Shortparis between Narodnaia and Popular Music

• In Event: From Popular Will to Popular Culture: Socialist and Postsocialist Imaginaries for the Russian Mass Polity

Abstract

Days after Russia started its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the indie rock band Shortparis released a poignant music video recorded in collaboration with a male academic choir, known as the Choir of War Veterans. Combining the band’s signature electronic sound with the vocal delivery of a senior military choir was an unlikely aesthetic choice. Yet the joint performance of the band and the choir aptly channeled a sense of anxiety and devastation felt by many during the first days of the war. Since 1974, the regular repertoire of the Choir of War Veterans included military ballads and traditional folk songs, largely recognized as “narodnaia pesnia.” This presentation explores the way Shortparis engaged the sound and concept of “narodnaia muzika” in their recent music and media artwork. I examine the affordances this engagement provides for a reparative reading of the concept of “narod,” at a time when the idea of “glubinnyi narod” carries a derogatory connotation in popular culture.

Author

• Tatiana Efremova, George Washington U