Music Hath Charms -- Traditionally, The Cossacks are fierce warriors who are capable of killing one moment and singing lusty choral songs the next. From the looks. Of this picture, it would seem that the soviets have permitted the Cossacks to carry on in their musical tradition of Czarist days, when a band of 24 musicians and a leader was assigned to each regiment. May 12, 1941. (Photo by ACME).