Yanka Dyagileva | Artist
Yanka Dyagileva was a Russian poet and singer-songwriter born 1966 in Novosibirsk, Siberia, Russia. Having one of the most disturbing, and hauntingly beautiful voices of Soviet rock, Yanka came to prominence only after her 1991 death, when scores of bootlegs and concert recordings rose to the surface. Her romantic and artistic ties with Russian punk band Grazhdanskaya Oborona and its founder Egor Letov, shaped both her life and legacy as first lady of Russian punk. Dyagileva was of Russian, Ukrainian and Czech origin. She attended public school and studied piano for a year at a music school before quitting, turning instead to the guitar and poetry. She performed in school talent shows and later with the political band AMIGO. The earliest of Yanka's poetry that has survived is from 1985. In December 1985 she traveled to Leningrad, where she met fellow music icon Alexander Bashlachev. In April 1987, Yanka met Yegor Letov, and was romantically involved with him. She performed two songs, "Pechal Moya Svetla" (My Sorrow is Luminous) and "Kak Zhit'" (How to Live), with Grazhdanskaya Oborona in 1987, which at that time only consisted of Yegor Letov. In summer 1987, due to renewed political repression by the authorities, Letov was forced to leave Omsk and hitchhike around the country for six months. Yanka accompanied him throughout the entire trip. In January 1988, she recorded her first album Ne Polozheno "Not Allowed". That same year she recorded the album Deklassirovannym elementam with the post-punk band Velikiye Oktyabri. Up until her premature death at the age of 24, Yanka released a further five solo albums, the last issued postumously in 1992. Standout albums include Deklassirovannym elementam "Declassé Elements" (1988), Angedoniya "Without Pleasure" (1989), Domoy! "Home" (1989), Prodano! "Sold" (1989), and Styd i sram "Shame and Disgrace" (1991). The 2022 archival release Крестовый ноль "Cross Zero" is also recommended. Musically, Yanka's recordings are characterised by deep, foreboding basslines that rumble like distant thunder behind her pressing vocals. Tentative guitar riffs strike out and fizzle, but her vocals persist, surrounded by jangly, abrasive instrumentation, and the angst-ridden noises of Seattle-born grunge rock. Yanka's anti-social nature and equally anti-social words sealed her fate as a virtual unknown during her lifetime. She was suppressed by the Soviet regime, which controlled access to all recording studios. 9 May 1991 is accepted as her official date of death. That evening she left her family's countryside home outside Novosibirsk and did not return. Her body was found by a fisherman on 17 May in the Inya River. She was presumed to have drowned near Novorodnikovo Train Station and been carried 40 kilometers by the current. On 19 May, she was buried in Novosibirsk's Zayeltsovskoye Cemetery. More than a thousand people attended the funeral.
Artist Website: wikipedia/Yanka_Dyagileva
Featured Albums: Yanka Dyagileva
Related Artists: Grazhdanskaya Oborona, Velikiye Oktyabri, Alexander Bashlachev