SXSWORLD

Nadya Tolokonnikova will be a Featured Speaker in the Music Influencers Track at SXSW 2017. UNMASKING THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF PUSSY RIOT SXSW.COM | N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 | SXS W O R L D 1 5  More recently, a video for a song called "Chaika" appeared, protesting Russia's prosecutor general Yuri Chaika and accusing him of corruption. It's a stylish piece of film with professional production—a far cry from the ad-hoc, DIY, though always well-planned guerrilla protest performances that marked Pussy Riot's original incarnation.  Musically, it is also valid to ask, what is Pussy Riot? The "Chaika" song blends hip-hop rhythms, trip-hop noir, and jazzy horn blasts. It's far more an electronic track than punk. The political message remains strong, and clearly the point of making the music and video is to deliver a message. Is Pussy Riot then a new form of folk music that is producing songs about and for the people, without profit or commercial purpose? Are they kindred spirits to Billy Bragg, whose musical performances are never far away from social and political insights, and shared freely with his audience? Maybe they are sisters-in-arms with guer- rilla artist Banksy—except that while decrying the art world, that British artist makes millions. Perhaps they are offspring of the Sex Pistols' original cry for social equality, except that the Brit punks were damaged by drug drama and hounded by police and managerial issues until they split up at the height of their notoriety.  Pussy Riot's trademark hoods, which protected their ano- nymity, came off not due to any choice, but because the authorities unmasked Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and a third member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, who also went through the terrifying ordeal of arrest and sentencing but had her prison term lessened to a suspended sentence. The three were forced in front of the public eye and cameras in a Moscow courtroom. Yet, they looked far from afraid and remained on message, as the political campaigners put it. Sleekly produced music and stylish videos are one thing, but it's motive that defines Pussy Riot as a powerful political force, not just a pop culture effort bandying around suave socialist ideas and non-commercial ideals.  Pussy Riot formed in 2011 from a group of young women sharing a modern, progressive social agenda, LGBT rights and anti-fascism at heart. The first sentence of the group's Wikipedia page reads, "Pussy Riot was a Russian feminist punk rock protest group based in Moscow" — was. In a world of Kardashian aspirations and fake reality, where the human race seemingly blindly burns through the planet, Pussy Riot and their refusenik kind are more important than ever.   o misquote John Lennon, for a while Pussy Riot was bigger than the Beatles. At least in the winter of 2012, after video of the Russian group's audacious agit-prop "Punk Prayer" musical/ performance piece went viral on the Internet, the group became infamous overnight. The images of five young women wearing knitted masks, jumping up and down and performing in front of the altar of Moscow's Christ the Saviour Russian Orthodox cathedral, was either shocking or stimulating—or both. Either way, they had the world's attention.  The full title of the song they performed that fateful day trans- lates as "Punk Prayer – Mother of God, Chase Putin Away!" It was anti-Putin, anti-church, and an act that defied and decried both church and state. It was punk rock and riot grrl venom tied up with a socio-politico agenda, and "Anarchy in the USSR" seemed probable—for a minute or two, at least. If you followed the original story, you know how the Putin government and Russian Orthodox Church responded.  Just in time for this year's American Presidential elections, the Pussy Riot name is back in the headlines with the release of three provocative new songs and accompanying videos. Spearheading this latest activity is Nadezhda (Nadya) Tolokonnikova, who has become the most easily identifiable member of the group—if indeed it is even a formal group now, as Tolokonnikova's rise as the public face of Pussy Riot has caused a considerable rift within its ranks. But considering that it was she and fellow member Maria Alyokhina who were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" in the cathedral case in March 2012 and sentenced to two-year prison sentences, Tolokonnikova has weathered the brunt of the Russian hammer's retaliation.  If the prison sentence wasn't shocking enough, when news of the women's transfer to separate Siberian labor camps surfaced, shock turned to horror. Tolokonnikova's subsequent hunger strike, decrying conditions in the camp, pushed her further to the forefront as Pussy Riot's leader. Even speaking from the labor camp, she was a photogenic spokesperson who refused to back down. Far from silencing her, the jail sentence gave her a bigger voice and yet another cause: prisoners' rights.  So what and who is Pussy Riot in 2016? Is it a group, one person, or several individuals—each performing at will under one banner of social justice? What began in 2011 as a dozen or so girls gathering together to voice their opposition to then prime minister Vladimir Putin and social injustice in their homeland, now seems splintered and tainted by outside interference, such as the group's defense lawyer attempting to copyright the name as a brand. To market what? Pussy Riot t-shirts and bobbleheads?  Since her release from jail in December 2013, two months shy of the full sentence, Tolokonnikova hasn't shied away in supporting LGBT, feminist and free speech issues in the U.S., Russia and internationally. In 2015, Pussy Riot released an English-language song and video, "I Can't Breathe," in response to Eric Garner's death while he was being restrained by police officers in Staten Island, New York. By linda laBan

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