Origin:
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/11/27/Culture/Music.38864.html
Israel rocks with Russian bands
Olga Arefieva, a veteran rebellious
Russian rocker, sings of prison
freedom and love of Russia.
Russian rock is the cult phenomenon of the Israeli underground music scene.
When has rock ever saved youth?
Russian-Israeli musicians, their fans, and the bands who come here for the fans seem to think they have found salvation in the phenomenon.
And is Russian rock ever a phenomenon!
"Rock was the lifeline of Russian youth, the beacon of free expression and anguish even in the USSR's darkest hour of suppression," says one fan. "Now that it's out of the underground here, it's the underground of Israeli rock."
Alex Kotler, former head of a Russian-Israeli band and current expert on the culture of Russian rock in Israel, says Israel's Russian scene is alive and kicking for more attention.
"The Russian bands that were around in the Sixties and Seventies in the USSR were freed by Gorbachev's new policies, and suddenly they were breathing freedom," he says. "But those same bands are coming here now, and to Russians here they are still underground and incredible."
One such band, called Kovchy, includes the band-hopping starlet Olga Arefieva. Her breathy, starry lyrics and acoustic techniques are said to make every group she plays with memorable.
"Kovchy is a reggae group, and they played an incredible performance last week," says Kotler. "She [Olga] has been around for ages. Olga, who played the Barbie club in Tel Aviv last weekend, seems to be one of the ex-undergrounders who enjoys the hype and the welcome she receives when she comes to a country that sees her as a new phenomenon all over again."
As a young rebellious singer in the Sixties, Arefieva earned her fame by singing immodest lyrics and running away from the Communist regime, which was determined to stamp out her musical impudence.
"Olga sang of freedom and entrapment, and of everyday life in Russia," says Kotler. "In those days, the Party wanted to close you down; and if it didn't, it used you as a tool for its own message."
Arefieva's message is still quite evident in her current lyrics. One song, "If I Got a Chance," speaks of being imprisoned and, despite this, a great love for the land that imprisons:
"Flying out of this cage
leaving this place...
oh it's a pity
but I have to stay... "
Daria Shkolnik, an IDF soldier whose parents moved to Israel, links Arefieva's lyrics to her own life in Israel, saying that Russian-Israelis see this country as one mixed with blessing and hardship.
Another group hailed as heroes in its country and here and scheduled to play the Holy Land calls itself Leningrad. Russian fans on the Internet call them "controversial turbo folk with a punk attitude," but this supercharged band is said to have quite a following.
"They aren't coming to Israel for two weeks because of flooding in St. Petersberg," says Kotler.
So where is the modern, the hip, the creative new talent coming out of Russia? As in every country these days, electronica has a tight grip on Russian youth.
Solar X, described as the biggest techno talent to come out of Russia in years, has played the popular Tel Aviv joint Dinamo Dvash several times.
"He has a huge following here," says Ben Gur, the PR agent for the club. "We have invited several DJs and groups whose audience is Russian to play because we want to take our audiences in different directions and to new heights every weekend, and lots of creativity comes out of Russia."
What differentiates Britney Spears and Sarit Hadad from Russian soul?
"Russian lyrics used to be more important than the music that accompanied them. Now that's starting to change. But the groups that come here and are so revered, they put meaning into every word. And that's the difference between Western music and our rock and roll," replies Kotler.
Russian singers focus now on those tired subjects that all other free artists sing to death: love, economic hardship, beautiful spots they remember in the land of their forefathers: "Sweet Home St. Petersberg."
And then there are those who immigrate to Israel and are only then seized by a musical inclination. These groups are popping up everywhere, and although they mainly sing in Russian to a Russian audience, they are beginning to branch out into Hebrew and even English.
"The band I'm managing now is trying to branch out into English and Hebrew, but its main focus is Russian," says Kotler of Galoja Jongo. The band's name means "the way of the jungle."
"Every man, and especially the Russian immigrant, must go through a life passage to arrive at his present self," says Kotler. "To be special, each one most go through a growing period."
Galoja Jongo is a rock/folk/jazz band that sings about coming of age at 25 (the average age of the 10 band members) and having one foot in the Holy Land and the other in the homeland. "It's about how we feel being here, what it's like to come of age here," says Kotler.
"We speak to the whole country of Israelis, but we speak for Russian fans," says Kotler of bands like the one he manages.
Although it can be said that they are still frozen in a pre-liberated, underground era, Russian-Israeli musicians and fans also have the advantage of the Eastern and Western influences that bombard Israel.
"The result has created music that never would have evolved and never will in Russia," states Kotler.
The future of Russian music here?
"The scene will never rage out of control here because musicians don't do it for money but to express themselves and the dichotomies they go through," says Kotler.
"We remember that without expression, there is only oppression."
Olga Hartmann
"Jerusalem Post" November 27, 2001
Comments
Funny article :-) Looks like I have been rebelling from the cradle,
just as I was born. Actually, I think that all I sing about is love.
Never in my life had I anything social in my songs. Except for a single song in my young years...
Olga Arefieva
Yeah, the article is stupid. I talked to the author of the article and the person whom she supposedly interviewed. The author was very sorry, apologized for "the misinterpreted information" and all that stuff, but...
there's nothing that can be done, for the article on the site is just a copy of a published paper one...
Of course, we can always press on the editors and make them take it off the site...
But is it worth bothering? If you think this is worth it then we can try... I personally was very amused reading this article. But maybe we should really try to get it off...
Vitya Levin
No, no way, take off a blast like this! We even put it on our site, English and Russian versions. But with my little commentary. If they would place this commentary - that would be the thing.
Olga Arefieva