Punkeri rusi urland impotriva lui Putin, intr-un club din Londra.
Nikonov, solistul trupei PTVP isi varsa nervii la adresa prim-ministrului rus Vladimir Putin, numindu-l “pig” in una din piesele sale. Muzica lor e bazata pe o tema ignorata la momentul actual in Rusia: autoritarismul si lipsa dreptatii de acolo.
“Traim intr-o societate feudala. Orice lucru este decisa de o singura persoana- dictatorul.”
Nu e genul de opinie pe care cineva o poate auzi in presa ruseasca din ziua de azi sau pe canalele de televiziune, unde dupa venirea lui Putin la putere, in 2000, s-a terminat cu orice gen de critica la adresa guvernului.
“The Last Tanks in Paris” (traducerea numelui de PTVP) e una din trupele aparute in St. Petersburg, un oras vazut de catre rusi drept “geamul spre Vest”. Oras in care trupele de rock se plang de marginalizare atunci cand vine vorba de aparitii radio sau tv, motivele principale fiind versurile politice.
“Majoritatea trupelor au devenit, din anumite motive, conformiste si muzica lor e doar o distractie”, a declarat Sergey Chernov, reporter la St. Petersburg Times.
“PTVP sunt unici prin atingerea subiectelor legate de politica si probleme sociale. In total, probabil exista doar 2 sau 3 trupe cunoscute pentru asta”
continuarea articolului in engleza…..
– The ‘degradation’ of Russian rock –
In 1981, when Saint Petersburg was called Leningrad, Communist authorities allowed the opening of the Soviet Union’s first legal rock-music club.
Though closely overseen by the KGB, the Leningrad Rock Club became the heart of a vibrant scene in which many bands inserted veiled protest messages into their songs, which won enormous popularity as perestroika anthems.
But with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, the old censorship vanished and capitalism became the new master of Russia’s music industry.
The result was the “degradation” of Russian rock, said Mikhail Borzykin, the frontman of Televizor, a band which got its start in the Leningrad Rock Club and which is now one of Russia’s few politically outspoken rock groups.
“When it comes one’s position as a citizen, it has become unfashionable to express it openly. There is an attitude that politics should be separate from art,” Borzykin said.
The crushing of media freedom under Putin also had a devastating effect, as television and radio stations were taken over by Kremlin-friendly owners who feared the slightest hint of dissent, Borzykin said.
“All show-business managers are connected, through rent or other financial obligations, to officials,” he said.
“So they are very afraid of losing their small business by getting into any conflicts, even petty ones, with the authorities.”
Last year, Televizor — which means “Television” — got into a conflict with a Saint Petersburg television channel that asked them to do a live performance, then canceled it after reviewing the songs Borzykin planned to sing.
The channel said it was because the songs contained inappropriate words, but Borzykin called it political censorship.
– ‘Provincial towns are afraid’ –
For radically outspoken PTVP, which was founded in 1996 in the small town of Vyborg near Russia’s border with Finland, the problems are even worse.
Several times over the years, police rushed the stage and stopped concerts after Nikonov sang about Putin, and once in Vyborg he was hauled off to jail before being freed without charges, band members recalled.
“It is mostly provincial towns that are afraid,” Nikonov said.
The band is undoubtedly disrespectful to Putin, especially in its 2002 song “FSB Whore,” whose title refers to the KGB’s post-Soviet successor agency, which Putin once led.
The song’s lyrics are: “Don’t listen to anything! / He always lies to you! / Putin, Putin, Putin! / A pig will find filth everywhere!”
Whether due to censorship or simply the limited appeal of its raw punk rock, PTVP’s songs virtually never appear on television or radio. The band plays at clubs where it has a small but loyal following.
“They have a clear point of view on what’s happening in Russia today on the political front,” said Pavel Isakov, a young fan at the recent PTVP concert in Saint Petersburg.
“They have the right approach to this, the position that young people share, and not what the media like to promote.”
By Alexander Osipovich (AFP)
