Mother Russia: A Scene Report
Andrey, the coroner
The goth scene is alive and thriving in Russia, and the three year work-in-progress site, The Russian Gothic Project, proves many wonderful things are happening there! Andrey a.k.a “the coroner” shares his insight on his country’s dark side.
Size
I can’t calculate the actual number of goths and gothic bands, because the scene is very disorganised, but I know about 30-40 gothic bands all over Russia. I don’t think it’s big, as far as the quantity of goths, but the main music section on the Russian page is showing about 300 banners a day...
Cities
Of course the majority of goths and gothic bands are concentrated in two major Russian cities – Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, but our most famous goth bands known in the western world, Romowe Rikoito and Moon Far Away are located in Kaliningrad and Arkhangelsk.I know there is some scene in Voronezh city, and by the way, it’s coincidental, but Arkhangel in Russian is “Archangel” and Voron is “Raven” in Russian...
Clubs
Where does a goth go clubbing in Russia? Nowhere. :( We don’t have gothic clubs, only occasional, inregular parties. Most of them are organised by Russian Gothic Project, mostly in two clubs – Kraj (The Edge) and Reactor...
Points of Interest
Fashion Shopping
We shop for clothes in Germany or in second hand shops. Some people make their own clothes, like my wife, Claire.
Music Shopping
There is no problem with this in Moscow – we have huge weekend music markets called “Gorbushka”. There you can find rarities and the newest goth / industrial releases (mostly from Europe). Also many music shops in Moscow have got an alternative / industrial / gothic section...
Russian Bands
Two major bands are Romowe Rikoito, a dark folk projekt from Kaliningrad and Moon Far Away a ritual/ethereal project from Arkhangelsk. Up and coming acts I can mention are DVAR, an occult darkwave band that keeps all information about itself in secret, Canonis, an ethereal/folk band from Naberezhnye Chelny and Caprice neo-classical/baroque ocrchestra from Moscow. All the aforementioned bands are included on the Russian Gothic Compilation called “Edge Of The Night”.
More information:For more information on the scene or the music, visit the Russian Gothic Page (don’t worry, there is an English and a Russian version!) or e-mail coroner with your questions!
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