Post Punk in the Soviet Union
"While the 70s were exploding into the punk era in the Western World, the Soviet regime was suspicious about the consequences of letting alternative cultures exist inside their own world. This was actually a part of the Cold War game: freedom for all cultures, styles and ways of being (including sexuality) in the US and Europe in order to put more pressure on the Iron Curtain. Soviet decision makers decided to ban or restrict most musical styles that represented the American way of life, such as rock’n roll, twist, country and rockabilly. However, blues and jazz – even though they were the roots of rock – were considered protest-music originating from oppressed Afro-Americans. Therefore, they were not only allowed, but actually encouraged by the regime. The Russian Empire’s strong classical music tradition offered an immense force in order to produce the compositions needed for the Bolshevik Revolution. The regime used this power, and thanks to this, many new creations were born. However, popular culture was about to declare its definite victory soon after World War II."
Notchnoi Prospekt
"Notchnoi (Russian, “Notch” (ночь) night, Notchnoi, nightly) Prospekt (Russian, (проспект) avenue). Notchnoi Prospekt: an avenue one must visit at night. Spekt, spectra, to see. Pro, pre, before. Pro-spekt must have another meaning. In ancient Greek: pre-vision, seeming something beforehand, seeing or feeling what is on its way toward us. Seeing what is now dark or invisible, that which will be visible only in the future of time.
It was a glitch in time since the band was formed in 1985 of recorded history. Yet the time sketch of the Soviets was displaying something near to 1978/9 in terms of post-punk. The idea of the Soviets was an arrow towards the future of Humanity and towards the future of the Universe (Вселе́нная) as the time experience inside the bodies and souls was coming from the past. This paradoxical ground of living created an incomparable “atmosphere” for writers, artists and musicians inside a vast territory that remained outside the capitalist regime. It was filled with simplicity, mediocrity, darkness, a “no future” feeling, bureaucracy and pride. It was filled with equality, a “no goods” feeling, hidden jealousy and immensity. It was a “grey world”."
"Alexei Borisov was born in Moscow on 7 December 1960. He studied history and arts at Moscow State University and joined his first band called “Tsentr” (“The Center”) in 1980. He played guitar with this new-wave band until he formed Prospekt in 1981. Prospekt became Notchnoi Prospekt when he and his friend Ivan Sokolovsky from Moscow University reshaped the band in 1985. Borisov and Sokolovsky started as a duo and tried different styles in their music including electro-pop, ska, rockabilly and twist. After the introduction of drummer Sergei Pavlov and violinist Dmitry Kutergin in 1987, they evolved into a post-punk and industrial band. They soon became well known and started to put on concerts all over the Soviet Union. Notchnoi Prospekt maintained its core members and distinctive style up to the end of 1989."
Alexi Borisov on Avant Garde and Post Punk
"Avant-garde was more like an academic movement. Of course, when punk appeared – we heard of punk maybe in the very late 70s or early 80s – it was totally prohibited. It was possible to read about punk music a little bit in the Soviet press where punk was highly criticised. There was also a special TV programme called “International Panorama” which demonstrated, discussed and criticized western life. And punk was like a decadent movement of young people, unsatisfied by the social reality of western society, some kind of protest. It was seen as western youth protesting against the bourgeois society, but it was of course completely impossible to play it publicly. There were some hidden underground events for a closed audience, for friends, not for everybody. Sometimes, we would have some problems with the police or some local communists. Even our band; we didn’t look like punks, we looked more like “young scientists” with suits. We wanted to look like this but we could be accused of looking like fascists. If we had long hair, we could look like hippies. This was less dangerous than sharply dressed people playing electronic Kraftwerk style music. Authorities might be suspicious about such music. It was a bit unclear for them; what kind of message we had. Punk was more obvious. It was quite simple. But of course, the music community was divided into people being more interested in more serious styles like progressive rock, art-rock and jazz-rock, and those who enjoyed punk. For me, punk was not too brutal but I realised that I couldn’t be a punk and a student at the research institute at the same time. "
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