On Dec. 17, 2024, a post on X showed a photo, purportedly from 1985, that listed Western musical acts allegedly banned in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The circulated list — which ...

During the harshest days of Soviet censorship, it was nearly impossible — and also very risky — to get a hold of Western music. But people in the Soviet Union became experts at devising creative, ...

Music is a powerful tool of resistance, and has been used this way for centuries. In the late years of USSR music played a big role in supporting dissent and new ideas. More recently, in Russia, which ...

An archival label in the United States was going to release a huge compilation of records from the U.S.S.R. Then Russia invaded Ukraine. By Grayson Haver Currin Eugene Hutz still owns his copy of ...

In the late 1970s, Central Asia could seem to some like just another stagnating Soviet backwater. News of the day praised economic achievements that weren't real — just as local communist leaders ...

About a decade ago, music producer Vik Sohonie was in New York and stumbled upon an old record. VIK SOHONIE: I came across this really dusty 45 by the band Original. (SOUNDBITE OF ORIGINAL SONG, "SEN ...

Shortly after wrapping up a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Backstreet Boys made their debut in Kazakhstan. A few weeks earlier, Jennifer Lopez had played there and in neighboring Uzbekistan. In ...

Blacklisted at home but finding acclaim abroad, she sought to bridge East and West, the sacred and the secular, in vivid, colorful compositions. Sofia Gubaidulina, 2021. She was part of a group of ...