Total Balalaika Show

1994 Finnish film
  • 19 March 1994 (1994-03-19)
(France, Rouen Nordic Film Festival)
  • 2 July 1994 (1994-07-02)
(Finland)
Running time
57 minCountriesFinland
SwedenLanguagesEnglish, Finnish

Total Balalaika Show is a 1994 film by director Aki Kaurismäki featuring a concert by the Leningrad Cowboys and the Alexandrov Ensemble.

The concert took place on 12 June 1993 on Senate Square in Helsinki, Finland. The event drew a crowd of approximately 70,000 people from two nations – Finland and Russia – that had been engaged in a state of "peaceful coexistence" during the Cold War.

The concert featured an eclectic mix of Western rock and Russian folk music, and folk dancers performing to rock songs.

Total Balalaika Show was a critical success, scoring a 77% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Songs

The "rockumentary" features 13 songs from the concert:

DVD release

The film is available on three DVD releases. The first, released by Sandrew Metronome in 2004, is for DVD Region 2. The second, released by Facets, is for all regions. The third is by The Criterion Collection in an Eclipse box set with the two original films.

Soundtrack Album

External links

  • Balalaika music records SKAZ
  • Total Balalaika Show at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • Criterion Collection Essay
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PeopleStudio albums
Soundtrack albums
  • Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
Live albumsCompilation albumsEPsFilms
Related
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Films directed by Aki Kaurismäki
Feature films
Documentaries
  • The Saimaa Gesture (1981)
  • Total Balalaika Show (1994)
  • Juice Leskinen & Grand Slam: The Pieksämäki Railway Station Blues (short; 2013)
Short films
  • Rocky VI (music video; 1986)
  • Thru the Wire (music video; 1987)
  • L.A. Woman (music video; 1988)
  • Dogs Have No Hell (segment of Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet; 2002)
  • Bico (segment of Visions of Europe; 2004)
  • The Foundry (segment of To Each His Own Cinema; 2007)


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