Soviet music
Encyclopedia
Soviet music is the music composed and produced in the USSR. It varied in many genres and epochs. Although the majority of it was written by Russians, it was also influenced by various national minorities in the Soviet Republic
. The Soviet state supported musical institutions, but also carried out content censorship
. Music was closely monitored, but had more freedom than religion and speech.
According to Lenin:
. It gradually evolved from the eccentric experiments of the revolutionary era, such as orchestras with no conductors, towards classicism
favored under Joseph Stalin
's office. the Union of Soviet Composers
was established in 1932, and became the major regulatory body in Russia's music. Later in the 1930s, Joseph Stalin
enacted more boundaries for music, which was then further limited in content and innovation. Classicism was favoured, and experimentation was discouraged. For example, Shostakovich's veristic
opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
was denounced in Pravda
newspaper as "formalism
" and soon removed from theatres for years.
The music patriarchs of the era were Prokofiev
, Shostakovich
and Aram Khachaturian
, whose careers started before the Revolution. With time, a wave of younger Soviet composers, including Georgy Sviridov
, Tikhon Khrennikov
, Alfred Schnittke
managed to break through, partially thanks to the Soviet education system.
Many musicians from the Soviet era have established themselves as world's leading artists: violinists David Oistrakh
, Leonid Kogan, Gidon Kremer
, Viktor Tretyakov and Oleg Kagan
; cellists Mstislav Rostropovich
, Daniel Schafran, and Natalia Gutman
; violist Yuri Bashmet
; pianists Sviatoslav Richter
, Emil Gilels
and many other musicians.
Jazz
music was introduced to Soviet audiences by Valentin Parnakh
in 1920s. Singer Leonid Uteosov and film score composer Isaak Dunayevsky
helped its popularity, especially with the popular comedy film Jolly Fellows that featured a jazz soundtrack. Eddie Rosner
, Oleg Lundstrem
and others contributed to Soviet jazz music.
In late 1940s, during the "anti-cosmopolitanism" campaigns, jazz music suffered from ideological oppression, as it was labeled "bourgeois
" music. Many bands were dissolved, and those that remained avoided being labeled as jazz bands.
In the 1950s underground samizdat
jazz journals and records became more common to disseminate musical literature and music.
s produced a significant part of popular Soviet/Russian songs of the time, as well as orchestral and experimental music. During the 1930s, Sergei Prokofiev
's composed scores for Sergei Eizenshtein films, such as Alexander Nevsky
, and also soundtracks by Isaak Dunayevsky
that ranged from classical pieces to popular jazz. Among the pioneers of Soviet electronica
was 1970s ambient
composer Eduard Artemiev, best known for his scores to science fiction films by Tarkovsky. Because of propaganda
and censorship, even the film music had to be nationalistic
in nature, incorporating aspects of folk music and other Russian musical influences.
and Raimonds Pauls
. Among the most notable acts were Pesneri, a folk band from Belarus; Zemliane, Poyushie Gitari
, Yuri Antonov
with Arax, Stas Namin
with Tsvety
.
To break through into the mainstream with state-owned Soviet media, any band should have become an officially recognized VIA. Each VIA had an artistic director (художественный руководитель) - whom acted as manager, producer and state supervisor. In some bands, namely Pesniary, the artistic director was also the band's leading member and songwriter.
Soviet VIAs developed a specific style of pop music. They performed youth-oriented, yet officially approved radio-friendly music. A mix of western and Soviet trends of the time, VIA combined traditional
songs with elements of Rock
, Disco
and New wave music
. Folk music instruments were often used, as well as keytar
s. Many VIAs had up to ten members including a number of vocalists and multiinstrumentalists, whom were in constant rotation.
Due to state censorship, the lyrics of VIAs used to be "family-friendly". Typical lyrical topics were emotions such as love, joy and sadness. Many bands also praised national culture and patriotism, especially those of national minorities from smaller Soviet republics.
movement of the Soviet Union is deeply rooted in amateur folklore songs played by students, tourists and travelling geologists
. It became highly popular in 1960s and was sometimes considered as an alternative to official VIAs. Music characteristics of the genre consist of simple, easily-repeatable parties, usually played by a single acoustic guitar
player who simultaneously sang. Among the singer-songwriters, termed as "bards", the most popular were Bulat Okudzhava
, Vladimir Vysotsky
, Yuri Vizbor
, Sergey and Tatyana
Nikitins. Lyrics played the most important role in Bard music, and bards used to be more like poets than musicians.
Rock music came to Soviet Union in the late 1960s with Beatlemania
, and many rock bands arose during late 1970s: Mashina Vremeni
, Aquarium
, Autograph. Unlike VIAs, these bands were not allowed to publish their music and remained underground. The "golden age" of Russian rock
is widely considered to have been during the 1980s. Censorship mitigated, rock clubs opened in Leningrad and Moscow, and soon rock became mainstream Popular bands of this time period include Kino
, Alisa
, Aria
, DDT
, Nautilus Pompilius
and Grazhdanskaya Oborona
. New wave
and post punk were also trends in '80s Russian rock.
Republics of the Soviet Union
The Republics of the Soviet Union or the Union Republics of the Soviet Union were ethnically-based administrative units that were subordinated directly to the Government of the Soviet Union...
. The Soviet state supported musical institutions, but also carried out content censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
. Music was closely monitored, but had more freedom than religion and speech.
According to Lenin:
"Every artist, everyone who considers himself an artist, has the right to create freely according to his ideal, independently of everything. However, we are Communists and we must not stand with folded hands and let chaos develop as it pleases. We must systemically guide this process and form its result."
Classical music of the USSR
Classical music of the Soviet Union developed from the music of the Russian EmpireRussian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. It gradually evolved from the eccentric experiments of the revolutionary era, such as orchestras with no conductors, towards classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
favored under Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's office. the Union of Soviet Composers
Union of Soviet Composers
The USSR Union of Composers or Union of Composers of the USSR , , was a professional organisation of composers in the Soviet Union...
was established in 1932, and became the major regulatory body in Russia's music. Later in the 1930s, Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
enacted more boundaries for music, which was then further limited in content and innovation. Classicism was favoured, and experimentation was discouraged. For example, Shostakovich's veristic
Verismo
Verismo was an Italian literary movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s....
opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District (opera)
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is an opera in four acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op.29. The libretto was written by Alexander Preis and the composer, and is based on the story Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. The opera is sometimes referred to informally as Lady Macbeth...
was denounced in Pravda
Pravda
Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....
newspaper as "formalism
Formalism (art)
In art theory, formalism is the concept that a work's artistic value is entirely determined by its form--the way it is made, its purely visual aspects, and its medium. Formalism emphasizes compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture rather than realism, context, and content...
" and soon removed from theatres for years.
The music patriarchs of the era were Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
, Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
and Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian
Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was a prominent Soviet composer. Khachaturian's works were often influenced by classical Russian music and Armenian folk music...
, whose careers started before the Revolution. With time, a wave of younger Soviet composers, including Georgy Sviridov
Georgy Sviridov
Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov was a Soviet Russian neoromantic composer....
, Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Khrennikov
Tikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, leader of the Union of Soviet Composers, who was also known for his political activities...
, Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
managed to break through, partially thanks to the Soviet education system.
Many musicians from the Soviet era have established themselves as world's leading artists: violinists David Oistrakh
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh , , David Fiodorović Ojstrakh, ; – October 24, 1974, was a Soviet violinist....
, Leonid Kogan, Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...
, Viktor Tretyakov and Oleg Kagan
Oleg Kagan
Oleg Moiseyevich Kagan was a Soviet violinist, known for his chamber partnerships with the likes of pianist Sviatoslav Richter and cellist Natalia Gutman. He was also a significant proponent of modern music, in particular Berg's Violin Concerto...
; cellists Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
, Daniel Schafran, and Natalia Gutman
Natalia Gutman
Natalia Gutman is a Russian cellist. She began to study cello at the Moscow Music School with R. Sapozhnikov. She was later admitted to the Moscow Conservatory, where she was taught by Rostropovich, amongst others....
; violist Yuri Bashmet
Yuri Bashmet
Yuri Abramovich Bashmet is a Russian conductor and violist.Direct patrilineal descendant of Besht.-Biography:Yuri Bashmet was born on 24 January 1953 in Rostov-on-Don in the family of Abram Borisovich Bashmet and Maya Zinovyeva Bashmet . "Father's mother, Tsilya Efimovna, studied singing at the...
; pianists Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Richter
Sviatoslav Teofilovich Richter was a Soviet pianist well known for the depth of his interpretations, virtuoso technique, and vast repertoire. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Childhood:...
, Emil Gilels
Emil Gilels
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist, widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.His last name is sometimes transliterated Hilels.-Biography:...
and many other musicians.
1930-1950s Soviet jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
music was introduced to Soviet audiences by Valentin Parnakh
Valentin Parnakh
Valentin Yakovlevich Parnakh was a Russian poet, translator, choreographer, and musician who is best remembered as a founding father of Soviet jazz.- Early years :...
in 1920s. Singer Leonid Uteosov and film score composer Isaak Dunayevsky
Isaak Dunayevsky
Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky was the biggest Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who achieved huge success in music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film director Grigori Aleksandrov...
helped its popularity, especially with the popular comedy film Jolly Fellows that featured a jazz soundtrack. Eddie Rosner
Eddie Rosner
Adolph Ignatievich Rosner, also known as Eddie Rosner was a Polish and Soviet Jazz musician called "The White Louis Armstrong" or "Polish Louis Armstrong" in different sources. This is in part because of his rendition of the St. Louis blues...
, Oleg Lundstrem
Oleg Lundstrem
Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem was a Soviet and Russian jazz composer and conductor of the Oleg Lundstrem Orchestra, one of the earliest officially recognized jazz bands in the Soviet Union Oleg Leonidovich Lundstrem (also spelled Lundstroem, Lundström, ; April 2, 1916, Chita—October 14, 2005, near...
and others contributed to Soviet jazz music.
In late 1940s, during the "anti-cosmopolitanism" campaigns, jazz music suffered from ideological oppression, as it was labeled "bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
" music. Many bands were dissolved, and those that remained avoided being labeled as jazz bands.
In the 1950s underground samizdat
Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet bloc in which individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader...
jazz journals and records became more common to disseminate musical literature and music.
Film soundtracks
Film soundtrackSoundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
s produced a significant part of popular Soviet/Russian songs of the time, as well as orchestral and experimental music. During the 1930s, Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
's composed scores for Sergei Eizenshtein films, such as Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky
Alexander Nevsky was the Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Vladimir during some of the most trying times in the city's history. Commonly regarded as the key figure of medieval Rus, Alexander was the grandson of Vsevolod the Big Nest and rose to legendary status on account of his military...
, and also soundtracks by Isaak Dunayevsky
Isaak Dunayevsky
Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky was the biggest Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who achieved huge success in music for operetta and film comedies, frequently working with the film director Grigori Aleksandrov...
that ranged from classical pieces to popular jazz. Among the pioneers of Soviet electronica
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
was 1970s ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
composer Eduard Artemiev, best known for his scores to science fiction films by Tarkovsky. Because of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
and censorship, even the film music had to be nationalistic
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in nature, incorporating aspects of folk music and other Russian musical influences.
1960-70s: the VIAs
The 1960s saw the rise of the VIA (Vocalno-instrumentalny ansambl, vocal&instrumental ensemble) movement. VIAs were state-produced bands of professional musicians, often performing songs written for them by professional composers from the Composers' Union of the USSR, such as Alexandra Pakhmutova, Yan FrenkelYan Frenkel
Yan Abramovich Frenkel was a popular Soviet composer and performer.-Biography:Frenkel was born in Kiev, Ukraine. He was originally taught violin by his father, and later studied classical violin at the Kiev Conservatory under Yakob Magaziner...
and Raimonds Pauls
Raimonds Pauls
Raimonds Pauls is a Latvian and Soviet composer and piano player who is well-known and respected in Latvia and the former Soviet Union.-Music:...
. Among the most notable acts were Pesneri, a folk band from Belarus; Zemliane, Poyushie Gitari
Poyushchiye Gitary
Pojuschie Gitary were the Soviet Union's first rock band to reach a phenomenal rate of success and popularity in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and in other countries. For that reason, they are often nicknamed "the Soviet Beatles" in a manner not that different from Hungary's Illés and Poland's...
, Yuri Antonov
Yuri Antonov
Yuri Mikhailovich Antonov is a Soviet and Russian composer, singer and musician, People's Artist of Russia ....
with Arax, Stas Namin
Stas Namin
Stas Namin is a Russian-Armenian musician, composer, and record producer; artist and photographer; theatre and film director and producer; entrepreneur, promoter, and businessman...
with Tsvety
Tsvety
Tsvety, were a Soviet Russian VIA band, one of the first to feature certain elements of rock music. They were founded in the early 70's in the USSR by pianist and composer Sergey Dyachkov, bass guitarist and vocalist Alexander Losev, guitarist Stas Namin, guitarist and composer Vladimir...
.
To break through into the mainstream with state-owned Soviet media, any band should have become an officially recognized VIA. Each VIA had an artistic director (художественный руководитель) - whom acted as manager, producer and state supervisor. In some bands, namely Pesniary, the artistic director was also the band's leading member and songwriter.
Soviet VIAs developed a specific style of pop music. They performed youth-oriented, yet officially approved radio-friendly music. A mix of western and Soviet trends of the time, VIA combined traditional
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
songs with elements of Rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, Disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and New wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
. Folk music instruments were often used, as well as keytar
Keytar
A keytar is a relatively lightweight keyboard that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands...
s. Many VIAs had up to ten members including a number of vocalists and multiinstrumentalists, whom were in constant rotation.
Due to state censorship, the lyrics of VIAs used to be "family-friendly". Typical lyrical topics were emotions such as love, joy and sadness. Many bands also praised national culture and patriotism, especially those of national minorities from smaller Soviet republics.
1960-70s: Bard music
The Singer–songwriterSinger–songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
movement of the Soviet Union is deeply rooted in amateur folklore songs played by students, tourists and travelling geologists
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. It became highly popular in 1960s and was sometimes considered as an alternative to official VIAs. Music characteristics of the genre consist of simple, easily-repeatable parties, usually played by a single acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
player who simultaneously sang. Among the singer-songwriters, termed as "bards", the most popular were Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Okudzhava
Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He was one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author song"...
, Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
, Yuri Vizbor
Yuri Vizbor
Yuri Vizbor was a well-known Soviet bard and poet as well as a theatre and film actor.-Summary:...
, Sergey and Tatyana
Tatyana Nikitina
Tatyana Khashimovna Nikitina is a prominent Russian bard, physicist, and politician. She usually performs together with her husband, Sergey Nikitin....
Nikitins. Lyrics played the most important role in Bard music, and bards used to be more like poets than musicians.
1980s: Russian rock
Rock music came to Soviet Union in the late 1960s with Beatlemania
Beatlemania
Beatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
, and many rock bands arose during late 1970s: Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni
Mashina Vremeni is a Russian rock band founded in 1969. Mashina Vremeni was a pioneer in Soviet rock music, and remains one of the oldest still active rock bands in Russia...
, Aquarium
Aquarium (group)
Aquarium or Akvarium is a Russian rock group, formed in Leningrad in 1972 by Boris Grebenshchikov, then a student of Applied Mathematics at Leningrad State University, and Anatoly Gunitsky, then a playwright and absurdist poet.-History:...
, Autograph. Unlike VIAs, these bands were not allowed to publish their music and remained underground. The "golden age" of Russian rock
Russian rock
Russian rock refers to rock music made in Russia or in the Russian language. Rock and roll became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s , when the Soviet underground rock bands...
is widely considered to have been during the 1980s. Censorship mitigated, rock clubs opened in Leningrad and Moscow, and soon rock became mainstream Popular bands of this time period include Kino
Kino (band)
Kino was a Soviet rock band headed by Viktor Tsoi. It was one of the most famous Soviet rock groups of the 1980s.-History:The band was formed in the summer of 1981 in Leningrad, USSR Kino was a Soviet rock band headed by Viktor Tsoi. It was one of the most famous Soviet rock groups of the...
, Alisa
Alisa
Alisa is a Russian hard rock band, who are credited as one of the most influential bands in the Russian rock movement.-Biography:Alisa was formed in November 1983 by bassist Svyatoslav Zadery. The band's name originated from Zadery nickname...
, Aria
Aria (Russian band)
Aria is a Russian heavy metal band that was formed in 1985 in Moscow. Although it was not the first Soviet band to play Heavy music, Aria was the first to break through to mainstream media and commercial success. According to several public polls, Aria ranks among top 10 most popular Russian rock...
, DDT
DDT (band)
DDT is a popular Russian rock band founded by its lead singer, Yuri Shevchuk , in Ufa in 1980...
, Nautilus Pompilius
Nautilus Pompilius (band)
Nautilus Pompilius , sometimes nicknamed Nau , was a prominent Soviet/Russian rock band formed by the lead singer Vyacheslav Butusov and bassist Dmitry Umetsky while the two studied in Sverdlovsk Institute of Architecture . The band, with its various incarnations, was active between the years 1983...
and Grazhdanskaya Oborona
Grazhdanskaya Oborona
Grazhdanskaya Oborona is one of the earliest and most famous Russian punk bands and now maintains a huge army of fans, admirers, and followers. It inspired hundreds of subsequent Soviet and then Russian bands. The name of the band means "Civil Defence" in Russian...
. New wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and post punk were also trends in '80s Russian rock.
External links
- SovMusic.ru, Probably the biggest Soviet music archive at the Internet