Russian Empire, after 1837 Donate & Support: One of the most famous folk songs of the Russian Cossacks, telling about the death of the lyrical hero of the song in the battle on the bank of the Black channel (in the Terek Cossack Host it happened on the bank of “formidable Terek“). This song in an amazing way combines major and minor motives, tragedy and a daring bravery, at its best conveying the special image of the Cossack soul. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of different versions of the text telling about different wars and eras - from battles with Nogais in the XVIII century to the times of the Civil War. However, the most reliable version suggests that the song was composed in memory of the battle of 1774 between the Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, where the best friend of the legendary ataman Platov, the hero of the Patriotic war of 1812, Cossack officer Pavel Kirsanov tragically died. The widow of Kirsanov, Marfa Dmitrijevna Mart
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