Mikhail Krug
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Mikhail Krug (Russ. Михаил Владимирович Круг), born as Vorobyov (Воробьев), was a Russian singer, one of the leading singers of the style of songs known as blatnaya pesnya (songs about criminals), or shanson, which has been part of Russian culture since the beginning of the twentieth century.
Mikhail Krug was born in Morozovskiy Gorodok, a suburb of the city of Tver in April 7th, 1962. In 1987, while in university, Krug participated in a song competition, taking first place. As a result, he took up song-writing seriously. By 1994 he recorded three albums, which weren't released officially, but hundreds of pirate copies were distributed. Most of the songs found their way into his later albums. His first official release was Zhigan-Limon (Жиган-лимон), which featured one of his biggest hits, "Kolshchik" (Кольщик). It took him three years until he settled on the final version. A significant portion of Mikhail Krug's songs invoke the secret code of Russian prisons and the symbolism of prisoner tattoos. They describe the emotional emptiness and the despair of the prisoners who are separated from their families and loved ones. He also wrote many love songs, and songs about Tver. Krug liked to associate with criminal elements, which inspired his music and his diamond ring was a gift from the notorious criminal Khobot. In writing his songs, Krug used a 1924 dictionary of underworld slang, compiled by the NKVD. Around midnight on June 30, 2002, Mikhail Krug was murdered in his Tver mansion by acquaintances he had made in the criminal circles.[citation needed] The tragedy of his loss shook Russia[citation needed] which lost one of its prominent artists, who had written over one hundred songs.
[edit] References
a biography (Russ)
New York Times report
His death. (Russ)
