Boney M. - Rasputin (Sopot Festival 1979)

What this video is

Captured live at the 3rd Intervision Song Contest at the Forest Opera in Sopot, Poland in August 1979, this performance represents one of the most politically charged moments in pop music broadcast history. Boney M. performed 'Rasputin' in defiance of explicit requests by Polish government officials, as the song — deemed insulting to Soviet-Polish relations — had effectively been banned from performance on Polish…

Why it matters

A primary archival document of peak Eurodisco performance culture and its geopolitical reverberations. 'Rasputin' (released August 1978) reached No. 1 in Germany and Australia and No. 2 in the UK, cementing Boney M. as one of the dominant forces of European disco. This live capture — raw, unedited…