Neuromonakh Feofan (Нейромонах Феофан) is a mysterious and extraordinary product of the Russian club scene. The name “Neuromonakh” is derived from “Neurofunk,” a subgenre of drum and bass, and the Russian word for “monk.” The band sings exclusively in Russian, but mixes contemporary language with obsolete words and Old Church Slavonic to create epic verses […]

Aygul Barieva (Айгуль Бариева in Russian) is a renowned Tatar singer who’s been performing now for more than 20 years. She’s a Distinguished Artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, among many other awards. Most of her repertoire is in the Tatar language, though she occasionally performs in Russian as well. Barieva is from Kazan, the capital of […]

Aminata Savadogo (she often goes by just Aminata) is a Latvian contemporary singer. Her music is influenced by her multiethnic roots—Russia, Latvia, and Burkina Faso—and displays a sound refreshing and unusual in today’s Latvia. She sings mostly in English, sometimes in Russian, and rarely in Latvian. According to her official biography, “her strong and unique […]

Max Korzh (Макс Корж) is a contemporary Belarusian rap/hip-hop singer. While most of his music is in Russian, he does have the odd song or video clip that includes some Belarusian. Korzh attended musical school outside Brest, Belarus, and founded his first band, LunClan, with some friends when he was 16. The band, along with his next […]

Brothers Grim (Братья Грим—spelled differently from the original Brothers Grimm; грим means stage or film makeup in Russian, but that might be coincidence) is a Russian soft rock group. It was founded in 1998 by the brothers/twins Grim—actually Konstantin (Kostya) and Boris (Borya) Burdaev (Констаинтин/Костя Бурдаев; Борис/Боря Бурдаев), who went by Konstantin Grim and Boris […]

Zveri (Звери; “beasts”) is a Russian rock group formed in 2001, one of the biggest and best-known to emerge in Russia in the twenty-first century. Its founder was Roman Bilyk (Роман Билык), who goes by the name Roma Zver (Рома Зверь). Zver grew up in Taganrog and attended a construction and economics institute nearby before […]

Dzhango (Джанго) is the stage name of Aleksey Viktorovich Poddubniy (Алексей Викторович Поддубный), a Ukrainian and Russian pop, rock, and folk composer, vocalist, and leader of a band of the same name. The band Dzhango became especially well-known in Russian and Ukraine after their track “Cold Spring” (“Холодная весна”) was featured on the soundtrack of […]

Potap and Nastya (Потап и Настя) are a Ukrainian pop/rock duo. They sing mainly in Russian, occasionally in English, and rarely in Ukrainian. Their linguistic preferences have brought them controversy in their native Ukraine, but they remain a highly popular contemporary group, and they affirm that they are fully Ukrainian, despite singing in Russian. The group consists […]

Yulia Volkova (Юлия Олеговна Волкова) is a Russian singer and actress best known for her role in the group t.A.T.u. alongside Lena Katina (Елена Сергеевна Катина). After her work with t.A.T.u., Volkova has acted in film and television and, more recently, embarked on a solo musical career. Volkova’s biggest success as a musician came from t.A.T.u. […]