Leningrad, also known as Gruppirovka Leningrad and Bandformirovanie Leningrad, is a popular Russian rock band from Saint Petersburg, led by Sergey "Shnur" Shnurov.
Composed of 14 members, the band was founded in the late 1990s. Leningrad worked in Gypsy punk style and soon became notorious for vulgar lyrics and celebration of drinking. As a result, most radio stations initially avoided the band, which did not stop Leningrad's growing popularity, partly for purely aesthetic reasons, such as the rich brass sound. The band eventually made its way to radio and TV. Shnurov even presented several New Year's Eve TV shows.
In 2007, the group began experimenting with female backup vocals, finally choosing jazz singer Yuliya Kogan as a permanent band member.
Leningrad disbanded in 2008, and then reunited in 2010. Several new songs and videos have been released since, most of them featuring lead vocals by Kogan rather than Shnurov.
Their music video Kolshchik, directed by Ilya Naishuller, won the Berlin Music Video Awards in 2017, taking the 1st place for the "Best Concept" Category.
From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leningrad_(band)) under Creative Commons Attribution CC-BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode)