Zemfira: Thinking Aloud

Since 1999, Bashkir singer Zemfira Ramazanova influenced the course of Russian rock music by breaking boundaries and oppressed rules. She started her career by recording on the computer her first songs: “Pochemu?”, “Sneg”, “Sinoptik” and since then became immensely popular in Russia and other former Soviet republics. Sometimes moody, self-assured, enigmatic and flamboyant, Zemfira has found herself an object of constant obsession by the Russian media and paparazzi. She added to the furor by limiting her contact with the media after an initial avalanche of invasive and libelous publicity. Multiple Russian tabloids had speculated about the singer’s sexual orientation, drawing largely on references found in her song lyrics and for the last couple of years romantically linking her with actress, director and screenwriter Renata Litvinova. The singer herself has never discussed her private life. On the 15th of March she performs in London. With the concert approaching, Zemfira refused to give any interviews. RussianMind collected her sayings from different years which give an impression of her personality:

It is very difficult to please me.

I am not jealous.

I am not asking for help, I am asking not to hinder.

These are my concerts, therefore these are my faults too.

I don’t like dictatorship: neither matriarchy, nor patriarchy.

You can’t talk about love out loud, but I sing a lot about it.

I am by nature an optimist.

Everything will be fine, but it is better not to specify the date.

All these songs are not angry, they are simply very personal, that’s why probably they are sad.

Sleep and eat you can at any age. My position is that, when you have something to say, say it, if not – retreat quietly and wait.

I cannot hurt those who are near me. I treat them very tenderly and carefully.

You can’t imagine what people live like in Bashkiria: they are a disaster. And I am the bright representative of it.

If I love you desperately, if I hate, it is also powerfully.

I am happy with my faults, without faults its impossible.

Think less, feel more.

Zemfira performs in London on the 15 March at the HMV Forum (Kentish Town)

Address: 9-17 Highgate Road, London NW5 1JY

ticketmaster.co.uk, hmvtickets.com