Russia’s most famous punk collective, Pussy Riot, recently released new music for the first time since the imprisonment of two members in 2012 that spurred an international movement against Russian censorship.
The song, “I Can’t Breathe” is the band’s first English language song. It was recorded late last year in response to the protest around the killing of Staten Island man, Eric Garner.
Garner was killed due to an illegal chokehold performed by New York City Police in response to Garner selling loose cigarettes on the street. Daniel Pantaleo, the officer who executed the chokehold was found innocent by a grand jury last December, even with evidence documenting the whole incident on film.
Two music videos were released alongside the song. One that shows a compilation of film from the Eric Garner protests in New York. Another shows two of the members of Pussy Riot that were arrested, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, being buried in Russian police uniforms.
Despite reports on Pitchfork, among various other music websites and blogs, it appears that Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are still members of the collective, as the two acted in the later of the music videos.
Pussy Riot is unique in the punk world for not acting like a normal band would by merely picking a single person to occupy each position within the live performance. As a “punk collective,” Pussy Riot consists of somewhere between 10 and 15 women, each of which wear masks similar to American band, Masked Intruder, to fill a position in the band.
The arrests made #FreePussyRiot an international trend. It became known that Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and the third member arrested, Yekaterina Samutsevich, became the international face of Pussy Riot. The collective consists of many other members, many of who have not gone public with their identities.
After becoming famous for their criticism of Vladimir Putin’s direction for Russia, Pussy Riot became more of a political group than a musical one. However, the release of new music show that the collective isn’t totally abandoning their roots, while still bringing their message towards more international issue than just Russian politics.
It is unknown if the group plans to perform in concert with their new music, as the group has maintained a small touring schedule after their release from prison in Russia.
Since the three most notable faces have been granted amnesty by Russia, the group has only performed musically once in a formal setting. In February 2014, the group took place in Amnesty International’s benefit show in Brooklyn alongside Sting, Yoko Ono, The Flaming Lips, The Fray, Imagine Dragons and Cold War Kids, among others.
Likewise, Tolokonnikova and Alyokihna gave a discussion on “sociopolitical movements, music and art, and the cross-pollination between the two that generates changes in the traditional soliloquy of thought and action” at Riot Fest 2014 in Chicago.
The duo were apart of a panel that also consisted of Greg Graffin of Bad Religion and Tim McIlrath of Rise Against, which was moderated by ex-Black Flag frontman, Henry Rollins.
The collective currently has no further announced plans to appear publicly, be it concert, discussion, or protest.
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