Russian

Gleb Samoyloff (Глеб Самойлоff, original name Gleb Samoylov, or Глеб Самойлов) and The MATRIXX—subsequently shortened to just The MATRIXX in 2013—is a Russian rock band with punk and goth influences. Rising from the ashes of Samoilov’s previous musical collaboration, Agata Kristi (Агата Кристи)—which he joined in 1987 but which fell apart in 2009—The MATRIXX has […]

7B (7Б) is a Russian rock band based in Moscow.  The name 7B comes from a medical code that stands for a subtype of schizophrenia. After being diagnosed with the condition, band founder Ivan Demyan (Иван Демьян) chose to use the name for the band. The current lineup of the band includes Demyan (vocals, acoustic guitar, lyrics), […]

Doctor Zhivago is a 1965 British–Italian romantic drama set in Russia in the years leading up to World War I and the time during World War I and the Russian Civil War. The movie was based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, which was banned in the Soviet Union due to its independent-minded stance on the October […]

Konets Filma (Конец фильма; “end of the film”) is a Russian rock band. Active since 1998, when it was founded by Russian natives of Estonia, it currently includes Evgeny Feklistov (Евгений Феклистов; vocals, acoustic guitar, songwriter), Pyotr Mikov (Пётр Миков; guitar), Aleksey Pleshchunov (Алексей Плещунов; bass guitar), Aleksey Denisov (Алексей Денисов; drums) and Stepan Tokaryan (Степан Токарьян; keyboards, backing […]

Geegun (Джиган) is the stage name for Ukrainian born hip-hop artist and DJ Denis Aleksandrovich Ustimenko-Weinstein (Денис Александрович Устименко-Вайнштейн). The artist has remarked upon his adopted name as a combination of the second half of the American hip-hop abbreviation for “original gangster”—O.G.—and a transliteration of the English “gun,” due to his fondness for firearms. Besides being […]

IOWA is an indie-pop group from Mogilev, Belarus, who sing in Russian. A relatively young band, they have only released one album since their inception in 2009, Export (2014; no Russian or Belarusian title). The band’s moniker contains several references, namely the US state, an American acronym—Idiots Out Wandering About—and an album by the metal […]

Gogol Bordello is a self-styled “gypsy punk” band that formed in Manhattan, NY, in 1999. The band’s unique fusion of influences is largely the brainchild of frontman Eugene Hütz’s own unconventional history. Hütz, born Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Nikolayev-Simonov (Евгений Александрович Николаев-Симонов), is a Ukrainian-born expat whose Romani heritage (his mother is partially of Servitka ancestry) inspired […]

Ivan Dorn (Іван Дорн in Ukrainian; Иван Дорн in Russian) is a Ukrainian, Russian-speaking performer.Known primarily today through his career as a pop musician, Dorn has also found success as a TV personality in Ukraine, and in a handful of acting roles—most famously as Kostya in Happy Guys (Весёлые Ребята, 2014). Dorn was born in Chelyabinsk, […]