Russian rocker latest darling of West

Yuri Shevchuk, legendary rock star famous for fronting the cult Soviet-era rock band DDT, has had a lot of press lately in the West over his opposition to Putin and how he is being excluded from TV and radio, in a pattern much like he faced during Soviet times. The West is using this as yet another example of how Putin's Russia is USSR 2.0. The reality is that it is true that Shevchuk is being shunned, but he is not unique nor is this purely a Russian phenomenon. As I have mentioned briefly in previous posts, just like under the former Communist regimes as today, political patronage is the most important factor to building a music career not only in Russia but in practically all former Eastern bloc countries undergoing democratisation. The Shevchuk experience is also being faced by artists in countries allied to the West such as Georgia, Ukraine and even current EU members.

While most musicians, singers and actors in the West are and can be apolitical, in the Eastern bloc that is just not possible. As a layover from Communist times when good politicial credentials was the main prerequisite for a long and fruitful career, the same still applies. That there is multi-party politics in most former Eastern bloc countries makes it even riskier than before. A singer must carefully chose for which political party he/she will sing for at politicial rallies during election campaigns. If that party wins and enters into government, expect to appear on TV quite a bit. On the otherhand, if a singer is identified with an opposition party, quite often they will face a difficult time appearing on TV, getting advertising and face punitive bureaucratic hassles. A firm example of making and breaking political patronage in Eastern Europe came with Ukraine's selection of its representative for Eurovision this year. At first the relatively unknown singer Vasyl Lazarovych was announced as Ukraine's singer and that a competition would be held to pick a song for him. Lazarovych happened to be close friends with the government-appointed Director of the Ukrainian national broadcasting station, the organisation responsible for Ukraine's selection for Eurovision. When elections in March saw the pro-Western Yushchenko government ousted for pro-Russian parties led by Yanukovych, as is often the case with political appointees, the Ukrainin TV director was quickly replaced with a new person close to the new government. Also to go was Lazarovych as a supposed anti-corruption measure (Lazarovych was selected as he would self-fund his Eurovision campaign), but most people in Eastern Europe saw the real reason for this sacking of sorts was that he was too closely identified as a Yushchenko supporter. A new competition to select a new song was quickly organised, heavily featuring singers who had been sidelined under the previous government and consequently sung on the election campaign for political parties that eventually formed the new government. Another obscure singer won the competition and went on to sing at Eurovision.

Ukraine is not alone in having had politically motivated selections for representatives. Bulgaria's singer at Eurovision 2008 worked as an assistant to the head of Bulgarian National TV and was an member of the youth wing of the then ruling Socialist Party. Macedonia's 2000 entry featured the cat screeching of 'I lurve you a hundert persent yes ay du' by XXL, a girl band whose members happen to be the daughters of high ranking functionaries tied to Macedonia's then ruling party. While the Serbo-Montenegrin entrants in 2005, 6 boys hoddled together as boy band 'No Name' were all sons of businessmen with very close relations with the sleazy and very corrupt Montenegrin president Milo Djukanović.

As always, politics and music go hand in hand. It's no surprise that many of Russia's top singers of Russia happen also to be members of Putin's Edinnaya Rossiya (United Russia) party, much like how many were Communist Party members back in the day. In Serbia, the pink-haired turbofolk singer Zorica Brunclik will always be associated with her membership in the much despised JUL party led by Milošević's wife Mira Marković. Being close to the ruling family awarded Brunclik with heavy exposure on the government controlled media, a string many surprising number one hits and even a short stint as Minister of Culture. After Milošević was toppled in October 2000, so too did Brunclik's profile and career, disappearing from public sight due to her close connections with the old regime and not daring to reappear on the idiot box until many years later, and that being only on local provincial stations. Brunclik recently appeared on a celebrity reality TV show, helping her to resurrect her career, though she had to face a barrage of criticism due to her past political allegiances while being followed by the cameras.

Now don't think that all this only applies to the Eastern Bloc. Country stars the Dixie Chicks faced a major backlash after their very public opposition to the US invasion of Iraq and disapproval of George W. Bush. The US government were not behind this, but many political elements close to the then administration were responsible for villifying the country music band.

Relatively speaking, it would have been better if Shevchuk was the unique case that the Western media would like us to believe. However, the reality is that in any political system, if you want to go far, best toe the line.