From the hip in the Cyrillic script

Our research project Anywhere Else But Here Today is an attempt at flying in the face of accepted pop wisdom by whizzing around the world and collecting up musical treasures to stir the soul. The project was launched in the old Eastern Europe and the intention was to focus on a few gems from that part of the world. It, however, soon became apparent that there were all sorts of wonders there to delay us. And so 135 days on we will be bidding a fond farewell to the old Eastern Bloc for now and the glorious feast of pop sounds that has delighted us and raised so many questions about cultural studies and pop criticism. A special edition of Your Heart Out, called Rewrite The Script, provided some background colour on and context to some of the sounds and artists featured. And now a further supplement, From The Hip In The Cyrillic Script, hopefully gives a new perspective on some of the pop music that emerged from the Soviet Union in the '60s and '70s. As before this supplement comes with a huge health warning in that it's very much the view of an enthusiastic amateur. But why should we worry? The West's media has never really let ignorance stand in its way ... To accompany the special edition of Your Heart Out, which can be downloaded free for all like all the other editions in our library on your left, there is a special Soviet sounds mixtape available here or over at Anywhere Else But Here Today - the third in our series of Eastern European pop collections. So where to now? Well, we will have a Bollywood spectacular, with some great choices by our comrade PC of Music From The Third Floor fame, and then it's off to South Korea ... grab your passport and come on let's go.