MTV Russia is just like MTV everywhere else - except that it plays some Russian stuff too. They also have a program called "Русская 10-тка" (Russian 10) devoted to the best Russian-language pop currently on the market. Once a month, SRAS provides a snapshot of what's at the top five of that chart, with YouTube videos and additional commentary taken from the Russian Popular Music page of our Library.
1. «Одиночка» - МакSим
The pop singer's real name is Marina Maksimova. The nickname Maksim came from her older brother, with whom she spent much of her time growing up in Kazan, Russia. Her brother and friends would gather in their apartment building's courtyard to play guitar together and sing and she credits him with a great deal of her musical inspiration.
2. «Синими, желтыми, красными» - Иван Дорн
Ivan Dorn was born in Chelyabinsk, Russia, but his family later moved to Ukraine where his father worked at the site of former Chernobyl power plant. Until recently, Ivan was known primarily as a Ukrainian singer and TV host, but now his star is rising in Russia as well. He started singing at the age of six and very successfully coupled his love for music and singing with yachting, tennis, professional ballroom dance competitions, chess, and soccer. From 2007 to 2010 Ivan joined Anya Dobrydneva in a duet called “Para Normalnykh,” a play on the word “paranormal” (in Russian: “паранормальный”) that actually means “a pair of normal people.” In 2010, he started his solo career and in May 2012 came out with his debut solo album Co’N’Dorn (written with English letters). The name of the album appears to be “Dorn and Co” written in colloquial slang and backwards, probably referring to the fact that many of his songs were written in partnership with other artists and wanting to give those partners top billing.
3. «Нас больше нет» - Джиган
Geegun (real name - Denis Ustimenko-Vaynshtein) - This hip-hop artist from Black Star Inc. (a company founded and headed by Russian-language rapper Timati), got his start as a DJ and MC in Ukraine. He then began to collaborate with several local musicians, which led to creation of his first tracks. Geegun leads a healthy lifestyle and is actively involved in various social programs devoted to healthy nutrition. He is also a master kickboxer and a champion of Ukraine in hand-to-hand fighting.
4. «Young Hearts» - DJ Smash
Real name Andrei Shirman, DJ Smash spent his childhood years in the recording studio watching his father, who was a professional musician. He claims to have gotten his stage name from opening a Russian-English dictionary and picking random words until he found something he liked. By remixing retro 80s hits with a techno-house flavor, DJ Smash has created his own style of dance music he calls "retrohouse."
5. «Пусть пригодится»- Влади (Каста)
Kasta is a group of young rappers originally from Rostov-na-Danu. Having developed a small, local following, they landed a place in the festival "Rap Music 99" and eventually were signed to Respect Productions by producer Arkadiya Slutskovskogo. In 2002, the group achieved super-stardom when "Горячее время" was featured on the big-budget Russian action flick AntiKiller. The next year they were nominated "Best Russian Band" at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
