VIA (music)


VIA is an abbreviation for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble. It is the general name used for popular music bands that were formally recognized by the Soviet government from the 1960s to the 1980s.
In Soviet times, the term VIA generally meant, but it is now used in Russia to refer specifically to pop, rock, and folk groups active during the Soviet period.
With the Soviet Union">Soviet Union">Soviet Union the term gradually went out of use.
In Socialist [Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia], the abbreviation VIS, meaning vokalno-instrumentalni sastav, was used in the same context.

History

The term VIA appeared in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and represented a model under which the Soviet government was willing to permit domestic rock and pop music acts to develop. To break through to the state-owned Soviet media, a band needed to become an officially recognized VIA. Each VIA had an artistic director who served as manager, producer, and state-appointed censor. In some bands the artistic director was the band's leading member and songwriter, while in others he played the role of impresario.
Soviet VIAs played a specific style of pop music. They performed youth-oriented radio-friendly music, which combined contemporary Western and Soviet trends. Folk instruments were often used, and occasionally a keytar. Songs varied from pop ballads, dance-beat disco and new wave to mainstream rock. Many VIAs had up to ten members, who were in frequent rotation.
Due to state censorship, the lyrics of VIAs were family-friendly; typical topics were universal emotions like love, joy, and nostalgia, or idealized vignettes from daily life. Many bands also encouraged national culture and patriotism, such as Yalla from Uzbekistan, Labyrinth from Georgia and Chervona Ruta from Ukraine. Folk-based VIAs such as Pesniary, Siabry and Verasy were especially popular in Belarus. Russian bands from Moscow and Leningrad were more oriented towards Western pop and rock music.
Many VIAs were created by musicians that played together in local choruses or musical theatrical productions. The earliest VIAs included Avangard in 1964, Poyushchiye Gitary in 1966, Vesyolye Rebyata in 1968, and in 1969.

Bands

Notable Soviet VIAs include: