Russian chanson (from French "chanson") is a neologism for a musical genre covering a range of Russian songs based on the themes of the criminal underworld. This song style, called blatnaya pesnya ("criminals' song"), has been popular in Eastern Europe ever since its first appearance in the beginning of the 20th century. Chanson can be seen as one of two genres stemming from 19th century Russian city romance songs, the other genre being the author song. The two genres are now quite distinct, but have overlapped significantly throughout the 20th century.
