It is more apparent every day that people are loosing their human rights in Russia today as was the case during the Soviet Union era. The difference today is that there is more international attention being drawn to this problem. U2 and Bono recently did their first performance in Russia.
For more on this story follow this link http://www.npr.org/2011/01/04/132620334/yuri-shevchuk-russias-musical-advocate-for-democracy
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Yuri Shevshuk pushes Putin's buttons
Appearing in the Saturday, July 17 edition of the New York Times, is Michael Schwirtz articles about the confrontation between Yuri Shevchuk and Valdimir Putin. Things haven't changed much in Russia since 1989 and Yuri is there as a reminder that they still is a long road to ahead to change. Please go here for the article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/world/europe/17rocker.html
Here is a little on the background http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/world/europe/01russia.html?ref=europe
Here is the youtube link to the meeting that caused the latest fury http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtyQHfNc3nk&feature=related
Here is a little on the background http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/world/europe/01russia.html?ref=europe
Here is the youtube link to the meeting that caused the latest fury http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtyQHfNc3nk&feature=related
Monday, February 8, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The guitar that started it all
This hand made guitar became the most important instrument in the launching of the Soviet underground movement. Completely hand build right down to the pick ups. This guitar would be shared among musicians for their performances. Its caretakers considered it their strongest weapon and it was protected and handled with great care. It passed from hand to hand giving bands a musical voice and expression to their ideas. Its history follows the history of Soviet contemporary music passing through the hands of the most influential musicians of this period. It now resides in the Red Tape Unlimited archives.
USSR&R, Rock on a Red Horse - The Film
USSR&R, Rock on a Red Horse
The most comprehensive film documenting the underground musical movement in the Soviet Union and how it was the catalyst for perestroika.
“Right now we are at a turning point…just push a little harder. There is a storm inside…a civil war in every one of us. It’s already spilling out into the streets.” (Yuri Shevchuk, DDT)
Soviet contemporary underground music created a revolution a massive youth movement that gives concrete testimony to the political yearnings of millions of people in the Soviet Union. This music is the heartbeat of perestroika and the voice of freedom.
Throughout the 1980’s Producer/Director Ken Thurlbeck set out on what seemed at the time to be an almost impossible mission – to create a comprehensive documentary survey with an historical perspective on the contemporary musical, cultural and political scene in the Soviet Union. “USSR&R” the completed 90 minute film, is the first and most comprehensive of its kind which traces the roots of the burgeoning Soviet music scene and discusses its socio-political importance.
“USSR&R” investigates the early days of underground rock when courageous dissident musicians, organizers, prophets and their fans gathered for unofficial underground concerts that were banned by the government. In the present, we can see and hear the bands which having generated broad public support, have forced the government to recognize what they believe to be subversive but strangely powerful music.
This most important new wave of contemporary music is a testament to the power of rock and roll to unite and to initiate radical changes which were virtually unfathomable even a decade before.
Using a documentary style that Thurlbeck refers to as. “the investigative camera”. “USSR&R takes the viewer into clubs, jam sessions and homes of the bands and their supporters, to feel the passion and commitment of the people who have banded together at great personal risk to form this outlawed movement.
Focusing primarily on Leningrad and Moscow, where the contemporary music scenes are the strongest and most defined, “USSR&R” unveils the vast range of music being created and documents daily lives and work of the seminal figures on the rock scene, as well as the youngest and most radical musicians of this period.
Interviews with key figures include:
Andrei Makarevich- the poet/composer who put together the band Time Machine. The first contemporary rock group to perform original music in the Russian language.
Kolinsky Vassin- a rock fanatic who maintains a “Rock Museum” in the apartment he shares with 4 elderly women. He is the only person who has documented the rock scene since it’s beginning.
Art Troitsky- the only recognized Soviet rock critic of that period: his book Back to the USSR was published in England in 1988 and released in the United States in early 1989.
Yuri Shevchuk- the founding member, composer, and lead singer of DDT, a band that has recently sold the 7th millionth copy of its underground recordings. Shevchuk was a university professor who left his job form one of the most important and influential groups in the Soviet Unions throughout this period.
The film also gives the first ever in-depth look at the myriad rock and new music styles of such popular groups as:
Alisa
Non Official Youth Movement
Time Machine
Antis
Epos
Jungle
Micro Surgeons
MAT
Sasha Liapin
Front
DDT
“The failure of the system made the huge underground cassette system grow.” Art Troitsky
The degree of creative freedom enjoyed in the West is unimaginable in the Soviet Union. Throughout the history of the Soviet contemporary music scene, there has been an ongoing struggle with the authorities. In the beginning, concerts were organized at the latest possible moment in underground clubs, so as to not attract attention.
The official press, through their propaganda, discouraged audience by directly stating that rock music caused insanity or drug addiction! But in spite of official ”non-existence”, the movement continued to grow to a point where it could no longer be contained, ever despite the best efforts of the Soviet authorities. The Soviet audience had made a choice, and no matter how dissident the lyrics or avant garde the performances, the officials were obliged to recognize that the power of the contemporary music movement had grown beyond their control.
“USSR&R” unerringly portrays these developments. The movement, which reflects the philosophy of the largest single population group in the Soviet Union – the baby boomers – now in their late 30’s and early 40’s – sends a clear message to those in power: The Soviet Union must finally recognize the individual and move toward the democratization of its antiquated hierarchical and autocratic institutions.
“The effect of rock and roll in Russia has been colossal, (urging you) not only to express yourself, but to pound your fists, stomp your heels and say “I’m an individual! I’m a person!” (Kolinsky Vassin)
Contemporary music in the Soviet Union has been able to unite Soviet Youth as no other movement has. The official government policies of perestroika and glasnost, although not completely embraced or trusted by the artistic community, have nevertheless unleashed the voice of musicians, film makers, poets, and visual artists. “Half official” acceptance of the contemporary music has been the result as the government forced to reckon with this movement attempts to monitor it.
While there was a growing openness of glasnost and emerging societal changes through perestroika, history has shown the Soviet people that state policies and the ensuing political climate can change quickly and dramatically. Thus, the feelings of exhilaration and freedom are tempered by memories of past repression.
Complicating the new outlook is fear of exploitation by the West. The average citizen of Moscow or Leningrad has witnessed the products of capitalism through Western tourism and special “hard currency” stores. Musicians, who have up to now made do with the most primitive equipment, have been tantalized by everything from eight track tape recorders to state-of-the-art guitars, but have little hope attaining them since the extremely high demand sends black market prices skyrocketing. A Fender guitar sells for under $1,000 in the U.S. can go for several thousand on the Soviet Black market.
With the vast possibilities for the future of the Soviet Union, with the new policies, the life of the average citizen will continue to change dramatically. The mass appeal and acceptance of rock music make it a vehicle for change and the voice and hope of the Soviet youth. “USSR&R” probes the rock scene’s pivotal position in this unprecedented era of Russian history.
The Roots of Contemporary Soviet Music
“Little Richard! Tutti Frutti! It was a shock to my very soul: rapture took that’s child’s breadth away. I hadn’t thought it was possible to sing like that!” (Kolinksy Vasin)
Through interviews and documentation. “USSR&R” traces the beginnings of Soviet contemporary music. The roots of the current contemporary music scene developed shortly after World war II when returning soldiers brought home the tunes of Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and other popular Western sounds. This music was embraced by the young Soviets who played the songs and sang the English lyrics whether they understood them or not. Over time, this music began to replace their own traditional folk music.
But as the cold war intensified, the Soviet people became more isolated and less able to glean any musical influences from the West. Shortages of all kinds made luxury items like records only a memory. However, an inventive few still managed to find a way to smuggle in traces of the sounds and culture from the outside world. Thus was born the “bone record” – an invention which allowed for a limited distribution of Western music along with subversive poetry. These were plastic medical x-rays onto which sound was crudely transferred. The corners of the x-rays were rounded with scissors and a hole punched in the middle to make it a primitive record. These “bone records” usually contained selected bits from a number of musical recordings, as well as dialogue explaining what the listener might hear while bent over the phonograph trying to distinguish the sounds. Often some of these clips came off broadcasts picked up on short wave radio from American Free Radio.
In the early 1960’s with the new openness and better global communication technology, the Soviets were exposed to the unprecedented musical phenomenon of the Beatles. For the first time since World War II, Soviet youth heard a style of music it could embrace. Underground bands emerged throughout the country playing the Beatles music and singing in English. It was the melodic quality of the Beatles which attracted the Soviet ear, while other popular Western bands such as the Rolling Stones, for example were not accepted with the same fervor.
In the mid-seventies, the band Time Machine, lead by Andrei Makarevich (featured in “USSR&R”), instituted a major change in Soviet music. Makarevich expressed aspects of his culture by signing his original compositions in Russian while incorporating the new music he had assimilated from the West. At first it was unpopular, but before long other bands followed suit and Time machine became the leader of the first wave of the Soviet contemporary music movement.
Time Machine breaking ground in Soviet Union, paved the way for the second wave, and soon other bands like Aquarium with Boris Grenbenshikov followed. However, these bands, although popular eventually aligned themselves closely with the communist Party policy and became sponsored by the state.
The early 1980’s spawned the third wave of contemporary music. Groups like DDT, Antis ( a group composed of architects from Lithuania), Front, Non Official Youth Movement, Alisa, and others, took advantage of the communication vehicle the government had not thought to regulate, the duplication of audio cassettes. By means of a very elaborate underground distribution and production system, the music of these groups penetrated the entire Soviet Union, often multiplying into several million copies of a recording.
Despite a diversity of musical vocabularies and styles, these groups share a vision which is the antithesis of Communism, namely, recognition of the pivotal role of the individual in society.
Of course, from the outset, the groups faced tremendous opposition. Many were arrested and severely beaten, almost all have had their equipment seized by the state and their concerts cut short or cancelled altogether. Obtaining money, housing or medical treatment within the system was impossible, but they persevered and continued to build what became the largest cohesive sector since the Russian Revolution.
The government, no longer able to suppress or stop this growing sector, had invented the title of “half official” and allowed these musicians (under the strictest of supervision) to perform in public sometimes attracting audiences in the tens of thousands. Some groups such as Antis even used their clout as rock and roll superstars to launch political careers.
“USSR&R” speaks with the musicians and fans, and dynamically communicates their efforts to radically alter the cultural landscape and political direction of the Soviet Union, and offers the first look ever into the hearts and minds of the Soviet future – it’s youth.
The most comprehensive film documenting the underground musical movement in the Soviet Union and how it was the catalyst for perestroika.
“Right now we are at a turning point…just push a little harder. There is a storm inside…a civil war in every one of us. It’s already spilling out into the streets.” (Yuri Shevchuk, DDT)
Soviet contemporary underground music created a revolution a massive youth movement that gives concrete testimony to the political yearnings of millions of people in the Soviet Union. This music is the heartbeat of perestroika and the voice of freedom.
Throughout the 1980’s Producer/Director Ken Thurlbeck set out on what seemed at the time to be an almost impossible mission – to create a comprehensive documentary survey with an historical perspective on the contemporary musical, cultural and political scene in the Soviet Union. “USSR&R” the completed 90 minute film, is the first and most comprehensive of its kind which traces the roots of the burgeoning Soviet music scene and discusses its socio-political importance.
“USSR&R” investigates the early days of underground rock when courageous dissident musicians, organizers, prophets and their fans gathered for unofficial underground concerts that were banned by the government. In the present, we can see and hear the bands which having generated broad public support, have forced the government to recognize what they believe to be subversive but strangely powerful music.
This most important new wave of contemporary music is a testament to the power of rock and roll to unite and to initiate radical changes which were virtually unfathomable even a decade before.
Using a documentary style that Thurlbeck refers to as. “the investigative camera”. “USSR&R takes the viewer into clubs, jam sessions and homes of the bands and their supporters, to feel the passion and commitment of the people who have banded together at great personal risk to form this outlawed movement.
Focusing primarily on Leningrad and Moscow, where the contemporary music scenes are the strongest and most defined, “USSR&R” unveils the vast range of music being created and documents daily lives and work of the seminal figures on the rock scene, as well as the youngest and most radical musicians of this period.
Interviews with key figures include:
Andrei Makarevich- the poet/composer who put together the band Time Machine. The first contemporary rock group to perform original music in the Russian language.
Kolinsky Vassin- a rock fanatic who maintains a “Rock Museum” in the apartment he shares with 4 elderly women. He is the only person who has documented the rock scene since it’s beginning.
Art Troitsky- the only recognized Soviet rock critic of that period: his book Back to the USSR was published in England in 1988 and released in the United States in early 1989.
Yuri Shevchuk- the founding member, composer, and lead singer of DDT, a band that has recently sold the 7th millionth copy of its underground recordings. Shevchuk was a university professor who left his job form one of the most important and influential groups in the Soviet Unions throughout this period.
The film also gives the first ever in-depth look at the myriad rock and new music styles of such popular groups as:
Alisa
Non Official Youth Movement
Time Machine
Antis
Epos
Jungle
Micro Surgeons
MAT
Sasha Liapin
Front
DDT
“The failure of the system made the huge underground cassette system grow.” Art Troitsky
The degree of creative freedom enjoyed in the West is unimaginable in the Soviet Union. Throughout the history of the Soviet contemporary music scene, there has been an ongoing struggle with the authorities. In the beginning, concerts were organized at the latest possible moment in underground clubs, so as to not attract attention.
The official press, through their propaganda, discouraged audience by directly stating that rock music caused insanity or drug addiction! But in spite of official ”non-existence”, the movement continued to grow to a point where it could no longer be contained, ever despite the best efforts of the Soviet authorities. The Soviet audience had made a choice, and no matter how dissident the lyrics or avant garde the performances, the officials were obliged to recognize that the power of the contemporary music movement had grown beyond their control.
“USSR&R” unerringly portrays these developments. The movement, which reflects the philosophy of the largest single population group in the Soviet Union – the baby boomers – now in their late 30’s and early 40’s – sends a clear message to those in power: The Soviet Union must finally recognize the individual and move toward the democratization of its antiquated hierarchical and autocratic institutions.
“The effect of rock and roll in Russia has been colossal, (urging you) not only to express yourself, but to pound your fists, stomp your heels and say “I’m an individual! I’m a person!” (Kolinsky Vassin)
Contemporary music in the Soviet Union has been able to unite Soviet Youth as no other movement has. The official government policies of perestroika and glasnost, although not completely embraced or trusted by the artistic community, have nevertheless unleashed the voice of musicians, film makers, poets, and visual artists. “Half official” acceptance of the contemporary music has been the result as the government forced to reckon with this movement attempts to monitor it.
While there was a growing openness of glasnost and emerging societal changes through perestroika, history has shown the Soviet people that state policies and the ensuing political climate can change quickly and dramatically. Thus, the feelings of exhilaration and freedom are tempered by memories of past repression.
Complicating the new outlook is fear of exploitation by the West. The average citizen of Moscow or Leningrad has witnessed the products of capitalism through Western tourism and special “hard currency” stores. Musicians, who have up to now made do with the most primitive equipment, have been tantalized by everything from eight track tape recorders to state-of-the-art guitars, but have little hope attaining them since the extremely high demand sends black market prices skyrocketing. A Fender guitar sells for under $1,000 in the U.S. can go for several thousand on the Soviet Black market.
With the vast possibilities for the future of the Soviet Union, with the new policies, the life of the average citizen will continue to change dramatically. The mass appeal and acceptance of rock music make it a vehicle for change and the voice and hope of the Soviet youth. “USSR&R” probes the rock scene’s pivotal position in this unprecedented era of Russian history.
The Roots of Contemporary Soviet Music
“Little Richard! Tutti Frutti! It was a shock to my very soul: rapture took that’s child’s breadth away. I hadn’t thought it was possible to sing like that!” (Kolinksy Vasin)
Through interviews and documentation. “USSR&R” traces the beginnings of Soviet contemporary music. The roots of the current contemporary music scene developed shortly after World war II when returning soldiers brought home the tunes of Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and other popular Western sounds. This music was embraced by the young Soviets who played the songs and sang the English lyrics whether they understood them or not. Over time, this music began to replace their own traditional folk music.
But as the cold war intensified, the Soviet people became more isolated and less able to glean any musical influences from the West. Shortages of all kinds made luxury items like records only a memory. However, an inventive few still managed to find a way to smuggle in traces of the sounds and culture from the outside world. Thus was born the “bone record” – an invention which allowed for a limited distribution of Western music along with subversive poetry. These were plastic medical x-rays onto which sound was crudely transferred. The corners of the x-rays were rounded with scissors and a hole punched in the middle to make it a primitive record. These “bone records” usually contained selected bits from a number of musical recordings, as well as dialogue explaining what the listener might hear while bent over the phonograph trying to distinguish the sounds. Often some of these clips came off broadcasts picked up on short wave radio from American Free Radio.
In the early 1960’s with the new openness and better global communication technology, the Soviets were exposed to the unprecedented musical phenomenon of the Beatles. For the first time since World War II, Soviet youth heard a style of music it could embrace. Underground bands emerged throughout the country playing the Beatles music and singing in English. It was the melodic quality of the Beatles which attracted the Soviet ear, while other popular Western bands such as the Rolling Stones, for example were not accepted with the same fervor.
In the mid-seventies, the band Time Machine, lead by Andrei Makarevich (featured in “USSR&R”), instituted a major change in Soviet music. Makarevich expressed aspects of his culture by signing his original compositions in Russian while incorporating the new music he had assimilated from the West. At first it was unpopular, but before long other bands followed suit and Time machine became the leader of the first wave of the Soviet contemporary music movement.
Time Machine breaking ground in Soviet Union, paved the way for the second wave, and soon other bands like Aquarium with Boris Grenbenshikov followed. However, these bands, although popular eventually aligned themselves closely with the communist Party policy and became sponsored by the state.
The early 1980’s spawned the third wave of contemporary music. Groups like DDT, Antis ( a group composed of architects from Lithuania), Front, Non Official Youth Movement, Alisa, and others, took advantage of the communication vehicle the government had not thought to regulate, the duplication of audio cassettes. By means of a very elaborate underground distribution and production system, the music of these groups penetrated the entire Soviet Union, often multiplying into several million copies of a recording.
Despite a diversity of musical vocabularies and styles, these groups share a vision which is the antithesis of Communism, namely, recognition of the pivotal role of the individual in society.
Of course, from the outset, the groups faced tremendous opposition. Many were arrested and severely beaten, almost all have had their equipment seized by the state and their concerts cut short or cancelled altogether. Obtaining money, housing or medical treatment within the system was impossible, but they persevered and continued to build what became the largest cohesive sector since the Russian Revolution.
The government, no longer able to suppress or stop this growing sector, had invented the title of “half official” and allowed these musicians (under the strictest of supervision) to perform in public sometimes attracting audiences in the tens of thousands. Some groups such as Antis even used their clout as rock and roll superstars to launch political careers.
“USSR&R” speaks with the musicians and fans, and dynamically communicates their efforts to radically alter the cultural landscape and political direction of the Soviet Union, and offers the first look ever into the hearts and minds of the Soviet future – it’s youth.
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