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 […]
Zemfira (Земфира) is the stage name of Zemfira Talgatovna Ramazanova (Земфира Талгатовна Рамазанова), a Russian rock musician originally from Ufa, Bashkortostan. Zemfira has sold more than three million records over the course of her career, and continues to be popular in Russia and the former Soviet Republics. Zemfira was influenced from an early age by rock […]
Posle 11 (После 11, After 11) is a Russian folk-pop group, originally hailing from Saratov. The band got their start in 1999 when three Saratov Conservatory students—Yuri Postarnakov (Юрий Постарнаков), Andrei Zverev (Андрей Зверев), and Nikolai Feoktistov (Николай Феоктистов)—participated in a song competition in honor of Aleksandr Pushkin’s 200th birthday. Their song “Little Star” (“Звёздочка”) […]
Mumiy Troll is a rock, alt rock, and Britpop band founded in Vladivostok, Russia in 1983. The band’s name is a play on words, specifically on Moomin Troll , which is a series of Finnish children’s books. The band has a unique sound and style that, it seems, most people either really like or really […]
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 […]
Lena Katina (or Yelena; Лена Катина) is a Russian solo pop singer and former member of the legendary Russian duet t.A.T.u. Though she is best known around the world for her participation in t.A.T.u., she is a musician and individual in her own right, beyond the group’s long shadow. Katina grew up in Moscow, where […]
Absolute Rascals (Отпетые Мошенники) is a Russian pop boy band that hails from the suburbs of St. Petersburg. According to the group themselves, they are not sure when they were founded—“we think least of all about dates, numbers and sums. We’re more interested in notes, harmonies, lyrics”—but their first major concert took place in December […]
Gradusy (Градусы; “degrees”) is a Russian pop band from Stavropol, founded in 2008. It consists of Dmitry Bakhtinov (Дмитрий Бахтинов, bass guitar), who organized the group, Roman Pashkov (Роман Пашков, vocals, guitar), Ruslan Tagiev (Руслан Тагиев, vocals, DJ), and Viktor Golovanov (Виктор Голованов, percussion). Their first hit was the 2009 single “Director” (“Режиссёр”), which was […]
Vladimir Presnyakov (Владимир Пресняков) is a Russian singer from Yekaterinburg. He was exposed to music from a young age, since both of his parents were in the music industry. Presnyakov started playing around with the piano, guitar, and drums as a child, and started writing his own music when he was 11. He began singing […]
