Russian

Arrhythmia is a romantic drama examining the lives of the young married couple; Katya and Oleg. Oleg is a paramedic played by Aleksandr Yatensko, whilst his wife Katya, played by Irina Gorbacheva, works as a nurse in the emergency hospital. The young couple together battle alcoholism, work-life in the medical field, and a drowning relationship, […]

Nashe Radio plays popular music that isn’t quite “pop.” What’s big in Russian-language rock, rap, punk, R&B, and alternative? Nashe Radio’s all-Russian and eclectic playlist can tell you. Once a month, SRAS provides a snapshot of what’s at the top of their charts, with YouTube videos and links to our Russian music site. Here’s how […]

Russkoe Radio plays pop music exclusively in Russian. What’s big in Russian-language pop and dance music? Russkoe Radio’s pop playlists can tell you. Once a month, SRAS provides a snapshot of what’s at the top of their charts, with YouTube videos and links to our Russian music site. Here is their lineup from February 26, […]

The brief list of online resources has been compiled for those interested in understanding late-Soviet music movements, particularly for rock and punk movements of Leningrad.   I. Resources in English   A. Lecture on Russian punk In the above virtual lecture, Brandeis University PhD candidate and writer Alexander Herbert explores themes detailed in his book […]

The 2014 film Звезда (The Star) is a satirical anti-fairytale written and directed by the esteemed Armenian-Russian film and TV producer, Anna Melikyan. While Melikyan’s art house work has won numerous awards and been given positive critical reviews, they have not been box office hits. Such is the case with The Star, which has earned […]

Русалка (Mermaid) is a 2007 Russian arthouse film very loosely inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Little Mermaid.” It follows the tale of an eccentric and determined young girl as she ventures from her small beach town by the Black Sea to contemporary Moscow and adjusts to life in the bustling city while pursuing an […]

Starting in the late 1970s, Leningrad’s rock scene introduced a new wave of western culture to the Soviet public. For some, this wave was a dangerous cultural phenomenon that went against Party norms, but by Perestroika, Soviet rock was well established and had captivated and inspired young listeners. It also created a new sphere of […]

Late-Soviet Siberia fell in love with punk. While rock bands like Kino and Alisa were making waves in Leningrad, the major industrial and scientific centers of Central Russia produced an underground punk genre that grasped audiences in the USSR and post-soviet diaspora. The cities of Tyumen, Omsk, and Novosibirsk were the centers of this movement. […]