[incomprehensible][2] Its first performance came in the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, by the Alexandrov Ensemble, with soloist Nikolaiy Ustinov.
Because the song became famous outside of its original context of the Kotovsky Suite, it was taken as a reference to the then-contemporary Soviet partisans of the Great Patriotic War (WWII).
[3] In the film, a young fighter pilot introduces the song to his squadron and so gets nicknamed "the dark girl".
Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryshkin was reportedly wiping his eyes as the lights came back on.
The film became a blockbuster, seen by 54 million viewers within five months, and Smuglyanka as a consequence became known throughout the Soviet Union, entering the standard repertoire of Russian folk songs.
One of the most famous Soviet patriotic songs, Smuglyanka has been sung in 21 languages: Russian,[4] Yakut,[5] Ukrainian,[6] Kazakh,[7] Hungarian,[8] Estonian,[9] Latvian,[10] Polish,[11] Czech,[12] Slovak,[13] Serbo-Croatian,[14] Swedish,[15] German,[16] French,[17] English,[18] Hindi,[19] Punjabi,[19] Chinese,[20] Japanese,[21] Korean,[22] and Hebrew.
А смуглянка-молдаванка Отвечала парню в лад: — Партизанский, молдаванский Собираем мы отряд.
О смуглянке-молдаванке Часто думал по ночам … Вдруг свою смуглянку Я в отряде повстречал!
O smugljanke-moldavanke Často dumal po nočam ... Vdrug svoju smugljanku Ja v otrjade povstrečal!