknownst to me, that I was fluent in the language as well.

I'm not sure how many Madisonians claim Russian heritage, but it seems that those who do are becoming more visible in the community. There's The Rolling Pin Bake Shop which is co-owned by Tanya Laiter, a Russian immigrant and features Russian bread & sweets as well as Arbat, a Russian restaurant. We also have the Madison Russian School as well as the Russian Educational Association.

And then we have a certain accordion player from Russia who landed here in Madison back in 2001…