Katyusha (song)

"Katyusha"
War song
Published	1938
Genre	Folk
Writer(s)	Mikhail Isakovsky
Composer(s)	Matvei Blanter
Language	Russian

"Katyusha", also transliterated "Katusha", "Katiusha" or "Katjusha", (Russian: Катю́ша - diminutive of Catherine) is a Russian wartime song composed in 1938 by Matvei Blanter with lyrics from Mikhail Isakovsky. It gained fame during World War II as an inspiration to defend one's land from the enemy.

The song depicts a girl, Katyusha, longing for her absent love. Standing on a steep riverbank, she sings of her beloved (compared to "a gray eagle of the steppes"), who is a soldier serving on the border far away. The theme of the song is that the soldier will protect the Motherland and its people while his girl will preserve their love.

"Katyusha" was first sung by female students from a Russian industrial school in Moscow to bid farewell to Russian soldiers going on the battle front against Nazi Germany in July 1941. It quickly became popular throughout the USSR. Its first official performance was by Valentina Batishcheva in the Column Hall of Moscow's House of the Unions. Later it was performed by Lidiya Ruslanova, Georgi Vinogradov, Eduard Khil, Anna German, Ivan Rebroff, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Iosif Kobzon, countertenor Vitas, and other singers. "Katyusha" is part of the repertoire of the Alexandrov Ensemble.

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