Intermediate Mid/High Moscow Sky

One more song for learners to practice listening in Russian. The song, which is a remix of an older Soviet song, is accompanied with a rant-filled monologue performed by Evgeny Grishkovets. Grishkovets, one of the new dramatists of the 2000s decade, who staged his own plays. He creates texts that bring back the memoirs of the Soviet past, remembered not with nostalgia but with mockery and ironic overtones. His many theatrical tags and his ranting style of performance reflect the rise of a new generation of dramatists and the introduction of a new wave of drama which provided a forum for political commentaries as well as fulfilled the need for intelligent, yet provocative discussion. In the video clip he performs verbatim a composition of his own written in genuine, unadorned Russian as it is spoken by the common people. Grishkovets seems entirely uninterested in anything but the most basic readings of lines. 

My recommendation is to just listen to this video all the way through multiple times and only then begin to repeat after the actor. Watching this video clip fifteen minutes a day five or six times a week is much more effective than listening for a long time once a week.

Moving images of the video may also be used to learn storytelling and narration.

Name three reasons the narrator loves Moscow.


This song refrain is the following:

Первый луч, первый дождь The first ray, the first rain

По весеннему Арбату ты идешь You're walking by Arbat in springtime

Первый звук, первый снег The first sound, the first snow

Эта песня о тебе и обо мне This song is about you and I