Fat K arlsson
is a legendary Russian cartoon and Yellow River plays a
big part in its fame.
THE LEGACY OF FAT KARLSSON
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IN the Georgian city of Tbilisi, everybody knows the
legend of Mziuri .. or at least the movie Girls
from Mziuri, about a ship of young musicians who
travel around and make beautiful music.
Released in 1975, the movie served
as a springboard for aspiring local children to make music.
Many of those children, who are now all grown up, have continued
their careers in show business, and are some of the best
performers of Georgian music.
Even today, the town of Mziuri continues
to offer youngsters a chance to get a foothold in the world
of professional performance.
In the original movie, a sequence
shows the girls singing the Russian version of Yellow
River, which was used as a theme song for an animated
show about a portly man named Karlsson.
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The
girls from Mziuri.
The Soviet animated films,
created by the award-winning animation studio Soyuzmultfilm
in 1970, are among the most celebrated and loved cartoons
in Russia and other countries of the former USSR.
The character was created by Swedish
author Astrid Lindgren, and the Russian title of the Yellow
River adaptation translates literally into “Fat
Karlsson”.
The Russian version was first recorded
by the Soviet pop-group Poyuschie
Gitary (Singing Guitars) in 1971.
In the 60s, the Singing Guitars
were the most popular band in the USSR, whose popularity
was rivalled only by The Beatles.
The group still performs today,
its members older but still fond of one of their most popular
songs.
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Ask any Russian
who was around in the 70s and he or she will know of the
Singing Guitars.
