The Birth of Pussy Riot: Six Early Songs

Virgin Mary, Mother of God, chase Putin away

I argue that Pussy Riot borrowed the idea for this refrain and their melody from Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninov’s “Bogoroditse Devo, Raduisya.” What was originally “Bogoroditse Devo, raduisya, Blago, Bogoroditse Devo, raduisya, Blago,” was substituted with: “Bogoroditsa, Devo, Putina progoni Putina progoni, Putina progoni,” and later “Bogoroditsa, Devo, stan’ feministkoĭ Stan’ feministkoĭ, feministkoĭ stan’.” There are many reasons for this: 1) The purposeful mimicry of a znamennyi raspev (the tradition of liturgical, melismatic singing used in the Russian Orthodox Church) both mocks and fits the setting of the performance, which are two major sites for the Russian Orthodox Church. 2) The religious quality of the refrain and melody also physically connects the song’s major themes of criticizing the nature and corruption of the Church and Patriarch Kirill to its surroundings. 3) This calling out to the “Virgin Mary, Mother of God” also turns Pussy Riot’s request to “chase Putin away” into a plea and imparts a feeling of irony that Pussy Riot is having to beg the Virgin Mary for help to cleanse the Russian Orthodox Church and Russia by being at аn actual Russian Orthodox Church. All of this combined suggests that the girls are either genuinely religious or they are mocking and disrespecting the nature of such a plea to the Virgin Mary.

Please see the first 30 seconds of the below performance of Rachmaninov’s “Bogoroditse Devo, Raduisya” to compare its melody to the first 15 seconds of Pussy Riot’​​​​​​​s “Bogoroditsa, Devo, Putina progoni” (Virgin Mary, Mother of God, Chase Putin away) that is provided just above the lyrics section:

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