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Old 07-01-2009, 20:10   #1
Argos Argos is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Linz, Austria
Age: 62
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Highlights from Russian music shows

There are quite a lot of music shows in Russia and I thought, some people could be interested in what's going on, who is 'in', etc. Around New Year there were quite a few big shows, so let's begin with one of the most important.

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Zolotoj grammofon 2008 in Moscow
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Every year 'Russkoe Radio' and 'Channel One' honour the artists with the most frequent airplay with this award. 20 weeks in the charts and you may be among those who are chosen for the show. Interestingly some top acts were not invited, like the number 1 hit makers T9, Elena Terleeva, Vintazh and Elena Korikova, or Tanya, Dima Koldun and Irakli (the latter two even had two songs meeting the requirement). All those had songs with airplay for more than 30 weeks. So this show does only partly represent the current tops of Russia's music scene.

I've made a list of Youtube-links with all performances and my impressions. You may watch the performances you are interested in. Enjoy!

01. Valeriya - Chelovek dozhdya: Although I love Valeriya - I don't like the song, I don't like the performance (used to much better ones from her), and I don't like, when artists drag their own children on stage.

02. BiS - Blizhe: Actually a solo song of Vlad Sokolovskij (the 'S' part of the duet) and they deserved the 'Golden Grammy' for "Tvoj ili nichej", but they chose to sing "Blizhe", thank God, it's their best song and best performance so far.

03. Infinity & D.I.P. Project - Gde ty: I failed to realize the end of the commercial break, so a few seconds are missing. Anyway, nothing to regret. The lady is stumbling through a bunch of dancers shouting "Gde ty" (where are you) like 10 times. After one and a half minutes the meagerness is over, obviously she found, what she was looking for.

04. Vika Dajneko - Stop, kuda zhe ya idu: She managed the break-through this year with this song. Not a singer with a great voice, but she is sooo cute!

05. Aleksandr Yakovlev - Ne uhodi: Unusual for Russia a male singer with quite a weak voice, nevertheless this song became a top 20 hit. Catchy song with a decent performance. The real highlight of this video is the award scene, where Kseniya Sobchak as ballet-dancer stalks the award presenter Anastasiya Volochkova.

06. Serebro - Dyshi: wonderful song, but not their best performance, and the costume designer should be shot according to martial law.

07. Leonid Agutin - Ne uhodi daleko: This song clearly missed any qualification for the 'Golden Grammy', best ranking no.41 and five weeks in the charts, but in Russia the clocks work different. It's beneficial, if you are good friends with all the important people of showbiz.

08. Sofia Rotaru - Ya nazovu planetu...: One of the older generation, but the first one this evening, who brought 'spirit' into the audience. Really catchy chorus! One of the most played songs this year.

09. Lyube & Vika Dajneko - Moj admiral: Another song which didn't meet the requirements for the 'Golden Grammy', but making a bow to an old hero of the Russian music scene.

10. MakSim - Lauchus' letat': Writing great music she would easily be the most famous Russian artist, if she paid more attention to attractive performances. Anyway, pregnant as she is, we get what she can best - stand there and just sing her song.

11. Band'Eros - Manhatten: An unusually calm song from this creative and energetic 'hip-pop' group, but nevertheless their so far most successful song rotating on Russian radio, one of the top 10 of 2008. Convincing performance as always, thanks to the two great singers.

12. Sogdiana - Veter dognat': Generally the artist with the most beautiful performances, but this one is far below her level. A mediocre remix of her song, ridiculous costumes and without the grace of the great dance choreographies she's known for.

13. Chelsi - Leti: a boygroup which can survive thanks to the sponsor, one of the richest Russians and owner of a British premier league soccer club (guess which one!). Not bad, but nothing special.

14. Zhenya Otradnaya - Uhodi: nice and funny girl, good music, good performance. Unfortunately I had some transmission problems, so no video link.

15. Dima Bilan - Vsyo v tvoih rukah: The Eurovision song 2008 in Russian. A performance with much routine and professionalism, but well, the song is a-w-f-u-l!

16. VIA Gra - Potseluj: a real super-hit, performed by the most professional 'girl' group of the CIS, excellent dancers and (at least two of them) great singers. The performance itself - I like it more when they use the whole stage than this quite static performance.

17. Stas P'eha & Grigorij Leps - Ona ne tvoya: Most of the time 'joint ventures' between different artists suck, but this one is absolutely great. Watch the duel...sorry...duet of these two top category singers! (ok, the lighting is horrible, so...listen!)

18. Potap i Nastya Kamenskih - Pochemu molchish': Very unusual romantic song by this hiphop-r'n'b-folk group from Ukraine, but the one with which they conquered the hearts of the Russian audience. Excellent performance!

19. Lolita - Orientatsiya sever: Lolita 'Rabiata' - no mercy for her voice, the microphone stand, the audience! Definitely the performance with the biggest 'drive' this evening. Interesting that some of the oldies had much more pepper in the a** than the young generation!

20. Sergej Trofimov - Gorod Sochi: The unofficial hymn of the Olympic Games in Sochi, of course it was never a hit in Russia, not even in tophit's charts. The performance was boring, the music too. An award for this - ridiculous!

21. Nikolaj Baskov & Nadezhda Kadysheva - Vhozhu v lyubov': The song is pure cruelty, the performance even more, but Baskov's 'performance' at the award presentation was excellent, poor Kseniya Sobchak!

22. Valerij Meladze Parallel'nye: Phantastic song and an excellent singer with a good portion of humour. Look into his eyes! You can read there the fun he had during his performance. Outstanding!

23. Uma2rman & Patricia Kaas - Ne pozvonish': Although commercially successful the group had a few years without much footprints on radio. This duet with the French singer brought them back on air. The song is ok, the performance nice, you know - 'nice' the sister of 'bor...'

24. Patricia Kaas - Mne nravitsya: Nice gesture to let the foreign guest perform the finale, but honestly, this was absolutely b-o-r-i-n-g! But it adds to the feeling that this show could have been much better, some highlight and some performances, which never should have been in a show of this format.
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