Polina Gagarina (Полина Гагарина) is a Russian singer and Russia’s entry into the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, where she placed second in a difficult, politically charged atmosphere. Gagarina was interested in music from her childhood, often giving loud, heartfelt performances to her parents. The turning point for her was hearing Whitney Houston perform on TV; […]
Ivanushki International (Иванушки International) is a Russian band founded in 1994 by producer Igor Matvienko. The original members were Andrey Grigoryev-Apollonov, Kirill Andreev, and Igor Sorin. The name of the group came about when, after they had performed under several different names, someone in the studio where they were recording a song said, “What kind […]
Stanisława Celińska is a Polish theater and film actress born in 1947. She graduated from the State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw in 1969 and began acting professionally even before her graduation, debuting in Aleksander Fredro’s A Great Man for Small Matters (Wielki człowiek do małych interesow). Her first film was 1970’s Landscape after […]
Myslovitz is a Polish rock band that started in 1992 by Artur Rojek (vocals, guitar) and Wojkta Powaga (guitar) while they were students in Mysłowice. The name of the band is based on a Latin transcription of the name of their hometown. They were soon joined by brothers Jacek (bass guitar) and Wojtek Kuderski (drums), […]
Burned by the Sun 2 (Утомлённые сольнцем 2) is the sequel to the 1994 critically acclaimed Burned by the Sun. It consists of two parts, Exodus (2010; Предстояние) and Citadel (2011; Цитадель). The film takes place almost a decade after its prequel, during World War Two. In Exodus, Kotov (played by Nikita Mikhalkov, who also […]
Burned by the Sun (Утомлённые сольнцем) is a joint Russian and French Russian-language film released in 1994. The title of the film refers to a 1937 song, “The Burned Sun” (“Утомлённое сольнце”), which is featured several times in the film. The film was influenced by the real-life Nikolai Skoblin, a White Army officer who later […]
Dark World (Тёмный мир) is a Russian fantasy thriller released in 2010. It was inspired in part by several Russian fairy tales, including Baba Yaga and Kashchey the Immortal. It was directed by Anton Megerdichev, who is primarily known for the 2013 drama Metro (Метро). Dark World starred Svetlana Ivanova, known for her starring roles […]
Diskoteka Avariya (Дискотека Авария; “Disco Accident” or “‘Disco Crash’”) is a Russian rock group formed in 1988 in Ivanovo, an economically depressed city near Moscow. The original members of Diskoteka Avariya were Aleksey Ryzhov and Nikolai Timofeev, who met while studying at a local engineering university. They were joined several years later by Oleg Zhukov. […]
Dan Balan is a Moldovan singer who records music in Romanian, Russian, and English. Balan was born in Chișinău, Moldova’s capital. His father, Mihai Balan, was a Moldovan diplomat and is now the head of Moldova’s security service. Balan’s interest in music arose when he was a child. He received his first accordion when he […]
Nyusha (Нюша) is a popular Russian singer from Moscow. Born Nyusha Vladimirovna Shurochkina (Нюша Владимировна Шурочкина) to a family of musicians, her musical career started early, when at the age of five she recorded a song called “Song of a Big Bear” (“Песенку большой медведицы”). She now goes by her first name only. She did […]
Oksana Pochepa (Оксана Почепа) is a Russian singer who has gone by the name Akula (Акула; “shark”) for much of her musical career. She was born in Rostov-on-the-Don and started playing music as a child, performing with children’s musical ensembles. She started attending music school when she was nine, supported by her father, who wanted […]
Sergey Lazarev (Сергей Лазарев) is a Russian singer who represented Russia in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Sergey Lazarev’s music career started when he was eight, when he began to sing in children’s musical groups and act in musical theater. He joined the children’s music group Neposedy (Непоседы; “fidgety people”), where he met Vlad Topalov, […]
