| [The 1990s were] a revolution in the mind of our people, that now they can do what they want... People in the Soviet Union were very strict, and then these people opened up all of these channels and borders. |
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 | | Pop singer Max Barskih in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 10, 2021. | | (Alexandr Gusev/LightRocket/Getty Images) | | |
| quote of the day |
| "[The 1990s were] a revolution in the mind of our people, that now they can do what they want... People in the Soviet Union were very strict, and then these people opened up all of these channels and borders." | | - Kristina Bardash, aka Luna, Ukrainian indie-pop singer | |
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| rantnrave:// |
Battle Rap
KRISTINA BARDASH, a fashion-forward indie-pop singer from Kyiv who performs under the name LUNA, makes "hot sad girl music." IVAN DORN, who grew up in the north, near the Belarus border, is a pop star with a gender-fluid fashion sense who's gravitated in recent years to funk and soul influences. ALYONA ALYONA (who I've written about here) is an EMINEM-obsessed rapper from the middle of the country who celebrates her plus-side body and "can really spit—like, she's legit." These are some of the surface facts we learn from a wonderful New York Times Popcast hosted by JON CARAMANICA and featuring Vogue fashion writer and Eastern European culture expert LIANA SATENSTEIN; they chat about Ukrainian pop stars who've used their music in various ways to celebrate a country in the middle of a coming-of-age moment while pushing the boundaries of how that country's culture can look and sound.
They've all also, in the past three weeks, had things to say about Russia's cruel, horrific invasion of their homeland. But none have spoken out as much as dance-pop star MAX BARSKIH. He's the first major Ukrainian star to release a song and video about the invasion, and he's taken to Instagram repeatedly to speak, in Russian, about what it's like, for the benefit of fans in Russia who may not be getting the news. (Unfortunately, they may not be getting the news from him either anymore, as Instagram went offline in Russia at the beginning of this week.) "He has really just said, 'This is what is happening,'" Satenstein says. "And he speaks to them in Russian and just gives it a full breakdown." Before Instagram went down, Russia talked back, in the person of Russian rapper TIMATI, a VLADIMIR PUTIN apologist who told Barskih, via social media, to watch himself. Satenstein relates how another Ukrainian, POTAP, of the duo POTAP & NASTYA, stepped in on Barskih's behalf and turned the incident into a full-on proxy war. There's absolutely no front on which Ukrainians aren't ready to fight, and the verdict, at least from our admittedly biased judges, is the Ukrainians won handily. In Potap's video aimed at Timati, "he was like, 'You should talk to your mother; she's very smart,'" Satenstein says. "Like, ouch."
Satenstein and Caramanica also chat about the time and place that has spawned this culture and about the importance of language, especially in the years since the 2014 Maidan Revolution. They're good guides to the culture behind the news. Culture contains our souls, and that's why I've felt compelled to share music and stories of a country under siege over the past three weeks, and why I'll keep doing it. They are, on the one hand, just pop songs. On the other hand, they're a measure of a people.
Rest in Peace
Revered Broadway vocal coach BARBARA MAIER GUSTERN, who died five days after being violently attacked outside her New York apartment. Her students beyond Broadway included Debbie Harry and Diamanda Galas... Tibetan pop singer TSEWANG NORBU, who self-immolated on Feb. 25 to protest Chinese rule.
| | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | |
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 | | The New York Times |
| | The Sounds of Ukrainian Pop | | By Jon Caramanica and Liana Satenstein | | A conversation about some of the country's stars, the musical traditions they work within and how they have grappled with the war. | | |
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 | | Literary Hub |
| | On Rap's Linguistic Twists and Turns | | By Daniel Levin Becker | | The point of rap, among others, is the pleasure of finding words that aren't just transparently informative but challenging to use. | | |
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 | | Jacobin |
| | The Political Economy of Classical Music | | By Simon Behrman | | The story of classical music is inseparable from the rise of capitalism. The new system made a musical revolution possible, but its crisis-ridden development then drove a wedge between musicians and their audience, leaving behind a frozen tradition. | | |
 | | Million Dollaz Worth of Game |
| | Million Dollaz Worth Of Game: Lil Durk | | By Gillie Da King, Wallo267 and Lil Durk | | Lil Durk was nominated by the streets. There's no surprises when you hear the crowd chant "Voice of the Streets". From working with Thugger, Future to the beauty of a deep relationship, there's no topic we didn't cover in this special episode. | | |
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 | | Cultured Magazine |
| | The World Has Its Eyes on Hanif Abdurraqib | | By Rachel Elizabeth Cargle | | Recently announced the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Guest Curator-at-Large, Hanif Abdurraqib has an ear (and a pen) for storytelling. He's who those in the know go to for discovery. | | |
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 | | Streaming Machinery |
| | Music at home | | By G.C. Stein | | Playing digital music at home can be extremely simple and easy but it can also get very complicated and frustrating. | | |
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| what we're into |
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| Music | Media | | | | | | Suggest a link  | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" |
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