Laureates of the independent music award “Steppe Wolf” announced

The laureates of the independent music award “Steppe Wolf” for the past 2023 have been announced in Tallinn. Boris Grebenshchikov became the artist of the year. Group of the year – “Nogu selo”. Song of the year – “Pyala” by the AIGEL duet. The best music video was the clip of the rap artist Legalize “Peace! Your Home!”, and the event of the year was the film-concert of the producer Roma Liberov “Мы есть!”, in which many Russian musicians who left the country because of disagreement with the war took part in Ukraine.

Boris Grebenshchikov also received two more award nominations: his “Bogrukynog”, released in 2023, was recognized as the best album, and Alexander Kushnir’s book “Aquarium: Geometry of Chaos” about the rock group founded by Grebenshchikov was awarded the best book.

The song “Pyala” (“Fragile”) by the AIGEL duet in the Tatar language gained wide popularity last year as the leitmotif of the TV series “Slovo patsana” about teenage gangs in Kazan in the 1980s. After the release of the TV series, “Pyala” hit the top of the Russian charts and the Shazam world chat – the first time for a song in Tatar.

The “Steppe Wolf” award for Russian rock and pop musicians was initiated by music critic Artemy Troitsky in 2008 and was awarded in Moscow until 2014. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the start of hostilities in Donbas, it ceased to exist. However, in 2023, Troitsky, the author and host of the popular Radio Liberty podcast “Music on Freedom”, announced its renewal. Now it is awarded to Russian musicians who “live and create independently of the Russian state” and do not support Russian aggression in Ukraine and political repression in Russia.

Delfin, Monetochka, Yury Shevchuk, Noize MC, Oxxxymiron and Tequilajazz leader Yevgeny Fyodorov were also included in the shortlist of the best artists of 2023.