Gruppa Belomorkanal- Volki | Russian Prison Chanson Pop Music CD

Origin: mixed.
Era: 1998.
Genre: Russian Chanson, Blatnaya pesnya.

Wolves behind barbed wire. First song is called Vodochka. You already have some idea where this is going.

Volki means Wolves. Belomorkanal came from the Orenburg chanson scene, around the studio founded in 1995 by Stepa Arutyunyan and Stanislav Marchenko. Their world is prison slang, police, bad company and the occasional softer moment.

The same studio later developed Vorovayki, so there is a whole family of criminal chanson behind this name. A good next one if you like Mikhail Krug and want more of that side of Russian music.

• Volki — Волки: the title track.

• Menty Ne Kenty — Менты не кенты: roughly, “Cops Aren’t Your Mates.” Clear enough.

• Vodochka — Водочка: the opening number. Very little mystery in the name.

Q&A:

Will this make me bratva?
Slightly more so.