From high camp to post-modern camp: Queering post-Soviet pop music

Maria Brock,Galina Miazhevich

doi:10.1177/13675494211021413

Maria Brock, Galina Miazhevich

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494211021413

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Abstract

This article examines the post-Soviet transformations of Russian popular music culture ( Estrada), arguing that its aesthetics can be analysed from the perspective of camp, by looking at two cult music performers bridging the Soviet and post-Soviet realm – Valery Leontiev and Filipp Kirkorov. The analysis is grounded in a close reading of the artists’ career trajectories, selected videos and – to a lesser extent – textual analysis of their lyrics and public statements. The article argues that their performative personas are rooted in a particular version of camp with differing modalities of subversiveness – each responding both to their respective cultural and political climates, audience expectations, and also in accordance with their individual embodiments of (post)-Soviet camp. While Leontiev demonstrates a more earnest commitment to high drama, Kirkorov continues his ironic experimentation with transgression, ambiguity and excess, thereby participating in the queering of post-Soviet popular culture. The article concludes that their appropriation of camp is strategic, as it responds to the temporal, national and global trends such as global gay culture and neo-camp in Russia.

Highlights

This article examines the post-Soviet transformations of Russian popular music culture (Estrada), arguing that its aesthetics can be analysed from the perspective of camp, by looking at two cult music performers bridging the Soviet and post-Soviet realm – Valery Leontiev and Filipp Kirkorov
The amalgamation of the legacy of Soviet Estrada – a particular tradition of popular music performance characterised by both aesthetic and, at times, sexual excess – with recent regional and global music trends produces complex, ambiguous representations of sexuality, beyond the heteronormativity so often associated with Russian culture
This lens reveals that Kirkorov’s appropriation of camp is much more strategic and post-modern, as it responds to various trends such as the growing popularity of global gay culture (Martel, 2018) and neo-camp in Russia (Engström, 2019)

Summary

Introduction

This article examines the post-Soviet transformations of Russian popular music culture (Estrada), arguing that its aesthetics can be analysed from the perspective of camp, by looking at two cult music performers bridging the Soviet and post-Soviet realm – Valery Leontiev and Filipp Kirkorov. The article argues that the post-Soviet transformations of Estrada aesthetics can be exposed to camp as a lens and reading strategy, when taking into account recent intensification of intercultural flows and an increasing circulation of queer visual aesthetics. This lens reveals that Kirkorov’s appropriation of camp is much more strategic and post-modern, as it responds to various trends such as the growing popularity of global gay culture (Martel, 2018) and neo-camp in Russia (Engström, 2019). This is relevant in the light of the so-called ‘anti-gay propaganda law’ passed by the Russian Duma in 2013, which marks a cornerstone in the possibilities of representation and visibility of non-heteronormative sexualities in Russia.

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Conclusion