Here is the video for A Man Like Putin. I wanted to load the whole Powerpoint to make it easier but couldn’t figure it out. The link for the PBS piece is also included here:

I asked some questions that ran through my mind as I explored this aspect of music switching from satire to propaganda. To set the stage for why a guy like Putin might have felt more stable, orderly and reliable, I played a You Tube video with a collection of drunken Boris Yeltsin shots spliced together. This next video makes sense of the Alexander Yellin concept that all the previous leaders were “impotent, old white men”……

What does this change in attitude mean to you?

What videos reflect a society’s shift in perception?

Does this help a society have a conversation? Or hinder discussion?

http://www.pri.org/stories/2012-02-03/writing-best-known-pro-putin-and-anti-putin-songs

That final URL is a PBS story about Yellin in 2012, when the Russian people were protesting in the streets. It gives an update to why Alexander Yellin feels the new mood of the country is to be disenchanted with Putin. He seems a bit cynical as he wistfully explains that he feels that not much will change….which to me is  fascinating since Yellin is part of why Putin received a different image with his song glorifying Putin and perhaps giving him a sexier appeal then he might have garnered without the slick song as his propaganda! One made changed so much over a bet….it is strange that he thinks the “Madhouse” will vote Putin anyway…..

The nice thing is that you can use this to come to your own conclusions…I just love the fact that it is like judging art….only we know what we are getting out of it!