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Changes: The song that came to symbolise new freedoms in Russia

For young Russians in the 1980s, rock music wasn’t just entertainment – it was the sounds of social change. Or, as the most famous song of the time put it: Changes.

So great was the impact of this 1989 track by the band Kino that fans still gather to this day at the so-called Tsoi Wall in Moscow, named for lead singer Viktor Tsoi. Tom Service meets Alexander Lipnitsky, a Russian musician and writer who explains how Changes came to symbolise the new freedoms of the Perestroika era.

This is the fifth of Ten Icons of a Russian Century, part of the Radio 3 season Breaking Free: A Century of Russian Culture.

Duration:

6 minutes

Credits

Role Contributor
Singer Viktor Tsoi
Music Group Kino