Welcome to 'On Air'

Music of Russia

National anthem "Hymn of the Russian Federation"
Regional music
Adygea — Altai - Astrakhan - Bashkortostan — Buryatia — Chechnya — Chukotka — Chuvashia — Dagestan — Evenkia - Ingushetia — Irkutsk — Kaliningrad — Kalmykia — Kamchatka — Karelia — Khakassia — Khantia-Mansia - Komi Republic - Krasnodar — Mari El — Mordovia — Nenetsia — Ossetia — Rostov — Ethnic Russian — Sakha — Sakhalin — Tatarstan — Tuva — Udmurtia


Russia is a large and extremely culturally diverse country, with dozens of ethnic groups, each with their own forms of music. Although the majority of Russia's music is produced by Russians, it has also seen contributions by numerous minorities (such as the Jewish, Ukrainians, Gypsies and others) who populated the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and modern day Russia.

Tracing its roots from early traditional songs, Russian music developed through centuries. It includes several prominent 19th century classical composers, such as P.I. Tschaikovsky and N. Rimsky-Korsakov, and Russian romance. The 20th century Soviet music saw the rise of Russian popular music, including bard music and early Russian rock. In modern Russia, Western-style rock and pop music are still the most popular musical forms.