Get the latest gossip

‘It was like a toxic relationship’: the exiled Russian musicians starting again abroad

Acts such as psych-rock four-piece Lucidvox have had to up sticks thanks to the war. But with their peers facing prison sentences for speaking out, they know they are the lucky ones

‘We can say what we feel,” says Nadya Samodurova, “but we needed to move to another country to do so.” Half of the acclaimed Russian psych-rock band Lucidvox are speaking to me, via video link, from a modest room in the Serbian capital Belgrade. In November, a court sentenced Aleksandra “Sasha” Skochilenko, a musician, artist and activist from St Petersburg, to seven years in prison for “knowingly spreading false information about the Russian army” in March 2022. In October, British duo Giant Swan and Swiss-born Aïsha Devi, cancelled appearances at Serbian music festival Changeover because Russians were part of the organising team, which includes Samodurova.

Get the Android app