This melody is my Melody of 2011. I love it!
This is a song from the Russian musical Nord-Ost written by my favorite composers and songwriters Alexey Ivaschenko and Georgy Vasiliev. It was a very successful musical until it was attacked by terrorists in 2002. You can find more information about Nord-Ost here.
I’ve got the idea of playing this tune in the middle of the last year and spent a lot of efforts for arranging it. It was my “stretch goal” to play. I’ve never played such tunes before. It was both beautiful and challenging to play. There are three key changes in this song (Gm -> G -> A). Its intro and ending reminds me melodies from the old russian fairy tales movies played on folk instruments. One of its parts at the end requires the greater finger independence similar to “boom-chick” style and it took me a while to acquire that skill.
I am very satisfied with that song. Of course, I’ve got a lot of things to improve – clearer arrangement, “thicker” sound and more accurate tone production, better dynamics and better recording/mixing skills. But I love this song (did I say that already?). Enjoy!