Pussy Riot, the Russian feminist punk band who are very opposed to Vladimir Putin, have recently released two new songs about Russian Law Enforcement. The two tracks “КОШМАРЫ / NIGHTMARES” and “PONG!” are songs that give voice to those who have been oppressed and downtrodden. With their music and their performance art, they are making their opinions known.
They are not just a music group. They are a group that has created a dialogue around things that are hard to talk about. They have created a conversation, not only with their words or music, but also with their actions. The group is releasing these songs in protest. Pussy Riot activists made a scene at the World Cup. They made a break for it. Pyotr Verzilov, Veronica “Nika” Nikulshina, Olga Kuracheva, and Olga Pakhtusova bought police uniforms and ran across the field as protest in defiance of the nations politics. No one stopped them or questioned them—that is the power of the police uniform. They were quickly ushered off the field when officials realized what was happening. Currently they are being held in jail in the south of Moscow. But it was worth it. Their reason for doing this, Verzilov said, “we were speaking for Russia.”
“КОШМАРЫ / NIGHTMARES” has been described as a “creepy and nightmarish tale” about life in prison. This song draws influence from Dina Vierney’s “Nightmares.” The band chose to do a cover of this song and then add their own sound to it. Watch the video below:
“Pong!”, produced by Chaika, is the second recently released track. In the video, the song plays over a video game track. The video is a video game re-enactment of the incident at the Cathedral in 2012. With flashy lights, the main character, a Pussy Riot member goes up against a big opponent in the boxing ring. The Pussy Riot member wins in the end and the game declares them champion. Watch the music video below:
In a statement made by the band, Pussy Riot said, “Prison songs have nor songwriters, nor producers. They belong to everybody. They have proven to be a amazing tool of empower: a good old song that is making fun laugh of prison guards can lift your spirit in a sad moment and, thus, literally save your life (spirit is really pretty much the only one thing that keeps you alive in Russian prison).”
These songs are not simply new songs for the fans. These songs are part of a protest as the band is making a statement and a new wave of pop culture prison protest songs. Pussy Riot is trying to defend and demand freedom for Russian citizens. They went on to state, “Posting these two tracks, we demand to release Oleg Sentsov, Russian political prisoner, who’s sentenced to 20 years in prison and who’s on hunger strike for 72 days.”
Fans, activists, and Pussy Riot themselves are acting on behalf of their nation to see great change in the future.
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