In this February 19, 2017 photo, a couple dances during the “If you don't give me....then you lend me” Carnival street party on Ipanema beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The typical view of Carnival in Brazil is anything goes, with no headdress too big, no outfit too small, no song too ribald, but this year some organizers of the world's best known party are drawing the line at lyrics that are sexist, homophobic or racist. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

Picture dated June 18th, 2023 shows Cambridge University students on their way to the Emmanuel College May Ball in the rain. Hundreds of undergraduates dressed in lavish ball gowns, tuxedos, and even kilts, for the extravagant end-of-term party, which had the theme Where Lyrics Come To Life. The ball, which cost £110 a ticket, featured a rum bar, as well as a host of entertainment, including limbo, belly dancing, a bubbleologist, tarot reading and a magician. (Photo by Bav Media)

When you think of the People's Liberation Army, you probably don't think of line dancing. But the Chinese military's latest online recruiting video makes a soldier's life look more fun than the macarena. The brief spot, posted last week on the website of the Ministry of National Defense and going viral, features tanks and fighter jets, as well as soldiers dancing in rows to a quirky hit tune by the Chopsticks Brothers called “Little Apple”. Its lyrics include, “You are my little dear little apple/I can never stop loving you”.

“Russian singer Eduard Khil has died at the age of 77, following a stroke. Khil is apparently well known in Russia, though attained belated fame outside of Russia when a musical number he performed on Soviet television in the 1970s, in which he sung nonsense lyrics in a rich baritone over luxuriantly loungy background music, but above all with an infectious sense of good cheer, ended up on YouTube and became a meme”. ... (Listen to songs of Eduard Khil)

“Horst Ludwig Wessel (October 9, 1907 – February 23, 1930) was a German Nazi activist who was made a posthumous hero of the Nazi movement following his violent death in 1930. He was the author of the lyrics to the song “Die Fahne hoch” (“The Flag On High”), usually known as Horst-Wessel-Lied (“The Horst Wessel Song”), which became the Nazi Party anthem and, de facto, Germany's co-national anthem from 1933 to 1945”. – Wikipedia

Photo: German Nazi activist Horst Wessel (left) at the head of a parade of S.A. stormtroopers, or “brownshirts”, in Nuremberg, Germany, 1929. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Demonstrators made barricades during clashes with police following a protest condemning the arrest of rap artist Pablo Hasél in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, February 18, 2021. The imprisonment of a rap artist for his music praising terrorist violence and insulting the Spanish monarchy has set off a powder keg of pent-up rage this week in Spain. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP Photo)

“Sektor gaza” (Russian: Сектор газа) was a Russian rock band formed on 5 December 1987 in the city of Voronezh, Russia. Despite only semi-officially existing (due to obscene lyrics), the group remains popular in Russia today. The group name was taken from an eponymous industrial district of Voronezh (itself named for high levels of environmental contamination). Their music style could be defined as Russian punk, integrated with elements of different musical genres such as rock, rap, and Russian folk. On 4 July 2000, group leader Yuri “Hoy” Klinskih complained of strong pains in his stomach and the left side of his chest. He suffered heart failure shortly thereafter. Klinskikh died in Voronezh (Russia)at the age of 35. He is buried in the Levoberezhniy Cemetery. The group ceased to exist.

About the music video: The First Chechen War, also known as the War in Chechnya, was a conflict between the Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, fought from December 1994 to August 1996. After the initial campaign of 1994 – 1995, culminating in the devastating Battle of Grozny, Russian federal forces attempted to seize control of the mountainous area of Chechnya but were set back by Chechen guerrilla warfare and raids on the flatlands in spite of Russia's overwhelming manpower, weaponry, and air support...

Bici Palermo Tuning – a group of teenagers from the Sicilian capital Palermo – spend anything up to €1,300 customising their bikes with car batteries and multiple speakers to develop thunderous sound systems. The police are not impressed. (Photo by Matteo de Mayda/Cosimo Bizzari/The Guardian)