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‘The most Martian of Martianesses’: Zhanna Aguzarova, (post-)Soviet rock ‘n’ roll, and the musico-linguistic creation of the ‘outside’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2014

Stephen Amico
Stephen Amico*
Affiliation:
Departments of Media Studies and Musicology, University of Amsterdam, Turfdraagsterpad 9, 1012XT Amsterdam, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article focuses on the Soviet/post-Soviet singer Zhanna Aguzarova, as both frontwoman for the seminal Russian rock ‘n’ roll band Bravo and as a solo artist. Contextualising her musical output within the singer's frequent allusions to and performances of extraterrestrialism, and drawing upon works of Kristeva and Vygotskii, I contend that Aguzarova's voice and frequent use of vocables contributed to a creation of a performative space ‘outside’ of and in contradistinction to the linguistically over-determined ‘official’ Soviet space. In conclusion, however, I problematise the creation of a simple binary, showing how Aguzarova's musical Russianness, as well as her emigration from and return to Russia, constitute a type of ‘rooted Otherness’.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 243 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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