Moscow // The acclaimed Red Army Choir, which lost 64 members in a plane crash Sunday, has been a potent symbol for projecting Moscow's military and artistic prowess to millions across the globe.
Founded in 1928, the military Alexandrov Ensemble, more widely known as the Red Army Choir, has for decades showcased its repertoire of famed Russian folk songs and spiritual music on the global stage.
The booming baritones and melodies of the all-male choir — performing in their pristine army uniforms — presented a human face to many beyond the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union's fearsome Red Army that swept across Europe as part of the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
During the Cold War period, when the USSR and the West were locked in a nuclear standoff, the group was one of the rare Soviet ensembles to tour beyond the Eastern bloc, playing a prominent role in the Kremlin's attempts to portray itself to the rest of the world.
Along with ballerinas from the world-renowned Bolshoi theatre and the orchestra of Saint Petersburg's Mariinsky theatre, for many beyond the country the military ensemble — which has some 200 members — came to be synonymous with Soviet culture.
The ensemble was directed for its first 18 years by Alexander Alexandrov, after whom the group is named, a legendary Communist-era composer who wrote the music for the stirring Soviet national anthem, which was revived as Russia's anthem by President Vladimir Putin.
After Alexandrov's death the ensemble was taken over by his son Boris.
The current head of the choir Valery Khalilov, who was only handed the baton earlier this year, was one of the members aboard the military jet that crashed into the Black Sea on its way to Syria where the ensemble was due to perform a New Year's concert for Russian soldiers serving in the war-torn country.
After the crash, officials and cultural luminaries in the shocked nation poured praise on Khalilov and the Red Army Choir performers.
Khalilov "made a huge contribution in contemporary culture above being the head of the orchestra and a composer", deputy prime minister Olga Golodets said, adding that his death was an "irreplaceable loss".
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*Agence France-Presse
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