Umka’s Lullaby Kolybelnaya Medveditsy — The Polar Bear’s Lullaby

This is the lullaby of the Russian North, loved by generations thanks to a famous Soviet cartoon set among the ice of the Arctic. In the film, a mother polar bear cradles her cub, Umka, singing of the great night that settles slowly over the world, of drifting ice floes lying still like little beds, and of stars watching over every sleepy creature — wishing her little one dreams as wide and white as the great North itself. It is the poetic picture of the Siberian winter, and of a mother’s warmth against the cold.

Vocal coach tip. Make the timbre as soft and velvety as you can. Imagine singing in a very low voice, very close to the child’s ear, almost a whisper — the warmth of home against the cold of the steppe.