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“We also can. We're not worse”: The Anglophone Wave in Russian indie music (Indi), 2008–2012

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2020

Marco Biasioli Open the ORCID record for Marco Biasioli [Opens in a new window]
Marco Biasioli*
Affiliation:
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, ManchesterM13 9PL, UK
*
E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article analyses the main cultural and political factors that contributed to the emergence of local Anglophone music in Russia between 2008 and 2012. While Russian indie groups had extensively sung in English before (with scarce public recognition), a conjunction of circumstances encouraged the appearance of a conspicuous Russian Anglophone music scene in the Medvedev years. These were a perceived political relaxation, internally and in East–West relations; Russian economic growth and the subsequent renovation of Moscow; and the connectivity and expansion of the independent music community. The article also argues that the success of local Anglophone bands, as well as the appearance of an ‘indie’ sound and an ‘indie’ music scene (indi), was the result of a concerted effort by Russian music participants to bring and incorporate the Other – the West – into Russia's everyday life. The English language, correspondingly, functioned as a ‘tool’ for this operation.

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Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , May 2020 , pp. 294 - 311
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2020

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Discography

Various Artists. No Oil. No Stress. No Noise. Snegiri, SNG-043-2. 2010Google Scholar
On-The-Go, In the Wind EP. Xuman Records, XR-004. 2010Google Scholar

Videography

Coockoo at Profilaktika. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elBC6TXcdK0 (accessed 7 August 2018)Google Scholar
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EIMIC at Profilaktika. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aP82F0zJVs (accessed 7 August 2018)Google Scholar
Human Tetris at TV Rain. 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlenZJKWky8 (accessed 15 February 2019)Google Scholar
Moremoney at Profilaktika. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Bs5EFvhwQ (accessed 7 August 2018)Google Scholar
On-The-Go at TV Rain. 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duRkeXB_6n4 (accessed 7 August 2018)Google Scholar
Pompeya at Vecherny Urgant. 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LduFB7hmLiY (accessed 7 August 2018)Google Scholar
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Personal interviews

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