The Lăncieri or 'Lance-bearers' were a Romanian fascist paramilitary movement who adopted a blue shirted uniform and contributed to the country's political street battles in the 1920s and 1930s.

The group was initially attached to the National-Christian Defense League and became noted in the 1920s for their attacks on that party's main target the Jews, as well as general disruption of university life. Following the emergence of the National Christian Party the Lăncieri became associated with that group and continued their wild ways, rivalling the Iron Guard (with whom they frequently clashed) in their violence and mayhem. The 1937 general election campaign in particular was marred by clashes between the two fascist groups and not even the intervention of Alfred Rosenberg could unite the warring factions. Clashes between the two groups would continue, although ironically the Lăncieri owed much of their organisation to the Iron Guard and indeed their continuing existence was as much an attempt to attract interest away from that group.

Nikita Koshkin (born February 28, 1956) is a classical guitarist and composer born in Moscow. His early influences included Stravinsky, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, as well as rock music. As with those composers his music is characterised by rhythmic appeal, immediacy and wide range of colours, and well-thought-out dramatic content.

Koshkin first came to prominence with his suite "The Prince's Toys," completed in 1980 and first performed by the Czech-born guitarist Vladimir Mikulka. It depicts the fairytale world of a child in which his toys come to life and, eventually, abduct him to some other dimension. The suite incorporates numerous sound-effects on the guitar to paint images: the so-called 'snare drum' effect, for example, created by holding down crossed B and E (or low-E and A) strings with the left hand, to imitate the drums of toy soldiers. Other extended techniques include scraping the strings with the fingernails; a large variety of percussive effects; 'playing' the strings between the tuning heads and nut, or the knotted sections of the strings on the bridge; 'hammer-ons', where the left hand fingers suddenly depress the string against the fingerboard without the intervention of the right hand; and so on.