The Kalina Ensemble is a creative group from the village of Krasny Yar, Samara Region, which performs original and popular songs in the genre of Russian folk art. The backbone of the repertoire is Slavic folklore from different regions of the Russian Federation, especially the Volga region.

Ensemble Kalina (Samara)

For the first time the team gathered for creative research in 2003. The homeland of the folk group can be considered the village of Krasny Yar, which is the center of the Krasnoyarsk municipal district. In just a year of existence, Kalina managed to obtain a high status of a folk ensemble.

The repertoire is drawn from popular folk art. In addition, the band members go on expeditions around Russia, in which they are looking for authentic music and songs. The found treasures of the Russian soul are performed in the author’s processing. Folk compositions also become the basis for writing their own hits.

The creativity of the ensemble was transformed and acquired the form of a live acoustic sound to the accordion and button accordion. The performance is a unity of instrumental, vocals and choreography.

Kalina takes part in various festivals and competitions. The track record of the team is so great that it would be extremely difficult to list all the nominations and victories. To understand the scale of recognition, it is enough to say that the group became a four-time laureate of the G. Zavolokin International Festival “Play, Accordion”.

Ensemble Kalina: composition, members

The composition of the ensemble changed greatly in the process of development. He has undergone dramatic changes in creative format. The maximum number of Kalina participants was 10 people. For a long time he traveled to festivals as a quartet. During this period, the soloist Olga Saleeva enjoyed great love of the audience. Since 2017, a small group of three musicians has remained in the cage. All participants have a specialized musical education.

Current composition:

Alexey Kondrashin – head of the ensemble. He took over vocals, accordion and button accordion.

Oksana Saltanova – vocal-soprano.

Nina Kondrashina (wife of Alexei) – vocal viola.

Girls, in addition to vocal parts, own various musical instruments. This plays an important role in the recording process of author’s songs. At concerts, as a rule, preference is given to live performance with limited instrumental sound. Depending on the repertoire, musicians use zhaleyki, rattles, pipes, flutes, tambourine.

Several creative satellite groups revolve around the collective. Alexei Kondrashin and his colleagues lead the choir. The younger generation can take part in the activities of the Kalinka children’s ensemble.

The best songs of the ensemble Kalina

The visiting card of the guys from Kalina was the Russian folk song “Ah, Samara-Gorodok”. When the guys get on regional TV channels, the presenters always ask to perform this composition.

The song and the clip “Young Agronomist” made a splash. The video has received over a million views on YouTube.

The Blue Night and Bird Cherry are rightfully included in the gold reserve of folk songs. They can be easily found on the band’s YouTube channel. The text, chords and backing tracks were not shared, but the performers are always open to communication. In the official community on the social network Vkontakte, you can find contacts of Alexei Kondrashin. New items and long-loved hits are also published there.