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 […]

Nervy (Нервы; “nerves”) is a Ukrainian alternative-rock band led by singer and pianist Zhenya Milkovskiy (Женя Мильковский). He formed the band in 2010 after his solo career, which he had begun several years earlier, didn’t yield the results he wanted. The original members of the band were Milkovskiy (vocals, guitar), Dmitry Dudka (Дмитрий Дудка; bass guitar), […]

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), […]

Louna (in Russian Луна, though they actually go by the Roman spelling—it means “moon”) is a pretty recently established Russian rock group. The name comes from the nickname of one of the founders, Lu (Лу; actually Lusine Gevorkyan, Лусинэ Геворкян), an ethnic Armenian. The group was founded in 2009 by two of the members of […]

Kalinov Most (Калинов Мост; translates as “Kalinov bridge”) is one of the most popular Soviet and Russian rock groups of all time. They were born and grew up in Siberia—Novosibirsk, to be exact. They play what can be described as folk rock, but they prefer to describe themselves by their very own adjective, “Kalinovmost-ish” (Калиновмостовский). […]

Valerii Leontiev (Валерий Леонтьев) is a Russian pop singer who has been touring, recording, and performing extensively since the 1970s. He was born in Ust-Usa, in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, but grew up in Arkhangelsk oblast. He sang in his school choir and could be found in drama circles as a child. When […]

Aleksandr Bashlachev (Александр Башлачёв), nicknamed SashBash (СашБаш, for Sasha, the common nickname for Aleksandr) was a Soviet/Russian singer-songwriter, poet, and bard, a popular performer in the Soviet underground circuit. Born in Cherepovets, Vologda oblast, Bashlachev went to school and university there and initially worked in metallurgy. He later moved to Sverdlovsk to study journalism but […]

Nursultan Azykbaev (Нурсултан Азыкбаев) is a Kyrgyz pop singer who has extremely recently come to the forefront of the Kyrgyz pop scene. He sings in Kyrgyz, Russian, and English. Azykbaev, only 21 years old, is currently studying flute performance at the Kyrgyz State Music Academy—he is in his third year. Azykbaev made waves recently when […]