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Articles by Sergey Chernov

British Musician Tells Story of Russian Records on Bones

In the Soviet Union, Western rock music was once so precious that at least one fan paid for it with his blood, said London musician Stephen Coates,...

Persecuted Russian Lawyer Finds New Ways Around Foreign Agents Label

The life of St. Petersburg human rights lawyer Ivan Pavlov has changed dramatically in the last 12 months.

Russian Media NGO Pays Biggest Fine So Far Under Foreign Agent Law

The director of a St. Petersburg nongovernmental organization said Monday she had paid the biggest fine so far imposed under Russia's controversial...

Indie Sensation Gets Prize and New Fans

Okudjav, a relatively new band named after Soviet singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava, won a coveted local music award.

LGBT Festival Hit by Gas Attack in St. Pete

Queerfest, an annual LGBT rights festival in St. Petersburg, was forced to cancel most of its events following attacks, pressure from authorities...

Folk Punk Group Iva Nova Return After Four Years

Iva Nova, a St. Petersburg all-women folk-punk band, may have shrunk to a quartet, but its music has become more diverse and inventive, drifting further...

Veteran Jazz Legend Feigin Brings Fest to Moscow

The Leo Feigin Festival, a series of large-scale avant-garde jazz events celebrating Russian-born, Britain-based producer and long-time BBC Russian...

'Pedophile Hunter' Opera Composer Attacked

The premiere of a new opera was canceled in St. Petersburg after both the refusal of yet another venue to hold it and an assault on the opera's...

Cult Singer Zakhar May on Maidan and Navalny

Zakhar May talks about his career, why he dislikes rock veterans Andrei Makarevich and Yury Shevchuk, and his admiration of Navalny.

Estonian Composer Begins Russian Tour

Argo Vals, an acclaimed guitarist and composer from Tartu, Estonia, whose complex musical ideas and advanced guitar technique has seen him compared...

Local Promoter Speaks Out Against Boycotts

With a growing number of Western artists boycotting Russia in protest of its annexation of Crimea and destabilization in southeastern Ukraine, a St...

Manifesta 10 Plays Down Concerns About Russia

Manifesta, a roving biennial of contemporary art whose 10th iteration is schedule to be held at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg between...

Rockers Against Crimea Annexation

As the State Duma approved plans to absorb Crimea into the Russian Federation last week, prominent Russian rock bands and musicians have been speaking...

Popular Bands Affected by International Politics

Bands like Ukraine's Okean Elzy and Belarus' Lyapis Trubetskoy have suffered from censorship due to their political positions.

Seminal Club Sets Sights on a New Venue

Glavclub, which revolutionized the St. Petersburg club scene as the city's largest venue, will return to its home city, according to its founder Igor...

'Milk' Producers Attend Side by Side LGBT Film Fest

American film director Gus Van Sant came to support the beleaguered Side by Side LGBT rights festival on Saturday despite threats and attacks that...

Film Festival Faces Bomb Threats and Cancellations

The opening of the Side by Side film festival was attended by police officers and nationalists as well as film lovers.

Rockers Petition for Arctic Activists

Zorge's Yevgeny Fyodorov joins other musicians in supporting activities to 'improve the situation globally.'

Late-Soviet Art Exhibition Sparks Spate of Lawsuits

A recent exhibition of work by St. Petersburg-based underground arts group New Artists, active between 1982 and 1990, was intended to be a homage...

Not-So-Rotten John Lydon Takes Band to Moscow

In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union was in the throes of rapid transformations, and John Lydon suddenly found himself at the heart of that change...

Squatters Evicted From Warehouse

The Investigative Committee in St. Petersburg said it had opened an investigation into alleged attacks on police who stormed a historic building...

Drinking to a Freer Russia in St. Pete Bar

Svoboda Bar, a new politically themed tavern in the northern capital, is a meeting place for the opposition-friendly.

Tartu: Estonia's Intellectual and Theater Capital

It takes only a two-and-a-half-hour smooth drive (185 kilometers) to get from Estonia's capital Tallinn to the town of Tartu, even though the south-east...

Tallinn: A Trip to the Perfect Winter Fairytale

The small yet diverse and vibrant Baltic country that is Estonia has plenty to offer in summer, when it is visited by tourists from all over the world...

From Street to Show Protest Art, Graffiti

A new exhibition titled “Voice of the Streets” collates messages seen on city walls in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities ranging from anarchist...

New Finnish Book Looks at St. Petersburg Rock

Interest in Russian rock music in Finland is on the rise, says Finnish author Tomi Huttunen, whose book on Russian rock has just been published.

Pussy Riot Festival to Go Ahead

A concert in support of Pussy Riot looks set to go ahead at a St. Petersburg club despite allegations of police pressure.

Opposition Receiving Support Through Song

More than 200 bands have donated tracks to a musical project in support of Russia's protest movement since the idea was announced May 21.

Ex-Throbbing Gristle Leading SKIF Lineup

Avant-garde musician Genesis P-Orridge — of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV fame — will headline SKIF, or the Sergei Kuryokhin International Festival...

National Anti-Gay Bill Submitted to Duma

A controversial bill banning the "promotion of homosexuality" to minors was introduced into the State Duma on Thursday, two weeks after similar legislation...

Voina's New Year Gift for Police

Police have filed a new criminal case against the award-winning Voina art group for setting fire to an armored police truck on New Year's Eve.

Society Is Changing, Veteran Rocker Says

Mikhail Borzykin — the frontman of Televizor, a St. Petersburg band that has been performing protest rock songs since the perestroika days of 1987 —...

Nouvelle Vague's Lubich Launches Solo Career

Jenia Lubich, a St. Petersburg indie pop singer-songwriter, who made a name for herself with a French band that performs unlikely bossa nova covers, will...

Voina Cleared of Police Stunt

A criminal case against the art group Voina over a stunt where they overturned police cars has been dropped by investigators.

New Graphic Novel Looks at 'Forbidden Art' Trial

"Forbidden Art" (Zapretnoye Iskusstvo), a 158-page documentary graphic novel published by Boomkniga Publishers in St. Petersburg earlier this month...

Photo Series Draws Attention to Political Prisoners

Vladimir Telegin, a local photographer best known for his black-and-white photographs of art group Voina, and Maxim Gromov, founder of the rights...

Gay Rights Festival to Start in St. Pete

The consulates of Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden are supporting a major gay rights cultural event that opens in St. Petersburg this week, as...

Awards Spark Hope For New Good Music

The Steppenwolf Awards, co-founded by the beleaguered Moscow-based music critic and producer Artyom Troitsky with the aim of promoting talented, innovative...

'Narkotiki,' the Pop Group Banned in St. Petersburg

Prosecutors have forced a St. Petersburg club to cancel a pop concert because of the band's name, the local prosecutor's office said on its web site...

'Blacklisted' Band Drops Tour

Belarussian band Lyapis Trubetskoi has called off a tour in their home country after sold-out concerts were canceled at short notice for alleged fire...

Voina Not Giving Up Despite Detention

Guerrilla art collective Voina, whose drawing of a large penis on a St. Petersburg bridge was nominated and then excluded from a government arts award...

Tequilajazzz Reborn as 'Art Rock' Zorge

Musician Yevgeny Fyodorov, who disbanded his celebrated rock band Tequilajazzz last year, returns with a new band, not unlike his former one, despite...

Electro-Punk Barto Is a Band With an Ideology

At a recent concert, electro-punk group Barto did not have a single copy of its new album “Intelligence, Conscience and Honor” — not because of a...