RUSSKAJA
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RUSSKAJA

Vienna, Vienna, Austria | INDIE

Vienna, Vienna, Austria | INDIE
Band World Rock

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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Discography

Album:Kasatchok Superstar (2008)
EPs: Dawai, Dawai (2006)
Singles: Dope Shit (2007),
More (2008), Kasatchok Superstar the Song (2009)

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Bio

Russkaja is the exact opposite of Easy Listening music, Russkaja - terror of terrors of all Russian folk music societies - stands for fat Austrian Polka beats. The group members are the most illustrious musicians of the Alpine region, who possess a colourful mix of cultural backgrounds. They pour these various cultural influences into a postmodern version of Russian folk and spread their distinctive music all over Europe. It is sweaty and shouts out loud: Dance Dance Dance! It is a clash of trash metal, world jazz, funky stuff and Frank Zappa-esque Rock. All these things signify: Get down to business!

On Russkaja’s MySpace site their music is described as "Healing and Easy Listening" - a tongue-in-cheek fraud. If a poor convalescent goes to “Spa Russkaja”, he will definitely not return in one piece. Russkaja is quite the opposite of Easy Listening music, Russkaja – horror of horrors of all Russian folk music societies – is the one and only Russian high-speed-sensation from Austria. This is the reason for the black-humour disposition of the band, whose extremely genuine Slavonic name derivates from a mix of “Russia”, “Ska” and “Ja” – the German word for YES. The last piece of that name shows their basically positive attitude and their categorical principle to refuse any ‘no’ or rejection.

At least one section of the band has suitable origins (Russia, Ukraine, Hungary & Bulgaria). Thus the band originator Georgi A. Makazaria was born in Moscow and has been living in Vienna since 1992. In Vienna he participated in the musical „Falco – A Cybershow” and was member of the trash metal group "Stahlhammer”. Before joining Russkaja, the other band members had been playing in several Austrian music formations: trombonist H.G. Gutternigg with Joe Zawinul, drummer Titus Vadon with Drahdiwaberl, guitarist Zebo Adam with Hallucination Company and saxophonist Manfred Franzmeier with the Hot Pants Road Club; whereas violinist Antonia Georgiew was known as child prodigy of classical music. Since her early childhood she has won numerous classical music awards.

This list makes clear that Russkaja possesses a wide range of musical styles and influences – a mixture of trash metal, world jazz, funky stuff and Frank Zappa-esque Rock. This tells us: they mean it seriously. Here are coldly minded masters at work, eager to bring their audiences’ blood to the boil, and by spreading Russian propaganda from abroad they seek to drive governmental protectionists of culture up the proverbial wall.

Russkaja’s Kasatchok is similar to a traditional punch-up, the brass section is like a Kalashnikov, and the stage dresses are ‘Genghis Khan meets Red Army’, combined with greetings from the Tsar himself. Welcome to the post-modern age, and, as you’ve been told, they won’t take ‘no’ for an answer!

Russkaja’s musical message, on the other hand, is crystal-clear: Dance Dance Dance! Ska is the magic formula and Polka means to an end. These seven quasi-Russian spirits are masters of both styles. The have been practising their diabolic trade since 2005, and in 2008, after a few singles and EPs, they launched their first album „Kasatchok Superstar“. And at least since that release they have become superstars in their own right. Like their colleagues in New York, the band Gogol Bordello, they single-handedly conquered clubs and open-air festivals across Europe and have been spreading their high-speed brass wherever possible. This is not simple Balkan fashion and they are no power pioneers of Moscow; this is quite simply pure anarchy of sound. We say “spasiba” and “dobriy Abend!”.