Sovietwave
{{Short description|Subgenre of synthwave}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name = Sovietwave
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| image = File:Exploring_Space_-_The_Science_Museum_-_geograph.org.uk_-_561168.jpg
| alt = Poster depicting Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, the first woman in space
| caption = Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, with text in Czech language. Common motifs of Sovietwave are retrofuturism, technological utopianism, and musical elements evocative of the Space Age.
| stylistic_origins = *Synthwave
| cultural_origins = Early 2010s, post-Soviet states (particularly Russia, Belarus and Ukraine)
| instruments = Digital audio workstation
| derivatives =
| subgenres =
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| other_topics = {{hlist|Vaporwave|chillwave|fashwave}}
| footnotes =
}}
Sovietwave (also styled Soviet wave or Soviet-wave{{Cite web|url=https://www.zvuki.ru/R/P/75133/|title=MUSTELIDE – "В Mustelide мне безумно нравится быть одной" – Звуки.Ру|website=Zvuki.ru|language=en|access-date=2019-10-28}}) is a subgenre of synthwave music and accompanying Internet aesthetic which originates from the former Soviet Union, primarily Russia. It is characterized by an emphasis on the technology and culture of the Soviet Union, such as the Soviet space program and retrofuturistic Soviet era architecture and art, and is an expression of nostalgia for the Soviet Union.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/29/russias-musical-new-wave-embraces-soviet-chic "Russia's musical new wave embraces Soviet chic: Nostalgic young musicians seek connection to culture of the past"], The Guardian Linguist Maria Engström described Sovietwave as the post-Soviet counterpart to vaporwave, evoking a similar nostalgic critique of the "contemporary collapse of futurity" and longing for the lost optimism of a bygone era.{{cite book|last=Engström|first=Maria|editor-last=Miazhevich|editor-first=Galina|title=Queering Russian Media and Culture|date=2022|page=120|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-367-48706-5}}
History
At the height of the trance music boom in the 2000s, Russian trance duo PPK used the melodies of Soviet electronic music as the basis of their compositions, pioneering the fusion of contemporary electronic music with Soviet-era nostalgia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/interviews/sovietwave-2017/|title=SOVIETWAVE – interview by Peek-A-Boo magazine|website=www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be|language=en|access-date=2019-10-28}}{{Cite web|language=en|url=https://www.ravejungle.com/2020/02/01/reinier-zonneveld-resurrection/|title=Reinier Zonneveld brings the classic 'Resurrection' back to life|author=Marco Di|website=Rave Jungle|date=2020-02-01|accessdate=2020-09-06|archive-date=2020-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811153957/https://www.ravejungle.com/2020/02/01/reinier-zonneveld-resurrection/}} In Russian
Until 2014, the groups of the "Soviet wave" — N.E.M.O., {{ill|Kim and Buran|ru|Kim and Buran}}, PPVK — were often classified as indie, lo-fi or other type of electronics. One of the first performers who took a course to isolate themselves from the rest of electronic music was the Kharkiv project "Mayak".{{cite news |title=Music and the USSR: Two Poles of Nostalgia for the Soviet era? |last=Beletsky |first=Ivan|url=https://posle.media/language/en/music-and-the-ussr-two-poles-of-nostalgia-for-the-soviet-era/|work=Posle Media |location=Moscow |date=30 October 2022 |access-date=18 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250122023336/https://posle.media/language/en/music-and-the-ussr-two-poles-of-nostalgia-for-the-soviet-era/ |archive-date=22 January 2025}}
The main inspirations for Sovietwave artists are typically the collective cultural memories associated with the Soviet era.[https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/sovietwave-list A Guide to Sovietwave: Six Artists to Know|Bandcamp Daily] Lyudmila Shevchenko of Jan Kochanowski University considers the genre a manifestation of romanticized "nostalgic myth".{{Cite journal|last=Szewczenko|first=Ludmiła|date=8 August 2019|title=Ностальгия в системе базовых оппозиций "добро" и "зло" в автодокументальных произведениях Людмилы Улицкой "Детство 45–53: а завтра будет счастье" и Светланы Алексиевич "Время секонд хэнд"|journal=Studia Rossica Posnaniensia|volume=44|language=ru|issue=44 t1|pages=53–62|doi=10.14746/strp.2019.44.1.6|s2cid=212909669|issn=0081-6884|doi-access=free}} Sovietwave became popular in post-Soviet countries in the latter half of the 2010s, drawing on synthwave and nostalgia for mid-century Soviet culture in the region.{{Cite web|url=https://observatoria.rsl.ru/jour/article/view/519|title=Евродиско в России: из мейнстрима в андеграунд|last=Краснощеков|first=Владимир Александрович|date=22 September 2017|website=Обсерватория культуры|language=ru|access-date=2019-11-10}}
In September 2017, on Moscow City Day sovietwave compositions were used in the musical design of the Crafts Park pavilion.{{Cite web |url=http://www.the-village.ru/village/weekend/wknd-news/281818-vdnh-city-day |title=Village:ВДНХ объявил программу на День города |access-date=2017-09-29 |archive-date=2017-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930040003/http://www.the-village.ru/village/weekend/wknd-news/281818-vdnh-city-day}} In Russian In August 2018, the first music festival "Volna-1" ("Wave-1") dedicated to the genre was held in St. Petersburg;{{Cite web |url=https://spbdnevnik.ru/news/2018-08-17/teatry-tantsy-pikniki-kuda-poyti-1819-avgusta-v-peterburge |title=Куда пойти 18-19 августа в Петербурге |access-date=2018-11-15 |archive-date=2018-11-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115195227/https://spbdnevnik.ru/news/2018-08-17/teatry-tantsy-pikniki-kuda-poyti-1819-avgusta-v-peterburge}} In Russian "Volna-2" was held on August 10, 2019, in Moscow.{{Cite web |url=https://bumazhnaya-fabrika.timepad.ru/event/992416/%D0%92%D0%9E%D0%9B%D0%9D%D0%90-2 |title=на Бумажной Фабрике |access-date=2022-05-19 |archive-date=2019-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802103610/https://bumazhnaya-fabrika.timepad.ru/event/992416/%25D0%2592%25D0%259E%25D0%259B%25D0%259D%25D0%2590-2}} In Russian On July 22, 2019, an Olympic Night concert party was held in the abandoned SKA pool in Novosibirsk, decorated in the style of Soviet nostalgia; most of the collectives belonged to local sovietwave groups.{{Cite web |url=https://sib.fm/news/2019/07/23/sotni-novosibirtsev-vspomnili-olimpiadu-80-v-zabroshennom-bassejne-ska |title=Сиб. ФМ: Сотни новосибирцев вспомнили "Олимпиаду-80" в заброшенном бассейне СКА |date=16 July 2019 |access-date=2019-08-02 |archive-date=2019-08-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802103609/https://sib.fm/news/2019/07/23/sotni-novosibirtsev-vspomnili-olimpiadu-80-v-zabroshennom-bassejne-ska}} In Russian
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sovietwave experienced a growth in popularity, along with related forms of vaporwave and synthwave.{{Cite web|last=Kahlert|first=Hanna|title=Zombies and vaporwave: Consumer vibes in 2020|url=https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/zombies-and-vaporwave-consumer-vibes-in-2020|access-date=2022-02-09|website=MIDiA Research|date=12 September 2020 }} This upsurge was driven in large part by the success of the Belarusian post-punk band Molchat Doma, whose song {{lang|ru|"Судно (Борис Рыжий)"}} from the album Etazhi became a popular meme on TikTok. According to Cat Zhang of Pitchfork, the song connected with Generation Z's "deep pessimism towards the future".{{Cite web|date=25 June 2020|title=How Belarusian Post-Punks Molchat Doma Became a TikTok Meme|url=https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-belarusian-post-punks-molchat-doma-became-a-tiktok-meme/|access-date=2022-02-09|website=Pitchfork|language=en-US}} Molchat Doma's entry into the mainstream spawned multiple compilations of the genre on streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube,{{Cite web|title=NewSovietWave – YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/c/NewSovietWave|access-date=2022-02-09|website=www.youtube.com}} which feature more overt nostalgia for Soviet and Space Age aesthetics despite the band's criticism of the genre for "fail[ing] to recognize the harsh realities of life in the region".{{Cite web|title=Meet Molchat Doma, the austere post-punk band from Minsk|url=https://wepresent.com/story/molchat-doma/|access-date=2022-02-09|website=WePresent|language=en}}
Sovietwave gained popularity primarily with younger Millennials and Generation Z in post-Soviet states.{{cite news |title=The past that never came — the Sovietwave phenomenon |last=Tóth |first=Zsófia|url=https://hypeandhyper.com/the-past-that-never-came/ |work=Hype & Hyper |location=Budapest |date=14 December 2022 |access-date=29 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240329231504/https://hypeandhyper.com/the-past-that-never-came/ |archive-date=29 March 2024}} Hungarian lifestyle writer Zsófia Tóth noted that Sovietwave "playlists are usually listened to by young people who were born just before the fall of the Soviet Union or have only experienced its aftermath." Tóth theorized that younger audiences were drawn to Sovietwave not out of nostalgia for an era they could remember, but as a form of escapism which reflected their disillusionment with current social and economic conditions in their home countries.
Music historian Stephen Gamble described the growing popularity of Sovietwave as part of a larger trend which encompassed the rise of the lo-fi genre in the late 2000s.{{cite book|last=Gamble|first=Stephen|title=Digital Flows: Online Hip Hop Music and Culture|date=2024|page=106|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0197656419}} Gamble notes that Sovietwave was brought to an international audience by "the wide accessibility of YouTube music mixes."
Characteristics
File:Hammond Slides Fashionable Women.jpg and scientific aspects of Soviet life.]]
Sovietwave is based on modern electronic music trends such as lo-fi, ambient and synth-pop, as well as the electronic music of the late Soviet Union.[https://www.ridus.ru/news/152520.html Ridus. RU. Andrey Krasnoshchekov: Electrosound nostalgia. In Russian] Despite Sovietwave's widespread use of sampling from radio programs and speeches, the genre is not overtly political. Sovietwave music is characterized by an emphasis on the cultural, political and scientific aspects of Soviet life,[http://rksmb.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bumb0120.pdf REVIVAL OF SOVIET ELECTRO // «Boombarash» magazine № 7/2015] Интервью с группой «Артек Электроника»[https://zen.yandex.ru/media/catafalque_fm/sovietwave-nostalgiia-v-kajdoi-note-5ceea85314255600afbfe48f Yandex.Zen. Musical hearse: SovietWave – Nostalgia in every note. In Russian] with excerpts from educational films and speeches by Soviet statesmen being used primarily to create a nostalgic experience for the listener. Sovietwave usually draws on images of space and technological progress which disappeared with the collapse of the Soviet space program, together with positive childhood reminiscences and technological utopianism of the Space Age; social scientist Natalija Majsova described this trend as "nostalgia for the past future".{{cite web|title=Making the Most of a Past's Futures: Soviet Space Science Fiction between Projection and Recollection|last=Majsova|first=Natalija|url=https://www.alternator.science/en/long/making-the-most-of-a-pasts-futures-soviet-space-science-fiction-between-projection-and-recollection/|location=Ljubljana|publisher=Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts |date=17 June 2021|access-date=13 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230914021554/https://www.alternator.science/en/long/making-the-most-of-a-pasts-futures-soviet-space-science-fiction-between-projection-and-recollection/|archive-date=14 September 2023}}
The genre is influenced by the music of old Soviet animation and film, such as The Mystery of the Third Planet, Guest from the Future, The Adventures of the Elektronic, Courier, Leopold the Cat, Moscow-Cassiopeia, Office Romance, One Hundred Days After Childhood, Three from Prostokvashino, and Yeralash. Common musical influences on the genre include Soviet composers Vyacheslav Mescherin, Eduard Artemyev and Aleksandr Zatsepin, and the bands Zodiac, Alliance,[https://www.colta.ru/articles/music_modern/26618-aleksandr-nurabaev-intervyu-kirill-bezrodnyh-inna-pivars-gruppa-inna-pivars-i-gistriony-albom-pevchie-ptitsy-v-lesu-berendeev «Причём объявил нас сам Эдуард Артемьев!». In Russian] Forum, Mayak, and New Collection. The genre is also influenced by the work of Western musicians that were popular in the USSR, such as Depeche Mode, Digital Emotion, and Modern Talking.
Russian researcher Ivan Beletsky described Sovietwave as being similar to the earlier microgenre chillwave, noting that both evoke the popular music and aesthetics of the 1980s, and often utilize low frequency beats and vintage synthesizers. Beletsky described Sovietwave aesthetics as evoking "the bright side of the Soviet state of the 1960s-80s", playing on the childhood memories of those who lived through that era, as well as the general sense of optimism associated with the Space Age.
Stephen Gamble described Sovietwave as a mixture of older Soviet music "with the electronic sounds of synthwave."
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/29/russias-musical-new-wave-embraces-soviet-chic The Guardian]: Russia's musical new wave embraces Soviet chic
- [https://latgale.academy/sovietwave-phenom/ History & Culture Academy of Latgale] The Nostalgic Phenom of the Sovietwave Music
- [http://www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be/en/interviews/sovietwave-2017/ Peek-a-boo music magazine] SOVIETWAVE. Cosmonauts' day special
- [https://sovietwave.su/ Internet radio station «Советская волна»], 24-hour broadcasting music in the genre sovietwave.
- [https://jacobinmag.com/2022/02/soviet-union-sovietwave-electronic-music-kino-buran-klet-naukograd-soviett-records Soviet Nostalgia Now Has Its Own Soundtrack]. Jacobin. 19 February 2022.
{{Electronica}}
Category:21st-century music genres
Category:Electronic music genres
Category:Nostalgia for the Soviet Union