The 18-year-old Russian singer was arrested after her street performance of an anti-Putin song went viral
  • Taldan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    141·
    10 hours ago

    I believe this is the song she was playing

    Terrible Google translate of the lyrics:

    I’d like to talk to you, But the TV is too loud— It’s pretending to be your head, Its speaker is so much like your mouth.

    My country has risen from its knees In all its negative growth. I negatively agree with everything— Here’s my answer to your non-question:

    Where have you been for eight years, Fucking inhuman beings?! I want to watch the ballet— Let the swans dance!

    Let Grandpa tremble in fear for his “Lake.” Get the nightingales off the screen— Let the swans dance!

    When it’s all over, you’ll be silent And pretend you had nothing to do with it. Your face is more sour than a Crimean cherry plum: You’re clearly slightly depressed about something.

    I’d like to talk to you, But the TV is too loud— It’s pretending to be your head, Its speaker is so much like your mouth.

    Where have you been for eight years, Fucking monsters?! I want to watch a ballet— Let the swans dance!

    Let Grandpa tremble for his “Lake.”

    Get off the screen, Solovyov— Let the swans dance!

    A lot of references to the fall of the USSR

      • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
        31·
        5 hours ago

        Please explain to the lyrics to someone like me who can’t understand them due to a case of severe ADHD, and possibly an undiagnosed learning disability as well.

        • nixon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          40 minutes ago

          Hey, I’ll do my best, here is my take;

          I’d like to talk to you, But the TV is too loud— It’s pretending to be your head, Its speaker is so much like your mouth.

          Someone feeling frustration over wanting to talk about things but the person can’t hear them because they only listen to and regurgitate what the TV (main stream media or government controlled media) wants them to say.

          My country has risen from its knees In all its negative growth. I negatively agree with everything— Here’s my answer to your non-question:

          We were getting back up after the fall of the USSR when everything fell apart and cratered. I don’t agree with what is going on, even though you didn’t ask I am going to tell you how I feel about all this anyway.

          Where have you been for eight years, Fucking inhuman beings?! I want to watch the ballet— Let the swans dance!

          This has been going on for 8 years now and you have turned a blind eye to it. I want to watch Swan Lake again at the ballet (referencing Russia’s primary artistic exports historically is ballet, of which Swan Lake is one of the most popular/wellknown)

          Let Grandpa tremble in fear for his “Lake.” Get the nightingales off the screen— Let the swans dance!

          Not entirely sure what this is referring to, my best guess is juxtaposing story elements of Swan Lake to current political happenings in Russia, ie comparing Putin to a grandpa and lake may be ambiguous as a reference to Swan Lake and Putin’s lakeside palace.

          When it’s all over, you’ll be silent And pretend you had nothing to do with it. Your face is more sour than a Crimean cherry plum: You’re clearly slightly depressed about something.

          When we, or future generations, fix this you are just going to pretend you had nothing to do with it, you’re a liar, like the lies they tell us about why we have the right to invade Crimea in Ukraine to justify our war with an innocent country. You know it is wrong but you keep lying to yourself about why.

          I’d like to talk to you, But the TV is too loud— It’s pretending to be your head, Its speaker is so much like your mouth.

          Repeat of the first verse; Someone feeling frustration over wanting to talk about things but the person can’t hear them because they only listen to and regurgitate what the TV (main stream media or government controlled media) wants them to say.

          Where have you been for eight years, Fucking monsters?! I want to watch a ballet— Let the swans dance!

          Repeat of the second verse but changing “Fucking inhuman monsters” to “fucking monsters”

          Let Grandpa tremble for his “Lake.”

          Repeat of the first line in the fourth verse but changing fear to tremble, again most likely referencing Putin and him willing to sacrifice the people of Russia in order to keep his extreme wealth and lake side palace.

          Get off the screen, Solovyov— Let the swans dance!

          Solovyov is a famous TV presenter in Russia, which I believe the speaker believes, or is inferring, is a government shill or otherwise bought off to only report what Putin wants him to report. So they are demanding Solovyov be removed from TV and to give the people back their freedom (swans dancing)

          Hope that helped if you were being sincere about needing assistence to understand it. I have ADHD myself and have several friends with both ADHD and learning disabilities (they are co-morbidities of ADHD) so I can understand the frustration.

        • faythofdragons@slrpnk.netEnglish
          2·
          58 minutes ago

          So, some of this is a bit of deep cut of Russian history, which is probably contributing to your confusion.

          Here's my take.

          I’d like to talk to you, But the TV is too loud— It’s pretending to be your head, Its speaker is so much like your mouth.

          The artist would like to have a conversation, but the person they want to talk to is just repeating the propaganda they see on TV.

          My country has risen from its knees In all its negative growth. I negatively agree with everything— Here’s my answer to your non-question:

          The USSR fell in the '90s, and the artist doesn’t think modern Russia has developed in a good way.

          Where have you been for eight years, Fucking inhuman beings?! I want to watch the ballet— Let the swans dance!

          Eight years is likely referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ballet bit is talking about how Swan Lake played on repeat during the fall of the USSR, as a placeholder to keep broadcast airwaves available for use as emergency broadcast. Because it has been so completely tied to the idea of political upheaval in Russia, it’s recently picked up steam again as a sort of shorthand for calling for protest and resistance against the government.

          Let Grandpa tremble in fear for his “Lake.” Get the nightingales off the screen— Let the swans dance!

          Grandpa was pro-USSR, the artist wants the empire to hurry up and fall already.

          When it’s all over, you’ll be silent And pretend you had nothing to do with it. Your face is more sour than a Crimean cherry plum: You’re clearly slightly depressed about something.

          Once the USSR had fallen, a lot of people tried to deny their support or involvement with it.

          The song repeats a few things, and the only thing left of note is that “Solovyov” has been a news anchor on Russian television since shortly before the invasion of Ukraine.

          • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
            51·
            3 hours ago

            I didn’t mean literally you. I meant anyone reading this. That’s how public forums work. Anyone can reply.

        • ProfessorProteus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          5 hours ago

          Historically, the USSR would broadcast a recording of the ballet Swan Lake (on loop I think?) when their leader died, and it was also broadcast during the failed coup in 1991. The lyrics in the song that the teenager played, assuming the above translation is correct, are a not-so-subtle call for a certain kind of event…

  • answersplease77@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    4 hours ago

    only jailed? america’s best allies in the middleeast would have killed her and sentenced her entire family to life.

  • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
    35·
    13 hours ago

    I know folks hate the us peanut gallery with this but this is exactly the type of things we were told made russia worse than the us and now people are arrested for playing innocuous songs in front of ice facilities. Heck even prayers by actual clergy results in being shot in the head.

    • Texas_Hangover@lemmy.radioEnglish
      2·
      6 hours ago

      I remember monsters of rock or whatever it was. I was hugely into Pantera, my parents hated Pantera. Pantera played to the largest audience in the fucking world after the fall of the commie scum, suddenly, Pantera ain’t so fucking bad.

      RIP Dime and Vinnie.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    951·
    16 hours ago

    A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar in Berlin for a friendly drink

    CIA Agent says: Why do you like Russia so much? You have no freedom. In the USA, you can stand in front of the White House in Washington, DC, and yell, “Down with Ronald Reagan”, and you will not be punished.

    KGB Agent smiles and shakes his head: Nonsense, you can also stand in Red Square in Moscow and yell, “Down with Ronald Reagan”, and you will not be punished, either.

    • falseWhite@lemmy.worldEnglish
      201·
      11 hours ago

      A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink.

      “I have to admit, I’m always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up,” the CIA agent says.

      “Thank you,” the KGB says. “We do our best, but truly, it’s nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them.”

      The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. “Thank you friend, but you must be confused… There’s no propaganda in America.”

      The KGB smiles and says “Exactly”.

  • defunct_punk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    242·
    16 hours ago

    Every time I see a picture of a Russian activist its the most beautiful person ive ever seen. What are they putting in the water over there???

    • paper_moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      8·
      12 hours ago

      The point is to show how fucked up and authoritarian your current government is. Someone just got arrested by the police in the US for playing the Darth Vader song to protest the National Guard. So yeah, we’re about as fucked as Russia right now.

      • 1985MustangCobra@lemmy.caEnglish
        112·
        12 hours ago

        i dont live in the US, but its funny you use the word authoritarian, people in Canada on the right call liberals/left that.

          • 1985MustangCobra@lemmy.caEnglish
            19·
            11 hours ago

            no its interesting because it defines horseshoe theory more clearly. there really is a lot of ideals both extreme sides share.

              • 1985MustangCobra@lemmy.caEnglish
                16·
                11 hours ago

                well things like hating the jews, authoritarian, hating each others races, its really interesting because I’m curious what the driving force is behind it, despite the base ideals being different. There has to be some innate human reaction that causes similar rationality.

                • MnemonicBump@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  3·
                  6 hours ago

                  Horseshoe theory only holds up if you believe that all of politics is on a 1 dimensional spectrum from left to right. That’s simply not that case. There are anti-authoritarian right wingers and leftists alike, just as there are authoritarian right wingers and leftists alike and everything in between, below, and to the side.

                  You probably see Stalin and Hitler and say, “See! Both authoritarians!” But, like, yeah… That’s the problem. That’s not even pointing out anything meaningful.

        • altkey (he\him)@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          2·
          10 hours ago

          It’s not that edgy.

          18yo is jailed for a couple of songs lol.

          It won’t do anything, right, but that what I and them should be free to do.

          • 1985MustangCobra@lemmy.caEnglish
            14·
            10 hours ago

            its pretty edgy to get yourself thrown into jail for something stupid you know will put you there.

            • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              1 hour ago

              its pretty edgy to get yourself thrown into jail for something stupid you know will put you there.

              If your highest goal is self-preservation, then yeah, it doesn’t make sense. However, protestors like this usually care about something more important than themselves. It’s what drives them to put themselves out there, knowing they could be at risk for doing so.

              I’m sure we could disagree on what specific things would make sense to potentially sacrifice one’s self for, but I hope the simple idea of something being that important at all is relatable. For some it’s their rights, for some it’s their religion, and for some it’s their family, but either way, most people can think of something they consider more important than themselves. It’s that importance that compels people to defend it, despite the personal danger for doing so.