Total Balalaika Show

At Helsinki’s Senate Square on June 12 1993, an audience of 70,000 witnessed a historic event: the Leningrad Cowboys performed for the first time with the 100 singers, 40 musicians and 20 dancers of the Alexandrov Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble, on the biggest stage ever seen in Finland. A roaring success, the programme included rock classics from 'Happy Together' and 'Delilah' to 'Gimme All Your Lovin'' and 'Knockin' On Heaven’s Door', as well as traditional hits from the Ensemble’s own repertoire. Aki Kaurismäki’s film of the event is an extraordinary, unforgettable encounter of the old and the new, and of East and West.