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Pussy Riotunveiled two new videos protesting law enforcement and unjust imprisonment for their songs “КОШМАРЫ/ Nightmares” and “Pong!”
The group’s intense “КОШМАРЫ/ Nightmares” is a partial cover of Dina Vierny’s “Nightmares.” The animated video details harsh prison conditions. It begins with a pulsating strobe light mirroring the urgent call the group is making for the release of Russian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The urgent “Pong!” depicts the group’s “Punk Prayer” protest interpreted as a series of vintage-styled video games.
“In Russia prison chanson is big. It’s a chance for many to establish your identity in the face of the giant oppressive machine, that swallows people and spits out coffins,” the band wrote in a statement about the two new songs. “Building an alternative universe in prisoners’ folklore helps to keep valuing and respecting yourself as a human being, even if you’re living in a fucking nightmarish hell. We decided to use gabber to maintain the hardcore energy of prison chanson.”
“Prison songs have nor songwriters, nor producers,” they continued. “They belong to everybody, and they have proven to be a amazing tool of empowerment: a good old song that’s making laugh of prison guards can lift your spirit in a sad moment and, thus, literally save your life (spirit is pretty much the only one thing that keeps you alive in Russian prison).
“Posting these two tracks, we demand to releaseOleg Sentsov, Russian political prisoner, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail and who’s on hunger strike for 72 days.”
All four Pussy Riot members are in the midst of serving a 15-day prison sentenceafter running the field during the second half of the World Cup final in a protest to “stop illegal arrests” in Russia.
