Korni (Корни; “roots”) is a Russian pop boy band. It was founded in 2002 through the TV show Star Factory (Фабрика звёзд) by producer Igor Matvienko, who is also responsible for the bands Fabrika (“factory”) and Ivanushki International. Star Factory debuted on Russia’s Channel One in 2002 and was a huge success. It featured 16 […]

Lolita Milyavskaya (Лолита Милявская) is a Russian-Ukrainian pop singer and TV host. She often goes by her first name alone. Lolita was born in Mukachevo, Ukraine. Her mother was a singer, and her father was her producer and concert director as well as an orchestra conductor. Lolita began singing informally when she was 10 but […]

Tanya Teryoshina (Таня Терёшина) is a Russian pop singer and model. She was born in Budapest—her father was a Soviet military official, so the family moved frequently, and she grew up in Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, and finally Smolensk, Russia. She attended an art institute in Smolensk, where she studied painting, but she also participated in […]

Mordor is a Russian industrial metal band. The members of Mordor perform under psudeonyms: Orkus (Оркус) on vocals, Wolffang (Вольфган) on guitar, Hombre Pajaro (Омбре Пахаро) on bass, and Sarto (Сарто) on drums. The name is a reference to a location in the Lord of the Rings series of books. According to their website, Mordor’s […]

Iva Nova (Ива Нова; the name translates to “new willow”) is a Russian experimental folk-punk group. They combine elements of punk, blues, tango, and other styles with Russian folk music, creating a sound that has been hailed by rock journalists as radically innovative and interesting.  Their band website proclaims that they’re an “alternative ethno-extreme that […]

Bobsleigh (Бабслей—though note that this is not the usual Russian word for “bobsleigh” and is perhaps also a play on the Russian word баба, “woman”) were one of Russia’s first successful folk-punk bands. The band formed in St. Petersburg in 1998 initially as a bit of a joke. The members all loved folk music, but, […]

Alisa (Алиса) is a legendary Russian metal and hard rock band. Starting in St. Petersburg in 1983, Alisa has since released nineteen studio albums to date and spawned an entire subculture of fans known as the Alisa Army (Армия АлисА), notorious for their wild behavior at concerts. Alisa formed out of the ashes of Soviet […]

Andrei Shirman (Андрей Ширман), also known as “Smash”, is a successful Russian electronic and house DJ. He performs in Russian and English, generally favoring English and occasionally mixing the languages in one song. Shirman was born May 23, 1982 in Perm, Russia.Both of his parents had a love for music. His father was a jazz […]

NAIV (НАИВ) is an internationally known and politically outspoken Russian punk band formed by army friends Maksim Kochetkov and Aleksandr Ivanov. In Russian, their name is an acronym for “New Harlequins and Voltigeurs” (НАИВ: Новые арлекины и вольтижёры). After putting out a DIY demo tape, NAIV’s first studio album, Switch-Blade-Knaife, titled in English and featuring […]