• UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
NewsExplored
  • UK
  • World
    • USA
  • Entertainment
    • Celeb
    • Showbiz
    • Magazine
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Gaming
  • Tech
  • Science
    • Education
  • Insurance
  • Business
  • Auto
  • ToS/Contact
    • ToS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • LinkedIn

  • Tumblr

  • RSS

Entertainment

Viktor Tsoi: How a 33-year-old song became an anthem for change in Belarus

Viktor Tsoi: How a 33-year-old song became an anthem for change in Belarus
Newsexplored
22nd August 2020
7
SHARES
ShareTweet
SubscribeRedditGoogleWhatsappStumbleuponPinterestDiggLinkedinTumblrTelegram
Views:
1

Media playback is unsupported on your device

Media captionVideo by Alena Paŭłoŭskaja

For anyone watching the protests in Belarus, there is one song that keeps being heard in the crowds.

Its name is Khochu Peremen. It’s a song about waiting for change, and it has deep resonance for millions of people across Eastern Europe. To understand its significance, you need to go back to a young boiler engineer in St Petersburg, who died 30 years ago.

The boiler room where Viktor Tsoi worked in the 1980s is now something of a rock shrine. Tsoi’s day job was, however, not what made him famous.

A 1987 film called Assa, which became a cult classic in the Soviet Union, highlights his importance. The film ends with a scene in which a young singer arrives at a restaurant and is read out all of the rules of being an official performer.

Rather than standing and listening, he announces that he is a poet and leaves and joins his waiting band. As the song develops, the camera swings round to reveal Viktor and the band are playing to a huge crowd. The song is Khochu Peremen (Changes, or We Are Awaiting Changes).

Caroline Ridler from Nottingham University has written about Tsoi and says this was the moment that brought him to a mass audience and made him a “symbol of change”.

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Tourists often take photos in front of a mural of Tsoi in Moscow

At the beginning of the 1980s, rock music was largely an underground movement in the Soviet Union. Records from bands in the West were smuggled into the country and there was strict control over who could perform.

The film Assa became symbolic of the rapid cultural changes taking place in the USSR – changes that had begun with Mikhail Gorbachev’s new policies of Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (political and economic restructuring).

data-ad-format="auto">

Thirty years on, Tsoi’s song is now being sung on the streets of Minsk. In 2011, it was sung in Moscow by protestors opposing Vladimir Putin. It has also been sung at rallies by supporters of Putin.

Caroline Ridler says: “It has now become an anthem of political opposition.” But she adds that the image of Tsoi as a revolutionary is also inaccurate. From what he said, he had no intention for it to become a political anthem, or for him to be a revolutionary figure.

“He was making the most of Glasnost and Perestroika. He was on state television. He benefited from what was going on. He said it was a song about inner change,” Ms Ridler says.

Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption A statue of Tsoi was installed in St Petersburg to mark the 30th anniversary of his death

Indeed, in many ways, this was far from subversive.

“They were not banned, Assa was an official Soviet film and this was expressing official Soviet policy at the time,” says Ms Ridler.


However, three decades on, the song’s lyrics and rousing chorus have made it a popular choice at various opposition demonstrations. The lyrics are just vague enough to suit whatever demands for change are being made. But how should Viktor Tsoi be remembered?

In Russia, his band Kino are marking the anniversary of Viktor’s death with a reunion. There are also memorials – one of the largest is in Kazakhstan. His father is from the country’s Korean population. But his legacy is complex.

Image copyright Getty Images

He was the great rock “outsider” who was also a member of Leningrad’s official rock club. He took part in underground apartment concerts known as Kvartirniki and was appalled when one of his albums was released by a state label, but he also appeared in an official film and TV programmes.

He wanted to be a rock star, and to do that he had to navigate a line between the state and the underground. But one element of the story has, Ms Ridler says, helped his legacy.

Viktor Tsoi died in a car crash in August 1990. This was a moment of great upheaval, but it was before the break-up of the Soviet Union and the political turmoil of the 1990s.

In 1990, most agreed there had to be change. But as Ms Ridler says: “Viktor never had to choose which side to join.”


Follow us on Facebook or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Share on Skype (Opens in new window)

Related

Related Itemsanthembecamebelaruschangeviktor
Entertainment
22nd August 2020
Newsexplored @newsexploredweb

Related Itemsanthembecamebelaruschangeviktor

More in Entertainment

  • Read More
    Covid: Frank Turner livestream gigs for struggling venues return

    Views:1 By Oliver WrightBBC News image copyrightPA Media image captionFrank Turner performed to a socially distanced audience...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Vikkstar on his plans for growing Call of Duty esports

    Views:1 By Steffan Powell and Manish PandeyNewsbeat reporters With nearly seven million YouTube subscribers, Vikkstar knows a...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Fashion lookahead: Eight major 2021 looks from tie-dye to pastels

    Views:1 By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter image copyrightGetty Images image captionSome fashion shows moved outdoors this year, while...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Will concerts come back in 2021? And other music stories to look out for

    Views:1 By Mark SavageBBC music reporter image copyrightGetty Images image captionThe future of festivals and concerts is...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    KFC launches game console with built-in chicken warmer

    Views:1 image copyrightKFC Fast food chain KFC is launching a gaming console that warms up chicken. “The...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Books 2021: A pick and mix of what’s coming up

    Views:1 By Rebecca ThomasArts and entertainment reporter image copyrightGetty Images Home entertainment has been catapulted into a...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Has Thomas Becket’s treasured ‘little book’ been found?

    Views:1 By Stephen MulveyBBC News image copyrightCorpus Christi College, Cambridge More has been written about Thomas Becket, the archbishop hacked to death in Canterbury Cathedral exactly 850 years ago, than any other non-royal English person of the Middle Ages. And yet it seems it’s still possible to discover new things about his...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Bridgerton: Everything you need to know about the Netflix drama

    Views:1 By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter image copyrightNETFLIX image captionDerry Girls star Nicola Coughlan (left) as Penelope Featherington,...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    The best of the cheesy Christmas movies

    Views:1 By Sinead GarvanNewsbeat entertainment reporter Published 5 hours ago image copyrightNetflix There are a few Christmas...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Former BBC sports reporter Kevin Gearey dies

    Views:1 Kevin Gearey travelled across the world to cover sporting events for the BBC, including England’s cricket...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    A Christmas Carol: How Scrooge is saving theatres this Christmas

    Views:1 By Vincent DowdArts correspondent, BBC News image copyrightAaron Weight image captionA Christmas Carol at the Theatre...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
  • Read More
    Strictly Come Dancing: 7 memorable moments from this series

    Views:1 By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter image captionBailey would be the oldest ever winner, while Mabuse would be...

    Newsexplored 22nd August 2020
Scroll for more
Tap
data-ad-format="auto">
NewsExplored

NewsExplored - Making sure all the latest news is explored?

Contact us for help

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • Comments

  • Trump pardons two convicted by Russia investigation
    USA23rd December 2020
  • Kieran Trippier suspended for 10 weeks over breaches of betting rules
    Sports23rd December 2020
  • The Papers: UK and EU on ‘verge’ of Brexit trade deal
    UK23rd December 2020
  • Former BBC sports reporter Kevin Gearey dies
    Entertainment23rd December 2020
  • Kamala Harris: What the vice-president did on her first day
    USA21st January 2021
  • Biden inauguration: New president to be sworn in amid Trump snub
    USA20th January 2021
  • Biden inauguration: Democrat to be sworn in as Trump leaves office
    USA20th January 2021
  • Biden inauguration rehearsal paused amid US Capitol lockdown
    USA18th January 2021
  • Les Rehrer says:

    Hello Its me :P and thanks for this post

  • optumrx login says:

    Thank For News.

  • Kent Laatsch says:

    Please let me know if you're looking for a writer…

  • Bob says:

    RT News was where I learned that Erdogan controlled isis.…

Copyright © 2018 Top News Theme. Theme by MVP Themes, powered by Wordpress.

Pandemic ‘biggest knock to live music in my life’
Red Hot Chili Peppers: Guitarist Jack Sherman dies aged 64
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok