On the night of April 5, the Russians entered Engels heard not only the sounds of explosions, but also a well-known musical composition. Many associate it with German Nazism, but this is a myth.
In the Russian city of Engels, where a part of the military air fleet of the aggressor state is based, an unmanned aerial vehicle that performed a well-known musical melody arrived. This was reported by the Telegram channel “Nevzorov”.
In the video, probably taken from the city on a phone by a surprised Russian, a UAV flies through the sky, from which a melody known as Was Wollen Wir Trinken is playing quite loudly, or how about the composition How Much Is the Fish? performed by the German band Scooter.
The cheerful melody was supposed to annoy the Russians: it is widely and mistakenly considered the anthem of the Luftwaffe, the German air force of the Second World War. But in fact, the story of the work is completely different. According to the WAS site, in 1929 residents of the French region of Brittany wrote the “Cider Song”, or “Drink cider, Lau!” (in Breton Son Ar Chistr/Ev chistr ‘ta Laou!). Her lyrics talk about the love of girls and drink, as well as jealousy. Over time, the song became overgrown with myths, attributed to ancient origins and various historical contexts.
The fiction about the “Luftwaffe anthem” has no connection with reality. If only because of the fact that the troops of the Third Reich did not have any anthems. The myth about the false origin of the melody is widespread only in the countries that once made up the Soviet Union, including Ukraine, its origin and history of distribution are unknown. However, it is this myth that can have a psychological effect on Russians who hear the melody.
Another interesting fiction about the song connects it with the Irish Republican Army, an organization of active, including armed, resistance to British rule in part of Ireland. The track is also sometimes called “the IRA anthem”, which is also incorrect.
In modern European culture, the song was popularized in Breton by the musician Alan Stivell, who sang his version of the composition in 1970. In 1976, it was performed by the Dutch group Bots, four years later a German version appeared under the name Sieben Tage lang. In the former GDR, the song was reworked by the Oktoberklub band, which is why it got the name Was wollen wir trinken. It was already a song not only about alcohol and girls, but also about the fight against communism.
The most famous performance of the tune was How Much Is the Fish? performed by Scooter. During its creation, the band was inspired by the Bots version. Of course, some Russians may mistakenly associate this song with Nazism.
This is not the first time Russians have received such musical messages from Ukrainians. The authors of the “Ukrainian Partisan” community on Facebook note that they sent similar “greetings” on drones to the Russian-occupied Crimea. They were heard in Simferopol and Sevastopol in 2018-19. The drones reached 200 km from the controlled territory of Ukraine on electric motors.