by Alexandra McLeod19 December — Russian band DDT

presented their most recent album, “Inache,” on Friday, 16 December in Tat‑neft Arena. The concert was one of the last in their “Inache” tour, which ends this month. Despite the fact that the arena was not full to capacity, the eagerness of the band’s fans and the excellent light‑ing effects were such that this fact went unnoticed.

The concert started on the dot of 8:15, when lead singer Yuri Shevchuk came out and introduced himself and the band. Over the first half an hour they performed

the entirety of “Inache” without break. The remaining hour was devoted to more established, popular songs and old clas‑sics. Finally, they returned for an encore and performed for another half an hour. The concert culminated in the legendary song “Osen” (Autumn) and other, more personal songs.

DDT has spent two years preparing for this tour, and the concert reflected the dedication and perseverance that their entire team put into the perfor‑mance. The live music, mixing, lighting,

December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18)The Kazan Herald

Tatarstan’s first and only English newspaper

www.kazanherald.com

Continued on page 5

by Robert MAy10 December — Hundreds gathered

today in Ploshchad Svobody to protest alleged fraud in the parliamentary elec‑tions that were held on 4 December.

Nearly 200 people turned out for the protest, according to the Tatarstan Min‑istry of Internal Affairs, although Business Online and Vechenyaya Kazan put the number of protesters as high as 500, and

Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote that “not more than 1000” turned out. Whatever the number was, the area on Ploshchad Svo‑body (Liberty Square) between the statue of Lenin and the Musa Jalil Ballet and Op‑era Theatre was packed with people — many of whom were students — chanting “Honest elections!” and “Shame!”

The Kazan protest was organized to coincide with others happening in more

than 69 cities across Russia. At least 25,000 attended the protest in Moscow, according to The Moscow Times. The Kazan protest’s Vkontakte event page listed 6 demands: a repeat of the elec‑tions, without falsification; legal inquiries into all allegations of vote rigging; re‑forms to ensure that the March 2012

Hundreds ProtestElection Results

Continued on page 2

by olga PotAPovA23 December — News outlets across

the world reported on 18 December that Tatarstan’s Tatneft and Iranian Petroleum Engineering and Development Company (PEDC) had signed a preliminary agree‑ment worth $1 billion to develop the Za‑gheh Oil Field.

The source for these reports were Iranian State TV and Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi. The alleged agreement, pertaining to an oil field in southern Iran near the Persian Gulf, was supposed to have been signed during a recent visit by President of Tatarstan Rustam Min‑nikhanov.

None of these reports agreed on what exactly had been signed. Some referred to a contract or accord, while others said that a preliminary agreement, oil deal, or simply a memorandum of understanding had been signed.

One day later, both sides denied that any agreement had been reached. Tat‑neft issued a statement on its official website reiterating that “Tatneft has not signed any agreements, contracts, and do not assume any other obligations with respect to oil and gas projects in Iran.” Iranian Oil Minister Qasemi denied that any contract had been signed with Ta‑tarstan, stating that negotiations over technical details were ongoing.

Evidently the press had jumped the gun, perhaps misinterpreting a statement by Qasemi as sign that an agreement had already been reached. “Tatneft is one of the most respected companies in the world, with expertise in the filed of oil pro‑duction,” Qasemi was quoted as saying on a news website Shana. “We would like to use its experience in Iran.”

In their report of the alleged agree‑ment, Iranian state‑run news agency Mehr explained that Tatarstan would help restart work in the Zagheh oil field, which had been inactive for several ears. With‑in two years, the field would be produc‑ing 7,000 barrels a day of heavy crude, a figure that would increase to 55,000 barrels a day within 54 months of reopen‑ing, PEDC Managing Director Naji Sey‑douni was quoted as saying on the news website Shana.

Iran is widely known as the fifth‑larg‑est oil exporter in the world, yet the coun‑try has been severely set back by inter‑national economic sanctions imposed by Western countries in protest to the country’s nuclear development program. In October 2011, Iran refused to contin‑ue cooperating with Gazprom, a Russian company, in the development of the Azar oil field, citing “a prolonged delay in the project.”

The United States has called for fur‑ther sanctions because of Iran’s nuclear program, but Russia has refused to fully cooperate. The Iranian government is currently looking forward to collaborat‑ing with Tatneft as set that would help revitalize its limping economy.

Controversy,Dispute AfterTatneft Visitto Iran

Shevchuk Presents “Inache”

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DDT lead singer Yuri Shevchuk.

The protest was organized to coincide with others happening across Russia.

� December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18) The Kazan Herald

elections are fair; an end to political censorship; equal airtime for all politi‑cal parties in the media; and the resignation of Vladimir Churov, Chairman of Russia’s Central Elec‑tion Commission.

These demands all stem from allegations of vote rigging to boost Unit‑ed Russia’s results in the election. United Russia — the party of President Dmi‑try Medvedev, Prime Min‑ister Vladimir Putin, and Tatarstan President Rus‑tam Minnikhanov — won just under 50 per cent of the vote across Russia, but 78 per cent of the vote in Tatarstan.

Beginning at 3 pm, the protest in Kazan included speeches by representa‑tives of the Communist Party and Yabloko. The protesters were closely supervised by scores of police and OMON officers and vehicles — Tatarstan Minister of Internal Affairs A s g a t S a f a r o v e v e n showed up at one point. Aware of this presence, many of the protesters were quick to take proac‑tive measures to exclude their provocative and ag‑itating peers, pushing them away from the main area of the protest.

Tatarstan Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that, after the protest had ended, roughly 100 “ac‑tive participants and orga‑nizers” were arrested for gathering without a per‑mit, in violation of law 20.2 of Russia’s Kodeks Ad‑ministrativnyx Pravonar‑

usheniy (Administrative Violations Code).

‘We’re for honest elec‑tions!’ reads the sign on the left. Robert May/KH.

Whether the protest was legal or not had been a point of contention be‑tween the organizers and authorities. Activist Dmitry Berdnikov claimed that he had filed the necessary pa‑perwork on 25 November for a protest against “crim‑inality and unlawfulness” scheduled for today on Ploshchad Svobody, but the authorities disagree. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the meet‑ing was not officially sanc‑tioned, as the City of Kazan had not received a request to hold the protest, as re‑quired by Russian Federal Law No. 54.

Yesterday, Head of Ka‑zan Department Internal Affairs Rustem Kadyrov and City Prosecutor I ldus Nafikov held a press con‑ference warning that the protest would be illegal. “We know who is behind this,” Business Online quoted Kadyrov as saying. “Young people, 18‑22 years old. It seems that, because of their youth, they’ve decid‑ed on this emotional form of self‑expression, but they have no idea why they are doing it.” Kadyrov contin‑ued to explain that, thanks to the Vkontakte group, they were tracking down the or‑ganizers and in the process of trying to convince them to cancel the meeting.

“10 December at 15:00 Protest Kazan,” the Vkon‑takte event page that spearheaded the organi‑zation of the protest, lists

8 organizers — Anastasia Planovaya, Aleksei Borisov, Vechnyy Vorchun, Eduard Ruki‑Nozhnitsy, Ruslan Savitsky, and Zelyonyy Svit — and has 2,255 peo‑ple who promised to attend the protest and 4,280 who said they might attend. As Kadyrov explained in the press conference, the event page proved to be useful for the police, who used it to try to convince people not to attend the protest. The police appar‑ently enlisted university support in explaining to students that the protest was unsanctioned, distrib‑uting a list of students who had RSVPed to the pro‑test’s Vkontakte group to university officials. In Ka‑zan Federal University, meetings were organized to inform students of the possible consequences of participating in unsanc‑tioned protests, reported Pro Gorod Kazan.

Several of the page administrators were also the focus of police atten‑tion prior to the beginning of the protest. On Friday at 5:19 pm, a post on the Vkontakte event’s wall au‑thored by a page admin‑istrator advised protesters to avoid sleeping at home that night, so as to make it more difficult to be lo‑cated by the police. In the end, though, the police seem to have caught up with the organizers. On Saturday at 12:04, a wall post from the Vkontakte event admin signed by Ilya Karev call out for help from anybody with a car or vid‑eo camera. The organiz‑ers were apparently trying

to help transport Berd‑nikov and documents proving his claim that that the protest was legal to Ploshchad Svobody. “Po‑lice cars are waiting for him in several places,” the post reads. “We need to get him to the square any way we can.”

One hour later, another admin post on the wall signed “Savitsky Ruslan, activist” informed protest‑ers that many of the orga‑nizers would probably not be able to make it to the protest. “They have physi‑cal descriptions of all the organizers. They are fol‑lowing us and arresting us,” he wrote. “DON’T BE AFRAID! JUSTICE IS ON OUR SIDE!”

Vechernyaya Kazan lat‑er reported that, prior to the protest, Savitsky had been “blocked” into his home, Ilya Karev had been arrested while in a cafe with his friends, and Aleksei Barisov was allegedly be‑ing held in the Dalny Police Station.

During the protest, the Communist Party an‑nounced that they had se‑cured permission to hold a n o t h e r p r o t e s t o n Ploshchad Svobody on 18 December.

President Minnikhanov did not comment on the protest today, although he did earlier this week on Twitter. In reply to a ques‑tion by ruslan_kazan about the upcoming protest, Min‑nikhanov tweeted: “The world is full of different peo‑ple, maybe there is some‑one that this interests.” The President did not tweet on any subject today.

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(Continued from page 1)

Editor‑in‑Chief Rustem Yunusov

Deputy Editor Wyatt Ford

Art Director Sergei Saakyan

Columnists Maxim Edwards

Joseluis Gomez‑Rodriguez

Contributors Alexandra McLeod

Nadezhda Podoprigora Alexander Tedeschi

James Vaughan Leyla Yakupova Alina Khalimova

Olga Lyubina Olga Potapova

Photographer Kira Maslova

Illustrator Ines Cerro

Hundreds ProtestElection Results

by olga PotAPovA9 December — Yester‑

day, Kazan’s Privolzhsky District Registry Office held a ceremony to honor 12 Kazan citizens who have been together, for better or for worse, for more than a century.

Six couples celebrat‑ing 50 or more years of marriage were awarded by the city for their filial con‑stancy — 3,000 rubles for the golden and diamond anniversaries, 5,000 ru‑bles for those who have spent three quarters of a century together. The awards are issued in the name of Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin.

Each of the awarded couples have lives that stretch back to beginnings amidst the grim years of the Great Patriotic War.

Mudaris and Rashida Gaynutdinov have raised three children, five grand‑c h i l d re n , a n d t h re e g re a t ‑ g ra n d c h i l d re n . Mudaris Gaynutdinovich is a war veteran who fought for the Interior Ministry troops in the Rostov region. He re‑members accompanying the Nazis to the north, and has been awarded the “Vic‑tory over Germany” medal. His wife, Rashida Gilfanovna, worked as a switchman at the Kazan railway station for over 40 years.

The Galiullins also are a war era couple — the husband is a veteran, and the wife worked on the rear front services. They are from Tatarstan’s Ar‑sky district, where they were classmates. Taslima Goripovna’s childhood memories include digging potatoes barefoot and haymaking in the fall. In peacetime, she worked as a collector’s foreman at the KMIZ factory. Azat Galiullovich worked as an electrician at the Toch‑mash plant for 40 years. The Galiullins are quite proud of their two sons and three grandchildren. Granddaughter Adilya

Galiullina is a successful figure skater who me‑daled in the Summer Olympic Games in China in 2008.

During the evening, children from the acclaimed and awarded “Ivolga” cho‑rus performed for the vet‑erans.

The ceremony, which is designed to support the institution of the family, is held every month in Reg‑istry Offices across Kazan. Each month, approximate‑ly 70 couples across Kazan apply to participate. To be eligible, a couple must be celebrating a 50th, 60th, or 75th anniversary and have Kazan registration.

fifty Plus Years, In Sickness and In Health

�December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18)The Kazan HeraldNews

by NadezhdaPodoPRigoRA7 December — Mexican busi‑

ness developer Eugenio Paoli visited Kazan in late November to explore possibilities to build “new bridges” between Mexico and Tatarstan.

His recent visit, atypical in that it engages directly with a region of the Russian Federation, fol‑lowed a September visit to Kazan by the first official trade mission by a Mexican delegation, which Paoli participated in.

When he first came to Kazan in September as part of the Mex‑ican delegation, Paoli was looking for possibilities for marketing spe‑ciality roasted coffee beans, a popular Mexican product. Paoli had successfully helped introduce roasted coffee to the United States market, and was looking to do the same in other markets. Mexico is

an important green coffee export‑er, he explained in an interview with The Kazan Herald, but inter‑national consumers don’t know much about Mexican coffee, as coffee blends are processed else‑where and tagged accordingly. Paoli’s plan in Tatarstan is two‑fold. “First, we will deliver final coffee products to Tatarstan stores,” Paoli shared. “Then, we want to invest in facilities to process cof‑fee here in Russia.”

While networking in Kazan, Paoli met Joseluis Gomez‑Rodri‑guez, a strategic planning con‑sultant in various industries. Dur‑ing their meeting, Gomez‑Rodri‑guez learned that Paoli also rep‑resents a 50‑year‑old company specialized in developing tech‑nology for alternative energy sources such as wind power, and offered to organize introductions with “key players” in the energy

industry in Tatarstan. Paoli agreed, and this trip was the result.

Gomez‑Rodriguez, who is also a business columnist for The Ka‑zan Herald, organized meetings with officials from Tatengergo and the Ministry of Energy, meetings which Paoli spoke positively of during the interview. “What we are doing is more than just regular business, it’s a sharing experi‑ence,” he said. “Russia and Mex‑ico may seem to be in two differ‑ent planets, but we have a lot in common and a lot to share.”

Specifically, the two parties discussed sharing cutting‑edge technologies such as uninter‑rupted power supply and wind energy systems to help Tatarstan diversify its energy portfolio. “Ac‑cording to the Russian govern‑ment plan, the share of renewable energy must increase from one to four per cent by the year 2020,

and Mexican companies could help in achieving this objective,” explained Gomez‑Rodriguez.

“This project will not only bring material benefit, it also helps pre‑serve the environment.

Mexican Businesses Looking Towards Tatarstan

by olga PotAPovA12 December — The first Rus‑

sian‑Swedish International Work‑shop devoted to building a mod‑el of sustainable urban develop‑ment through the use of power efficiency technologies and re‑newable energy was held at Ka‑zanskaya Yarmarka Exhibition Center on 8 December, as part of the 13th International Exhibition “Energy: Resource Saving.”

Organized by the Swedish Embassy in Russia and the work‑ing group SimbioCity Russia, the workshop was touted as the first of its kind. Konstantin So‑kolov, the workshop’s leader and a coordinator of SimbioC‑

ity Russia, emphasized that the main aim of this workshop was “exchanging and sharing expe‑rience when dealing with proj‑ects in the field of recourse and energy efficiency in the format of open discussion.”

Workshop participants were Swedish companies specializ‑ing in various areas of technol‑ogy and energy systems, includ‑ing Semren & Mansson, Sus‑tainable Smaland, and Flakt Woods Group.

SimbioCity, or Sustainability by Sweden, is a Swedish model of sustainable development which has been suggested for implementation in Russia. The

name is a reference to the so‑called smart cities, complex infrastructure solutions that em‑phasize energy saving, energy efficiency, bioenergetics, and waste management.

The first part of the workshop was devoted to discussing en‑ergy saving. Sokolov underscored the the importance of the evalu‑ation stage of any project, em‑phasizing that any miscalculation at the design stage of the project would cause ten times loss dur‑ing the implementation phase. For this reason, companies typi‑cally pay a considerable sums of money hiring international experts at this stage. However, the Swed‑

ish government is ready to help Russian companies manage this financial burden. In particular, if a company in Russia has a proj‑ect in the field of resource saving or energy efficient technologies, the Swedish government is ready to compensate 50 per cent of its pre‑project evaluation costs.

The second part of the work‑shop was devoted to sharing ex‑amples of successful projects. Reconstruction of historic land‑marks is recognized as the most difficult kind of project to execute, as it is not possible to alter the building’s facade, but Sustain‑able Smaland shared a case study of a building that they success‑

fully restored, reducing power consumption by 50 per cent while at the same time increasing the square feet of livable area. The company accomplished this feat in part by painting all of the walls a light color, allow for more natu‑ral sunlight to permeate through, an unpretentious solution that lead to real savings.

Both Sweden and Russia have harsh climates and an extensive network of central heating sys‑tems. Russia has already set a goal of increasing energy effi‑ciency, and workshop participants expressed confidence that Swed‑ish expertise in this field could be successfully applied in Russia.

Workshop Highlights Energy Efficiency Expertise of Sweden

by olga PotAPovAOn Friday, 16 December, Ta‑

tarstan Ministry of Education and Science hosted “Science and In‑novation,” a conference devoted to evaluating and planning inno‑vation in education and science. The event, which took place in Kazan’s IT Park, was part of the republic’s annual Algarysh Alum‑ni Forum, which is held for those who have completed the Algarysh scholarship program.

At the conference, Department of Higher Education Head Timer‑han Alishev spoke about ways in which innovation was being stim‑ulated in Tatarstan. A great deal of funding is directed to the school system, he explained, since achievement in school is consid‑ered one of the most important factors that contributes to suc‑cess later on in a student’s aca‑demic career. Alishev pinpointed four goals for the school system — introduction of IT technology, changing teaching methods, im‑plementing international projects, and evolving the role of the teach‑er — as paramount for achieving a new educational model.

Innovation Highlighted in Algarysh Alumni forum

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Joseluis Gomez‑Rodriguez, left, and Eugenio Paoli, right, are brokering a deal that would link up Mexican technology companies with Tatarstan energy providers.

The conference foucsed on methods of integrating tehcnology into education.

Alishev did not let higher edu‑cation go unnoticed. To the con‑trary, he underscored the impor‑tance of improving higher educa‑tion, as well, given that 85 per cent of Russians attend univer‑sity, a number that is exception‑ally higher compared to other countries. Kazan Federal Univer‑sity has an ambitious goal, Alishev explained, namely, becoming one of the worlds top 300 universities in five years time. To accomplish

this, Tatarstan has looked to Sin‑gapore for guidance, a country that has no natural resources, but transformed from a country of fishing villages to one of the most innovative centers in the world over a very short period of time. This transformation, Alishev ex‑plained, was largely thanks to fo‑cusing on education. Today, the country has three universities that are considered amongst the top 100 in the world.

The theme of international examples that could be emulat‑ed was continued in a presenta‑tion by Johnson Carter, Director of the American Councils for In‑ternational Education in Russia. He presented a new joint pro‑gram between the U.S. and Rus‑sia called EURECA, which is de‑voted to the development of re‑search and entrepreneurial ca‑pabilities of Russian universities. This program brings together

leading research academic in‑stitutions in Russia and in the United States to share research and collaborate together. Cur‑rently, the program has only five participating universities (Nizh‑ny Novgorod State University, St. Petersburg State University, Purdue University, the Univer‑sity of Maryland, and the Univer‑sity of California) but Carter as‑sured that other Russian univer‑sities, including ones in Kazan, would also have a chance to join the program in the near future. Carter also expressed confi‑dence that EURECA would be an important place where research and funding would be able to find each other.

Education First’s interactive, online school was also highlight‑ed at the conference. The inter‑face, which is currently being used by Tatarstan’s Ministry of Educa‑tion and Science, is touted as more convenient for students, as they need only a computer and an internet connection to connect with native English speakers and “friends” from different corners of the world.

� December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18) The Kazan HeraldOpinion

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by Maxim edwARds15 December — A common

joke on Russia’s social networking websites is that ballot papers have just two choice — do you mind whether Putin becomes President, or don’t you mind? In this vein it is perhaps most surprising that Unit‑ed Russia’s highest election results came not from the most tradition‑al, Slavic heartlands of European Russia but from the Federation’s ethnic Republics.

Tatarstan polled 78 per cent for United Russia, Bashkortostan 70 per cent, Mordovia 91 per cent, and Tuva 85 per cent. According to Rashit Akhmetov, columnist for Volga Region newspaper Zvyez‑da Povolzhya, “places where Unit‑ed Russia polled more than nine‑ty percent were Chechnya, Dages‑tan, Ingushetia and psychiatric hospitals.” In these more volatile Republics in the North Caucasus, where the power of so‑called re‑gional strongmen as local leaders is more evident, United Russia polled 99 per cent, 91 per cent and 90 per cent respectively.

Indeed, United Russia seemed so popular in Chechnya that the Jamestown Foundation reported that the number of votes cast for the party exceeded even the nmber of registered voters ! Such successes were not limited to the Caucasus; Tatarstan’s Nurlat Re‑gion polled some 99 per cent for United Russia . Meanwhile in the country’s more Russian regions, the party suffered several set‑backs — in Yaroslavlskaya Oblast 29 per cent, in Kostroma Oblast 30 per cent, and in Moskovskaya Oblast 32 per cent. It was pointed out in the liberal newspaper No‑vaya Gazeta that one in five vot‑ers in the Don region had voted Communist.

There have been demonstra‑tions on the streets in several im‑portant cities—Kazan included—yet this is no Tahrir Square. Politi‑cal apathy and an older population than the restless countries in the Middle East are both key contrib‑utors. Yet how has the party whose leader ended elections of region‑al governors and can fairly been considered strongly centralist been able to dominate the ballots in Re‑publics such as Tatarstan?

It is tempting for the Western observer to rule every electoral anomaly down to the cunning ge‑nius of corrupt bureaucrats — and

indeed this must be taken into account in some cases — yet it also leads to overlooking other interesting facts the election re‑sults have shown us. Certainly given the unstable context of the Republics in the North Caucasus, and the credentials of some of the authoritarian leaders there, it would be naïve not to be suspi‑cious. “99 per cent is ridiculous,” one online commenter said about the Chechen vote. “Even Jesus didn’t get those sort of numbers. Besides, where are the separat‑ists? Did they all oversleep?”

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov’s declaration that it was time for the Parade of Presidents to end only highlighted both Mos‑cow’s anti‑Federalist credentials, and Kazan’s resulting murmurs of discontent. President of Ta‑tarstan Rustam Minnikhanov has stated that he would refuse to change his title to Head of the Republic. Moscow has shown time and time again since can‑celing elections of regional lead‑ers, that although it can make Republican presidents, it can break them just as easily. As a re‑sult, regional leaders can’t use good results for United Russia at the polls as a bargaining chip any‑more — it is simply what is ex‑pected of them. The example of former President of Bashkorto‑stan Murtaza Rakhimov is an in‑teresting one. Taking power dur‑ing the turbulent Yeltsin years, Rakhimov was ejected by the Bashkir Kurultai (Parliament) with Moscow’s blessing. Rakhimov had criticized Moscow for what

he called “excessive centralism.” Many other long standing region‑al governors with a taste for the generous autonomy Yeltsin of‑fered them — Chuvash President Fyodorov, Tatar President Shaimi‑yev, Kalmyk President Illyumzhi‑nov and governor of Sverdlovsk Oblast Eduard Rossel, to name but a few — were all replaced in 2009 and 2010. More recently, on 8 December the Mayors of Akhtubinsk and Ulyanovsk, two cities on the Volga where United Russia had polled less than sat‑isfactory, tendered their resigna‑tions. Their successors all owe their jobs to United Russia, to Pu‑tin rather than to Yeltsin.

There is a distinct possibility that those regional governors and presidents who want to try and defend what little real autonomy their regions have left from the Yeltsin years have just been tapped on the shoulder by reality. If a re‑public such as Tatarstan, which has always been unapologetic in asserting its autonomy from Mos‑cow, were to vote en‑masse against the Kremlin, those in pow‑er would find more than enough reasons to install a more loyal lo‑cal leader. It is consequently wis‑er for those who want to try and save their regional autonomy to try and do so within the context of the most powerful ruling party.

There are, of course, obvious problems in ruling majority non‑Russian Republics such as Tatarstan and Chechnya. (Why else, after problems of seces‑sionism, would it be the case that every political party in Russia has

to be all‑Russian, making parties campaigning only on local issues for certain regions unelectable?) Yet there is also something that, if tamed, could be a formidable weapon indeed — the local elites. In European Russia, Moscow tends to be something of an eco‑nomic and political vacuum, suck‑ing in money and raw materials and luring the ambitious from the provinces with its so‑called bright light syndrome. Regional gover‑nors around Moscow have little to lose: their provinces are under far more economic and political pressure from Moscow than im‑poverished areas of Southern Si‑beria where the Communists still hold sway in local governments.

Sergey Sobyanin, who be‑came the new mayor of Moscow in 2010, isn’t a Muscovite, he is from Tyumen in Southern Siberia. In contrast, there has never been a President of Chuvashia, Kalmykia, Bashkortostan, Mor‑dovia, or Tatarstan, who is not a member of the ethnic group for which the Republic in question is named. In Bashkortostan, for in‑stance, where ethnic Bashkirs are only roughly a quarter of the pop‑ulation, this means there is a rel‑atively small selection of region‑al rulers for Moscow to choose from. Therefore, there is a dis‑tinctly ethnic flavor to the recent elections. Minnikhanov is a Tatar President as well as President of Tatarstan. He has a Presidency legitimized partly on his very eth‑nic group to lose, more so than an official from Siberia appointed to be a governor of a Western

Russian provincial town. This, of course, begs the question: do United Russia Tatars see them‑selves as voting for Minnikhanov, or for Putin? The Tatar President may be “one of them” (a United Russia official), but he’s also “one of us” (a Tatar), a distinction which is lost in the majority Russian provinces.

Political analyst for Novaya Gazeta Vladimir Belayev wrote: “United Russia didn’t even try in this election, and the other par‑ties didn’t even have the money to. It’s so boring.” This is not to say that other parties did not make a distinct effort to court the vot‑ers of the republics in these elec‑tions. Material handed out by the liberal Yabloko party on Kazan’s streets during campaigning was a 62‑page booklet by Andrei Ba‑bushkin, the party’s Moscow dep‑uty chairman called “To Be A Rus‑sian Is To Be An Internationalist.” The booklet emphasized the val‑ue Russia’s unique cultural diver‑sity. United Russia meanwhile simply reproduced their campaign materials in the Tatar language. It seems to have worked. United Russia campaign posters in Tatar, whilst the anti‑Putin slogan “Par‑tia Zhulikov i Varov” (Party of Swin‑dlers and Thieves) can only be seen in Russian. In the Caucasus, where United Russia is likely seen as the party that won the Second Chechen War, voting for the ruling party is probably also a manifes‑tation of loyalty to Russia as a state. In the words of Grigorii Golosov in a recent article for “Open Democracy,” “[United Rus‑sia’s] biggest successes were in areas with a concentration of eth‑nic minority groups. A reputation as a provincial and un‑Russian party is not the best.”

In all these cases, whether in the republics along the Volga such as Tatarstan, those in the North Caucasus such as Chechnya, or even those further to the East, power has an ethnic component that can be either harnessed or feared. These recent results are testament to Moscow’s having achieved the former. Yet now that United Russia’s leaders know that their votes are more dependent on the Republics than before, perhaps the non‑Russian vote has the potential to be of even more crucial importance in next year’s Presidential elections.

Idel‑Ural — from the Golden Horde to the Golden Vote

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Everybody vote’ reads this Tatar‑language billboard promoting the recent elections.

�December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18)The Kazan HeraldMusic

and special effects were all fault‑less. Giant screens featured be‑hind the stage helping to kick off and maintain the excellent ambiance of the concert with colorful animations for every song. DDT’s concert was not simply a live performance, it was an entire, choreographed show in its own right. Each corre‑sponding clip conveyed the emotions in every song visually and symbolically.

In terms of the music itself, the new album has been very well received by DDT’s fans, and the live performance was fault‑less. The band were all excel‑lent, in particular the trumpet player and the drummer. Yuri’s voice, of course, is extremely distinctive and his personal com‑mentary made the messages behind his songs all the more

significant and representative of his political activism. My fa‑vourite musician was DDT’s fe‑male backing vocalist, who fre‑quently sang in the front when duetting with Shevchuk, and who had a truly remarkable energy and stage presence.

Everything was tailored to the comfort of the fans, who were allowed to interact with lead singer Yuri himself (at one point, they were authorized to come up on stage and touch or brief‑ly hug Yuri). This attention to fans is representative of DDT’s atti‑tude on the whole. In a press conference held two days before the concert in Tatar‑Inform head‑quarters, Shevchuk stressed that the band does not endorse any products, nor does it have any sponsors. The tour revenue, which is entirely ticket‑generat‑ed, goes immediately into pay‑ing DDT’s tour crew and musi‑

Shevchuk Presents “Inache”

by wyatt FoRd5 December — Kazan club‑

goers were treated to “The Cap‑ital of Trance” on 2‑3 December, an annual trance festival thrown by Ermitazh club and MLS En‑tertainment.

This year’s festival featured back‑to‑back nights of free‑en‑t r y p e r f o r m a n c e s b y t w o well‑known international DJ out‑fits — German duo Kyau & Albert (Friday) and Italian spin master Giuseppe Ottaviani (Saturday).

Before performing on Friday night, Kyau & Albert fielded questions at Park Inn Hotel, in a gathering that was in many re‑spects more of a master class for Kazan’s up and coming DJs than it was a press conference. The cozy conference room was teeming with energy from the moment that the German duo walked in. The audience, full of local DJs and trance enthusiasts in addition to journalists, hung on to every word that Kyau & Al‑bert had to say — first in Eng‑lish, and then in Russian trans‑lation — frequently erupting into laughter or applause.

To their credit, Ralph Kyau and Steven Moebius Albert fielded the questions superbly, demonstrating a maturity and professionalism that comes with an accomplished 15‑year career. The two DJs teamed up in 1995, originally under the name Kyau vs Albert. Two years later, they started their own music production company, Euphonic Records, which has become one of Europe’s lead‑ing independent trance and house music labels.

“We just wanted to be inde‑pendent,” they explained when asked why they started their own label. “We also work together with bigger music companies in Germany, but it’s nicer to have your own label where you can release what and when you want.

Our experience was that, all the time we worked with other la‑bels, we couldn’t release the music so fast as we could do it

on our own label. We have our own independent platform, and it’s really cool, because once we have a track finished, we can re‑lease it really fast.”

Being their own producers also allows Kyau & Albert more liberties in revising and testing their new tracks. “It’s nice dur‑ing the week to be in the studio, to create new music, and it’s also nice to test the music on the weekend,” they said. “We always do this with our produc‑tions — whether it’s a single for us, or a remix, or even a track which we plan to release on Eupohnic — we test it in a club, because sometimes you get the final reaction when you play it in the club.” The duo added that they would test out one of their

in‑production singles that night in Ermitazh.

When asked about the secret to success, Kyau & Albert

stressed that becoming a rec‑ognized DJ was mainly about persistent hard work, with a little luck mixed in. “First, maybe it’s important to learn how to mix,” they said. “And then, yeah, just do what you like.”

Once a DJ has found his style, it’s imperative to release a lot of singles, as they themselves do. “Today, it’s really important as a DJ to produce or release tracks to get some attention. Just be‑ing a DJ, you cannot get suc‑cessful internationally or so, only locally,” they said, offering as an example the Russian DJ Arty: he started “making great tracks” which were recognized and lead directly to his current acclaim.

No matter your skill level, though, there is always an ele‑

ment of chance. “The music in‑dustry or the whole entertain‑ment business is very hard to predict,” they said, explaining

that they themselves became successful at a time when they “didn’t really expect it.”

The good news, however, is that the modern DJ faces a lot less barrier to entry. “Back in the days when we started, you needed a big studio, lots of money, investment in synthe‑sizers,” they reminisced. “And today, you just need a fast com‑puter with a good software on it, and good speakers to hear.” That technology has leveled the playing field was made appar‑ent to Kazan DJs upon realizing that Kyau & Albert used many of the same mixing softwares that they themselves use.

Physical location is also less important — Kyau & Albert still live in Lobau, a quaint German

hamlet 80 kilometers from Dres‑den. “Today, because of the in‑ternet and the whole thing, you can sit in your little village and create tracks.”

“People are very similar all over the world,” they added. “Where we are playing — we play in front of people who are kind of addicted to the music, or fans, very educated, so they are very similar. And I think es‑pecially the young generation right now, through the internet, it’s very similar.”

Towards the end of the press conference, the audience turned the discussion towards Russian life and politics. Kyau & Albert noted that Russia is a vast coun‑try, in comparison with Germany and Europe, and that the roads could be better. Kyau & Albert were similarly diplomatic when answering questions about pol‑itics. “We grew up in Eastern Germany, so we know about the big Soviet Union, the SSSR, it was always the kind of big broth‑er,” they retorted. “In general, Russia as a world power is big‑ger and has much more influ‑ence maybe than Germany right now. Russia has big importance for the future of the world.”

At the end of the press con‑ference, the majority of the par‑ticipants gathered with Kyau & Albert for a group photo. Many also had the DJs autograph sign autographs.

In light of the energy that this press conference generated, it was a shame that Giuseppe Ot‑taviani did not hold a similar event the following day. Of course, the focus of any music festival is, without a doubt, the performances themselves, but the intimate exchange between Kyau & Albert and Kazan DJs that occurred during this press conference will arguably be just as memorable — and inspira‑tional — as the concert itself.

Kyau & Albert Impart Wisdom, Inspiration to Kazan DJs

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(Continued from page 1)

cians. It is also heart‑warming to see that Yuri spends time af‑ter both his press conferences and his concerts to speak with

his fans, sign autographs, and take photos, which I witnessed myself in his band’s dressing room one hour after the concert

had finished. This dedication confirmed in my opinion that Shevchuk is a truly exemplary — and altruistic — musician.

� December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18) The Kazan HeraldTourism

by Rustem yuNusovBACKGROUND

Sviyazhsk is a beautiful, pris‑tine island with over 400 years of history, but the settlement only became an island in 1957, as a result of the creation of the Kuybyshev Reservoir. Before that, it was the site of a mighty fortress on the right bank of the Volga that Ivan Grozny built after retreating from Kazan in 1550. This settlement was the strong‑hold from which the Russian army advanced in 1552 during their successful siege of the Kazan Kremlin, leading to the downfall of the Kazan Khanate and the annexation of Kazan into the Russian Empire.

A settlement with such an im‑portant role, Sviyazhsk boasted a fortress that was enormous, at one point even larger than those of the Kremlins in Moscow, Novgorod, or Pskov.

TRIPApproaching Sviyazhsk, it is

immediately evident just how un‑assailable the fortress must have been. It was strategically located at the top of a hill with water on all sides. For this reason, per‑haps, the fortress was trans‑formed into a political jail during the Red Terror. This dark part of Sviyazhsk’s past is commemo‑rated at the entrance with a mon‑ument to the scores of people who disappeared behind these walls during purges.

The nastiest part of this his‑tory occurred in 1918, when the military commissar of the Bolshe‑vik government ordered the ex‑ecution of every tenth soldier sta‑tioned on island military bases.

This monument is right in front of the Sviyazhsky Uspensky Mon‑astery, which was founded in

1555, simultaneously with the establishment of the Kazan dio‑cese. Since 1592, the monastery has housed the relics of Saint German, the mythical wonder‑worker of Kazan, who before be‑coming Archbishop of Kazan was Prior at the Sviyazhsk Uspensky Monastery.

In the 16th and 17th centu‑ries, the monastery was one of the main missionary centers of the region. Thousands of Tatars, Chuvash, Mari, Mordvinians, and other local ethnic groups were christened here. By the 18th century, the monastery had be‑come the richest in the Middle Volga, and one of the 20 richest in Russia, at one point housing 7,200 monks.

Another historic monastery tracing its history back to the founding of the Kazan diocese is the Sviazhsky Ioanno‑Predtech‑ensky Monastery. Before the rev‑olution, it was a convent, but now the building houses monks of the Sviyazhsk Dormition Monastery. Sobor Bogomatery, a church on the grounds of this complex, is perhaps the most beautiful build‑ing of Sviyazhsk.

Sviyazhsky Ianno‑Predtech‑ensky was founded towards the end of the 16th century. A fire in 1795 completely destroyed the convent, but the mission quickly grew and prospered. At the beginning of the 20th cen‑tury, the convent had over 400 nuns, making it the second larg‑est in Russia.

There is still a sense of terror that exists among these ruins. Walking through the rooms of the former residential psychiatric fa‑cility, the tragedy of the political prisoners that were kept here is palpable. Soon, everything will be painted and reconstructed,

and nothing apart from the mon‑ument will remain to remind of what happened during the So‑viet Union. Everything will be shiny and white, just like the rest of Rus‑sia, and it will be more difficult to imagine what took place here dur‑ing the 20th century.

Together with Bolgar, Sviya‑zhsk is one of the focuses of the Tatarstan Historical and Cultural Monument Revival Fund, cre‑ated in 2010 to restore and re‑build sites of historical impor‑tance across Tatarstan. Work is still continuing, but at the mo‑ment Bolgar is the more ready of the two sites to host tourists. Construction in Sviyazhsk is still underway, and only a couple bi‑linual Russian‑English signs ex‑ist. The island has one souvenir shop. The old security guard at the entrance to the only fully re‑constructed building—the former Monastery Uchilische — didn’t let us in to take photographs.

Sviyazhsk is a place that ex‑udes history—of the Russian con‑quest of Kazan, of the glory of the Russian empire, and of the hor‑rors of the red terror. Reconstruct‑ed or not, it is a place worth visit‑ing for every tourist who wants to get a sense of the vast and awe‑some history of this country.

HOW TO GET THERESviyazhsk is accessible by

train from the Kazan Railway Sta‑tion to Nizhneye Vyazoviye, a village six kilometers from the historic site. The ride is roughly 1 hour 20 minutes. Trains leave daily at 8:08 am, 11:50 am, 5:39 pm, 7:40 pm, and 10:45 pm. There is also a boat that travels to Sviyazhsk at 6 pm everyday in the summer, but next summer it is expected that the number of boats servicing the island will

Weekend Getaways — Daytrip to Sviyazhsk

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increase. Another way to get there from Kazan is by taxi, an endeavor that should cost rough‑ly 1000 rubles.

WHERE TO LIVEThere are 3‑4 hotels and mo‑

tels in Isakovo, a village only five kilometers away from Sviyazhsk. Prices starts at 500 rubles for a room. In May of this year, the

Dom Kameneva also opened its doors to guests wishing to spend the night on the historic island.

WHERE TO EATDom Kameneva, in addition

to its accommodations, also has a cafe. Besides that, the only oth‑er places to eat are the dubious roadside cafes on the M‑7 high‑way near Isakovo.

Hello, My name is Julie and i recently came across the Kazan Herald by accident on Facebook. of course, i

was instantly thrilled because i studied at Kazan state (now Kazan Federal) three years ago through study abroad at my university. i have noticed since my time there, much has changed. i was curious about whether the newspaper will highlight all the preparations that the city is doing for the universiade and oth‑er events that will be happening there in the next few years. i would love to see how it has changed. is this a possibility? i thank you and the rest of the staff for creating the paper, i love keeping up with my home away from home. i miss Kazan daily and am very grateful to have a connection with it albeit a small one.

thanks again,Julie

Thank you for your letter, Julie! Feedback like yours helps us con‑tinue to provide the most needed news and information to you, our readers. To answer your question, yes, we agree that we need to place more emphasis on the Universiade. Starting in 2012, we will have a monthly “Universiade Update.”

Do you have a comment? Complaint? Suggestion? Is there some‑thing that our coverage is lacking? Please, let us know by writing to thekazanherald@inbox.ru.

We value your feedback.

on 9 December, our Editorial Board received the following letter:

�December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18)The Kazan HeraldOpinion

by AlexandertedesCHi3 December — If you’ve

been paying attention to the bilingual signs used in various public spaces across Kazan (especially on public transportation), then you probably already know that Tatar, along with Russian, enjoys the status of being an official lan‑guage in the Republic of Tatarstan. Since the sov‑ereignty movement that unfolded in the early 1990s,

efforts made by the local government to boost the status of Tatar (such as making Tatar language obl igatory in pr imary schools) have increased the number of speakers and public domains in which it can be heard, ef‑fectively reversing the So‑viet‑era stigma attached to speaking non‑Russian languages in public.

According to the 2002 nationwide census, a com‑bined total of 53 per cent

Isenmesez! Hello!

Khaerle kon! Good afternoon!

Kheller nishek? How are you?

Yakhshe. Good.

Minem isemem… My name is…

Rekhmet. Thank you.

Aiye. Yes.

Youk. No.

Shulaimini? Really?

Min Angliyadan. I’m from England.

Min Amerikadan. I’m from America.

Min Germaniyadan. I’m from Germany.

Sau buligiz. Good bye.

Tatarsha Belehsezme? Do You Know Tatar?

secondly. It is also sure to bring about a smile in a place where smiles are in short supply. Here is a list of basic phrases that you may find useful.

“tatarcha Belehsezme” is a monthly column intro‑

ducing the tatar language to the english‑speaking world. the author, a grad‑uate student at Harvard university’s davis Center for Russian and eurasian studies, is currently study‑ing tatar at Kazan Federal university.

of Tatarstan’s 3.8 million population (including Rus‑sians, Tatars, Kereshens, Chuvash, Bashkirs, and others) claimed that they knew the Tatar language. In the late 1990s, about half of those who identified themselves as Tatars spoke Tatar to some degree, with fluency rates higher in ru‑ral areas than in cities.

Nearly all Tatars are functionally bilingual in Russian, whereas the con‑verse is not true for Rus‑sians living in Tatarstan. This is partially due to in‑difference, partially to fact that participation in Rus‑sian society today requires the ability to communicate in Russian, whether you are in an ethnic republic or not. According to the same 2002 census, only about 4 per cent of Rus‑sians claimed fluency in Tatar, indicating a funda‑mental asymmetry of lin‑

guistic proficiency. Where‑as bilingual Tatars are part of the Russian‑language community, very few Rus‑sians are part of the Ta‑tar‑speaking community. With the exception of aca‑demics specifically inter‑ested in Turkic cultures or those who were born and raised in Tatar communi‑ties outside of Russia (there are communities of Tatars living in nearly ev‑ery former Soviet republic, and a sizeable one in Fin‑land) that come to Kazan to pursue work or educa‑tion and to reconnect with their homeland, foreign‑ers tend not to bother learning to speak Tatar.

However, attempting to engage Tatars in their na‑tive language, even with basic phrases, goes a long way as it reaffirms our geo‑graphic location — after all, we are in the land of Tatars firstly, and Russia

by James vAugHANThe dreaded words rang

out in my ears as I lay clutch‑ing my stomach, paramed‑ics casting an indifferent eye over me. Those words — “We’re taking you to hos‑pital” — set alarm bells ring‑ing and sent shivers down my spine. I had been in Rus‑sia long enough to know that a visit to hospital would throw plenty of interesting surprises my way!

Just as Aleksandr Sol‑zhenitsyn revealed the damning truth about Si‑berian labor camps for Russian “enemies of the state,” drawing on his own experiences to write the profound “A Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich,” my aim is (although admit‑tedly without the same level of dissidence and revolutionary spirit) to give you a snapshot of life in a Russian hospital by taking y o u t h ro u g h a b l o w ‑by‑blow account of my experiences.

To say that the decision to send me to hospital in the first place was rather rash would be an under‑statement. Having taken my blood pressure and tem‑perature, both of which were fairly normal and cer‑tainly not high enough to be of any concern, it was boldly pronounced that I was suffering a bout of food poisoning, that only a thor‑ough stint on a hospital diet could possibly fix. However, if you thought this diagno‑sis was presumptuous, the certainty with which the medical experts pinpointed

A Day in the Life of a Russian Hospital Patient

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So hospital it was to be and having arrived, and of course paid the three rubles for a pair of those ev‑er‑so‑sexy blue plastic shoe coverers, to protect the floor from dirt (one won‑ders whether they would refuse to admit someone suffering from a proper ill‑ness until these three rubles had been paid…), I was greeted by a maverick of a doctor who was mainly in‑tent on informing me of all the advantages of studying Chinese over Russian — just what I wanted to hear, naturally. Mind you, given that the alternative was tak‑ing my temperature for the twenty seventh time and asking the same questions about my bodily functions, the sort that is improper to talk about, perhaps this was in some way a relief!

Anyway, I was quickly whisked off to the ward that was to be my home for the next four days (it would have been double, had the doctors had their way!) and, having lain down on the bed covered with something resembling a mattress and sheets positively soiled from years of use, I was hooked up to a drip to “cleanse my body.” During the couple of hours I was conf ined to the bed,

stone‑like in texture, I had a good opportunity to sur‑vey my surroundings. Sim‑ply casting an eye over the walls and floor was enough to confirm my suspicions, and when the nurse came in to clean with a rag that could have been a hundred years old, leaving my table dirtier than when I arrived, I knew it was time to shrug my shoulders and resign myself to the fact that I was in Russia. Besides, I was hardly going to be doing a runner after the injection that had caused one side of my bottom to numbly as‑s u m e a p e r m a n e n t l y clenched state!

The night passed sleep‑lessly and a new day rose, more questions were asked about how my digestive system was performing, more readings were taken of my temperature — deja vu is certainly appropriate here. If you were wonder‑ing about how one passes time in a Russian hospital, there are certainly no tele‑visions or radios to listen to, although they do allow you to bring a laptop. For‑tunately, there is no such atrocity as the forced labur that Ivan Denisovich was subjected to. However, most of the day is filled with lying, then standing and shuffling the length of the corridor, having a sit on the bed and then, having burned this immense quan‑tity of energy, returning to a sprawled position, trying desperately to find elusive comfort and sleep, only to fail in doing so. The process

is then repeated an hour later, as if in some remake of Groundhog Day, only written by somebody with about as much a sense of fun as a German librarian.

I suspect that you don’t need telling, and I shan’t elaborate at length, but mealtime, the favorite time of day for all young males, did little to improve my mood. I was in the fortunate position of having no des‑perate need for food, and therefore could afford to be a little more choosy — noth‑ing of course on the hard‑ships suffered in the labour camps, where every crumb is savoured, just as Sol‑zhenitsyn vividly portrays. Not only was I being kept in hospital against my will (and feeling absolutely fine), but I was also being fed the most stodgy, bland platefuls of crap imaginable and thus was, as you can imagine, hardly thrilled. Picture por‑

ridge. Now think of all the ways in which porridge can be made bad. For example, it can be slimy, or too dry, flavourless, undercooked, and apparently, even taste a little soapy. Now what I was given was porridge suf‑fering from a combination of all these problems. Like you, I am questioning the physics behind food being both too dry and too wet at the same time, but whether it is scientifically explicable or not, I can assure you it happened and it was not good.

Aside from all of this, and the fact that guests are technically not allowed and therefore have to semi‑se‑cretly sneak in through a side passage, meeting il‑licitly (in a much less excit‑ing way than the word sug‑gests); aside from the fact that the toilet serves as a smoking room (and boy did my fellow patients smoke

some strong smelling ciga‑rettes); and aside from the general prison‑like feel to the whole experience (barred windows really don’t improve the atmo‑sphere of a place), I thor‑oughly enjoyed every min‑ute of it! At least I have a story to tell, not everyone can say they’ve spent time in a Russian hospital after all. I guess you’re all a little jealous now, right?

So perhaps this was a l itt le briefer than Sol‑zhenitsyn’s work, perhaps it took a little less courage to write, and I certainly didn’t suffer anywhere near as much in order to gain my first‑hand evi‑dence. However, I would certainly not choose to re‑peat those four days at any point‑ especially given that I was lucky enough to be taken to the new hospital, the pride of Kazan’s med‑ical services!

� December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18) The Kazan Herald

December 27, 2011 No. 9 (18)

www.kazanherald.com

Edition: 999 copies

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Published in Idel‑Press printing‑office.Signed for publication 26.12.2011Given for press by schedule 18.00, in fact 18.00Address of press‑office: City of Kazan, Dekabristov street, 2Telephone/fax: 292‑01‑63, 543‑44‑20, 543‑44‑45e‑mail: thekazanherald@inbox.ru

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Arts

The Kazan Herald

By wyatt FoRdSunday, 18 December was a

homecoming of sorts for “Mu‑rakami.” The Kazan‑based band were back in Pyramida to cele‑brate the release of their newest album, “Ver,” on the hells of a mini promotion weekend (Moscow club 16 Tonn on Thursday, St. Petersbug’s Zal Ozhidaniya on Friday).

Murakami does not perform every weekend in Kazan, making the 7 pm curtain compulsory for those in the know in Kazan’s lo‑cal music scene. Pyramida was abuzz as fans and friends of the band mingled about, greeting each other, catching up, and even at times impatiently chanting for the band to come out — which

they eventually did, about half an hour behind schedule.

“Ver,” which means “believe,” is by no means the band’s first album — that honor goes to “Chaiki” (Seagulls), which was released in 2006 — but it is be‑ing talked about as if it is the first quality album the group has to offer. Judging from the Pyramida concert, which doubled as the album’s release party, corners were not cut in the recording of the album. The band’s entire per‑formance was synchronized to video display on three screens that served as a backdrop for the musicians, and several camera‑men were moving about the stage and concert hall, filming mate‑rial for a concert video.

The concert began with ma‑terial from the new album, then continued with some of the band’s older material. The audi‑ence was extremely receptive throughout, dancing, thumping, and singing along. A group of the ultra‑dedicated even participat‑ed in the performance, throwing paper airplanes on stage or hold‑ing up placards on cue. The sev‑en‑piece band — Dilyara Vagapo‑va (lead vocalist), Karina Kilde‑eva (second vocalist), Marat Farkhullin (guitar), Rail Latypov (rhythm guitar), Sergey Berezh‑noy (keyboard), Aleksey Konev (bass guitar), Kiri l l Vasilev (drums) — played expertly throughout, evidently enjoying every minute.

Commercially, the highlight of the new album is “Skazka” (Fai‑rytale), a song that was featured as a leitmotif in Sergey Bezrukov’s recently‑released film “Realnaya Skazka.” In performance, how‑ever, the band was at its best dur‑ing the more introspective num‑bers, which allow the band’s mem‑bers to display their musical skill. Particularly poignant was “Mami‑ny My,” an ode to Dilyara and Kar‑ina’s mother (the two vocalists are also sisters) that climaxed as the two descended onto the dance floor to smother their mother in an emotional embrace.

Towards to end of the con‑cert, Dilyara declared that the band had already written enough new material for at least one more

album — clearly Murakami is here to stay. Hopefully, the band will continue to experiment with new means of expression and develop their collective voice as their ca‑reer progresses.

Murakami Believes, Pyramida Listens

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by olga LyuBiNAReleased across Rus‑

sia at the beginning of De‑cember, “Vysotsky: Spasi‑bo, Chto Zhivoy” is a motion picture film about Vladimir Vysotsky, the second‑best known Soviet idol of the 20th century after Yury Gagarin. The film’s subtitle, which means “thank you for being alive,” is a line from a song composed by the singer‑songwriter.

The film’s screenplay was written by the singer’s son, Nikita Vysotsky. Pro‑duced by Petr Buslov, the film cost $12 million, an ambitious budget for Rus‑sian cinema. This money was put to work: lots of work was done to recreate the visual peculiarity of Soviet times, and the film even outdid “Jurassic Park” in terms of the number of vi‑sual tricks.

No actor is officially credited as playing Vysot‑sky. In the final credits, there is only a credit for “Vladimir Vysotsky.” The

singer’s iconic face and frame were recreated us‑ing high tech, unique sili‑cone‑plastic makeup and electronic picture data pro‑cessing with such skill that it would be impossible to tell the actor apart from the person he is playing.

The film tells of five days the actor spent in Uzbeki‑stan in 1979. During this period, Vysotsky was phys‑ically exhausted due to his drug addiction, collapsing on stage and sweating pro‑fusely. The plot climaxes when Vysotsky’s heart stops beating, but then he miraculously recovers from a clinical death.

The central character in the film is Viktor Bekhteev (played by Andrey Smo‑lyakov), a KGB colonel who digs up some dirt on Vysotsky. A lot of attention is also placed on the ma‑terialistic behavior of the majority of those in the entourage surrounding the talent and creativity of Vysotsky, who are shown

happily making money off of the illegal sale of his concert tickets.

Not everything comes together in the film. It is not a very successful at‑tempt at reconstructing Soviet life — especially in

music selection, clothing, hairstyles, and manner of speech — but overall the movie gives a clear sense of what life was like back then. Undoubtedly, the film’s most compelling character is that of Tatiana

Ivleva, the poet’s 19‑year‑old girlfriend (portrayed by Oksana Akinshina), whose determination and devotion helps Vysotsky in his hour of need.

“Vysotsky: Spasibo, Chto Zhivoy” was never meant to be a documen‑tary film — and in fact, sev‑eral facts have been changed and new charac‑ters invented, supposedly to make the story more compelling.

In spite of its critical approach to Vysotsky’s life, focusing on his down‑ward spiral in a life of al‑coholism and drug abuse, the film is one that de‑serves attent ion. The strength of the mind and fortitude of Vysotsky shines through at key moments in the film, such as when he demonstrates his love for his girlfriend. Similarly, his tactfulness, love of freedom, and determina‑tion is put on full display during his conversation with the KGB agent at the

end of the film, a speech that in itself makes the film worthwhile.

The film has sparked a renewed interest in this So‑viet icon — his songs have seen a spike in download‑ing frequency this month. The movie has already got good box‑office returns, with more than $20 million. If the film does not realize its full potential as a time‑less masterpiece, it is not because the screenwriters are at fault, but rather be‑cause the film’s hero has such a huge personality that he cannot be contained within the confines of to‑day’s cinema.

“Vysotsky: Spasibo, Chto Zhivoy” runs 128 min‑utes and is playing in Kazan at 3D Port Cinema, Grand Cinema, Karo Film, Kino‑maks Tandem, Kinomaks Yuzhny, Kinomechta, Kor‑ston, Magia Kino, Rodina, and Suvar.

Photos courtesy of www.visotsky‑film.ru

and kinopoisk.ru

Blockbuster Tribute for Soviet Icon