Moscow
A City of Music

The author playing with members of "Do Major" at MXAT club, Moscow

The City

As for markets, they too are taking over many of the open spaces, specifically around the metro stations. Farm produce and clothing, consumer electronics, cleaning supplies, you name it, it's being sold every day until the late hours of the night on the street. The availability of liquor is impressive, especially after the nationwide alcohol program that Gorbachev tried to implement. It seems that the night revolves around the small kiosks that outline the metro markets, and their main commodity: booze. I must say that my impression of the domestic liquor was favorable, but the relative consumption volume was over my limit, to be sure. Especially in the music world is alcohol a major force to be reckoned with.

The atmosphere was really something I had not anticipated, not even had a notion of before I arrived. It was something like knowing that anything was possible and everything was impossible. I mean by this, that there was not any restraint in much of what people did with their lives, with their time and talent. People took on projects with enthusiasm and abandon, but the projects that people took on were often beset with the ills of short resources, little time or completely forbidding legal structures. To illustrate this atmosphere on the street, musicians were performing on the street in veritable armies, and at the same time, real armies were guarding the city against a supposed Chechen terrorist contingent. Some Russians were driving around the streets in expensive BMW's while pensioners were begging in the street. Of course this contrast is not new to our culture, but to Russians, the phenomena is becoming more commonplace all the time. So, the atmosphere in Moscow was one of contrast, of real or imagined freedom combined with real constraints on those freedoms. It is a time of adjustments in Russia.

The musical world is also in adjustment, reflecting and amplifying all the aspirations and grievances of the people, especially youth, that have embraced or must live with the political changes in the country. Among the most significant changes in my eyes were the availability of music, especially Western music that has been copied in lieu of copyright restrictions and made saleable through the kiosks seen in every space that is available. This street market is growing and dibursing such a huge quantity of music that is not authorized for this type of street-level distribution. Moscow in its own right is a city of music, with clubs and bar sprouting up out of the once grey atmosphere of pre-1991. There are literally thousands of upwardly mobile music professionals, most of which are club owners and record distributers. It seems that the patterns established by Western music business is directly transferring to the Russian music world, that is, a relatively large corporate music establishment producing music for mass consumption, and an academic establishment producing music for the theater, symphony and opera. Sandwiched between these is the independent producers, who are making music with the help of established record companies, but certainly without the financial backing they need to support large scale distribution.

The clubs are a focal point in the musical life of Moscow, and these clubs are some of the most exclusive establishments around. This is evident partly because of the cover charges just to get in the door. At $20 a head in U.S. dollars, the entrance charge is 1/7 the average monthly income. This essentially permits only foreigners and the nouveau riche of Moscow to visit these establishments.
My experience with underground clubs was limited to playing one short concert in one and visit another as a patron. Both these clubs were built in basically non-descript industrial buildings that were unnoticable from the outside but on the inside were quite up to or exceeding Western standards. They served the finest foods, imported beer and presented music that was experimental, unusual and attracted a large young crowd. Often dance music reflective of the "rave" scene is fare for these clubs, however we played with more experimental and punkish groups. The cover fee for both clubs was $10 USD, and after proving that we could pay this amount, my friends, who were Russian, and I were led down a corridor and were searched for weapons. I was told this was a precaution taken after a shooting incident in another Moscow club, which was related to the narcotic rings that operated in the club circuit. I never saw any overt dealing, but I was told it existed specifically in this club. The music reflected this, I thought, as it resembled some experimental LSD inspired music of the early 1970's. The neon lighting and closed circuit video in the club also gave some mystical import to the atmosphere, given the relative absence of environment in rock venues only a few years before. My sense is that this type of exclusive underground will continue to mirror the clubs of the Europe, as Russia continues to live out her fascination with high-rollers and "cultural revolution".