I'm sure to many of you Zemfira's name doesn't mean much. Millions of Russian music fans will gasp just with the sound of her voice. She is the edgiest, most unpredictable, and mass popular at the same time female singer came out of the post-perestroika era.

As Wikipedia states, her band enjoyed immense popularity from the start, in part because of heavy rotation on radio and television, and in part because a female rocker is a fairly rare and unusual concept for the Russian music scene (which to this day is dominated by scantily-clad female pop singers).

The long line outside the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC reminded me more of the lines for bread and butter in the Soviet Russia, but the two hour wait was well worth it. I'll consider it as part of the whole experience...

It's hard to explain Zemfira's appeal to someone who doesn't speak the language, but just in case you are curious about this culture - enjoy one her best hits - Xochesh.