“We are choir born for pandemics, most infectious choir on the planet right now,” says Mark Swivel, the brains behind “Dustyesky” the Russian choir from Mullumbimby.
No, not Dostoievsky: Dusty + Esky, the much-loved coolbox used to keep your beer cool.
In his impressive fake Russian accent, master of ceremonies for the choir, Mark Swivel, explains: “Dustyesky is the leading genuine fake Russian choir in southern hemisphere.We are 28 men, middle-aged, very hairy, and we all live outside the tiny little hamlet of Mullumbimby or, as we call it, Mullumgrad.
Who would have thought a choir of Australian blokes who don’t speak Russian (but do like vodka) would be invited to perform Russian songs at the Victory Day Parade in Red Square? If it hadn’t been for the coronavirus, they would have appeared there on May 9th. And Mark plans to take it further:
“We invite President Putin to come to Mullumgrad to hang out in the river together. We take off our shirts and cover ourselves in macadamia butter and see what happens,” he says.
You can hear Dustyesky here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pduBdD5hbyY
and read all about them here:
Gert Loveday's Fun with Books 
Some very attractive chaps among them, wonderful to see blokes having fun together.
I’m just wondering which of them are “very attractive”…
Amazing — where do you find these things? I will post this on FaceBook — thanks much —
Our excellent free-to-air ABC service, of course!
They sound pretty good, but Gert, they aren’t wearing masks….
Leslie
Or observing social distancing. I think the pics were taken before this current crisis, but in any case we are much less masked than elsewhere – medical authorities here are divided about the value of masks though they do recommend you wear them on public transport. We can boast a bit too that the crisis has been very well-managed here!
You have done exceedingly well in Australia. Alaska’s been among the best in the US, but doesn’t compare with the land down under. Keep it up! Are you back to going out and about?
Restrictions easing up every few weeks, varying a bit from state to state according to the problems there. Unlike the US we’ve had very steady and concerted direction that doesn’t question the medical advice, and people have largely followed it.
I hear New Zealand hasn’t any cases so they’ve done well too.
Leslie
They jumped on it very quickly. And like us, they’re an island and we both shut down quickly. Many of our cases came from the bloody US!
A lot of our cases come from the US too…we also have a large immigrant population and we left our boarders open far too long…It’s hitting our long term care facilities pretty hard. The care workers tend to be immigrants and they have to work at several places to make a living. Thus they take from facility to facility.
Leslie
Well it made me teary…even though I’m Ukrainian 😹😹.great stuff..Good on them…such fun…
The Lurker…
And you want to hear the response of a Russian choir, their magnificent version of Waltzing Matilda, you can find it on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ABCAustralianStory/videos/russian-choirs-rendition-of-waltzing-matilda-australian-story/713262249446414/
Link may not work but it will come up if you google that address
Very sensitive renderng of Waltzing Matilda. the link worked for me. I do love a good Russian bass.
Other Gert
That is the classiest ever version of “Waltzing Matilda.” Jim thought that W.M was the official national anthem of Australia, so we looked it up. Turns out that it is “Advance Australia Fair.” An interesting song — is it often sung?
Advance Aust Fair is much mocked (“Girt by sea” or as we prefer it, “Gert by sea”). Nobody likes it much. There’s a very popular song called We Are Australian than many would prefer as the anthem, but it’s not pompous enough
In other matters — sorry that the US is such a bad neighbor. I apologize. Some parts of the country have done very well, but others not so much.
Truly Teri, we despair…
Perhaps we will redeem ourselves, come November. We hope, for our sake as well as everyone else’s.
That “We are Australian” rendition is awesome! This is apparently an advantage of quarantine — everyone is freer (at least with this group) to wave rainbow streamers, dance with their kid, do the piece in sign language — a much wider range of people than would be found otherwise. We will certainly think of that as the preferred national anthem.
Thanks, Gert —