Book cover "War of Songs"

Book “War of Songs – Popular Music and Recent Russia-Ukraine Relations” published

When we, Andrei Rogatchevski, Yngvar B. Steinholt, Arve Hansen and I, submitted our abstracts for a panel at the 2017 IASPM conference in Kassel we just wanted to present some uses of popular music during conflict. The response to our papers on the role that popular music played during the recent (and ongoing) Russian-Ukrainian conflict…Continue reading Book “War of Songs – Popular Music and Recent Russia-Ukraine Relations” published

Religion and Popular Music Artists, Fans, and Cultures

Article “My Pravoslavnye: Russkii rok, Orthodoxy and nationalism in post-Soviet Russia” published

An area I have been thinking about for a long time is the relationship between music and religion in Russia. I have touched on this in my research before, but not explicitly focused on it. When Andreas Häger contacted me about writing an article for a planned book on popular music and religion in 2015…Continue reading Article “My Pravoslavnye: Russkii rok, Orthodoxy and nationalism in post-Soviet Russia” published

Mailbox (Piter-4)

While walking through St. Petersburg I also came across this mailbox which seems to be the new mailbox standard except for stating that it is not part of the Russian postal service. 😉 Taken with my Nikon FE and Nikkor 28mm 2.8 AI on Kodak TriX.

Пискарёвское Кладбище

While looking for Arkadii Severnii’s grave we also visited the Piskariovskoe kladbishche. Besides the mass graves commemorating the deaths of civilians and soldiers who died in Leningrad there is also a small cemetery for the people who lived in the area. This grave is from that part of the cemetery. Taken with my D700 and…Continue reading Пискарёвское Кладбище

400 years Romanov dynasty

Russia has since the fall of the Soviet Union been reconfiguring their nation building. One aspect has been to re-embrace the Romanov dynasty as this billboard commemorating 400 years of the Romanovs shows. Taken during my morning jog with my Canon S95.

Mailbox (Piter – 3)

While in St. Petersburg I saw another version of a Russian mailbox – this one was located in New Holland. Taken with my D700 and Nikon 20-35mm 2.8.

Severnii’s grave

Another musician who passed away at an early age is Arkadii Severnii (aka as Arkadii Zvezdin – 1939-1980) – an influential performer within what has become known as the russkii shanson tradition (Uli Hufen wrote a good book on russkii shanson with a long chapter on Severnyi – my mini review of the book is on…Continue reading Severnii’s grave

Gorsheniov’s grave

While visiting Tsoi’s grave I also passed the grave of the recently deceased Mikhail “Gorshok” Gorsheniov (1973–2013) who passed away a month before my visit to the cemetery. He was the vocalist of the St. Petersburg based band “Korol’ i Shut”, one of the big Post-Soviet bands. Taken with my D700 and Nikon 20-35mm 2.8.

Tsoi’s grave

One of the disadvantages of doing research on Post-Soviet popular music (as well as with musicians in general) is that a lot of central musicians died (and still die) at a young age – like Viktor Tsoi (1962-1990), the vocalist of the Soviet group Kino. Tsoi, however, remains in the memory of his fans –…Continue reading Tsoi’s grave

Warning, squirrels

While out at the Центральный парк культуры и отдыха имени С.М. Кирова last Saturday a sign at the park entrance warned us of the ferocious squirrels. We saw squirrels in abundance, however they seemed to be quite tame. 😉 Picture taken with my Canon S95.

Спасибо деду за победу!

World War II still retains a central place in Post-Soviet life – like this slogan on the back of a Ford in St. Petersburg: “Spasibo dedu za pobedu” (Thank you Grandpa for the victory). Taken with my D700 and Nikon 50mm 1.8

St. Petersburg church

While going through my negatives last week I also came across a roll of film from St. Petersburg which I had somehow forgotten. One of the pictures on the roll was a church I used to pass by every day. Taken with my Rolleiflex 2.8 F on Ilford Delta 400.