Ivan Dorn (Іван Дорн in Ukrainian; Иван Дорн in Russian) is a Ukrainian, Russian-speaking performer.Known primarily today through his career as a pop musician, Dorn has also found success as a TV personality in Ukraine, and in a handful of acting roles—most famously as Kostya in Happy Guys (Весёлые Ребята, 2014). Dorn was born in Chelyabinsk, […]

Quest Pistols Show (simply Quest Pistols until 2014) is a unique and unusual Russian/Ukrainian … band, for lack of a better word. They often refer to themselves as a “show” (шоу) instead, and in their own words have, over the course of their existence, transformed from an “amateur ballet and freak boy band to a […]

Sogdiana (real name Oksana Nechitaylo, Оксана Нечитайло) is a Russian-Uzbek pop singer. She sings in Uzbek, Russian, and Chechen, though most often in Uzbek. Sogdiana’s family is Chechen, but she grew up in Uzbekistan—she was born in 1984 in Tashkent. She studied the piano in school and studied at a conservatory at the same time, […]

Nazgul Toktakunova (Назгуль Токтакунова) is a Kyrgyz pop singer. Some of her music—she sings in both Kyrgyz and Russian—is influenced by rap and hip-hop stylings, though most of her music is more generally pop-y. Toktakunova was born in 1987 in Bishkek. She always wanted to become a singer—and in 2015 she said she thought that […]

A’Studio (А’Студио) is a Kazakh-Russian pop group who has also gained popularity in Europe and the United States. Founded in 1987 by Kazakh musician Baigali Serkebaev (Байгали Серкебаев), A’Studio today is an ensemble of three musicians—Serkebaev, Vladimir Mikloshich (Владимир Миклошич), and Katie Topuria (Кети Топурия)—with the participation of drummer Yevgeniy Dalskiy (Евгений Дальский). In 1989, A’Studio’s […]

Band’Eros (Банд’Эрос) is a Russian R&B/hip-hop group that was founded in Moscow in 2005. The band’s name is a purposeful play on words – calling to mind both “banderos” – a Spanish word for an outlaw and “Band Eros” – referring to a certain sexuality within the group. The original members were Batishta (Kirill Petrov/Батишта, […]

Infinity (Инфинити—not a real word in Russian) is a Russian electronic/dance group. It was formed in 2007 by Tanya Bondarenko (Таня Бондаренко) and Aleksey Kutuzov (Алексей Кутузов). Before that, the two had created similar music under the name Black and White (Чёрное и Белое), without achieving much success. Bondarenko sings and writes songs; Kutuzov composes […]

Ruki Vverkh! (Руки Вверх!) is a Russian electronic pop group who takes their name from the ubiquitous DJ command for people to “get their hands in the air.”  The group’s name suits their musical style, which blends high-energy electronic pop with samples and aspects of world music. This popular group once worked as official spokesmen […]

Russkii Razmer (Русский Размер, Eng: “Russian Size”) is a Russian electronic group whose music falls somewhere among techno, trance, synth-pop and eurodance. The band has had a number of hits and is much loved in the Russian electronic music festival circuit. Russkii Razmer formed official in 1993, but founding members Dmitri Kopotilov (Дмитри Копотлив) and […]