Russian Rocks Too (Part 1)

Russian rock was formed at intervals the confines of the multi ethnic Soviet Union. Non-Russian republics, like the Westernized Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and therefore the republics of the Caucasus region, notably Georgia and Armenia, became breeding grounds for rock music. Activities that were completely prohibited in Russia, and particularly in Moscow and Leningrad, were permissible within the republics thanks to their distance from the middle of power. Rock festivals and rock bands flourished in these republics, making an environment during which Russian rock musicians may develop their craft.

Lumen

Prior to the death of Stalin, Soviet youth didn't have music of its own, and didn't have popular culture or fashion fads. the primary Soviet youth fad began in 1953 when stiliagi (the ones with the style) appeared in Moscow, dressed like Nineteen Fifties Western zoot-suiters. though this fad principally concerned dressing in an exceedingly up to date Western vogue, stiliagi created a milieu hungry for its own new music. US jazz became the primary music of selection. within the early Nineteen Fifties, trendy Moscow women and boys visited dance halls and skating rinks to bounce and skate to the tunes of Louis Armstrong, The Duke (Ellington) or Glenn Miller.

Electric Guitar and Balalaika (Russian Musical Instrument)

Albeit stiliagi were typically ridiculed within the Soviet press and harassed within the street by orthodox minded voters, the movement unfold across the Soviet Empire, became a lot of and a lot of refined and made its own musical stars like saxophone player Alexei Kozlov and band leader Latsi Olakh.

A further break within the isolation of Soviet youth from the West occurred at the "7th International Festival of Youth and Students" that happened in Moscow within the summer of 1957. Its purpose was to show off Soviet's successes, achievements and superiority system to the international youth and students who gathered in Moscow and to instill in these foreigners a want to struggle against capitalism and imperialism in their own countries. However, there was a sudden facet effect: among the foreigners flooding Moscow streets there have been some musicians, modern artists and beatnik poets, they're all wearing the most recent fashions and playing, dancing and listening to the most recent hits that they'd brought along. Once this sudden breath of contemporary air, there was no going back to the dreariness of the Stalinist cultural and musical landscape. Russian youth was prepared for the creation of its own distinct culture.

History

The history of Russian and Soviet rock is broken into four basic periods:

1. Cover Versions (approximately 1961--1968)
2. Search and Struggle (approximately 1968--1980)
3. Struggle and Victory (approximately 1980--1991)
4. Identity Crisis and Self-re-discovery (after 1991)


(...to be continued)