Yana Stanislavovna "Yanka" Dyagileva (; 4 September 1966 – 1991) was a
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
poet and singer-songwriter and one of the most popular figures of her time in Russia's underground
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
scene. She both played solo and performed with others, including
Yegor Letov
Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (, ; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (), as well as the founder of the con ...
and bands
Grazhdanskaya Oborona
Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская оборона, , Russian for ''Civil Defense'', or ГО, often referred to as ГрОб, Russian for ''coffin'') was a Soviet-Russian rock band formed by Yegor Letov and Konstantin Ryabin ...
and Velikiye Oktyabri ("Great Octobers"). Dyagileva was greatly influenced by Letov and
Alexander Bashlachev, who were her friends. Her songs explored themes of desperation and depression, punk-style nihilism, and folk-like lamentations. Her death in 1991 has been considered as a symbolic end to the Siberian punk scene.
Biography
Yanka (born Yana) Dyagileva was born on 4 September 1966, in
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
,
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
to Stanislav Dyagilev and Galina Dyagileva, both engineers. She was of
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
,
Ukrainian and
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
origin. In 1973 she attended public school and studied piano for a year at a music school before quitting. This sparked her interest in the guitar. While still in school Yanka started writing poems (which have been lost) and performing, singing and playing guitar in school talent shows. In 1984 she entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Water Transport Engineers, but dropped out in her sophomore year. During this period she performed with the political band AMIGO. The earliest of Dyagileva's poetry that has survived is from 1985. In December 1985 she traveled to Leningrad, where she may have met Alexander Bashlachev. In October 1986, Dyagileva's mother died of cancer.
In April 1987, Yanka met
Yegor Letov
Igor "Yegor" Fyodorovich Letov (, ; (10 September 1964 – 19 February 2008) was a Russian singer-songwriter, best known as the founder and leader of the post-punk/psychedelic rock band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (), as well as the founder of the con ...
and joined his band
Grazhdanskaya Oborona
Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Russian: Гражданская оборона, , Russian for ''Civil Defense'', or ГО, often referred to as ГрОб, Russian for ''coffin'') was a Soviet-Russian rock band formed by Yegor Letov and Konstantin Ryabin ...
(Gr.Ob.). From 1988 to 1990, Dyagileva toured and performed with the band. She recorded her first album ''Not Allowed'' () in January 1988. Her first performance before a large audience took place on 24 June 1988, at a punk festival in Tyumen, recorded in the bootleg album ''To the Drop-Outs'' (). In 1989, Dyagileva performed in Leningrad for the first time as part of a concert produced by Sergei Firsov, who became Dyagileva and Gr.Ob.'s first producer. Dyagileva's album ''Sold!'' () was recorded in Firsov's apartment. Dyagileva's final known public appearances took place in November 1990 in
Irkutsk
Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...
,
Angarsk
Angarsk ( rus, Ангарск, p=ɐnˈgarsk) is a city and the administrative center of Angarsky District of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Kitoy River, from Irkutsk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population:
History
Ang ...
, and
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
. Her final live concert recording took place in Irkutsk on 10 November 1990. Several more performances were planned for February 1991 in Irkutsk; it is unknown if they ever took place. At the end of February 1991, Dyagileva recorded her last songs in a Novosibirsk Electro-Technical Institute dormitory: "Legs
eetAbove the Ground" (), "Five-Kopeck Coin in the Road" (), "About Little Devils" (), and "Water Will Come" ().
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
The Zayeltsovskoye Cemetery () is a cemetery in the Zayeltsovsky City District of Novosibirsk, Russia. The area of the graveyard is about 200 hectares.
Notable people buried at the Zayeltsovskoye Cemetery
* Varvara Bulgakova, sister of famous ...
. The exact time, place, and conditions surrounding Dyagileva's death remain unknown.
What does punk band Pussy Riot owe to Yanka Dyagileva
/ref>
Discography
* 1988 - ''Ne polozheno'' (''Not Allowed'')
* 1988 - ''Deklassirovannim elementam'' (''To the Fringe Elements'')
* 1988 - ''Live in Kurgan
A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...
''
* 1989 - ''Prodano!'' (''Sold!'')
* 1989 - ''Krasnogvardeyskaya (Live in Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
) - Named after the Moscow Metro station
There are 308 active stations of the Moscow Metro. Of these, 271 on Moscow Metro proper, and some additional ones that are marketed by Moscow Metro: 6 stations of Moscow Monorail and 31 stations of the Moscow Central Circle. Two stations have be ...
. A.k.a. "Akustika".''
* 1989 - ''Live in Kharkiv
Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine. '' (Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
)
* 1989 - ''Domoi!'' (''Going home!'')
* 1989 - ''Angedonia'' ("Anhedonia
Anhedonia is a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. While earlier definitions emphasized the inability to experience pleasure, anhedonia is currently used by researcher ...
")
* 1990 - ''Yanka & Grazhdanskaya Oborona live in MEI''
* 1991 - ''Styd i Sram'' (''Shame and Reproach'') - There are two variants of this album, one containing four acoustic songs. The other is a compilation with remastering done by Letov; the compilation contains seven songs, mostly electrified (not acoustic).
* 2009 - ''Angedonia'' (remastered) ("Anhedonia
Anhedonia is a diverse array of deficits in hedonic function, including reduced motivation or ability to experience pleasure. While earlier definitions emphasized the inability to experience pleasure, anhedonia is currently used by researcher ...
")
See also
* Alina Simone
References
External links
*
Tribute web site
(in Russian)
Yanka, Messenger of Russian Anguish
(Biography)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyagileva, Yanka
1966 births
1991 deaths
Date of death unknown
Russian women punk rock singers
Musicians from Novosibirsk
Soviet women singers
Russian women rock singers
Russian people of Czech descent
Russian people of Ukrainian descent
Deaths by drowning in Russia
20th-century Russian women singers
Burials at Zayeltsovskoye Cemetery
Grazhdanskaya Oborona members