Yanka Dyagileva
Yanka Dyagileva (Янка Дягилева), also known simply as Yanka, originally Яна and musically associated with Янка и Великие Октябри (“Yanka and the Great Octobers”), was born (in Novosibirsk) in 1966 and died (in 1991) at the age of 24. Allegedly by her own hand, though the official version states утопление в результате несчастного случая – drowning as a result of an accident.
She was never able to record anything with professional sound quality, but somehow, her music doesn’t seem to suffer for it—in fact, it almost seems like it was made for this rawness. It was difficult to choose just three tracks, so there are seven.
На чёрный день (For a Rainy Day)
For a rainy day. One acoustic version, one with a band.
There is also a version with Russian text and Spanish translation, a live version from an unknown year, a photo clip, a cover by a purple-yellow (or is it green) Sita G (2018), and more for those who seek.
Tekst (with English translation)
Печаль моя светла (My Sorrow Is Bright)
Massive Attack once did something with this too (2013, 1.5 min). The version by Утюг TV is more fun, except for the first 8 seconds (2017, 1.5 min).
Столетний дождь (Century-Long Rain)
Again, two versions here: one cinematic work and a photo clip.
Tekst (with English translation)
Нюркина песня (Nyurka’s Song)
More
Check out more with На дороге пятак, От большого ума, Особый резон. Another gem is Всё как у людей (1989), featuring Yegor Letov (1964-2008); see more about him on Wikipedia (also about Grazhdanskaya Oborona / Гражданская Оборона) and The Calvert Journal (2014).
Biographies (RU) with music can be found in Деклассированным элементам (2008), which is also the title of an album from 1988. Also check out this moody clip and its version.
For more portraits and biographies, visit yanka.lenin.ru and reproduktor.net; Wikipedia RU or EN; Artist Biography on AllMusic.
Most of the music here can also be found in an
R1 playlist on YouTube (in order of posting).
Check out
Best Russian Music and
Russian Song Lyrics.
More
Music
Anyone who wants to present Russian music cannot ignore Zemfira. Popular and mainstream – millions of records sold – but also distinctly idiosyncratic. The music is usually accessible (we categorize it under Pop), but the attitude is rock.
Raw Anti-Putin punk from
Nizhny Novgorod /
Нижний Новгород. Loosely based on ‘Maggie’ by The Exploited.
From the green city of
Zelenograd /
Зеленоград. Dreamy indie-folk with a melancholic undertone. Created by
Mikhail Rodionov (1992).
The alarm blares (Ревёт тревога), the road awaits (ждёт дорога). They are many (Их немало), we are few (нас немного). We are in an unjust world (Мы в несправедливом мире) tin wolves in the shooting range (Жестяные волки в тире).
The word offret is Swedish and means ‘sacrifice’; the band Offret is Russian and makes heavy music. The link between the word and the band: a
1986 film in Swedish by the Russian Andrei Tarkovsky.
A band from Saint Petersburg that makes a kind of post-punk/indie-pop. Not for long yet, so not much material yet. However, they already have a few very successful tracks with original music videos. До свиданья, дорогая is the
Russian title for the film
The Goodbye Girl (1977), but it has nothing to do with it.
