"Katyusha", also transliterated "Katusha", "Katiusha" or "Katjusha" (Russian: Катю́ша - diminutive form of Ekaterina—Katherine), is a 1938 Russian song (melody: Matvei Blanter; lyrics: Mikhail Isakovsky). It gained fame during World War II as an inspiration to defend one's land from the enemy. In Russia, the song is still popular.
τhe song depicts a girl, Katyusha, longing for her absent love.
Standing on a steep riverbank, she sends her song to her lover, a soldier serving far away. The theme of the song is that the soldier will protect the Motherland and its people while his grateful girl will remain true to him.
"Katyusha" was first sung in July 1941 by female students from a Soviet industrial school in Moscow, bidding farewell to soldiers going to the battle front against Nazi Germany. It quickly became popular throughout the USSR. Its first official performance was by Valentina Batishcheva in the Column Hall of Moscow's House of the Unions. Later it was performed by Lidiya Ruslanova, Georgi Vinogradov, Eduard Khil, Anna German, Ivan Rebroff, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Iosif Kobzon, countertenor Vitas, a duet by Marina Devyatova and Katya Ryabova, Elena Vaenga, and other singers. "Katyusha" is part of the repertoire of the Alexandrov Ensemble.[1]
The song is the probable source of the nickname of the BM-8, BM-13, and BM-31 "Katyusha" rocket launchers that were used by the Red Army in World War II.