FAMOUS RUSSIAN SINGER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20360, 18 July 1934, Page 3

FAMOUS RUSSIAN SINGER.

Former Doft Cossacks Choir Soloist Visits City. Formerly leading tenor soloist in the world-famous Don Cossacks Choir, M. Senia Chostiakoff is at present visiting Christchurch in the course of a New Zealand tour under contract to the Radio Broadcasting Board. His fine voice is well known through the medium of gramophone recordings made by the choir. In an interview last night, M. Chostiakoff rented the interesting history of the choir, and told how Cossack children in Russia were trained from infancy for singing in it when adults. There were twelve types of Cossacks in Russia, he explained. Each group took its name from a river, and thus the Don Cossacks were associated with the river of the same name. Under the old regime, Cossacks had been soldiers, but soldiers with privileges. Each tribe had its own uniform and supplied all its own equipment in the way of horses, rifles and so on. In exchange for this service, Cossacks were awarded relatively more land than other sections of the rural population. Cossack Choirs. Each Cossack group had its own government, and attached to these governments were Cossack choirs. Besides taking part in ciyic functions, the choirs assisted in the Russian Church. As the church did not have instrumental accompaniments to its singing, the choirs developed a special technique which simulated instruments. The Great War and the Revolution broke up these choirs, and many of the Cossacks, including a number of Don Cossacks, made their way to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. A choir was formed, known as the Don Cossacks. After a term of obscurity, the choir was singing one day in Vienna, when a noted impressario heard them. The next day, said M. Chostiakoff, the choir gave a performance to the Austrian newspapers and they became famous. Ihe choir gave twenty-six concerts in Vienna, and then went to Germany, where they really made a name for themselves. From Germany they visited every country in the world. M. Chostiakoff sings Russian folksongs and English ballads. He will broadcast from 3YA on Friday evening and again on July 28, and will appear at the Mayor’s Relief of Distress Fund concert in the Civic Theatre on Tuesday evening next.