Bringing their punk-rock, feminist, LGBT friendly, and political agenda back into the front page of the news, Fader has reported that Pussy Riot has released their new music video “Chaika” and attempts to take on corruption and power balance in the Russian government. Trying to dismantle the Russian president Vladimir Putin, this group of women have consistently been attempting to oppose their governments strict rules and the Russian Orthodox Churches agenda. Gaining international fame and glory from activist groups all around the world, this group of women look to shine a light on their next government target Yury Chaika, Russia’s prosecutor-general.
The collective group is comprised of nearly 25 individuals, 11 performers and around 15 extra people who are in charge of handling all the technical work of shooting and editing their videos, which can be found online. The group makes sure to remain as anonymous as they can, performing with face masks during shows, as well as wearing the masks during interviews and giving each other secret names to protect their identity. With politically loaded lyrics, the group does not focus on creating pleasant sounding music or beautiful melodies, rather they are focused on delivering a message to their audiences and opening peoples eyes to the problems in their country, one of the band members (who goes by the pseudonym Garadzha) once claimed to a Moscow newspaper that for their brand of music “You don’t have to sing very well. It’s punk. You just scream a lot.” indicating that they are not in this game for music awards or chart topping records, but instead forceful education of the world they live in.
Now, setting their sites on the government official and naming the track after him, “Chaika” satirizes his unchecked use of power and intimidation. A press release alleges that Chaika is corrupt and has ties to the Russian mafia which does not sit well with the large music group, causing them to fight back the safest and only way they can.
“Pussy Riot demands an immediate investigation against General Prosecutor Chaika and his family, as well as against all the top officials in his office,” the band wrote in a statement. “We hope that the ‘CHAIKA’ music video will help to convince people that we cannot live in a country where its top law enforcement official is the brightest symbol of corruption and murder. Pussy Riot hopes that people around the world will help us voice our outrage and turn Russia into a country where people like Chaika can no longer exist.”
The band chose to leave their guitars behind on this track, and instead deciding to build a song with brassy drone tones and sounds of scratching vinyl, giving the track a rap and hip-hop feel to it, not trying to sing any of their lyrics. With an English translation we see that these women mean business “Take for instance the boss of the Irkutsk shipyards/ He wasn’t in line with our interests/ That boss didn’t want to sell or pay/ But the Good Lord always finds a way/ A garage, a stool, a rope, late at night/ We can gently show the director the light” giving the track powerful imagery that helps bring their message across, wearing government uniforms and showing images of torturing officials.
“We cannot live in a country where its top law enforcement official is the brightest symbol of corruption and murder” lets hope that with the help of these women’s actions there will be a regime change that can help bring a more favorable light to Russia’s government.
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