Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград), also known as Gruppirovka Leningrad (Russian: Группировка "Ленинград") and Bandformirovanie Leningrad (Russian: Бандформирование "Ленинград"), is a popular Russian rock band from Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), led by Sergey "Shnur" Shnurov. Composed of 14 members, the band appeared in the late 1990s. They soon became famous for their vulgar lyrics containing obscenity, aestheticization of alcoholism and a lot of Russian mat, the main reason they were avoided by most radio stations at first. But this did not stop Leningrad's growing popularity, partly because of the rich brass sound. The band have made their way to radio and TV (filler noises covering the prohibited words), with Shnurov even presenting some New Year's Eve TV shows. Circa 2007 the group began experimenting with female back vocals, finally choosing tall redhead jazz singer Yuliya Kogan as a permanent participant. Disbanded in 2008, Leningrad reunited in 2010. Several new songs and videos have been released since, most of them featuring lead vocals by Kogan, not Shnur.
Cultural impact: As Shnurov said himself: "Our songs are just about the good sides of life, vodka and girls that is." Several of Leningrad's recent songs portray women (using Yuliya Kogan's voice) worshiping man's penis. The band are known to be so disliked by the mayor of Moscow Yuriy Luzhkov, that he has cancelled all of their ever attempted large-scale events in the city during his long term in office. Thus Leningrad's numerous performances in Moscow were limited to privately owned night clubs or bars. Another field of the band's artistic interests are mainstream cultural and political clichés. 2007 song Vybory's final string Kandidaty - pidory ("Candidates are faggots") became a widespread post-Soviet meme referring to the election abstention. 2010 song I Bolsche Nikogo ("And Nobody Else (That I Love") addresses Saint Petersburg's intended image as "Russia's cultural capital", ridiculed with the use of mat and references to alcoholism and street crime. Shnurov is also fond of ridiculing Russian pop music and pop rock, particularly by covering their songs and inviting their stars to perform live together.
Soundtracks: Leningrad songs appeared in several popular films, mostly those of pulp and crime inclination, notably DMB and Bimmer. Three songs by Leningrad appeared prominently on the soundtrack to the 2005 film Everything Is Illuminated. "Nikogo Ne Zhalko" is one of the songs used in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
Current line-up: Sergei "Shnur" Shnurov (Сергей "Шнур" Шнуров) - vocals, arrangement, lyrics, guitar, bass (1997 - 2008, 2010 - present), Alice Vox-Burmistrova (Алиса Вокс-Бурмистрова)- vocals, backing vocals (2012 - present), Vyacheslav "Sevych" Antonov (Вячеслав "Севыч" Антонов ) - backing vocals, maracas (2000 - 2008, 2010 - present), Aleksandr "Puzo" Popov (Александр "Пузо" Попов) - bass drum, percussion, vocals (1997 - 2008, 2010 - present), Andrey "Antonych" Antonenko (Андрей "Антоныч" Антоненко) - tuba, arrangement, accordion, keyboards (1997 - 2008, 2010 - present), Grigoriy "Zontik" Zontov (Григорий "Зонтик" Зонтов) - tenor saxophone (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Roman "Shukher" Parygin (Роман "Шухер" Парыгин) - trumpet (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Andrey "Ded" Kurayev (Андрей "Дед" Кураев) - bass (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Ilya "Pianist" Rogachevskiy (Илья "Пианист" Рогачевский) - keyboard (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Konstantin "Limon" Limonov (Константин "Лимон" Лимонов) - guitar (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Vladislav "Valdik" Aleksandrov (Владислав "Валдик" Александров) - trombone (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Aleksey Kanev "Lekha" (Алексей "Лёха" Канев) - baritone saxophone, alto saxophone (2002 - 2008, 2010 - present), Denis Mozhin (Денис Можин) - sound director (2002 - 2008), drums (2010 - present), Aleksey "Micksher" Kalinin (Алексей "Микшер" Калинин) - drums, percussion (1997 - 2002, 2006-2008, 2010 - present),
Past members: Yuliya "Yulia" Kogan (Юлия "Юля" Коган) - vocals, backing vocals (2007 -2008, 2010 - 2013), Igor Vdovin (Игорь Вдовин) - vocal, guitar (1997 - 1999), Roman "Romero" Fockin (Роман "Ромеро" Фокин) - saxophone (1997 - 2002), Alexander "Sashko" Privalov (Александр "Сашко" Привалов) - trumpet (1998 - 2002), Oleg Sokolov (Олег Соколов) - trumpet (1997 - 1998), Vasiliy "Grasshopper" Savin (Василий "Кузнечик" Савин) - trombone (1998 - 2002), Dmitry "Antenna" Melnikov (Дмитрий "Антенна" Мельников) - drums (2000 - 2002), Ilya "Dracula" Ivashov (Илья "Дракула" Ивашов) - tuba (1997 - 2002), Stas Baretsky (Стас Барецкий) - dancing and mascot (2005 - 2008), Denis "Kashchey" Kuptsov (Денис "Кащей" Купцов) - drums (2002 - 2008), Michael Gopack (Михаил Гопак) - trombone (2002), Daniil "Dan" Kalashnick (Даниил "Дэн" Калашник) - guitar (1999 - 2002), Maxim Temnov (Максим Темнов) - bass, double bass (2001 - 2002), Sergei Arsenyev (Сергей Арсеньев) - accordion (2001)
Discography
