Date: 21 September
Over the course of merely half a year, Anastasia Ivanova (or Grechka), alumni of legendary St. Petersburg underground club Ionoteca, has become a national sensation in Russia. Last December, she uploaded her album “Zvezdy tolko nochyu” (“Stars Only at Night”) to social network VKontakte, this January, influential Russian musical publication Afisha called her “the musical discovery of the year”, and by March, she was already performing on national television. Her influence on her generational peers in Russia is already being compared to that of Nirvana on the global grunge generation of the 90s. She is both loved and hated (the latter most notably by certain critics and stars of an older Russian generation).

How has a girl from the tiny town of Kingissepp earned such praise? After all, her songs are simple, originally backed by just acoustic guitar, with additional live support by bass and drums. For one, there is not exactly an overabundance of girls with guitars in the 21st century. Also, Grecha literally delivers the message of a generation and the proverbial voice of the streets – her songs touch on topics such as aimlessly wandering around Post-Soviet microraions (because there isn’t really anywhere else to go), failed tattoos, cheap booze and other real-life things with the kind of life-affirming passion one can only experience and express when 18.