Urmat Usenov (Урмат Усенов) is a Kyrgyz pop singer. These days he sings mainly in Kyrgyz, though he has recorded several songs in Russian and even occasionally sings in Turkish. Usenov grew up in Talas, a Kyrgyz village, but his parents sent him to Bishkek when he was 11 because they believed he had a […]

Sevara Nazarxon (or Севара Назархан) is an extremely popular contemporary Uzbek singer and composer. She sings both pop and Uzbek folk music, in Uzbek, Russian, and English, and her usual style combines both pop and folk. She is one of the most, if not definitely the most, successful and popular singers in the history of […]

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 […]

Slot (Слот) is a wildly popular Russian metal band. The band hails from Moscow, and was originally formed by male vocalist and main songwriter Igor Lobanov (Игорь Лобанов, nickname Cache) and Sergei Bogolyubskiy (Сергей Боголюбский, nickname ID) in 2002. Vocalist Teona Dolnikova (Теона Долникова) joined the band shortly thereafter, and she sang on the group’s […]

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 […]

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 […]

Svetlana Surganova (Светлана Яковлена Сурганова) is a Russian singer, musician, soloist, poet, and band leader most famous for her role in the Night Snipers (Ночные снайперы, 1993–2002) and as leader of the group Surganova and Orchestra (Сурганова и оркестр). Surganova, born in 1968, is originally from Leningrad and started to write songs at the age […]

Yulia Rutskaya (Юлия Руцкая) is a Russian-Kyrgyz pop singer, television host, and model who sings in Russian, Belarusian, and Kyrgyz. Originally from Vitebsk, Belarus, her family moved to Kyrgyzstan when she was five. She is a member of the significant Belarusian diaspora in Kyrgyzstan and has embraced her Kyrgyz side, singing in Kyrgyz at least […]

Saltanat Ashirova (Салтанат Аширова) is a Kyrgyz rock and pop singer known for her “crystal voice,” according to New Faces (Новые лица). She sings mostly in Russian. In addition to her solo career, she is known for her membership in the now-broken-up band Eles and in her new project, The M.A.P. She sings and plays […]