Being a musician: Ivan Rebroff: Kalinka

We - a quartet by the name of "Balalaika Ensemble Druschba", with Prima-Balalaika, Guitar, Accordion and me playing the Contrabass Balalaika - had already performed with Ivan Rebroff for several years and were asked to record this very track in a recording studio near Frankfurt in 1983.

RIP, Ivan Rebroff

On February 27th 2008 the great german singer Ivan Rebroff (real name: Hans Rolf Rippert) passed away at the age of 76. This is going to be a personal commemoration, because I´ve been touring with Ivan from 1983 - 1986 and played the bass balalaika on stages all over Europe.

Not having met Ivan since then, I just heard of his demise in the news just like everyone else, and this certainly awakes some precious memories, all the more Ivan was someone who had a pretty formative and inspiring impact on my life, so to speak.