Pilot (Пилот; sometimes also written PilOt or PILOT) is a Russian grunge/punk/metal/rock/folk band from St. Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1997 by Ilya “Devil” (Илья “Чёрт”; real name Ilya Knabengof, Илья Кнабенгоф), the band’s singer. The other members were Roman Chuikov (Роман Чуйков; guitar), Stas Markov (Стас Марков; bass), and Vitya Kuzmichev (Витя Кузмичев; […]

Splean (Сплин; the misspelling of “spleen” in English is intentional) is a well-established post-Soviet Russian rock band. The name was inspired by a poem by Sasha Chyorniy (Саша Чёрный), a Silver Age poet, which referenced the depression-like ailment of spleen. The band was founded in 1994 by Aleksandr Vasilyev (Александр Васильев). Before this, Vasilyev had […]

Sevara Nazarxon (or Севара Назархан) is an extremely popular contemporary Uzbek singer and composer. She sings both pop and Uzbek folk music, in Uzbek, Russian, and English, and her usual style combines both pop and folk. She is one of the most, if not definitely the most, successful and popular singers in the history of […]

Pyotr Nalich (Пётр Андреевич Налич) is a Russian singer-songwriter who sings in Russian, English, Italian, French and Babury (Бабури), an invented language. Nalich’s songs are often funny, at times comparable to children’s songs. All of Nalitch’s songs are available for free or “pay what you want” download on his website and, as he declared in an […]

Pelageya (the stage name of Pelageya Khanova, Пелагея Сергеевна Ханова) is a Russian singer known for her versions of folk songs of various nations, romances, and other compositions performed in rock arrangement. Pelageya was born into a musical family and showed herself as a talented singer from a very young age. Her mother, Svetlana Khanova […]

Aleksandr Galich (Александр Галич; originally Ginzburg) was a Russian/Ukrainian singer-songwriter, bard, poet, and Soviet dissident who died in 1977. He is well-known enough, and beloved enough, to be mentioned in the same breath as Vysotsky. He was born in present-day Ukraine (Dnepropetrovsk) to a family who enjoyed, though did not create or participate in, music […]

Paperny T.A..M… (Паперный Т.А..М…) is a Russian music group that was founded in Moscow shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its leader is Aleksey Mikhailovich Paperniy (Алексей Михайлович Паперный; the T.A..M… stands for “fellowship of actors and musicians” (товарищество актёров и музыкантов), though information about the strange system of periods/ellipses is not forthcoming. […]

Vladimir Vysotsky (Владимир Высоцкий) was one of the most celebrated figures of the late Soviet underground cultural scene. He is best known as a Russian singer, performer, and poet and one of the founders of the Soviet bard tradition, but he was also an inspiration for many members of Soviet society who disagreed with the […]

Perfect is a Polish rock band founded in 1977. It was fantastically popular in its early years and has continued to enjoy success even up to the present day, despite breaking up and getting back together multiple times. The original members of the band were Wojciech Morawski (drums), Zdzislaw Zawadzki (bass guitar), Paweł Tabaka (keyboards), […]