Yanka Dyagileva

Yanka Dyagileva
Yanka Dyagileva in Zelenograd. 1 September 1990
Background information
Birth name	Yana Stanislavovna Dyagileva
Born	(1966-09-04)4 September 1966 Novosibirsk, USSR
Died	c. 9 May 1991(1991-05-09) (aged 24)
Genres	post-punk, psychedelic rock, underground, punk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Singing, guitar, bass guitar, glockenspiel
Years active	1988–1991
Associated acts	Grazhdanskaya Oborona Velikiye Oktyabri etc.

Yana "Yanka" Stanislavovna Dyagileva (Russian: Яна Станиславовна Дягилева; 4 September 1966 – c. 9 May 1991) was a Russian poet and singer-songwriter and one of the most popular figures of her time in Russia's underground punk scene. She both played solo and performed with others, including Yegor Letov and bands Grazhdanskaya Oborona and Velikiye Oktyabri ("Great Octobers"). Dyagileva was greatly influenced by Letov and Alexander Bashlachev, who were her friends. Her songs explored themes of desperation and depression, punk-style nihilism, and folk-like lamentations.

Yanka (born Yana) Dyagileva was born on 4 September 1966, in Novosibirsk, USSR to Stanislav Dyagilev and Galina Dyagileva, both engineers. She was of Russian, Ukrainian and Czech origin. In 1973 she attended public school and studied piano for a year at a music school before quitting. This sparked her interest in the guitar. While still in school Yanka started writing poems (which have been lost) and performing, singing and playing guitar in school talent shows. In 1984 she entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Water Transport Engineers, but dropped out in her sophomore year. During this period she performed with the political band AMIGO. The earliest of Yanka's poetry that has survived is from 1985. In December 1985 she traveled to Leningrad, where she may have met Alexander Bashlachev. In October 1986 Yanka's mother died of cancer.

In April 1987, Yanka met Egor Letov and joined his band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Gr.Ob.). From 1988–1990 Yanka toured and performed with the band. She recorded her first album Not Allowed (Russian: Не положено) in January 1988. Her first performance before a large audience took place on 24 June 1988, at a punk festival in Tyumen, recorded in the bootleg album To the Drop-Outs (Russian: Деклассированным элементам). In 1989 Yanka performed in Leningrad for the first time as part of a concert produced by Sergei Firsov, who became Yanka and Gr.Ob.'s first producer. Yanka's album Sold! (Russian: Продано!) was recorded in Firsov's apartment. Yanka's final known public appearances took place in November 1990 in Irkutsk, Angarsk, and Leningrad. Her final live concert recording took place in Irkutsk on 10 November 1990. Several more performances were planned for February 1991 in Irkutsk; it is unknown if they ever took place. At the end of February 1991 Yanka wrote her last songs in a Novosibirsk Electro-Technical Institute dormitory: "Legs [Feet] Above the Ground" (Russian: Выше ноги от земли), "Five-Kopeck Coin in the Road" (Russian: На дороге пятак), "About Little Devils" (Russian: Про чёртиков), and "Water Comes In" (Russian: Придёт вода).