Professor MacFadyen
David MacFadyen, Professor and Chair of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles, has created the only English-language site dedicated to new music from Russia. The portal is called “Far from Moscow” (the name of a famous Soviet novel and film) and covers all kinds of genres – all the way from Dima Bilan’s soothing melodies to vile noise. The website covers not only Russian music, but also gives snapshots of the Russian recording industry, providing information about Russian record labels and music portals.
This project is unique for several reasons. First, a Brit, not a Russian, is writing about Russian music, thus he brings attention to nuances that might be overlooked by a common Russian reviewer. Second, the website is frequently updated; every day it adds video, audio, and quick sketches of the artists. And, third… the UCLA Department’s Chair himself brings his life-long expertise in Russian language and the arts to this unique outlet. UCLA Professor David MacFadyen is an author of multiple books and dozens of reviews and publications on Russian culture.
By David MacFadyen
Interest in Russian popular music has exploded over the last few years, and not just in the genres of electronica or dance music. These two styles are logical candidates for overseas success, since they typically lack lyrics. Nonetheless, other types of songwriting are starting to enjoy renown, all the way from folkish elements (as celebrated annually by London’s Winter Festival) to the more experimental, guitar-driven ensembles that draw upon post-punk traditions of the US and UK.
These assorted directions, old and new, acoustic and electronic are developing in two particular ways. Firstly, the role of the internet here is vital. Russia is, after all, the world’s biggest country. Digital culture helps enormously to overcome the problems caused by vast distances and tiny budgets.
There is a related problem, however: how to attract public attention once the work has been uploaded. The re-centralization of major Russian media, together with problems of payola and piracy around commercial outlets, simply make it harder for small-scale, innovative artists to establish recognizable venues. If we were to trawl the pages of You Tube and My Space, we would find a great deal of valuable material from Russia, but knowing where to look is hellishly tricky. The tiny clusters of “friendly” pages around a performer’s entry on My Space, for example, establish the first step towards maintaining a presence, but the sheer numbers of worldwide projects hosted by these portals mean that Russian artists vanish in the crowd.
And this brings us to the second important change that has taken place, following any tentative steps into the ether. As groups of kindred spirits start to gravitate towards each other, they form the DNA of a label-based culture. In other words, specific styles and/or regions are staring to turn mp3s into CDs. Virtual content is enjoying parallel success on hard media.
Once again, when we compare these little labels to Russia’s state-run media, there are many parallels with the development of Anglo-American songwriting of the 1970s and 80s. Both of these extremes from modern Russia (both state-sponsored and independent) are represented in our portal: hugely popular, well-funded and nationally broadcast performers together with small, often penniless artists who nonetheless are able to enjoy modest degrees of success through alternative media.
The fact that handheld media and “over-the-air” technologies are developing with equal speed in Russia, especially in oil-rich, far-flung regions such as Siberia, means that the distance between wealthy and impoverished venues is diminishing: the gap between national television and private laptops or cellphones is collapsing. Innovation and conservatism are falling into the same space; this portal aims to do them both justice, with maximum enthusiasm and minimum snobbery. No other place online showcases the most popular art form of the world’s biggest country.
An RSS feed can be accessed through the site’s Russian address: ffm.soyuz.ru
Russia Blog editors congratulate Professor MacFadyen with his new project, and hope to see more "cool" educators like him!
