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Pavel Lion (a.k.a. Psoy Korolenko) at Dickinson

Pavel Lion, a.k.a. Psoy Korolenko (Russia), born in 1967, is a poet-singer/songwriter, scholar, journalist and musician from Moscow, Russia. He has performed on stage since 1997. Known as a “wandering scholar” or “singing professor,” Korolenko created his unique multilingual cabaret, combining traditions of Russian and European (especially French) popular and urban folk song, and Yiddish folk and theater song, with elements of rap, sound poetry, and other kinds of free-style poetry. Korolenko has released a book of lyrics and essays Shlyager Veka (The Hit of the Century) and numerous CDs, some of them in collaboration with Russian and foreign musicians, such as Daniel Kahn (US/Germany) and Jim Avignon a.k.a. 'Neoangin' (Germany). His film-screening performance Bed and Sofa (real-time rap commentary to the Soviet classic Avant-guard silent movie by Abram Room, 1929) was presented in many universities in the US, and translated into English by Stuart Goldberg (Atlanta, Georgia Tech U). 

Korolenko first visited Dickinson in 2010 and then again in 2017 and 2021. During the first two visits he performed for students and visited classes in the Departments of Russian, German, and Judaic Studies; during the third, he and Anna Shternshis shared their Grammy-nominated program, Yiddish Glory: The Lost Songs of World War II, with students, faculty, and community members

My favorite performance by Pavel Korolenko was his song about pizza. Pizza is one of my favorite foods and when I am traveling in a different country I always want to try their pizza to be able to compare and contrast! I like contemporary Russian poetry because I feel that I can relate to the current, popular themes of today.” -Nealy Harnsberger '13

It was very powerful listening to Pavel Korolenko perform his poems. Each had its own tone and volume and inflection. Although I didn’t understand all the Russian, I could tell a lot about the meaning just from his tone. I’m really curious to learn more about what inspired some of these poems.” -Dan Appello '15

Pavel Lion speaks with his audience.

Here you can find links to videos of some of Korolenko's performances: