Kazak
Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 2017
Original album - Release 2017 reissue Further Listening 2001-2004 bonus disc
Producer - Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - (none)
Unlike most of the other "new" songs—that is, those that were previously unreleased in any form—accompanying the 2017 album reissues, the title of this one had never surfaced beforehand in any publications, interviews, or "leaks." Essentially an instrumental—its only vocals are wordless choral intonations, Neil's own wordless vowels, and several group shouts of "Hey!"—this track has a vaguely "Russian" sound to it. That's certainly to be expected given its origins, described by the Boys in the booklet accompanying the reissue of Release.
They had envisioned it as part of a dance project in which "people would do Russian dancing and Cossack dancing to techno." But they decided to abandon the concept when they couldn't figure out how to get financial backing for such a thing. What left is, in Neil's own words, "a curiosity." I think it's worth noting, however, that only a few years later Neil and Chris would employ an idea not so dissimilar to this in the video for their 2010 single "Together."
Annotations
- The word "Kazak" could refer to several different things, but its most familiar meaning is in reference to the people, ethnicity, language, and culture for which the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan (once part of the Soviet Union) is named. But it can also refer to the Cossacks—an ethnic group traditionally of southern Russia and Ukraine historically noted for horsemanship and military prowess—who in transcribed Russian are indeed referred to as Kazak. Given Neil's well-known interest in Russian history and culture, which has often manifested itself in PSB songs, and based on what the Boys have said about it, this is surely the meaning referred to with this title. Actually, the words "Cossack" and "Kazakh" (as in Kazakhstan) are closely linked etymologically, referring to two distinct yet in many ways very similar (and, in the estimation of some ethnologists, closely related) ethnic groups.
List cross-references
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