Smuglyanka

Two female members of the Sydir Kovpak partisans, 1940s.

Smuglyanka (Russian: Смуглянка "the dark girl", from смуглый "dark, swarthy"; also Смуглянка-Молдаванка Smuglyanka-Moldovanka "the dark Moldovan girl") is a Russian song written in 1940 by Yakov Shvedov (lyrics) and Anatoliy Grigorevich Novikov (music). It was commissioned by the Kiev Military District‍ '​s political office for the District Song and Dance Ensemble, as part of a suite in honour of Grigory Kotovsky, leader of two Moldovan rebellions in Bessarabia Governorate against the Russian Empire in 1905 and 1915. It is written in the style of a Moldovan folk song.

The song was intended to glorify the female partisans of the Russian Civil War. The lyrics tell how the singer met a pretty girl gathering grapes and tried to seduce her, but how the girl turns out to be a partisan, and convinces him to join the partisans as well.

The song was not performed as part of the suite as it was considered too frivolous. In 1940, songs composed for the troops on the front were supposed to be about revenge and victory. By 1942, fashions had changed, and songs with more romantic or lyrical themes were accepted by the military, so Novikov decided to re-release a revised version of the song. But it was again shelved for another two years, and its first performance came in 1944, in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, by the Alexandrov Ensemble, with soloist Nikolaiy Ustinov. It was an immediate success, and had to be repeated three times as the audience requested encores. Because of its publication outside of its original context of the Kotovsky Suite, it was now taken as a reference to the then-contemporary Soviet partisans of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). Goncharova (2010) notes that the image of the pretty Moldovan partisan is a lyrical fantasy, as out of some 3,000 known Soviet partisans active in Moldova, only seven were ethnic Moldovans.

Smuglyanka was used in the 1973 Soviet film Only "Old Men" Are Going to Battle (В бой идут одни "старики"), an "easy movie about love, airplanes and girls" (Goncharova 2010). In the film, a young fighter pilot introduces the song to his squadron and so gets nicknamed "the dark girl". The film was first shown on 27 December 1973. Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryshkin was reportedly wiping his eyes as the lights came back on. The film became a blockbuster, seen by 54 million viewers within five months, and Smuglyanka as a consequence became known throughout the Soviet Union, entering the standard repertoire of Russian folk songs. Shvedov had not been told about the use of his song in the film, and learned about it from movie-going friends.

Lyrics

Как-то летом, на рассвете,
Заглянул в соседний сад.
Там смуглянка-молдаванка
Собирает виноград.
Я бледнею, я краснею,
Захотелось вдруг сказать:
– Станем над рекою
Зорьки летние встречать!

Припев × 2:
Раскудрявый клён зелёный – лист резной.
Я влюблённый и смущённый пред тобой.
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудрявый, резной.

А смуглянка-молдаванка
Отвечала парню в лад:
– Партизанский, молдаванский
Собирается отряд.
Нынче рано партизаны
Дом покинули родной.
Ждёт тебя дорога
К партизанам в лес густой.

Припев × 2:
Раскудрявый клён зелёный – лист резной.
Здесь у клёна мы расстанемся с тобой.
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудрявый, резной.

И смуглянка-молдаванка
По тропинке в лес ушла.
В том обиду я увидел,
Что с собой не позвала.
О смуглянке-молдаванке
Часто думал по ночам …
Вдруг свою смуглянку
Я в отряде повстречал.

Припев × 2:
Раскудрявый клён зелёный – лист резной.
Здравствуй, парень, мой хороший, мой родной!
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудрявый, резной.

Kak-to letom, na rassvete
Zaglianul v sosedniy sad.
Tam smuglianka-moldavanka
Sobirayet vinograd.
Ia bledneyu, Ia krasneiu,
Zakhotelos vdrug skazat:
Stanem nad rekoyu
Zorki letniye vstrechat!

Chorus x2:
Raskudriavy klion zelyony, list reznoy,
Ia vliublenny i smushchenny pred toboy
Klen zelyony, da klen kudriavy,
Da raskudriavy, reznoy!

A smuglianka-moldavanka
Otvechala parnyu v lad:
— Partizanski, moldavanskii
Sobiraetcya otriad.
Nynche rano partizany
Dom pokinuli rodnoy.
Zhdiot tebia doroga
K partizanam v les gustoy.

Chorus x2:
Raskudriavy klion zelyony, list reznoy,
Zdies u kliona mij rastanemcya s toboy,
Klen zelyony, da klen kudriavy,
Da raskudriavy, reznoy!

I smuglianka-moldavanka
Po tropinke v les ushla.
V tom obidu ia uvidel,
Shto s soboj ne pozvala.
O smuglianke-moldavanke
Chasto dumal po nocham...
Vdrug svoyu smuglianku
Ia v otriade povstrechal.

Chorus x2:
Raskudriavy klion zelyony, list reznoy,
Zdrastvuy, paren, moi khoroshi, moi rodnoy!
Klen zelyony, da klen kudriavy,
Da raskudriavy, reznoy!

Once upon a summer dawn,
I looked in the garden next door.
There I see the dark Moldovan
Girl gathering up grapes.
I grow red, I grow pale,
Suddenly want to tell her:
"Let’s stand by the river
And welcome the summer dawn!"

Chorus × 2:
The green maple is bushy, and its leaves carved.
I'm in love and stand embarrassed before you.
The maple’s green, and it is bushy,
Yes, all bushy and carved.

But the dark Moldavian girl
Told the young man tunefully:
"A Moldovan partisan squad
Is about to gather.
Earlier today, the partisans
Up and left their native homes.
So the road awaits you,
To the partisans in the deep forest."

Chorus × 2:
The green maple is bushy, and its leaves carved.
Here, by the tree, we will part company.
The maple’s green, and it is bushy,
Yes, all bushy and carved.

So the dark Moldavian girl
Left along the forest path.
And I was aggrieved to see
That she did not call me with her.
And of the dark Moldovan girl
I have often thought at night …
Suddenly my dark girl
I saw again in the squad!

Chorus × 2:
The green maple is bushy, and its leaves carved.
Hello young man, my good fellow, dear to me.
The maple’s green, and it is bushy,
Yes, all bushy and carved.

References