Alexander Rosenbaum

Rosenbaum expressed support for the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, and stated, "Crimea is ours." For this he was banned from entering Ukraine. Crimea is since March 2014 under dispute by Russia and Ukraine.

Among his most famous songs are the ones about Leningrad, the Soviet–Afghan War, Cossacks, and Odessa. Songs such as "Gop-Stop" (a comedy about two gangsters executing an unfaithful lover) and "Vals-boston" (The Boston Waltz) are popular across Russian social groups and generations.

Only a dull-witted person would think that this should not be, that this is wrong. All those songs that I call "songs of confinement," that have lasted and will last, are works of art, and as a rule they are written by cultured and educated people. Because everything that is composed in huge quantities at penitentiaries can very rarely be described as [high quality] work. ... It is very important to understand why those songs are composed, for whom and how. ... They are set in a criminal context, they contain criminal themes, but they are not at all about that. If you read and listen to them carefully, they will tell you of faithfulness, love and many other things. ... I am sometimes asked: "Why do you not write blatnaya pesnya anymore?" I am not interested in it today. The nondescript chaos now has abated somewhat, fortunately, but three, four or five years ago you switched on the crate – and had low-down trash rushing at you... Not the blatnaya pesnya that I treat with respect, but cheap blatota.

Rosenbaum sometimes employs peculiar musical time signatures and patterns in his songs, striving to sound fresh and unique – a bit atypical for a songwriter that employs gangster and criminal slang elements in his lyrics. Though many of his songs are elaborate in their instrumentation, the stress is placed on the primary melodies of his songs and their messages, as is usually the case in bard music.

He is also a supporter of Yisrael Beiteinu Israeli political party and sang the theme tune for the party in the 2009 Israeli legislative election.

Rosenbaum is co-owner of a growing (as of 2007) network of beer-halls in Saint-Petersburg, called "Tolstiy Frayer". The name has a humorous, as well as gangster slang air to it and can roughly be rendered as "Non-Criminal Fat Chap". The name is a reference to one of Rosenbaum's songs.

On December 7, 2003 Alexander Rosenbaum took office as a member of the Russian parliament (the fourth Duma) for Yedinaya Rossiya and deputy chairman of the State Duma Culture Committee. When asked by a journalist about what he had to sacrifice to be able to run for MP, Rosenbaum answered:

On May 16, 2001, by president Putin's decree, Rosenbaum was awarded the title of People's Artist of Russia, probably the highest title in the artistic field of activity in Russia.

Graduated from the First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Peterburg in 1974, and worked in the medical field for four years. His musical education consists of piano and choreography courses at a musical school. In 1968, while still a student, Rosenbaum started writing the songs for which he is famous. His early songs were for student plays, but he soon also wrote for rock groups and started performing as a singer-songwriter in 1983, sometimes under the pseudonym "Ayarov".

Alexander Yakovlevich Rosenbaum PAR (Russian: Александр Яковлевич Розенбаум , Aleksandr Jakovlevič Rozyenbaum) (born September 13, 1951) is a Russian bard from Saint Petersburg. He is best known as an interpreter of the blatnaya pesnya (criminal song) genre. Modern singers in this genre, such as Mikhail Shufutinsky often sing Rosenbaum's songs.