articles on boris grebenshchikov & music linked to the orange revolution

one of the aims of this phd-blog is to keep a written trail of articles i have read in the course of my research. this morning i actually managed to read two articles 🙂

the first one is by maria brauckhoff titled “Boris Grebenš?ikov – Kult, Gott der Gegenkultur oder nationales Kulturgut?” (published at jfsl.de/publikationen/2005/Brauckhoff.htm. brauckhoff describes the evolution of grebenshchikov, one of the main actors within the soviet rock scene from the perspective of his relationship to the soviet & russian society. using the lyrics from his songs as her analytical focus she charts how his relationship changes from an amateur band in the beginning (1970s) to an outsider position (beginning of the 1980s) to more actively being involved with what happens during perestroika and actively seeking his russian roots (folklore and russian orthodox) in the 1990s which brings him closer to putin’s ideology. however she fails to mention the fact that grebenshchikov is a buddhist which complicates this picture. she also does not discuss influences of reggae and ska in grebenshchikov’s music (where references to “babylon” like on p. 7 can take a different meaning) which are also important when considering both his lyrics and the music (which is also neglected in this article)

the second article is by adriana helbig titled “The Cyberpolitics of Music in Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution” (published in Current Musicology, No. 82 – Fall 2006, p. 81 – 101). this article examines the role of the internet in the orange revolution in the ukraine (2004) as a medium encouraging participation and the role music played in this process. the article also demonstrates how music is politicized and used to express the demonstrators dissent with the political outcome of the elections.

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