Russian Chanson as a Phenomenon of Archaeomodernism

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DOI 10.34690/609

Email antikostin@mail.ru

ORCID

0000-0002-1933-8023

Abstract

Within the context of the blatnaya pesnya tradition, the study explores the distinctive characteristics of chanson and post-chanson, which have become intertwined with the mainstream of commercial pop music. Russian chanson, with its affinity for criminal and near-criminal poetics, “conservative” (profound) themes (such as soul, melancholy, pity, will, restlessness, fate, justice, separation, and resentment), and traditional elements (folklore, early 20th-century popular music, klezmer, the Odessa beat, “cruel romance,” prison and yard songs), reflects many characteristics of archaeomodernism, the concept of which is formulated in a number of works by A. Dugin. Post-chanson, represented by artists such as E. Vaenga, S. Mikhaylov, and G. Leps, moves away from the genre’s origins in many ways, primarily through the content of the poetic text. This movement is characterized by the avoidance of criminal themes, an expansion of vocabulary through the adoption of various stylistic elements from mass music of the past and present, further commercialization, variety, and elitism. However, many musical and stylistic techniques of chanson are preserved, including the dominance of the minor mode, syncopation, arrangements reminiscent of a restaurant ensemble, and harmonic thinking within the framework of the “three criminal chords” scheme. Thus, despite attempts to break free from archaism and enter the realm of modernism, the genre confirms its archaeomodernist character. Approaches adopted in musical hermeneutics (interpreting music based on the knowledge of its cultural and historical background, the history of the genre, and the semantics of expressive means) and the sociology of music (focusing on discovering connections between social and musical development) have become methodologically significant.

Keywords mass music, mass culture, blatnaya pesnya, chanson, post-chanson, Russian archaeomodern in music, A.G. Dugin

For citation

Antipova, Yu. V. “Russian chanson as a phenomenon of archaeomodernism,” Muzykal’naya akademiya [Music Academy], no. 1, 2026, pp. 214–229, doi:10.34690/609. (In Russ.)

Published 09.07.2025

Approved 01.08.2025

Submitted 23.03.2026

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