YANKA DYAGILEVA - "PRODANO!" (1989)

Original title: Продано!

Artist: Янка Дягилева

Yanka Dyagileva had a short career, consisting in five classic albums recorded between 1987 and 1989. Today regarded as an icon of the Siberian underground scene of the 80s, she died in May 1991. It was probably a suicide, although some rumours about an alleged murder started circulating. The only sure thing is that she was found lifeless in a river, when she was only 24.

Distributed at the time on some illegal copies, all her works contain pretty much the same songs, but the arrangements are radically different. "Ne polozheno!" (1987) was the debut album, built around the sound of two guitars and some percussion. Then came "Deklassirovannym ehlementam" (1988), recorded with a post-punk sound and a canonical rhythm section.

"Prodano!" is the third record. I consider it her magnum opus, as it contains 19 songs. Some of these were included on the first two albums, others would have been part of the further two albums, each one in a different version.
"Prodano!" is the album where the melodic talent is most evident, with her powerful, tormented voice shining above some wildly strummed guitars and nothing more. 
It is also her first record with a decent sound quality. Although the production is not the work of a professional, it's still an improvement on the low fidelity of her previous efforts. A monument to folk music and poetry, both pagan and anarchical, this is just the right introduction to a wonderful talent gone too soon.

Her discography was reissued in the 90s by Yegor Letov, along with some posthumous material.

DOWNLOAD (kbps: 320)

(The song starts at 0'30'')