Arsen Zhumabekov (Арсен Жумабеков, though he goes by his first name alone) is a popular contemporary Kyrgyz pop star who sings in Kyrgyz, Russian, and English. His music is a bit different from that of some of the other most famous Kyrgyz singers of today—less dance-y, more melodic, fitting his more serious-sounding voice. From Talas, […]

Мirbek Аtabekov (Мирбек Атабеков) is known as the most famous Kyrgyz singer of today (or perhaps of all time). Limon.kg, a Kyrgyz online newspaper, has called him “our everything,” a title that refers to common way that Russians have of referring to Pushkin. He’s also a songwriter and starred in the 2014 Kyrgyz film Talisman […]

Nurbek Savitakhunov (Нурбек Савитахунов) is a Kyrgyz contemporary pop/rock singer who sings mainly in Russian. Less boy-band-pop-y than, say, fellow Kyrgyz stars Mirbek Atabekov and Omar, he has a smooth, easy-to-listen-to voice that he combines with somewhat harder rock backup. He’s often grouped with indie-folk bands, but he himself considers himself more of an urban […]

This Russian pop-rock and soft rock duo, formed in 2003, is actually named after American actress Uma Thurman. They typically write their band name with the (mostly) Latin letters as above, but occasionally one sees their name Russified as “УмаТурман” in Russian. Brothers Sergei and Vladimir Kristovski, who comprise the band, site a long-held adoration […]

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; […]

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, […]

Tatyana Bulanova (Татьяна Буланова) is a Russian singer from St. Petersburg. Growing up, Bulanova studied the piano in music school, and also began to play the guitar in her teens. For college, she originally enrolled in the library sciences department of the Leningrad Institute of Culture, but she soon moved to the vocal music department. […]

Shahzoda (Шахзода; real name Zilola Bahodirovna Musayeva, as it is spelled in Uzbek) is an Uzbek singer and actress. Shahzoda grew up in Fergana, in the Uzbek SSR. She was interested in music from her childhood, but has no musical education—she studied management at the International State University of Kyiv, but left the university to […]

Zhenya Milkovskiy (Женя Мильковский) is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian musician who sings, plays the piano and guitar, and writes his own music. Most recently, he is the leader of the band Nerves (Нервы), which blends many elements of R&B, pop, and rap with generally very soft lyrics and vocals. Milkovskiy’s musical education started early, when he […]