Scandal over boys choir performing prison song

A YouTube video of boys from an award-winning chorus school
performing a famous prison song has sparked controversy in Russia.

At the center of the scandal is the Boys Chorus Capella in the
city of Perm, a prestigious singing school with almost 50 years of
history. The kids are usually taught academic songs.

However, a video uploaded to YouTube shows some 35 singers aged
10 to 12 performing with angelic voices a lowlier kind of song –
the most famous Russian prison song Murka.

The boys, telling a story of a beauty who betrayed her criminal
lover and his friends to the law and was killed in revenge, sparked
fury on the internet. Some went as far as calling for those
responsible to be promptly sent to the place where such music is
more appreciated – a Siberian prison.

The origin of the controversial footage was easy to establish.
It was produced by Ivan Kolpakov, editor-in-chief of a local news
website, as a tongue-in-cheek present for the organizers of a
“Russian chanson” festival held in early February.

Russian chanson has little to do with its French counterpart and
is a euphemism for prison songs, although this music genre has
incorporated much from non-criminal origins over the years.
Kolpakov says he wanted to make a profoundly absurd response to the
festival. He certainly managed to reach his goal, and many internet
users say the joke was a good one.