Kolibri

An exotic outgrowth of the Leningrad Rock Club, Kolibri flourished at the crossroads of two cultural eras, enchanting hard rock-calloused audiences with their vocal harmonies and feminine wiles. Led by eccentric diva Natalya Pivovarova (formerly of Sergei Kuryohin's group Pop-Mehanika [Pop Mechanic]), they sang their skipping melodies over the recorded instrumental tracks of other St. Petersburg musicians. With their feet in a number of stylistic camps including new wave, art rock, Russian chanson, cabaret, and '60s Soviet film music, Kolibri never relinquished artistic control to their musical collaborators, priming the scene for other autonomous women rockers of the post-Soviet period. A female vocal septet, Kolibri first graced the stage on March 8, 1988. This performance, originally conceived as a one-time only event, took place at the Leningrad Rock Club's celebration of International Women's Day. But the all-female format, spearheaded by ambitious singer Pivovarova, gained attention in the boy's club of Russian rock, and the group continued to perform sporadically. Not until 1990 did the group really get serious. Seven women became five: Natalya Pivovarova, Elena Udanova, Inna Volkova, Olga Feshenko, and Irina Sharovatova. The instrumental tracks for their 1991 debut, Manera Povedeniya (Style of Conduct), were written and recorded with the participation of members of important St. Petersburg rock groups like Televizor (Television) and Akvarium (Aquarium). Singing over these recorded instrumentals, the members of the group began to tour Russia and Europe. Like other experimental collectives of the era (Zvuki My and Auktyon, for example), Kolibri asserted their nonconformity with theatrical stage antics and costuming, in their case identical black ballet outfits...