You must be like Putin

When I was Russia, digging through a bargain bin, the cover of a particular CD caught my eye. It was by the group Singing Together (Rus. Поющие вместе / Poyushchiye vmeste) and featured a picture of President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Rus. Президент Владимир Владимирович Путин) with each arm around a beautiful woman. I wanted to buy it but didn't have any money on me at the time. Recently I stumbled upon the CD on a Russian mp3 site, and downloaded the title track Just Like Putin (Rus. Такого, как Путин / Takogo, kak Putin), and the English version You Must Be Like Putin. The songs are about a girl who has a rubbish boyfriend and decides that her ideal man must be like President Putin. It is not known what the true motivations behind the song were; whether it was a Kremlin (Rus. Кремль / Kreml') scheme to boast Putin's popularity among the young, or simply a bit of fun. The record company also released a compilation CD, Songs About Putin (Rus. Песни о Путине / Pesni o Putine) featuring Just Like Putin , as well as shouty hardcore metal song entitled Putin is a Murderer (Rus. Путин - убийца / Putin - ubiytsa).

You Must Be Like Putin! (RapidShare)


Another hit of 2005 was Black Eyes (Rus. Чёрные глаза / Chyornyye glaza) by Aydamir Mugu and Aslan Tlebzu (Rus. Айдамир Мугу и Аслан Тлебзу). I don't know where in Russia they are from, but they do not ethnic Russian names. They are possibly from the Caucasian area of Russia, or Georgia, or maybe around Tatarstan. The sticker on the CD says it was a 'Summer Super Hit', and rightly so, as you couldn't walk down the main street of a city in Russia without hearing it blasting out of every kiosk. Like all good Russian pop it features an accordion and questionable singing ability.

Chyornyye glaza

Jagshemash, I like you! Do you like me?

There is more to Kazakhstan than killing gypsies and Jews. Infact it isn't at all like Borat's caricature of the central Asian country. Svetlana L'vovna Gayman (Rus. Светлана Львовна Гейман) known by the stage name Linda (Rus. Линда) was born to a family of German origin in southern Kazakhstan, then the second largest republic of the Soviet Union. At a young age she moved to Moscow where she attended the Moscow Music School, and by the age of 19 in 1994, had released her debut album Songs of the Tibetan Llamas (Rus. Песни Тибетских Лам / Pesni Tibetskikh Lam). Her music is a mix of rock, pop, electro, and folk, and her look is just as eclectic - although she always tends to look like a witch (see photo).

A quick note on her official web address. In 1990 the suffixes for web addresses were assigned to almost all countries around the world. The USSR was given .su (Soviet Union), however a few months later the country ceased to exist and the successor states were all given their own suffix, Russia got .ru, Ukraine got .ua, Kazakhstan got .kz and so on. Russia however still holds .su and despite attempts to terminate its use, in 2001 new .su addresses began to be issued. It isn't thought that the choice of a .su address for Linda's site holds any political ignorance, rather that it was chosen because linda.ru was already taken.


http://www.linda.su/ (Official site - Includes audio streams of her entire back-catalogue)

Rapid-Share 'Exploits' (Rus. Подвиги / Podvigi)