sometimes eschewed in favor of a more impassioned delivery (Viktor Tsoi, the lead singer of Kino, pioneered a characteristically strained, monotonous style of singing that has been imitated by many). The metaphor of Russia facing both East and West is epitomized by the double-headed Eagle on its coat-of-arms. The Eastern influence in the Russian rock is heard in soundtracks from movies like Day Watch that has Tamerlane's legend of the Chalk of Destiny at its roots. Russian rock expressively used and integrated elements from Western and Eastern culture (especially from countries of the USSR). Yngvar Bordrewich Steinholt (University of Tromsø, Norway) has written a PhD thesis in English that was printed by The Mass Media Music Scholars Press titled "Rock in the Reservation" (2004) about the Leningrad Rock Club. It also touched upon the history of rock in Russia and its counter-cultural tendencies. Wordplay In Russian, the original meaning of word "рок" is "fate" or "doom". The word is used almost exclusively in fiction, especially poetry (more widely used synonym is "судьба"). These correlate with the poetic roots of Russian rock and its attention to "serious" topics. The wordplay is used in the song "This is Fate" () from Aria's debut album Mania Velichia. See also Legends of Russian Rock Rock and roll and the fall of communism References External links Largest and free mp3 archive of different russian rock gentres, oldies and new most important bands. Site in English List of Russian bands Russian Music on the Net: Site about Modern Russian music with many Rock bands History of Rock Music In Russia A list of Russian rock bands who reached a legendary status Annotated library of modern Russian music - including Russian rock A quick overview about Russian rock Information about Russian rock history Russia