A renowned chansonnier, Mikhail Shufutinsky, spoke about a song that sits at the core of his career. Channel Five once captured his thoughts about a track that has become inseparable from his life and audience alike: Three September. The song has earned its place not just in his repertoire but in the memories of listeners around the world who felt a personal connection to its melody and mood.
Shufutinsky has observed that the appeal of the song extends beyond his own feelings. It reached beyond the stage and studio to touch many other people who found something in the music or the words that resonated with their own experiences. Despite being more than three decades old, the piece remains vibrant, continuing to breathe in the hearts of fans and to spark new interpretations. He even noticed that the song travels through the internet in the form of memes, a cultural life that keeps it fresh and relevant for new generations.
“There’s a lot of stuff online, some funny jokes. It’s interesting to see how the piece continues to live,” the performer remarked. The dialogue around the song has shifted with time, turning a classic into a shared moment for online communities and gatherings where fans remix lines, share memories, and create playful takes on calendar dates and seasonal imagery that the lyrics evoke.
The composition was crafted with words by Igor Nikolaev set to music by Igor Krutoy. Shufutinsky first performed it in 1993, introducing a tune that would become a signature thread in his work. The track later appeared on his solo album Walk, Soul, released in 1994, cementing its place in his catalog and in the broader landscape of post-Soviet pop culture. For years the song and its memorable lines have circulated as a popular meme, with fresh jokes surfacing around the calendar reversal and the striking imagery of the mountain ash bonfires mentioned in the text, reflecting how audiences continuously reinterpret the piece in contemporary contexts.
On September 3, activists affiliated with a veterans’ movement publicly urged the president to recognize Mikhail Shufutinsky with the title of People’s Artist of Russia. The appeal highlighted how the artist’s work has become part of the cultural fabric and how public recognition for notable contributors to music can echo through decades, inviting broader discussion about artistic legacy and national culture.
A former resident of a building on September Street also weighed in, seeking support for Shufutinsky’s artistic contributions. The exchange underscored how deeply the song and its creator have embedded themselves into local memory and the social conversations surrounding art, recognition, and the people who raise and celebrate enduring works.