Pussy Riot go to Church at Glastonbury

Pussy Riot by Igor Mukhin
I’m not a big fan of attending music festivals.  I camped overnight at one only once, during the early 2000s. 

My ancient, flimsy tent fell down during a thunderstorm in the small hours and I shivered through an uncomfortable night in a soaking wet sleeping bag, before wandering about Punchestown Racecourse aimlessly until it was time for breakfast.  My friend and tent-mate decided instead to gather up his belongings and sleep in the car, which was parked in an enormous field where he was promptly mugged and relieved of his wallet.

Good times.

At least we weren’t subjected to the singer Charlotte Church conducting a conversation with former members of Pussy Riot, on top of a Russian army truck.

‘Punk feminists’ Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina have carved out something of a career courting politically minded, bohemain westerners.  Church, meanwhile, has embarked on her own attempts to become recognised as a left-wing ‘activist’.

The Independent has an account of the three women’s discussion at Glastonbury (above), which seems to have been as incisive as you’d expect.  “Can I join the revolution too”, it encouraged the Welsh singer to ask, “I want to be in Pussy Riot”.

Ironically, its two most famous members have actually been expelled from the punk band which doesn’t record music or stage concerts.  Pussy Riot’s performances were stunts masterminded by the ‘performance art’ collective, ‘Voina’, which traded on shock value and obscenity.  The idea of a politically motivated, female group of punk musicians has proved more easily digestible in the media outside Russia.     

 Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina have become anti-Putin celebrities after serving gaol terms for recording an expletive-ridden video in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow.  Fame enough to secure an appearance at Glastonbury and the admiration of Charlotte Church.

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