Nashe Radio plays popular music that isn't quite "pop." What's big in Russian-language rock, rap, punk, R&B, and alternative? Nashe Radio's all-Russian and eclectic play list can tell you. Once a month, SRAS provides a snapshot of what's at the top of their charts, with YouTube videos and additional commentary taken from the Russian Popular Music page of our Library.
1. «Счастье?»- Король и Шут
King and Jester is another veteran group, formed in 1988. Their style blends punk music with the epic stylings and black humor of their apparently vampire-obsessed lead singer Mikhail "Gorshok" (Jug) Gorshenev. ) The group’s songs often have horror story or fairy tale themes. The members cite many Western punk bands as influences and often perform wearing Misfits-style make-up onstage. The band holds a devoted cult following and their albums almost instantly top the charts after release.
2. «Песня о свободе» - ДДТ
DDT (or ДДТ in Cyrillic) is a popular Russian rock band founded by its lead singer, Yuri Shevchuk, in Ufa (Bashkirtostan) in south-western Russia in 1980. The band started its existence with cover-versions of songs by Rolling Stones, The Beatles and other Western rock-bands. For some time musicians even argued whether it was possible to play rock-music in Russian, unaware that many Russian rock groups were already finding success in Moscow and Leningrad (now St.Petersburg). After many changes in group’s lineup and eventual relocation to Leningrad, it became one of the most successful and prolific Russian musical groups of the 20th and 21st centuries.
3. «Заноза»- Би-2
Originally formed in Minsk, Belorussia in 1985, Bi-2 went through various incarnations before subduing all Russia with their aggressive rock arrangements and often epic, often romantic lyrics and vocals. The lead singer has developed an image and reputation as "the hero of maiden dreams," (romantic, heroic, but often sad). The above hit was featured as the theme song to a television showof the same name (Russia's answer to "Survivor").
4. «Шейк»- Алиса
Alisa is considered one of the most influential banks in Russian rock. They formed in 1983 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) and the group’s name is from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." The band's songs and lyrics started out as typical themes of rock and roll and social protest, but after lead singer Konstantin Kinchev's baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990, the band's lyrics began to take on the themes of Christianity and Slavic unity. This caused the group to lose some of its "hardcore" fan following but most of the "Alisa Army" (what their fans call themselves) have remained loyal.
5. «Увидимся скоро» - Сурганова и оркестр
“Surganova and Orkestr,” a Russian rock band, was founded in 2003 when Svetlana Surganova (formerly of the popular group Night Snipers) joined the band Northern Combo. Svetlana Surganova describes band’s style as VIP-Punk-Decadence. Most of band’s songs are written by Svetlana, some are based on the work of famous Russian poets, such as Joseph Brodsky, Nikolay Gumilev, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Osip Mandelstam, as well as modern authors.
