Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Кончится лето

Trudging to work with boots still soaked from yesterday's downpour in London, i am forced to conclude that summer has abandoned us. Wet faux-leather aside, i love autumn. The misty, melancholy mornings and the perpetual wisp of bonfire smoke in the air find a perfect soundtrack in Soviet rock legends Kino.

Few Russian acts (my beloved Tatu aside) have made much of an impact over here but Kino, and the cult of lead singer Viktor Tsoi, have a strange habit of cropping up in fashionable magazines nearly twenty years after their demise. Formed in the early eighties, their rise to prominence mirrored the collapse of the Union's Communist infrastructure - burning brightest as Perestroika loomed and a generation turned increasingly towards the counter-cultural underground to cement an identity independent from state orthodoxy. Although influenced by Depeche Mode, The Smiths, Joy Division and, improbably, Duran Duran, Kino were always far more than a Soviet copy of prevailing Western trends, drawing heavily on the poetic legacy of Russian bardic singers.

In the grand tradition of doomed youth icons, Tsoi was killed in a road accident in Riga in 1990. His impact was such that state newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda was moved to say:

"Tsoi means more to the young people of our nation than any politician, celebrity or writer. This is because Tsoi never lied and never sold out. He was and remains himself. It's impossible not to believe him... Tsoi is the only rocker who has no difference between his image and his real life, he lived the way he sang... Tsoi is the last hero of rock."

Walk the streets of any Russian city today and there's a fair chance you'll come across the words "Tsoi lives!" scrawled on the walls.





9 comments:

ShariVari said...

I should probably have mentioned that the vocals for both these songs were found, on tape, in the wreckage of the crash that killed him, surviving miraculously unscathed. They were being worked on by Tsoi in secret. The band turned them into the The Black Album, their finest record.

Blimpy said...

I like Tatu too, but don't tell anyone!!!

Blimpy said...

The tunes sound strangely "now" - don't they?

ShariVari said...

They certainly do.

sourpus said...

I used to live in St Petersburg for several years and became fascinated by Tsoi. I heard some powerfully told stories about how they carried his body down Rubensteiner Street (incidentally, the street where I lived) to the rock club where he most often played...all gone now of course, replaced by some horrendous post-modern industrial dance club...

In all the countries where ive lived, Russia was the only one to cut the mustard musically and otherwise. Even the cover bands were superior. When I was living in StP (2001-2003), it was another band, Leningrad, who moved me the most mind you. Many's the evening I spent singing along, all night long, to their unstoppable ska sound. A bit like a sort of Russian Pogues, only with even more drinking. Na zdorovie! Cheers for posting!

Proudfoot said...

I listened first. Loved the music. When he started singing I thought 'very 80s' and of course, reading your post, it is. This was bang on the money for 1981, better than Simple Minds, anyway.
Thanks ShariVari.

Shoegazer said...

Wha! Simple Minds were great - until they found success, that is (ref: Big Pink &. 1,000,021 others).

Concerned to find that my eastern europian music collection is seriously lacking. Fond of Holy Toy, but they made it as far east as Norway. There's always Laibach from the former Yugo (I think) & some dubbed up Polish polka c/o the wonderful Twinkle Brothers. No idea where Shane fave Shantel is from, but sounds like it's east of somewhere. Does Sting's Russians count? No? Thought not.

Don't normally Utoob, especially when there's more than 1 at a time in a post - it's an arbitrary rule I made up for some reason, but will break it for your post. Cheers for sticking it up.

Any chance of some mpfrees?

ShariVari said...

I'll try to get some MP3s in the box tomorrow.

Shoegazer said...

Cheers for throwing those in. No idea what they're saying, but enjoyed them all a lot.