IZO

Music

Ramona Falls, Russia (thanks, HB).

15-year-old Ryazan schoolgirl Darya Suskina is an internet mini-star though she can't sing.

Balalaika cover of Mikhail Krug song Vladimir Central (via LJ viketz).


Artur Pirozhkov, Peredayz.

Mister Boss and Jimmy G, Went Long Way and Didn't Find Woman, 1995.

Music

Noize MC, The 31st. Lyrics (Botinok, in Russian); commentary (NR2, in Russian).

Download latest album by Alexander Zalupin, founder of "gay chanson" (via LJ art-quasar) (ifolder).

Alla Pugacheva is "mortally ill" (Paparatstsi, in Russian).

Music

In USA, prez Medvedev buys "three Hendrix records, two by [BB] King, plus music by Gil Evans, Blossom Dearie and Mark Murphy" (WP).

Gogol Bordello Tiny Desk Concert (npr).

Alexander Rybak accused of plagiarism again (gazeta.ru, in Russian).

Uncensored Piter.

Megapolis, Supertango (via LJ dmitrivrubel).

Cinema

Ministry of Culture approves second cinema union (stanis-sadal, in Russian). Report by Maria Semendyaeva (who used to work for me: I'm glad she's getting ahead in the world of journalism).

On Semyon Pinkhasov's documentary films (WP) (thanks, MK).

Biopic of Vladimir Vysotsky in the works (Variety) (thanks, MK).

Pop is first movie blessed by Russian Orthodox Church (AV) (thanks, MK).

Trailer for Stranger (Чужая), just released.

Russian businessman "Arkadi" purchases role in Lady Gaga Alejandro video (Trud, in Russian). UPDATE: "In Soviet Russia video actor pays you!" (thanks, AN).

Various music

Lika MC, Bi Bi Taxi. I think this is an old old clip.

Come On!!! Metrosexual.

Retro and other music

Ekaterinburg Military District HQ band, Austin Powers theme.

Twist from the 1965 movie The Foreign Girl

Red Elvises, Cosmonaut Petrov

Peter Nalitch represents Russia with this song in the Eurovision contest this week (final on 29 May).

Alyosha sings the Ukrainian entry; a song written in 1977.

Various music, girls, boys.

Dimaz, Natasha.

Moderately amusing vid.

Good cover of classic song by Yanka Dyagileva.

Tamara Gverdtsiteli and Bi-2, My Love

Aleksin, Young Tarts (уж извините англицизм). Harsh song, voyeuristic video maybe justified here.

Syava, Иди На Хуй

Ruble, Похуй Все (via LJ mrparker).

Youtube bans Sergei Shnurov song which he performs nude, although wearing a guitar; in the background a TV shows pornography (MK v Piter, in Russian). The clip's online on Russian sites, but every time I tried to open it, it crashed my browser.

Mona Kalina, Big Dick. IZO correspondent IW informs me that the woman singing and dancing here is Ilona Orel, the noted Russian gallerist.

Rare clips by Vadim Mulerman, who pinched Iosif Kobzon's wife, Veronika Kruglova, and found himself persona non grata in Soviet light-entertainment (via LJ avmalgin).

Rotoff, Star.

Various music

Lyudmila Lyadova, 1985.

Steklovata, 1990s (via LJ nefartoviy).

Klimbatika, Quarantine.

Basta, Under The Dome.

Syava's Ambush (Засада) is in Moscow on Saturday (Praktika Teatr).

Summer! Home-made video to what sounds like Peter Nalich song.

Book-club girls sing Viktor Tsoi.

More R. girls: Sazh, Chix.

Music, various

25/17 and Grot, Strength of Resistance [great crowd scenes].

Rabfak, My Russia.

PR (Porno Rap), Aty-Baty.

Some kind of pole-dancing pop: Gluc'Ose, That Kind Of Love.

Art legal & crime

Tel Aviv flat of late "Georgian" artist Meir Pichkhadze robbed of hundreds of thousands of shekels by two men who delivered flowers (Izrus, in Russian).

Kyrgyz pop star Mirlan Doutov found stabbed to death (RFE/RL).

Nevada District Court rules on the tangled ownership dispute about Norman Rockwell's Russian Schoolroom (artknows).

Igor Demarin's rock-opera Le Parfumeur, part I.

"Armenian Power Gang": What's real, what's parody?

Smolensk air-crash

Wojciech Seweryn, Polish artist whose father was killed at Katyn, died in the Smolensk air-crash (Chicago ST).

According to this Russian press article from last year, one of Kaczynski's TU-154 planes was serviced in Russia [quite possibly, both were serviced there] (Obozrevatel, in Russian). The plane that crashed was last serviced in February and seems to have had some kind of mechanical problem before landing, which caused the pilot to jettison fuel (Times). The pilot apparently ignored repeated instructions from the ground to divert [but if he was having to throw away fuel, was he able to divert?] On the other hand, Russia "rules out" technical malfunction (RFE/RL). Also: prez Kaczynski alienated everyone: Russia, Europe, Lech Walesa (NYT). UPDATE: more theories. Crash was caused by "VIP passenger syndrome" – Kaczynski pressured pilot to land despite warnings? Pilot's poor command of Russian was to blame? Russians wanted plane to divert so Kaczynski couldn't attend Katyn ceremony (Telegraph)?

Zemfira, Aeroplane.

50 Cent to play at Б1 Maximum club, Moscow, tonight (RIA Novosti, in Russian).

The late Anatoli Krupnov, On The Way (Дорожная); great video.

This is what I like to see: some older guys getting it on.

Sergei Mazaev at "50".

Boris Davidyan (aka Boka) in LA.

Eduard Khil's wordless Trolololo song (IZO, earlier) was in fact a censorship-beating tactic (CS Monitor) (thanks, MK)!

...[Khil] explained that the reason the iconic song has no lyrics is that the original ones, about a cowboy riding the range while his wife sits at home knitting socks, were banned as "too naughty" by Soviet censors of the day.  "A theme like that was unacceptable, so we decided to sing it without any words at all," he said. "So, in this case, I was an instrument rather than a singer."

Mikhail Boyarski, Businessman (via LJ max1976).

Cossack rap!

Eduard Khil taking Youtube by storm: last week there were 500K views, now (13 March) over 2 million (Youtube). Below: a later TV interview; best of the karaoke-style tributes; Hungarian version. And BONUS TRACK Valery Leontiev, Rondo Turkish March.

UPDATE:

Not yet over the Khil (via National Post).

Hitler hears Trolololo song:

Russia's Eurovision 2010 representative is Petr Nalich. He says there will be no dancing to accompany his performance (gzt.ru, in Russian). Interview (KP, in Russian).

Meanwhile, Ukrainian artistes have written to prez Yanukovich asking him to replace Vasili Lazarovich, the Ukrainian choice, because he was selected by underhand influence, not on merit (gazeta.ru, in Russian).

Видик к 8 марта (via LJ shtarker). Beautiful, hypnotic thing.

Mikhail Krug, Sucker (Фраер - OK, you want to know what it means (index, in Russian)?) (via LJ shtarker).

Rabfak, New Song Of The Motherland (via LJ max1976).

Kasta

Knock Yourself On The Head.

Everything's OK.

I Remember Everything.

On the lip-syncing of Eduard Khil (J E H Smith, with Youtube video):

Hill hasn't said anything, yet he bids farewell as if he has. What bit of reality is this meant to reproduce? What kind of perversion of that original reality does it involve? It's hard to react like Pascal or Tolstoy, since the art hasn't told us anything about the reality that's been transfigured. One can only say, in the manner of a YouTube commenter, WTF. Magomaev never invites you to say this. His interpretation makes perfect sense: he is a man in a night club enjoying himself, so much so that he feels inspired to use his very voice as a musical instrument. Hill is doing something altogether different. 

Click on the link above, watch the hypnotic footage. UPDATE: начинается...

Russian Society of Authors demands royalties of $83,000 for "illegal" Beyoncé concert in Moscow (Pravda).

Vasya Oblomov, Magadan.

Раша из гей.

Who they? Inspired maybe by Lolly Pop (radulova)?

Brigada S and Garik Sukachev, Organ of Internal Affairs.

Valeri Meladze, Actress.

Ariel.

Ex-USSR

Latvian website names drivers who display Russian flags in their "occupant automobiles" (Baltic Report).

Belarus veterans demand cancellation of Rammstein concert in Minsk (Charter 97, in Russian).

"Vladimir Putin's favourite rock-star", Nikolai Rastorguev of Lyube, gets seat in parliament (AFP) (thanks, MK). I see my description of one song as the "favourite song of Russian troops" could be amended (IZO, earlier).

Rabfaq, New Song of the Motherland (via dolboeb).

Marc Almond performs The Cranes (see IZO earlier) (thanks, RA).

(The late) Evgeni Agranovich, The Last Knight Of The Arbat.

Titomir, Moscow is Sh*t.

And: muscovites are taller, fatter and balder than the average Russian, likely to be short-sighted, depressed and have tooth-decay (Moscow-live, in Russian).

Leonard Cohen will play the Kremlin Palace on March 19 (Kursor, in Russian).

Rouble, Doshirak (whatever that means: unappetising Chinese noodles apparently) (via AA).

Noggano and Kupe, Vodka.