“Korobeiniki” (The Peddlers) is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song that tells the story of a meeting between a korobeinik (peddler) and a girl, describing their haggling over goods in a metaphor for seduction. Outside Russia, Korobeiniki is widely known as the Tetris theme tune, from its appearance in Nintendo’s Game Boy version of the game (titled “A-Type”) as arranged by the Japanese composer Hirokazu Tanaka in 1989.
The song “Korobeiniki” is based on the poem of the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, which was first printed in the Sovremennik magazine in 1861. Its increasing tempo and the dance style led to it quickly becoming a popular Russian folk song. Early musical compositions of the song were published by Yakov Prigozhy and Alexander N. Chernyavsky (Чернявский, Александр Николаевич) in 1898. Varvara Panina made gramophone records of the song with several recording companies in 1905 and later.
After arrangements of “Korobeiniki” first appeared in Spectrum Holobyte’s Apple IIGS and Mac versions of Tetris, the song was re-arranged in 1989 by Hirokazu Tanaka as the “Type A” accompaniment in Nintendo’s Game Boy version 1.1. It has since become closely associated with the game in Western popular culture and the Tetris Company has required its inclusion in every version of the game since 2002. In 2008, UGO listed the song as the 3rd best video game music of all time.
The Tetris Company holds a sound trademark on this variation of the song for use in video games. The official Tetris website wrote that Korobeiniki was “memorable enough on its own as both a poem and folk tune”, independent of its adaption into the Tetris theme. Doctor Spin’s 1992 novelty Eurodance cover version under the name “Tetris” reached No. 6 on the UK singles chart.
Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra has recorded and performed versions of the song under the title “Peddlers” since their eponymous debut EP in 1989. Most recently, it can be found on their 2014 album Ska Me Forever. String quartet Bond included a version on their 2000 debut album Born called “Korobushka”, which they often perform at their live concerts. American rock band Ozma released a rock version on their 2001 album The Double Donkey Disc; it was used in the 2013 film Kick Ass 2. An Italian house remix of the song, “Cammino Contento”, was featured on the 2005 Gigi D’Agostino compilation album Disco Tanz. The song has also been arranged by Yoko Shimomura for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The song is retained in later versions of Super Smash Bros. as well. The Timbers Army performs the melody with altered lyrics during Portland Timbers games, usually accompanied by a simple dance with a large visual effect. German band d’Artagnan used the music for their song “Trink mein Freund” and released a folk rock version of “Korobeiniki” (in Russian) on their 2022 album Felsenfest.
