A Souvenir of the Cold War
Things were tense globally at the time of the 1980 Olympic Games. It was the first Olympics held in a Slavic country, and also the first held in a communist nation. Jimmy Carter condemned the Soviet Union for its unwarranted invasion of Afghanistan, and said if they didn’t withdraw, the United States would boycott the Moscow Olympics. They didn’t, and we did.
As few Americans attended the Moscow Games, not many souvenirs from the Games made it to our shores. This prima balalaika is one that did. We picked it up at an estate sale years ago, and hoped our son Devon might want to learn to play it. After years of showing no interest in the instrument, we decided to sell it at our Unusual Offerings booth at the Elephant’s Trunk Flea Market.
The musician who bought it told me the workmanship was first rate, and he plans to go to his local guitar shop and buy a better set of strings so he can play it without hurting his fingers. He didn’t mind that it had “MOCKBA-80” painted on the soundboard, and we’re glad that he doesn’t intend to paint over it.
We’re pleased that a souvenir display piece from a political Olympics is going back to its original function as a musical instrument.
