SAT, OCT 15
Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defense)
Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defense): Electric Orange Concert Film (dir. A. Smirnov 2009). This is an extremely rare opportunity to see a full-length concert film featuring perhaps the most important band ever to come out of Russian rock history. The film includes concert footage from a November 19, 2006 sold-out show filmed in Moscow. The band include Paul Peretolchina — drums; Alexander Chesnakov — guitar, backing vocals; Egor Letov — voice, guitar; Nataliya Chumakova — bass.
Yegor Letov led the ever-evolving underground Siberian cult punk rock band, Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Civil Defense), from 1985 until his untimely death in February 2008. In that time, he released at least 50 unique albums of original material and just as many recordings under different guises and side-projects. Letov’s songs were fueled with bitterly passionate protest lyrics that are now considered well-regarded poetry. Letov and GrOb (Russian for, ’coffin’) enjoyed both a huge underground following throughout the former USSR and mainstream success well in to modern post-Soviet Russia. Letov’s legacy has spread far and wide to the West with his band’s records sought-after throughout the globe. In many circles, he is as revered and as important as John Lydon (Sex Pistols/Public Image) and Mark E. Smith (The Fall) and Arthur Lee (Love) and Velvet Underground-era Lou Reed. It should be mentioned that all records produced prior to 1991 were recorded and released in secret and distributed through black market channels. Most were released on reel to reel tape and later, cassette. You can still see his lyrics scrawled on walls in the poorest slums of Russia. His wife and bass player, Natalya Chumakova continues to uphold his enduring legacy.
The widow of the artist and GrOb bass player, Natalya Chumakova, will present the film. This program is in Russian.
Редакция от 16.03.2013.