Maslenitsa in London: Part 1

Three years ago I had one of (if not THE) most lovely day ever amongst a hundred thousand Russians in Trafalgar Square. It was I believe,the last Russian Winter Festival to be held in London,so you can imagine my excitement when I found out (thanks to acediscovery) about yesterday's Maslenitsa event.

I'd never heard of Maslenitsa before- my teachers only seemed to recognise Women's Day as a Russian holiday- but it's a week long festival that marks the end of winter and the run-up to Lent,during which there are pancakes aplenty.

Anyway,after finding out that not only would Sergey Lazarev be there (you might have heard of him- he did the idents for our radio show...),but Prohor Shalyapin and Chelsi too,me and Keira just had to go.

I don't know what I missed,as I got there an hour after the whole thing kicked of,but the first act I saw was Bayan Mix with their light-up accordions.I was scoffing a chicken fajita and Twix at this point so didn't get any pictures or anything,but here they are on Russian telly. I quite liked them.But not as much as I liked Namgar,a group from Buryatia where Russia borders China and Mongolia.Their fusion of traditional Mongolian music and guitars and drums is like nothing you've ever heard before,as I'm sure you can believe.

Keira arrived just before Prohor "if you're stars,then I'm a legend" Shalyapin took to the stage wearing a characteristically flamboyant outfit.This was just as well because by being there she'd just doubled his fanbase.I've always had the impression that Prohor wasn't very popular during FZ6 and afterwards,and nobody seemed very enthusiastic during his set,despite the fact that he did a few traditional Russian songs which I'm sure everyone would have gone mad for if it had been anyone else.To finish,he did Tolko Ty which is one of his own songs as far as I know.
The old lady next to me (not Keira) was clearly enjoying it very much as she turned to me and said "when are the Russian dancers on?" Hmm.And then she asked if Prohor was one of Russia's top pop stars.I should have said yes.Anyway,the lack of enthusiasm didn't seem to put him off- he is a legend in his own lunchtime after all.

Exciting news from Russia

Well,it's exciting,but not necessarily news.As much as I try to keep up to date with Russian pop-world,I do fail quite a lot :) Anyway,this moody yet lovely picture of Dima K is from a new video shoot he's been doing.It's all quite mysterious,there doesn't seem to be any indication around of what this song is,or when it will be out...Still,I'm sure it'll be a pleasant surprise :) I've also read that there's going to be an album released soon.Which is about time.He's done some really good songs since Fabrika Zvezd,so it'll be nice to hear a proper album at last.
Oh,and I also found this video of him doing a song I've never heard of called Dom Khrustalniy (House of Glass) on some programme or other.I like it,it reminds me of a big Italian ballad for some reason.And he's looking gorgeous.But then again,when has he ever not looked gorgeous?And by the way,I'm sure I've seen Dima Bilan wearing that belt...


In other Fabrika based news,there's a new song on Prohor Shalyapin's website.It's called Ya Luchiy and it's really good.Probably about as typical pop as Prohor's going to get.It means 'I'm the best.' Yes Prohor,you are,I think you're fabulous.And you should come over to the next Russian Winter Festival :)

By the way...

Today is Prohor Shalyapin's birthday,which gives me a (long overdue) excuse to write about him.If you haven't heard of Prohor (which I expect is probably the case),you've been missing out,because he's fabulous :) He was one of my favourite people on last year's Fabrika Zvezd (then again,who wasn't really?),but I've only recently been getting into his music.He did quite well in Fabrika,although from what I've heard,he wasn't exactly the most popular of the housemates.However,as great as Dima is,if the competition had been based purely on who had the best voice,Prohor would have walked it.Although to be honest,he's much more of a theatrical/musical type singer than an all round pop star like Dima and Chelsi are.
There's not too many videos of him on youtube,but this is a very good performance...

I would also advise you very strongly to listen to this song It's called Krugovarot,which,in the context of the chorus means 'life is crazy.' It's a beautiful song,very relaxing and sounds very optimistic too (even though I can't understand any of it,that's the impression I get).
There are many other big ballad type songs on Prohor's website,that seems to be the thing he's best at,but this one is also good.It's called Polyubi Nyeba,and it reminds me of a Balkan Eurovision song.Which is always good.
Then there's this- Vdol Pa Peterskay ,a Russian folk song,which seems to be another genre he quite likes.
Actually,looking at that,he does seem to be quite a versatile artist...I'm not quite sure what he's been up to since Fabrika,but hopefully he's doing well.And I can't say it would be anything other than fabulous if he came to the Russian Winter Festival in January :)