On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians

On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians (По следам бременских музыкантов) is a 1971 Soviet animated short film directed by Vasily Livanov. It was made as a sequel to The Bremen Town Musicians. Zherzdeva & Gorokhov, who voiced the princess & the donkey in the first film were the only ones to reprise their roles.

Plot
The King, wanting for his daughter to be found and returned to his castle, hires Detective to carry out the task. He successfully kidnaps and returns Princess back to the kingdom, but Troubadour and his animal friends Bremen Town Musicians hurry to release her. Disguised as foreign rock singers, the group distracts the King and the Detective, while Troubadour rescues his love and together they escape once again.

Cast

 * Muslim Magomayev - Troubadour, Detective and Atamansha
 * Elmira Zherzdeva - Princess
 * Gennady Gladkov - The King
 * Anatoly Gorokhov, Leonid Berger and vocal ensemble - Bremen Town Musicians, the Robbers and the guards

Production and soundtrack
The success of the "The Bremen Town Musicians" was so huge that there were requests for a sequel. Vasily Livanov proposed the initial idea to Gladkov and Entin, turning on a song about a "genious detective" looking for a runaway Princess. Gladkov recalled: "Since some time has passed, we decided to make the Troubadour more adult, more baritone - for which we invited Muslim Magomayev". In addition to this, Entin heard Magomayev's album of his parodies of famous singers.

Gennady Gladkov himself sang for the King - it happened by accident. "Magomayev was supposed to sing, but he was absent at that moment, and I filled a temporary void in the soundtrack. And he listened and said, "I like the way Gladkov sings." They left it that way."

Magomayev refused a very significant fee, saying that it was "not a job, but a pleasure," and "he owes it [to the creators of the cartoon], not them to him."

The music and songs from the cartoon have been repeatedly published. The original vinyl release included narrator and was made in fairy tale format. In 2024, Shining Sioux Records released all music from both "The Bremen Town Musicians" and "On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians" in multiple formats; tracks were carefully restored including previously unreleased track "Abracadabra".

Legacy
"On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians" vinyl release was listed among the 50 best albums of the "Melodiya" by "Silver Rain Radio".

"Luch solntsa zolotovo" ("Ray of the Golden Sun") is one of the most famous songs not only in the repertoire of Muslim Magomayev, but also in the entire post-Soviet space. "Russian Reporter" magazine ranks it 35th of the 100 best Russian songs. In his article, dedicated to Gennady Gladkov, Boris Barabanov (Kommersant) called it "perhaps the best song ever written in Russian."