<DIV>I don't know the non underground pop singers, take your word. There were some excellent Soviet filmmakers, not just war movie makers. But the geberal tenor of post Zhdanov Soviet culture, was kitschy, music and dance aside. I don't say that to contrast it with ours, which is trashy. Bear in mind that I'm a snob. jks Chris Doss <itschris13@hotmail.com> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> > >Kitsch isn't necessarily self-consciously appreciated as such. I have a >friend who collects Hummel figurines. I would never make fun of them to her >face. She thinks they are cute. Soviet culture wasn't always kitschy, but >post war Soviet culture was almost all kitschy, except for classical music >and dance, and except for the few yewars of the Thaw. jks --- I beg to differ. Socialist Realism tended to be crap, with the exception of some landscapes and portraits. But there were some damn good, non-underground pop singers: e.g. Mark Bernes, Buryat Okudzhava, Vladimir Vysotsky. Mark Bernes sang war songs that are just haunting. The USSR also had some damn good war movies. _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><hr SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!? Free <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/tag/*http://calendar.yahoo.com">online calendar</a> with sync to Outlook(TM).