What was shown in New Year’s music programs

On Soviet television during the era of stagnation, New Year’s programs were a source of new music. Pop hits appeared there, which were then played in discos for a whole year. In the 1990s, television turned towards retro, and all New Year’s shows began to compete exclusively in which of the old stars could sing the old songs better. The past holidays changed this trend, he believes Igor Gavrilov.

After Anastasia Ivleeva’s scandalous party, hasty editing of New Year’s television shows began. If last New Year’s television shows were left without a number of Ukrainian stars, as well as without artists who spoke out against Russia’s actions on Ukrainian territory, then the “naked party” was followed by a new campaign to clean up the pop ranks.

Leaving statistics aside, we can say that from an artistic point of view, the New Year’s broadcast, if not better, has been significantly updated.

“Ivan Vasilievich” has changed slightly

Most of all, at the end of 2023, they discussed the radical ridding of New Year’s programs from Philip Kirkorov. For example, he was removed from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Everything!”, which was supposed to be a hit on the New Year’s broadcast on the TNT channel.

Alexander Zatsepin’s music from the original “Ivan Vasilyevich” was reproduced almost literally. Plus they added later familiar melodies like “Poplar Pooh” “Ivanushek Int.” or “Uma Thurman” Uma2rman. Among the relatively new faces, it is worth noting GAYAZOV$ BROTHER$, Sultan Laguchev and polnalyubvi. There was also a very strange musical number. This is ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” performed by a quartet of stars of the TikTok generation – Lucy Chebotina, Vanya Dmitrienko, Niletto and Mia Boyka. The copyright holders were not indicated in the film’s credits, only the authors – Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson.

Another TNT New Year’s show, “ComedyVision!”, was rather disappointing from a musical point of view. There have been attempts to take an unconventional approach to holiday content, but it would be better not to have them. Tasks such as a mix of the folk song “Valenki” and rap by Snoop Dogg or Daft Punk and Stas Mikhailov turned out to be too much for the creators of the show.

There is no “light”

Philip Kirkorov was also removed from the New Year’s light on the Rossiya 1 channel. He was followed by another guest of Anastasia Ivleeva – Lolita Milyavskaya.

The vacant seats at the champagne tables were generously distributed among the hosts of the evening political shows. It was clear that the scenes with applause and delight were filmed at a different time, but the journalists and their like-minded people – cultural figure Ivan Okhlobystin, chess player Sergei Karyakin or singer Utah – were not against playing by these unshakable rules.

There were also people in military uniform in the show, and next to them were military correspondents who helped the presenter Dmitry Guberniev communicate with the guests. Congratulating their native country, the military laconicly described what was happening in the Northern Military District zone, without using toponyms.

The music had a traditional emphasis on tried-and-true retro. New meanings could be found in these familiar numbers. A participant in the “naked party,” Dima Bilan, sang the song “How young we were,” and from the line “We forgave friends for mistakes, but we couldn’t forgive betrayals,” one could conclude that his visit to Mrs. Ivleeva was recognized as a mistake, but still not treason. At the very end of the show, Ukrainian singer Taisiya Povaliy performed the song “Love is to blame” from the repertoire of Alla Pugacheva. That is, they could not do without Ukraine, as well as without Pugacheva, at Ogonyok.

“First” and not the last

At Channel One’s New Year’s show “The Very First New Year,” which aired on the night of December 31, there were no military correspondents, and neither was Philip Kirkorov. The show was posted on the YouTube channel of the Gazgolder club, where it was filmed. At the head of the holiday were Yegor Creed, Basta (Vasily Vakulenko) and Anton Belyaev, who sat by the fireplace and uttered some surprisingly human words.

Not without cover versions. Lesha Svik sang “Castle from the Rain” by Vladimir Presnyakov, and Antokha MS sang “There” by Mikhei. But these are songs that are actually in their regular repertoire. And the very fact of the overproduction of cover versions in today’s pop industry was discussed by the presenters calmly and with humor on camera.

The others willingly sang their own. It’s unlikely that Amirchik or Instasamka, Valya Carnival or Tesla Boy would be allowed in on New Year’s Eve, as well as the dog Vasily Vakulenko, who lives in his club. It’s hard to remember when the host of a New Year’s show on the federal channel was accompanied by a dog. Previously, this was only possible in “Evening Urgant”. The program has not been aired since 2022, but its creative team is in demand. The alliance of “Evening Urgant” and “Gazgolder” set a healthy, refreshing tone for the federal broadcast.

Digital love

The “Evening Urgant” team also participated in the creation of a special project for the Kion video platform “I Love You.” This show is very much made from the recipes of “Ciao, 2020!” Then Ivan Urgant and his colleagues turned the parade of Russian pop stars into a festival in San Remo. Both the songs and the performance were translated into Italian. The experiment was so talented that it was appreciated in Italy itself, and some of the numbers gained viral popularity there.

“I love you” is a show in French. Its host was Fantômas (Sergei Burunov), and the reprises between songs were based on fragments from super-popular Russian films, transferred to the world of French cinema. Episodes from the films “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”, “Station for Two”, “Love and Doves” and others were remade so witty that you don’t immediately recognize the original source.

The famous scene in the compartment from the film “Grain Station for Two” takes place on the Nice-Cannes train. Gender roles have changed. Now the woman has the leading role in the scene, and it is she who urges her partner: “Ale-ale!” The heroine named Nikita, who is used to quick sex at a train stop, is played by Anna Mikhalkova. Need I remind you that in the original it was her father. The dialogues are not translated literally, and “Dynamo Moscow” here sounds like “Paris Saint-Germain”. This is a rare case when films familiar from childhood, frame to letter, suddenly play with new colors, and even ask the viewer puzzles: “Where is this from? Why did they translate it like that?”

The way Tosya Chaikina and Sergei Sirotkin, the best indie artists of their generation, cover Sergei Nikitin’s “Dialogue at the New Year’s Tree” in French is breathtaking, but this is an even more or less predictable solution, just like the band’s fiery Francophone “Minibus” IOWA. But in order to make an almost real Joe Dassin out of Arthur Pirozhkov, you need to have taste and talent.

If “Ciao, 2020!” was filmed at a time of complete openness to the world and the show looked in many ways like a postmodern joke, then the Kion project refers not only to “trophy” cinema, but also to the genres characteristic of TV in the stagnant years – benefit performances and “The 13 Chairs Zucchini”, where foreign pop -hits and strange characters with non-Russian names found themselves in the surreal Soviet screen world. “I Love You” is shown only on the digital platform. As in the case of the series “The Boy’s Word,” the market is ripe for New Year’s TV hits to be created without any regard for the airwaves.

In addition to “I Love You,” there were other shows made exclusively for online viewing.

For example, MTS Label came up with the concert film “1993% Hits,” in which characters like SQWOZ BAB, Dead Blonde, Mirele, GSPD re-sang hits from 30 years ago. You can only understand why young people would remake “9×12 Photography” or “Greetings from the Big Hangover” if there is a powerful creative idea behind it, like Kion’s. MTS Label didn’t have it.

A creative group associated with the brands “Bolshe Production”, “approv” and BandLink, without leaving the door of a single apartment, filmed the show “Blue Underground”. Artists whose names are known only to connoisseurs of deeply secret indie were featured here. The program was not very inventive, but all the characters sang their own songs. It is unlikely that the whole country will sing these songs in 2024. However, the very attempt to unite in spite of the mainstream and cancellations, to continue their work without having a budget of millions, deserves respect. The only truly unfortunate drawback of the Blue Underground is the synthetic sound of the 1980s and 1990s, typical of Russian independent music. The songs seem to be new, but if you listen to some, it seems that they were rejected on the set of Ogonyok in 1984.