Tantsi (Ukrainian: Танці, English: Dances) is an album by the band Vopli Vidopliassova. It was originally released on 29 March 1989 on Fonograf, the house record label of the newspaper Moloda Hvardiya. Thirteen of the fourteen tracks were recorded in one night at the Institute of Metallurgy in the Akademmistechko neighborhood of Kyiv; "Mahatma" was recorded live at a show at the Institute of Foreign Languages.
| Tantsi | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 29 March 1989 | |||
| Recorded | February 1989 1988 | |||
| Venue | Institute of Foreign Languages, Kyiv | |||
| Studio | Institute of Metallurgy, Akademmistechko, Kyiv | |||
| Genre | Punk rock Folk rock Ethno-punk | |||
| Length | 44:30 | |||
| Label | Fonograf | |||
| Producer | Vopli Vidopliassova Andrew Rossiter (2023 reissue) | |||
| Vopli Vidopliassova chronology | ||||
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Re-release in the West
editThe album was featured in the book 100 magnitoalbomov sovetskogo roka. In 2023, a book about the Tantsi recording and the late Soviet Kyiv Underground, written by Maria Sonevytsky, was published in Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 Europe series. The book discusses the context of the Kyiv Underground; the ingenious circular economy devised to release the cassette album in the first place; the role of satire and humor in the band's songs; the relationship of the band to the Komsomol (Communist Youth League); and the enduring meaning of the song "Tantsi" in the aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[1]
A remastered version of the original Tantsi session was released on vinyl on Org Music for Record Store Day 2023. The vinyl release was named "new and notable" in Paste Magazine.[2]
Future releases of tracks from the album
editTracks 2 and 11 later became Borshch songs, being released on that band's self-titled EP in 2002. Track 1 was later released on Kraina Mriy. Tracks 3, 4 and 6 ended up on Hvyli Amura. Tracks 5, 10 and 14 were released on Muzika. Tracks 7, 9, 12 and 13 were released on Buly denky. Track 8 made its way to Fayno.
"Banka", an outtake from the sessions, was re-titled "Laznya" and released as a single in early 2019.[3]
Track list
edit| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Танці" (Dancing) | 2:36 |
| 2. | "Я летел" (I'm Flying) | 2:22 |
| 3. | "Оля" (Olga) | 2:25 |
| 4. | "Махатма" (Mahatma) | 5:14 |
| 5. | "Краков'як" (Krakow) | 2:45 |
| 6. | "Товарищ майор" (Comrade Major) | 2:27 |
| 7. | "Політрок" (Politrock) | 2:13 |
| 8. | "Полонина" (Mountains) | 3:45 |
| 9. | "Були деньки" (Back in the Day) | 3:00 |
| 10. | "Музика" (Music) | 4:22 |
| 11. | "Рассвет" (Dawn) | 3:16 |
| 12. | "Налягай" (Nalyagai; Moved to the end of side A on the 2023 LP release, after "Politrok") | 2:12 |
| 13. | "Колискова" (Lullaby) | 4:28 |
| 14. | "Гей! Любо!" (Hey, O.K!) | 3:23 |