Even true connoisseurs of Russian Chanson might debate the genre’s definition. Is it made up of sappy romantic ballads or tavern sing-alongs? Is it defined by heroic war tales or sweetly harmonized campfire songs? Although the name takes after a French musical storytelling tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages, this is genre of distinctly Russian folk song that encompasses a broad range of sounds.  The roots of Russian Chanson lie with bohemian urban musical poets of the late-19th and early 20th centuries, like Pytor Leshchenko, Alexander Vertinsky, Vadim Kozin and Isabella St. George. Waxing philosophical on working-class struggles, these singers were often accompanied by the traditional musical textures of Eastern European gypsy music, like accordion, violin and acoustic guitar. A hundred years later, the genre continues to muse on similar motifs—bad love, crime, poverty and everyday hardship—through popular artists like Aleksandr Rosenbaum, Alexander Galich and Vladimir Vysotsky.