Rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
became known in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its
Western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s (especially the era of
perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
), when the Soviet underground rock bands became able to release their records officially. Since then, Russia and
Russophone artists in various other countries have developed a varied rock scene that covers virtually all rock genres, from classic and
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
to
punk and
heavy metal. The majority of the Russian bands perform in the
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European language family. It is one of four living E ...
.
According to various polls, the most popular Russian rock bands include
Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
,
Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
,
Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
,
Alisa,
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...
, and
DDT.
History
The early 1960s: Local bard music and first western influences
Prior to the late sixties, music in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
was divided into two groups: music published by state record company
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
, and everything else.
Under this second group were the
bards
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise ...
, underground folk
singer–songwriters.
Bards such as
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky ( rus, links=no, Владимир Семёнович Высоцкий, p=vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr sʲɪˈmʲɵnəvʲɪtɕ vɨˈsotskʲɪj; 25 January 1938 – 25 July 1980), was a Soviet singer-songwriter, poet, and actor ...
and
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (russian: link=no, Булат Шалвович Окуджава; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; hy, Բուլատ Օկուջավա; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musici ...
were among the many artists who created the style which is referred to as ''avtorskaya pesnya'' (), mostly played on unaccompanied acoustic guitar and characterized by a strong emphasis on lyrics that sometimes carried a subversive meaning. Their music was often suppressed by the government, and yet enjoyed massive popularity, with Vysotsky becoming a highly popular cinema and theatre actor and an iconic figure of the times. having been regularly hailed as "the Bob Dylan of the USSR.".
Meanwhile, some Western music was either being smuggled across the border or released by Melodiya as part of what essentially was state-run media piracy, with
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
taking a firm place in Soviet popular culture, and artists such as
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...
and
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as ...
completing a somewhat distorted picture of Western music.
The first rock bands in the Soviet Union appeared in the mid-1960s. At the time, they mostly performed covers of songs by The Beatles on home-made equipment. In 1965, the band
Sokol
The Sokol movement (, ''falcon'') is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner. It was based upon the principle of " a strong mind in a ...
released the first rock song in Russian, "Gde tot krai?" ().
The late 1960s and 1970s: First signs
Live bands grew popular in spite of governmental restrictions. This continued into the 1980s, when native bands gained some success, but were still hampered by state regulators who would not allow them to be officially recorded and placed restrictions on lyrical content, plus a virtual monopoly of the then sole record label,
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
, which would later forge a partnership with international label EMI in the 70s.
Guitar-driven bands evolved during this time, including Leningrad-based
Pojuschie Gitary () and Belarusian
Pesnyary. These bands started the
VIA
Via or VIA may refer to the following:
Science and technology
* MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter
* ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae
* Via (electronics), a through-connection
* VIA Technologies, a Taiwa ...
() movement, and were followed by others, such as
Tsvety, , and
Sinyaya Ptitsa.
At the same time,
Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni () is a Russian rock band founded in 1969. Mashina Vremeni was a pioneer of Soviet rock music and remains one of the oldest still-active rock bands in Russia. The band's music incorporates elements of classic rock, blues, and ba ...
in Moscow and
Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
in Leningrad started as nominally amateur bands and soon became popular, performing underground concerts.
In the early 1970s,
Yuri Morozov invented a kind of Russian
psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a rock music genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording te ...
, using elements of
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
and
ethnic Russian music
Russian folk music specifically deals with the folk music traditions of the ethnic Russian people.
Ethnic styles in the modern era
The performance and promulgation of ethnic music in Russia has a long tradition. Initially it was intertwined with ...
. His sound influenced
DDT, Aquarium,
Chizh & Co, and many others, while he worked with them as a
sound engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...
.
Another notable artist who started his activity at the same time is
Alexander Gradsky
Alexander Borisovich Gradsky (russian: Алекса́ндр Бори́сович Гра́дский; born Alexander Borisovich Fradkin, 3 November 1949 – 28 November 2021) was a Russian Rock music, rock singer, Bard (Soviet Union), bard, multi ...
, who fused
bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise ...
music with
rock. There was no protest against the Soviet government in the lyrics he sang, so he was able to release records through Melodiya. Millions of Gradsky's records were sold throughout the country.
The 1980s: "Classic" Russian rock
In the 1980s, an underground scene of rock artists emerged who based their style on a mix of Western rock music (particularly from the 1960s and 1970s but also, increasingly, on the emerging Western
punk rock and
New Wave) and the Russian
bard
In Celtic cultures, a bard is a professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise ...
traditions. Bands such as
Alisa,
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...
,
Autograph
An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Inter ...
,
Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
,
Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni () is a Russian rock band founded in 1969. Mashina Vremeni was a pioneer of Soviet rock music and remains one of the oldest still-active rock bands in Russia. The band's music incorporates elements of classic rock, blues, and ba ...
,
Nautilus Pompilius
The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect equiangular spiral, although it ...
,
Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
,
Krematorij,
Grazhdanskaya Oborona,
Voskreseniye
Voskreseniye (russian: Воскресение) is a Russian rock band.
History
The band was formed in 1979, when drummer Sergey Kavagoe decided to leave Mashina Vremeni and form his own group. Kavagoe was joined by Mashina Vremeni's bassist, E ...
,
Secret,
Piknik
Piknik (Picnic, russian: Пикни́к) is a Russian rock band known for its unique style which is a mixture of art rock, progressive rock and original Russian rock. The band was formed in 1978 in Leningrad by Sergey Omelnichenko, Evgeny Vol ...
, and
DDT became influential in the development of the genre, with subsequent artists influenced by their style.
Russian rock was also influenced by the Russian art group
Mitki and by the Western
hippie
A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
s.
In 1980,
Spring Rhythms: Tbilisi-80 took place in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
in the
Georgian SSR
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...
. It was the first official
rock festival in the Soviet Union. Almost all the performers and prize-winners at the festival were rock groups from the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
.
The lyrics of the Soviet rock bands often dealt with the darkest sides of 1980s Soviet life, such as
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partn ...
,
alcoholism
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...
(an infamous song by Nautilus Pompilius contained the lines "
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...
drinks a double bourbon/Alain Delon doesn't drink eau de cologne" as a sarcastic contrast to the alcoholic father described in the song and an indictment of the escapist attitudes of state-run media) and crime, and often carried a hidden political message.
In consequence, the mainstream Soviet radio and television ignored Soviet rock bands, which often reached audiences only through word of mouth. The monopoly for music publishing in the USSR belonged to
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
, the Soviet record label owned and operated by the Council of Ministers through the Ministry of Culture. Melodiya had a strict policy against publishing rock music or underground musicians, while promoting
VIAs, whose members as well as the composers and writers who worked with them were members of the Union of Composers. Some rock musicians (
Yuri Shevchuk
Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk (russian: Юрий Юлианович Шевчук; born 16 May 1957) is a Soviet and Russian rock musician and singer/songwriter who leads the rock band DDT, which he founded with Vladimir Sigachyov in 1980.
He is bes ...
,
Yegor Letov and many others) had problems with the
KGB due to their public activities. During the early 1980s, Soviet authorities started to exert heavy pressure on amateur bands, banning underground concerts as a sort of illegal commercial activity and imprisoning some music promoters and sound engineers for earning money from underground concerts.
Many of the 1980s bands remain active and popular among Russian youth. The term ''Russian rock'' is often used to refer to the particular sound of these bands.
Various music scenes
In the early- to mid-1980s, rock clubs were founded in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
(now
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
) and
Sverdlovsk (now
Yekaterinburg
Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...
). These three cities had their own rock scenes and friendly collaborations between artists were commonplace.
The
Leningrad Rock Club, founded in 1981 and supported by the CPSU, Komsomol, and the city and federal governments, was probably the biggest venue, featuring "classic Russian rock" by
Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
,
Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
,
Zoopark,
Piknik
Piknik (Picnic, russian: Пикни́к) is a Russian rock band known for its unique style which is a mixture of art rock, progressive rock and original Russian rock. The band was formed in 1978 in Leningrad by Sergey Omelnichenko, Evgeny Vol ...
,
Alisa,
DDT,
Televizor,
N.E.P., etc. It also included the nascent Russian art-rock movement, typified by bands such as
Auktyon
Auktyon (russian: АукцЫон, ) is a Russian alternative rock band from Saint Petersburg.
The band was founded by Leonid Fyodorov at the Polytechnic Institute of Leningrad. Though they originally played post-punk and new wave, the group ...
. The most important figure of Leningrad Rock Club,
Sergey Kuryokhin, the well-known piano/keyboard player of different music genres including rock and free-jazz, and leader of his ambitious multimedia project
Pop Mekhanika, one of the first Soviet underground musicians who released his albums in Europe and USA.
Bands from Sverdlovsk, such as
Nautilus Pompilius
The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect equiangular spiral, although it ...
,
Chaif
Chaif (Чайф) is a Russian rock band formed in 1984 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia, by Vladimir Shakhrin and Vladimir Begunov. Their name is derived from the word ''chai'', meaning tea, and ''kaif'' (slang word), meaning pleasure. ...
, and
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...
,
[Russian Studies](_blank)
produced more melodic music making heavy use of keyboards and synthesizers.
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
rock bands, such as
Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
,
Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni () is a Russian rock band founded in 1969. Mashina Vremeni was a pioneer of Soviet rock music and remains one of the oldest still-active rock bands in Russia. The band's music incorporates elements of classic rock, blues, and ba ...
,
Voskreseniye
Voskreseniye (russian: Воскресение) is a Russian rock band.
History
The band was formed in 1979, when drummer Sergey Kavagoe decided to leave Mashina Vremeni and form his own group. Kavagoe was joined by Mashina Vremeni's bassist, E ...
,
Center,
Krematorij and
Zvuki Mu, were rather different from the others and sometimes more discreet.
The
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
n rock scene began in the 1980s, with songwriters such as
Egor Letov (
Grazhdanskaya Oborona,
Omsk
Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk a ...
),
Kalinov most
Kalinov Most (Калинов мост, "guelder-rose bridge") is a Russian folk rock band, one of the most popular bands in Russia.
The band was formed in 1984 by vocalist and songwriter Dmitry Revyakin in Novosibirsk, Siberia, USSR. They ar ...
,
Alexander Bashlachev and
Yanka Dyagileva. Their music varied from simple lo-fi punk to indie rock (sometimes acoustic), and the core of their songs were the lyrics. Many albums were first self-released and distributed among fans via trading, then officially re-released years later. Lyrics were often obscene, and the musicians had major problems with the Soviet administration and
KGB. A notable act that was not a member of any of the three Rock-Clubs but nonetheless highly popular is
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...
band
Secret.
At that time the Russian
heavy-metal scene originated thanks to bands like
Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
,
Chorny Kofe and
Master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
(formed by a few ex-members of Aria).
The
glam-metal band
Gorky Park achieved high popularity in the west and was even aired on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
.
Russian punk's unique style is generally accepted to be most idealized by
Grazhdanskaya Oborona and by
Egor Letov's other projects. The music mixes equal parts Western punk and traditional Russian influences, with gritty production and extremely charged and political lyrics.
=Punk music movement
=
In the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
the punk-rock culture started in the 1980, mostly as a protest movement against the corruption of the regime and the sense there was "no future". It differed from
British punk culture in that the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
did not have an explicit class society and the society as such was communist; as a result,
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
punk became a protest against the whole social situation.
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
punks usually wore boots and coats found in military shops.
Also, while in the UK punk arose partly as a protest against more-established
rock-music genres like
progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
or
glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
, in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
all
rock music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
remained in the underground, which made for a certain solidarity between punk-rock fans and other rock fans in Russia.
Beside the traditional
anarchist
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessar ...
ideology, many Russian punks belong to the
National Bolshevik movement, with its founder
Eduard Limonov being a punk himself in his youth, and
Yegor Letov, the godfather of Russian punk, belonging to the movement.
Yegor Letov is considered the godfather of Russian punk with his band
Grazhdanskaya Oborona, which started performing in the early 1980s.
During
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
times, the band got in trouble with the authorities and each of the members was at some point arrested for their activities.
[Егор Летов: Конец наступает тогда, когда уничтожается живая энергия творчества. ''Периферийная нервная система'' fanzine, #2, Barnaul](_blank)
/ref>
In the late 1980s another band started operating in Russia, reaching a cult status: Sektor Gaza. They proclaimed themselves as "kolkhoz
A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz., a contraction of советское хозяйство, soviet ownership or ...
punk rockers", mixing elements from Russian village life with punk music. However, while some called the band "original" and "true folk punk", others criticized the band's style. Mikhail Gorsheniov from Korol i Shut
Korol i Shut (russian: Король и Шут, lit=King and Jester) were a Russian horror punk band from Saint Petersburg that took inspiration and costumes from tales and fables. In Russia, the band has achieved cult status.
History
The band ...
said: " Sektor Gaza were never a part of the punk rock wave! They have no idea in music at all".
Another cult band which started few years later was Korol i Shut
Korol i Shut (russian: Король и Шут, lit=King and Jester) were a Russian horror punk band from Saint Petersburg that took inspiration and costumes from tales and fables. In Russia, the band has achieved cult status.
History
The band ...
, introducing horror punk, using costumes and lyrics in the form of tales and fables. Through sophisticated texts and themes not usually explored by punk, and through a sophisticated punk sound, Korol i Shut
Korol i Shut (russian: Король и Шут, lit=King and Jester) were a Russian horror punk band from Saint Petersburg that took inspiration and costumes from tales and fables. In Russia, the band has achieved cult status.
History
The band ...
achieved the status of one of the most popular bands in Russia.
Russian punk achieved international attention when the members of the Pussy Riot band were sent to prison for singing a protest song against Putin in a church. However, in the Russian punk community the attitudes towards Pussy Riot as a punk band were mixed, as many don't define their music as punk.
=Tatars
=
Traditionally, Tatar rock music has been a Tatar language
Tatar ( or ) is a Turkic language spoken by Tatars mainly located in modern Tatarstan (European Russia), as well as Siberia. It should not be confused with Crimean Tatar or Siberian Tatar, which are closely related but belong to different ...
version of rock music in Russia. Therefore,the lyrics and vocals take priority over instrumental sounds. Some of the earliest Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different rock bands were Soviet bands Saq-Soq and Bolgar, as well as Başqarma from Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
, bands active in the late 1980s. Today the most popular Tatar rock bands are Alqanat (since 2005) from Aqtanış and Xat (since 2001) from Sarman. Some other popular bands are: KGB, Yar band, İlsöyä Bädretdineva, İsmail, rhymes and 116.
Other pop-rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...
groups include Malaylar, Yarda and Ataqlı Radio Şäxeslär. Pop singer Alsou has sung, at times, in her native Tatar.
From underground to publicity
The late 1980s were the years of breakthrough for the soviet rock music artists to the wide public. Political and social changes in the country were very important for this process.
The censorship was still present, but not as rigid as it was in the 1970s or early 1980s. It took years for the first Soviet rock bands to enter the radio and television programs, tour in major concert halls over the USSR, and to release their albums officially on Melodiya, in direct competition with the VIA groups.
The rock music situation changed during the perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
era. Many Russian rock bands were able to tour and record in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and United States for the first time. As a result, in 1989-1991 the situation was completely different from that of 1985. Moscow Music Peace Festival with western rock stars was held in Moscow, Gorbachev accepted Scorpions in Kremlin, and Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop a ...
produced an album by Zvuki Mu and Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British Pop music, pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (musician and producer), Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio alb ...
fame) produced '' Radio Silence'' by Boris Grebenshchikov for the release in the western world.
With Joanna Stingray's initiative, in 1986 the '' Red Wave'' compilation was released in the United States. It was a double split album
A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from " va ...
with four bands from Leningrad: Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
, Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
, Alisa, and Strannye Igry. One side of vinyl for each band. This compilation was the first official Russian rock release in the west.
Stingray sent copies of the release to Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and Gorbachev, supplied with a statement saying musicians already did what both presidents could not do diplomatically.
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
's reaction was an official release of a record by Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
in order to create an illusion that recordings of the band are also widely released in the USSR.
Television and film also contributed to the breakthrough of Russian rock to the public in the 1980s. New musical television shows, such as ''Muzykalny Ring'' (Музыкальный ринг) and ''Programma A'' (Программа "А"), invited rock artists for interviews and live shows. In the late 1980s, several films featuring Russian rock musicians as actors were released. These films include '' Igla'' and '' Assa'' featuring Viktor Tsoi and music by Aquarium and ''Taxi Blues
''Taxi Blues'' (russian: Такси-блюз, translit. Taksi-Blyuz) is a 1990 Soviet drama film directed by Pavel Lungin. It was entered into the 1990 Cannes Film Festival where Lungin won the award for Best Director. The film was selecte ...
'' featuring Pyotr Mamonov
Pyotr Nikolayevich Mamonov (russian: link=no, Пётр Никола́евич Мамо́нов, ; 14 April 1951 – 15 July 2021) was a Russian rock musician and the frontman of the Moscow band Zvuki Mu.
Early life
Pyotr Nikolayevich Mamono ...
. The Canadian filmmaker Peter Vronsky travelled to Moscow and Leningrad in February 1988 and shot a series of music videos with , Aquarium, Nebo i Zemlya, Zvuki Mu and other bands. The music videos were tied together into the documentary film ''Russian Rock Underground,'' which aired on MuchMusic television in Canada and on Italian television.
The 1990s: Post-Soviet era
The beginning of the 1990s are considered to be the end of the "classic" Russian rock era. The two events that mark its end are the death of Viktor Tsoi in 1990, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
in 1991. Nevertheless, the Russian rock sound continued to live and the new Russian rock sound of the '90s was based on it. Many Soviet rock bands, such as DDT, Nautilus Pompilius
The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect equiangular spiral, although it ...
, Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni () is a Russian rock band founded in 1969. Mashina Vremeni was a pioneer of Soviet rock music and remains one of the oldest still-active rock bands in Russia. The band's music incorporates elements of classic rock, blues, and ba ...
, were still popular. In 1996 the recording company Moroz started releasing the highly popular series Legends of Russian Rock.
In the mid-late 1990s the radio station Nashe Radio
Nashe Radio (russian: Наше радио, ''Our Radio'', pronounced ''Nashe radio'') is a Russian Rock music radio station. It was designed to promote Russian rock bands, as opposed to pop and Western music. Nashe is based in Moscow and broadca ...
had been created to promote Russian rock artists, broadcasting in all major Russian cities. Nashe Radio notably influenced the auditory taste and helped many artists to gain popularity. The radiostation founded Nashestvie, the largest open-air rock festival of Russian rock music performed yearly since 1999 and always headlined with famous rock acts.
Often aired by Nashe Radio, bands like Splean
Splean (russian: Сплин) is a popular Russian rock band, formed in Saint Petersburg in 1994.Андрей Бурлака. Рок-энциклопедия. Популярная музыка в Ленинграде – Петербурге. 196 ...
, Nochniye Snaiperi
''Nochnye Snaipery'' (russian: Ночные Снайперы, lit=Night Snipers) is a Russian rock group. It was founded in 1993 as an acoustic female duo of Diana Arbenina and Svetlana Surganova. Arbenina and Surganova played guitar and violin ...
, Smisloviye Galutzinatzii, Chicherina
Chicherina, officially Yulia Dmitrievna Chicherina (russian: link=no, Юлия Дмитриевна Чичерина), is a Russian pop-rock artist. She has been performing since 1997 and is part of the wave of Uralic rock along with Nautilus P ...
, and Bi-2
Bi-2 (russian: Би-2 ''Bi-dva'') is a Belarusian alternative rock band, formed in the 1980s in Bobruisk, Belarus. It was one of the most successful with many sales and chart-hits in Russia. Bi-2 was awarded MTV Russian Music Awards for Best Ro ...
have created a refreshed Russian rock sound which adopted many elements from Alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
. Dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the b ...
created a mixture between alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...
, electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...
and rapcore.
An eminent representative of the heavy metal music genre was Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
which had achieved great recognition and popularity among a wide audience in 1990s.
In the late 1990s, numerous punk, pop-punk and grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of ...
bands broke through. Sektor Gaza was first Russian band use of dirty words and dirty short story in its lyrics. The horror punk
Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered b ...
band Korol i Shut
Korol i Shut (russian: Король и Шут, lit=King and Jester) were a Russian horror punk band from Saint Petersburg that took inspiration and costumes from tales and fables. In Russia, the band has achieved cult status.
History
The band ...
managed to achieve a cult status and mainstream success, using fairy-tale inspired lyrics. Other notable punk artists included Pilot, Lumen, Tarakany!, and Nogu Svelo!
Nogu Svelo! (russian: Ногу свело!, lit=Cramp in the Leg!) is a popular Russian rock band from Moscow, usually associated with humor and parody and accessible and sometimes childishly simple melodies. They have experimented with many styl ...
who also gained major popularity. Many of them developed an original sound and involvement of unconventional instruments like violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
.
Ska punk
Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. (sometimes spelled skacore) is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 tone and ska with hard ...
was brought to popularity mainly by the band Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, notable of the extensive use of mat (Russian profanity) in its lyrics.
The Russian instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...
artist Victor Zinchuk reached international success with his solo career, and by that brought the Russian instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...
scene into a bigger audience.
Indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...
was represented by bands such as Masha i medvedi.
The western Pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...
sound was introduced by Ilya Lagoutenko's Mumiy Troll, who made their records in the UK under the guidance of UK producers. This less lyrically loaded and more energetic style frequently referred to as rockapops, which was also used by other notable musicians such as Zemfira, became prevalent among the younger public.
The Russian crime films ''Brother
A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-famili ...
'', with its soundtrack featuring the band Nautilus Pompilius
The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect equiangular spiral, although it ...
, and its sequel ''Brother 2
''Brother 2'' (russian: Брат 2, translit=Brat 2) is a 2000 Russian crime film. It is the sequel to the 1997 film ''Brother''. Much of it is set in Chicago.
Plot
The film opens with Danila Bagrov being interviewed on television with two f ...
'', which featured music from various Russian rock artists, brought many young fans to Russian rock.
The 2000s: Further development
The 2000s in Russian rock were marked by both a continuance of the 1990s and something of a comeback of the classic 1980s sound. In the years following the renaissance of Russian cinema and rock, rock in Russia seemed to gain enough ground to differentiate widely in various genres. The 2005 Live 8 concert in Moscow featured mainly Russian rock artists.
Alternative metal
Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...
, Nu metal
Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...
and metalcore
Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use ...
gained wider popularity at that time. In the mid-2000s, bands like Amatory, Tracktor Bowling, Grenouer
Grenouer is a Russian rock and metal band, formed in late 1992 in Perm. Their name is an intentional misspelling of grimoire, a magic textbook.
History
The debut was followed by other albums, released in Russia by labels like Irond, M ...
, Slot
Slot, the slot or Slots may refer to:
People
* Arne Slot (born 1978), Dutch footballer
* Gerrie Slot (born 1954), Dutch cyclist
* Hanke Bruins Slot (born 1977), Dutch politician
* Tonny Bruins Slot (born 1947), Dutch association football coach ...
, and 5 Diez were established and were intensively promoted by the Russian television channel A-One. The channel awarded many of them with the .
The Russian heavy metal scene continued to develop with power metal
Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...
bands like Catharsis
Catharsis (from Greek , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing" or "clarification") is the purification and purgation of emotions through dramatic art, or it may be any extreme emotional state that results in renewal and restoration. In its lite ...
and Epidemia, founded in the 1990s, receiving more attention, and progressive metal
Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad fusion music genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral ...
band Orgia Pravednikov rising to prominence. In 2002, Valery Kipelov left Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
and formed the band Kipelov with other ex-members of Aria.
Folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
music had a revival following Pelageya
Pelageya Sergeyevna Telegina (russian: link=no, Пелаге́я Серге́евна Теле́гина; before marriage Pelageya Sergeyevna Khanova; born Polina Sergeyevna Smirnova; 14 July 1986), known mononymously as Pelageya, is а Russia ...
's and Melnitsa's rise from underground acts to bands that were played on the radio, and the attention pagan metal bands like Arkona received.
Though the Russian progressive rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
scene had existed since the 1970s, it entered the public eye of Russian rock fans in the 2000s, with bands like Little Tragedies[">журнал "Автозвук"](_blank)
and The Gourishankar
The Gourishankar is a progressive rock band from Russia formed in 2001 by university friends guitarist Alexandr "Nomy" Agranovich ( Agranson) and keyboardist Doran Usher in the Russian provincial city Syktyvkar.
In 2002 the band released their ...
being its most obvious representatives. Since 2001, a prog-music festival named InProg
InProg was an international progressive rock festival held almost yearly since 2001 in Moscow, Russia. The festival was organised by the Russian Rock-magazine InRock.
The organizers of this festival called it "a festival of intellectual music ...
was held almost yearly in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. Its popularity constantly grew and in 2005 it turned from a local festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
into an international one. The Russian instrumental rock
Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes musical instruments and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style. Instr ...
scene with bands like EXIT project, Disen Gage, Dvar and Kostarev Group also received more recognition at that time.
The 2010s: Decline
Despite the fact many bands from previous decades are still active, like DDT and Splean
Splean (russian: Сплин) is a popular Russian rock band, formed in Saint Petersburg in 1994.Андрей Бурлака. Рок-энциклопедия. Популярная музыка в Ленинграде – Петербурге. 196 ...
, due to the lack of new bands gaining significant attention there is a common view that Russian rock is in decline. Ilya Chert from the band Pilot said: "I can see the decline of Russian rock. We are going back to the times, when those who are really talented and wise are operating in basements and clubs with the capacity of 50 people, as they don't commercialize themselves and no one commercializes them". Artemy Troitsky, the famous Russian rock critic, wrote an article called "Rock died a long time ago, but the funeral was impressive", where he brought up the lack of new faces in the Russian rock scene, and accused bands like Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni () is a Russian rock band founded in 1969. Mashina Vremeni was a pioneer of Soviet rock music and remains one of the oldest still-active rock bands in Russia. The band's music incorporates elements of classic rock, blues, and ba ...
and Garik Sukachev for "selling out" and not protesting against the current government. Already in 2008 MTV Russia cancelled the nomination "Best Rock Project", with the resulting headlines being "MTV Recognized the Death of Russian Rock".
From 2009 to 2013, Samara
Samara ( rus, Сама́ра, p=sɐˈmarə), known from 1935 to 1991 as Kuybyshev (; ), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara rivers, with a population ...
hosted a one-day international rock festival in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
— Rock over the Volga.
Rock musicians divided by the Crimean Crisis
The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.
The events in Kyiv t ...
in 2014 divided the Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
n rock community to supporters and opposition to the move. Former Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
leader and current leader of the band Kipelov, Valery Kipelov, expressed support of the "annexation", and stated that it should've been done in 1991. He performed at music festivals celebrating the event in Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
.
Konstantin Kinchev and his band Alisa, considered to be among the pioneers of Russian rock, expressed support of the move, and cancelled all of his concerts in Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...
. Kinchev had already expressed views supporting the return of Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
to Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
in 2008.
Among the other prominent figures in Russian rock who expressed support of the move included Chaif
Chaif (Чайф) is a Russian rock band formed in 1984 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Russia, by Vladimir Shakhrin and Vladimir Begunov. Their name is derived from the word ''chai'', meaning tea, and ''kaif'' (slang word), meaning pleasure. ...
, Chicherina
Chicherina, officially Yulia Dmitrievna Chicherina (russian: link=no, Юлия Дмитриевна Чичерина), is a Russian pop-rock artist. She has been performing since 1997 and is part of the wave of Uralic rock along with Nautilus P ...
, Alexander F. Sklyar, and Vadim Samoylov
Vadim (Cyrillic: Вадим) is a Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovene masculine given name derived either from the Persian ''badian'' (anise or aniseed), or from the Ruthenian word ''volod'' (russian: волод), meaning ''to rule'' or ''vaditi ...
(ex-Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fiction ...
).
On the other hand, Andrey Makarevich
Andrey Vadimovich Makarevich PAR (russian: link=no, Андре́й Вади́мович Макаре́вич; born 11 December 1953 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian rock musician and the founder of Russia's oldest ...
was one of the organisers of the 2014 anti-war protests in Russia, and harshly criticised the annexation Another prominent figure to criticise the annexation was the legendary leader of the band DDT Yuri Shevchuk
Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk (russian: Юрий Юлианович Шевчук; born 16 May 1957) is a Soviet and Russian rock musician and singer/songwriter who leads the rock band DDT, which he founded with Vladimir Sigachyov in 1980.
He is bes ...
Singer Zemfira expressed her opposition by wrapping herself in a Ukrainian flag when on stage.
Among the musicians who didn't criticise the annexation, however, spoke against war in general and called for peace between the peoples were such prominent figures as Boris Grebenshchikov (Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
) and Vyacheslav Butusov
Vyacheslav Gennadievich Butusov (russian: link=no, Вячеслав Геннадьевич Бутусов; born 15 October 1961) is a Russian singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Nautilus Pompilius and U-Piter. Since 2019, he has been ...
(Nautilus Pompilius
The chambered nautilus (''Nautilus pompilius''), also called the pearly nautilus, is the best-known species of nautilus. The shell, when cut away, reveals a lining of lustrous nacre and displays a nearly perfect equiangular spiral, although it ...
).
Characteristics
Fans of Russian Rock would frequently refer to most of the music on MTV Russia dismissively as "popsa", a dichotomy that appeared in the '80s when government controlled radio and TV stations would air only politically harmless music by performers such as Philipp Kirkorov. The lines are still quite clearly drawn, with bands such as Nogu Svelo!
Nogu Svelo! (russian: Ногу свело!, lit=Cramp in the Leg!) is a popular Russian rock band from Moscow, usually associated with humor and parody and accessible and sometimes childishly simple melodies. They have experimented with many styl ...
- who recorded a song with pop-singer Nataliya Vetlitskaya - being an anomaly.
In contrast to Western rock, Russian rock is often said to have less drive; it is characterized by different rhythms, instruments and more involved lyrics. Unconventional instruments have often been used in addition to the standard electric guitars and drums (very often violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
and wind instruments
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pit ...
).
Another characteristic of Russian Rock is being partly Folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers s ...
. Very often Russian Rock songs, especially those of the classic 80s bands, talk about national themes and feature elements from Russian folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
. Aquarium
An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
, DDT and Yuri Morozov are examples of this.
Considering its poetic roots (Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the ...
, bard music), it is not a big surprise that lyrics play a far larger role in Russian rock than Western rock. Vocal melody is sometimes eschewed in favor of a more impassioned delivery ( Viktor Tsoi, the lead singer of Kino
Kino may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters
* KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S.
* Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station
* KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel
Fictional entiti ...
, pioneered a characteristically strained, monotonous style of singing that has been imitated by many).
The metaphor of Russia facing both East and West is epitomized by the double-headed Eagle on its coat-of-arms. The Eastern influence in the Russian rock is heard in soundtracks from movies like '' Day Watch'' that has Tamerlane's legend of the Chalk of Destiny at its roots. Russian rock expressively used and integrated elements from Western and Eastern culture (especially from countries of the USSR).
Yngvar Bordrewich Steinholt (University of Tromsø
The University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway ( Norwegian: ''Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet''; Northern Sami: ''Romssa universitehta – Norgga árktalaš universitehta'') is a state university in Norway ...
, Norway) has written a PhD thesis in English that was printed by The Mass Media Music Scholars Press titled "Rock in the Reservation" (2004) about the Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
Rock Club. It also touched upon the history of rock in Russia and its counter-cultural tendencies.
Wordplay
In Russian, the original meaning of word " рок" is "fate" or "doom". The word is used almost exclusively in fiction, especially poetry (more widely used synonym is " судьба"). These correlate with the poetic roots of Russian rock and its attention to "serious" topics.
The wordplay is used in the song "This is Fate" (russian: Это рок) from Aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
's debut album '' Mania Velichia''."This is Fate" lyrics
See also
*''
Legends of Russian Rock''
*
Rock and roll and the fall of communism
References
External links
Largest and free mp3 archive of different russian rock gentres, oldies and new most important bands. Site in EnglishRussian Music on the Net: Site about Modern Russian music with many Rock bandsHistory of Rock Music In RussiaA list of Russian rock bands who reached a legendary statusAnnotated library of modern Russian music - including Russian rockInformation about Russian rock history
{{Rock music , state=collapsed
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...