The Leningrad Cowboys are a Finnish rock band who frequently perform rock and roll covers of other songs. They have exaggerated pompadour hairstyles and wear long, pointy shoes. They often work with Russian military band the Alexandrov Ensemble.
After the film, the band took on a life of its own, recording music, making videos and giving concerts. The band appeared in two other Aki Kaurismäki films, the Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses (1994) and the Total Balalaika Show (1994), which is a film of a concert performed by the band and the full 160-member Alexandrov ensemble in Helsinki, Finland in June 1993. Kaurismäki also wrote and directed two videos featuring the band: their cover of the 60's folk standard "Those Were The Days" (1992) and "These Boots" (1993).
In 1994, the band appeared together with 70 members of the Alexandrov ensemble at the 11th annual MTV Music Awards, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, where they sang the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Sweet Home Alabama." The show was seen by an estimated 250 million people worldwide. That same year, the band and ensemble again joined forces for the "Nokia Balalaika Show", a concert held in Berlin. In 1998 they featured in the film L.A. Without a Map.
In 1996 the Leningrad Cowboys granted the Swiss-Italian singer-songwriter David Buzzi permission to write lyrics for the instrumental "Ten Lost Gringos" from the Go America soundtrack. This song was released in Italy and Switzerland in 1998 on the album "Il Diavolo Rosso: Romaneschi" with the title "Gringo".
Currently, the band has 11 Cowboys and two Leningrad Ladies. The songs, all somewhat influenced by polka and progressive rock, are performed in English and have themes such as vodka, tractors, rockets, and Genghis Khan, as well as folkloric Russian songs, rock and roll ballads and covers from bands as diverse as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Modern Talking, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, all presented with lots of humour.
24 авг 2024
