Tom Hanks to Appear on Posters Promoting Christianity in Russia

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Sofia Rotaru. Мы будем вместе (My budem vmeste: We’ll be together)

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Pyotr Mamonov. Лотос (Lotos: Lotus)

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Yuri Shevchuk and DDT. Господь нас уважает (God respect us)

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Konstantin Kinchyov and Alisa. Антихрист (Antikhrist: Antichrist)

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Orthodox Youth Movement Plans To Use His Image and Quote Alongside Those of Local Celebrities

Tom Hanks is to appear on posters promoting Orthodox Christianity in Russia and neighbouring states, alongside prominent local cultural and sports figures. The Russian Orthodox youth movement Soboryane said that it’s launching a massive poster campaign during a missionary event entitled Мы православные (My Pravoslavnye: We Are Orthodox) on 13-14 October in Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine. Posters depicting high-profile personalities, including Hanks, and featuring quotes from them in support of Christianity have already circulated on Russian social network websites and in the local media. Among local celebrities featured on posters are director Nikita Mikhalkov, actors Dmitri Dyuzhev and Yegor Beroyev, rock musicians Konstantin Kinchyov and Yuri Shevchuk, actor and musician Pyotr Mamonov, singer Sofia Rotaru, and boxer Nikolai Valuev, as well as quotes from Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Yuri Gagarin.

The poster featuring Hanks has a quote taken from an interview the actor gave the Russian newspaper Аргументы и факты (Argumenty i Fakty: Arguments and Facts) back in 2009, “I realise how important and beautiful it is to have the opportunity to go to church and to reflect on the important questions that Orthodox Christianity asks you and the answers that it offers”. Meanwhile, the Russian news service RIA-Novosti quoted Andrei Vorontsov, the movement’s chairman, as saying that the campaign is still “in the approval stage. If we don’t get approval from a person, the respective poster won’t be part of the campaign”. He wouldn’t specify if any of the celebrities have given their approval to appear on the posters.

 8 October 2012

Vladimir Kozlov

The Hollywood Reporter

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tom-hanks-posters-christianity-russia-377107

Soviet Rock Idol Tsoi Celebrated in Google Doodle

Special Google “doodle” to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of Viktor Tsoi

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Tsoi’s song Filmi (Films)

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Kino singing Peremen ((We Want Changes)

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Now, let’s hear from Akvarium…

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Soviet rock star Viktor Tsoi… whose death in a car crash in 1990 quickly earned him cult status… had the 50th anniversary of his birth celebrated with a Google doodle. The search engine turned its homepage emblem into graffiti, overlapped with the words Tsoi and Kino, Tsoi’s band. It’s a nod to the famous “Tsoi Wall” in downtown Moscow, which pays tribute to the late musician. The lead singer and songwriter for Kino, which he helped to found in 1982, Tsoi died in August 1990 in the then-Soviet republic of Latvia. He was 28 years old. Events in tribute to the late musician will be held across Russia, with a concert featuring cover versions of his songs to be held in Moscow.

Kino was, along with Boris Grebenshchikov‘s Akvarium, part of the Leningrad (now St Petersburg) underground rock scene. Whilst drawing heavily on Western rock and especially New Wave, Kino crafted a uniquely Russian sound complete with lyrics often critical of the Soviet Union. Indeed, the group encapsulated much of the 1980s generation’s disillusionment with the Soviet system. In the 1986 song Filmi (Films), Tsoi sang, “I knew everything would turn out badly, but I didn’t know [that it would happen] so soon”. With the spread of Mikhail Gorbachyov‘s perestroika reform policies, Kino achieved even greater acclaim, culminating in a concert at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium in June 1990. It was the last time Tsoi appeared on stage.

Ever since his death, critics argued over how we should judge Tsoi’s musical legacy, and whether he’d still have a cult following if he were alive. However, on Friday, standing by the graffiti-covered Tsoi Wall just off Old Arbat, Moscow’s main tourist stretch, Kino fan Oleg, 47, dismissed such speculation, saying, “That’s futile, Tsoi gave me hope. Kino and a couple of other groups were the only things that kept me going in the late 1980s”. Another man shouted, “Tsoi is alive!” before starting to play Peremen (We Want Changes), one of Kino’s most popular songs, on his guitar.

21 June 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/art_living/20120621/174155307.html

3 June 2012. Video. KOSOVO JE SRBIJA! Dok Kosovo Zove… Support our Co-Religionists in North Kosovo… It’s Your Orthodox Duty

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French Rocker Johnny Hallyday Came to Moscow for the First Time

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Johnny Hallyday landed at Sheremetevo Airport on the night of 28 May. The French rocker, songwriter, and actor long dreamed of visiting Russia; he’s coming to prepare for his first concert here, slated for 27 October. The musician met with reporters and told them that he always wanted to visit Russia and that he’s here to see what technical backup for his concert is available in the Moscow area. Johnny promised to pick a programme especially suited for his Russian fans. During his long career, Johnny Hallyday (real name Jean-Philippe Smet) has made more than 400 tours, attended by more than 15 million fans, and sold 80 million CDs by 2005. Hallyday has 18 platinum albums; he’s written many songs in the French chanson style {in Russian, shanson is a different genre, also known as “thieves’ song”: editor}, and composed the music for many films.

30 May 2012

Svetlana Penkina

RIA-Novosti

http://youreporter.ru/ugc/20120530/660616862.html