ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Bard (Soviet Union)

Okay kiddo, so a long time ago, there was a place called the Soviet Union. It was a big country with lots of different people, and some of those people liked to write and sing songs about things that were important to them. These songwriters were called bards.

The bards would travel around the Soviet Union and perform their songs for people. Sometimes they would sing about love, or about nature, or about the struggles of the working class. The people who listened to the bards really enjoyed their music and would gather together to listen.

But the government of the Soviet Union didn't always like what the bards were saying in their songs. Sometimes the bards would sing about things that were critical of the government or its policies. The government didn't want people to hear those kinds of songs, so they tried to stop the bards from performing.

But the bards kept singing anyway, because they believed that their music was important and that people needed to hear it. Some of the most famous bards from the Soviet Union include Vladimir Vysotsky, Bulat Okudzhava, and Alexander Galich. They wrote songs that touched people's hearts and helped them to express their own feelings about the world around them.

So even though the government didn't always like what the bards had to say, the people of the Soviet Union knew that their music was special and important. And today, many people still listen to the songs of the bards and remember the way their music made them feel.