Товарищ Карма

TOVARISCH KARMA (”Comrade Karma”) was a short-lived anarchist hip hop project that emerged from a faction of Moscow underground in the late 1990s, recorded three tracks and made a comparable number of gigs (one was at an anti-nuclear protest camp on Kola peninsula though). The chief musical force, Pasha Shevchenko, has continued under the name TRYOP (Трёп) – there are three albums in existence, as well as an electronic off-shoot TRESK (Треск).
He’s now a member of LISICHKIN KHLEB (Лисичкин Хлеб). Another TOVARISCH KARMA member, Vova “Jim” Korobeinikov, was also in LISICHKIN KHLEB (Лисичкин Хлеб) at the time, and I’m not sure who’s the third guy (Zakhar Mukhin?). The video, made in 2000 by Andrei Stvolinskiy, is compiled from the footage of Moscow anarchist actions cca. the time “Umri, Kapitalizm” (“Capitalism Die”) was recorded. Stvolinskiy’s pretty dodgy from what I heard – he is said to have informed on his comrades during the New Revolutionary Alternative investigation (which was a lefty terrorist group in Moscow in the 1990s). Tevs. The song was issued on “Bei Po Vragu Kulturnoi Revolyutsii” solidarity CD in Germany, while the complete works of TOVARISCH KARMA ended up on some split tape in Moscow and later on a Belarussian bootleg TRYOP tape. It was covered by 777 BAKUNINA (777 Бакунина).