t.A.T.u. (originally Tatu in English and Тату in Russian, and eventually marketed under t.A.T.u in both languages) is perhaps the most famous modern Russian band. Well known not only in Russia but around the world, it was founded in 1999 by producer Ivan Shapovalov and composer Aleksandr Voytinskiy. For the entire life of the band, […]
Serebro (“silver”; the band’s name is Russian but spelled in the Roman alphabet even in Russian contexts) is a girl pop group that was founded by producer Maksim Fadeev in 2006. Fadeev is a producer on the TV show Star Factory (Фабрика звёзд), the show that also led to the creation of Fabrika and Korni, […]
Fabrika (Фабрика; “factory”) is a Russian pop band whose current members are Irina Toneva (Ирина Тонева), Aleksandra Savalyeva (Александра Савальева), and Aleksandra Popova (Александра Попова). The band was started in 2002 through the TV show Star Factory–1 (Фабрика Звёзд–1), produced by Igor Matvienko, and consisted of Toneva, Savalyeva, Sati Kazanova (Сати Казанова), and Maria Alalykina […]
Legend Number 17 (Легенда №17) is a 2013 Russian biopic about Russian/Soviet hockey player Valeriy Kharlamov (Валерий Харламов). He was one of the best-known Soviet hockey players and was recognized worldwide. He participated and was successful in several Olympics and other Soviet and international competitions. He died in 1981 at the age of 33 in […]
Poddubny (Поддубный; The Iron Ivan in English) is a 2014 Russian biopic about Ukrainian/Soviet professional wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Poddubny was born in 1871 in what is now central Ukraine (it was part of the Russian Empire at the time), and he began a career in the circus and then in wrestling. He won championships all […]
Prom (Выпускной) is a 2014 Russian comedy. It takes place at the end of the school year in Nizhny Novgorod as various students close to graduation prepare for their senior prom (or rather the Russian equivalent). The main characters include a couple who are trying to make plans for the future but whose parents are […]
Anita Lipnicka is a Polish singer and songwriter who has steadily been gaining a solid reputation in Polish pop culture over the past twenty years. She is from Piotrków Trybunalski, a small city in central Poland. Lipnicka started her career with the popular band Varius Manx in 1993. Though the band existed before Lipnicka joined, […]
Piotr Bukartyk is a Polish singer, composer, and artist. His personal style and artistic legacy can be compared to figures such as Mirosław Czyżykiewicz and Marek Grechuta. Bukartyk was born in Zielona Góra and grew up in Gorzów Wielkopolski, a small city in northwestern Poland. He started singing and writing music in high school and […]
Marek Grechuta is a Polish singer and songwriter who was born in 1945 in Zamość and died in 2006 in Krakow. He worked in multiple artistic media, including architecture, sculpture, and painting, as well as music. He is notable for his participation in the musical genre of sung poetry, or “poezja śpiewana.” Grechuta grew up […]
Mirosław Czyżykiewicz is a Polish graphic designer, poet, singer, and composer. Czyżykiewicz started playing the guitar when he was 14, and started singing and accompanying himself in his hometown of Gorlice during his teenage years. He also started participating in the Let’s Sing Poetry (Śpiewajmy Poezję) festival in Olsztyn. Czyżykiewicz originally trained as a graphic […]
Absolute Rascals (Отпетые Мошенники) is a Russian pop boy band that hails from the suburbs of St. Petersburg. According to the group themselves, they are not sure when they were founded—“we think least of all about dates, numbers and sums. We’re more interested in notes, harmonies, lyrics”—but their first major concert took place in December […]
Korni (Корни; “roots”) is a Russian pop boy band. It was founded in 2002 through the TV show Star Factory (Фабрика звёзд) by producer Igor Matvienko, who is also responsible for the bands Fabrika (“factory”) and Ivanushki International. Star Factory debuted on Russia’s Channel One in 2002 and was a huge success. It featured 16 […]
