Among the many links between the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia maybe the national anthem is the most symbolic one – here in the 1977 version sung by the Ukrainian group 5’Nizza live on RenTV shortly after midnight on January 1st, 2004: When Stalin in 1943 wished to replace the “The Internationale” which had until…Continue reading The national anthem lyricist Sergei Mikhalkov (1913-2009)
Category: academia
Popular Music and Society on Popular Music in the Post-Soviet Space
A happy summer announcement: The journal “Popular Music and Society” (32:3 2009) titled “Popular Music in the Post-Soviet Space: Trends, Movements, and Social Contexts” of which Yngvar Steinholt and I were guest editors is now out. Concluding about two years of editorial work (and a lot of really interesting submissions) the journal includes the following…Continue reading Popular Music and Society on Popular Music in the Post-Soviet Space
Blizhnee zarubezh’e – The Near Abroad
The “The Near Abroad” (Blizhnee zarubezh’e) is often used when referring to the former Soviet Republics from a Russian perspective and which Russia considers its sphere of influence. Looking for a definition of the term for my dissertation I came across this interesting article written by William Safire in 1994: ON LANGUAGE; The Near Abroad
Article about ethnic Germans at TOL
As I briefly mentioned in a previous post (“Who are ‘die Russen’ currently living in Germany?”) one area where a lot of ethnic Germans migrated to Germany from was Kazakhstan. I should have written the former Central-Asian Soviet republics because a large community also ended up in Kyrgyzstan. I mention this since the highly recommendable…Continue reading Article about ethnic Germans at TOL
Of spectacles and marmots – Televizor’s Ochki
The group Televizor (Television) based around its vocalist Mikhail Borzykin has been around since 1984 and can be considered the 3rd generation of Leningrad Rock Club bands. The group’s first album “Shestvie Ryb” (Fish parade) was released in 1985, followed by “Otechestvo illiuzii” (Fatherland of illusion) in 1987. The latter album included the song “Tvoi…Continue reading Of spectacles and marmots – Televizor’s Ochki
Galkin’s Eurovision Song Contest 2007 parody
Thinking about Alla Pugacheva’s departure from music (at least that is what she announced) it struck me that a large part of Russian estrada consist of Soviet era musicians who all are getting old (e.g. Sofiia Rotaru, Oleg Gazmanov, Valerii Leont’ev, Boris Moiseev). On the other side, a young crop of singers have emerged –…Continue reading Galkin’s Eurovision Song Contest 2007 parody
Russia Profile: “Of Lyrics, Nationalism, and Gay Pride” (Eurovision in Moscow)
Russia Profile’s “Of Lyrics, Nationalism, and Gay Pride” gives a good summary of the recent Eurovision 2009 events in Russia discussing Stephane and 3G, Prikhod’ko and the planned gay pride parade (which Luzhkov, Moscow’s mayor is against) to be staged during the Eurovision contest. For more reading on Prikhod’ko check out Kalle Kniivilä’s Domstol förbjöd…Continue reading Russia Profile: “Of Lyrics, Nationalism, and Gay Pride” (Eurovision in Moscow)
Who are “die Russen” currently living in Germany?
After the fall of the Soviet Union Germany emerged as one of the primary countries of Post-Soviet migration – with at least 2.6 Million Russian speaking migrants living in Germany at the moment (conservatively estimated). Putting this into perspective, there were 6 751 002 registered foreign citizens residing in Germany 2006 – about 8,2% of…Continue reading Who are “die Russen” currently living in Germany?
End of an era: Alla Pugacheva to stop giving concerts
Despite that her singing qualities have declined over the last years Soviet Pop-Diva Alla Pugacheva (born 1949) is one of the most popular Russian estrada singers today (she was both 2006 and 2007 ranked 2nd in a popular survey of Russia’s current elite). So it was a small surprise that she at a press conference…Continue reading End of an era: Alla Pugacheva to stop giving concerts
PTVP & Bozhe, khrani Putina eh, Tsaria…
While chopping away some parts of my dissertation I stumbled upon a short paragraph on the Vyborg/St. Petersburg based punk band Posledniye Tanki v Parizhe (Last Tanks in Paris, a.k.a. PTVP). The group was one of the few locally successful (in terms of playing for an audience of 200-400 listeners) St. Petersburg bands who during…Continue reading PTVP & Bozhe, khrani Putina eh, Tsaria…
Bleeping DDT’s Kogda zakonchitsia neft’
Iurii Shevchuk (DDT) is besides Mikhail Borzykin (Televizor) known for being one of the more outspoken musicians within the russkii rok tradition. Following the presidential elections 2008 he has also performed at the Marsh nesoglasnykh and has been featured on the compilations “Muzyka NEsoglasnykh 1 and 2”. On the first compilation the song “Kogda zakonchitsia…Continue reading Bleeping DDT’s Kogda zakonchitsia neft’
Bozhe, Tsaria khrani & MP44
While listening to MP44’s “Avtoritsarizm” (word play on autocracy and tsarism) on the compilation “Muzyka NEsoglasnykh – chast’ 2” this morning it struck me that the melody they sample was very familiar – some quick research confirmed that the group sampled a male choir singing “Bozhe, Tsaria khrani” (God save the Tsar) – the Russian…Continue reading Bozhe, Tsaria khrani & MP44