Editing Balalaika (section)

== Balalaika orchestra ==
[[File:Balalaika.jpg|thumb|Souvenir style]]

The result of Andreyev's labours was the establishment of an orchestral folk tradition in Tsarist Russia, which later grew into a movement within the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>Smith, Susannah L. "Folk Music." Encyclopedia of Russian History. Ed. James R. Millar.
 Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. p. 510.</ref>  The balalaika orchestra in its full form consists of balalaikas, [[domra]]s, [[gusli]], [[bayan (music)|bayan]], [[Vladimir Shepherd's Horns]], [[garmoshka]]s, and several types of percussion instruments.

With the establishment of the Soviet system and the entrenchment of a proletarian cultural direction, the culture of the working classes (which included that of village labourers) was actively supported by the Soviet establishment. The concept of the balalaika orchestra was adopted wholeheartedly by the Soviet government as something distinctively proletarian (that is, from the working classes) and was also deemed progressive. Significant amounts of energy and time were devoted to support and foster the formal study of the balalaika, from which highly skilled ensemble groups such as the [[Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra]] emerged. Balalaika virtuosi such as [[Boris Feoktistov]] and [[Pavel Necheporenko]] became stars both inside and outside the Soviet Union. The movement was so powerful that even the renowned [[Alexandrov Ensemble|Red Army Choir]], which initially used a normal symphonic orchestra, changed its instrumentation, replacing violins, [[viola]]s, and [[violoncello]]s with orchestral balalaikas and [[domra]]s.<ref>Schwarz, Boris. ''Music and Musical Life in Soviet Russia.'' Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1983. p. 495.</ref>
[[File:Петров Смотрины-невесты 1861.jpg|left|thumb|Painting from [[Nikolai Petrovich Petrov]] in 1861. The scene portrays the old Russian tradition of the [[bride-show]] while a balalaika is played.]]