Combating the Sex-Kitten Image

Since the 1980s advent of ground-breaking bands such as Akvarium and Kino, St. Petersburg has always been home to some of the country's freshest and most original sounds. Two of the city's current best-known groups, Kolibri and Pepsi, are unique not only in how they sing but in who they are: Both are all-woman bands, and both are out to combat the sex-kitten stereotypes they say plague much of Russian music today. "When you see Russian female pop stars, with their long legs and miniskirts, there's just one message," said Maria Kipyatkova who, along with her sisters Inessa and Anna, formed Pepsi just over a year ago. "They want love, money and someone to look after them. It's boring. We try to offer something more, like the possibility that real communication can exist between men and women. The future belongs to veiled sexuality."Natasha Pivovarova, one of the lead singers of Kolibri ("Hummingbirds"), formed five years ago, said her band takes on the same problem from a different angle, accentuating a discreet femininity rather than sacrificing it. "Our group was born out of dislike," Pivovarova said. "A dislike of both aggressive female fans of mainstream rock and of the blatant sexuality of the female Soviet pop stars you see now. We wanted to take a stand against this by using our femininity and style." Kolibri's four members perform their tight, finely tuned melodies dressed in elegant designer costumes, projecting an icy air of inaccessibility that has won them tremendous popularity with alternative music listeners, if not with fans of more mainstream fare. Pepsi, on the other hand -- as their new-generation name implies -- are more user-friendly, beckoning their audiences with their boyish, energetic stage personalities and loud, infectious dance rhythms. "It's not pop," the group's manager, Svetlana Kostitsina emphasized. "It's just good dance music, simple but unique."The band's repertoire, which they say focuses on standard topics like "guys, music and drugs" in order to provoke their audience, are penned exclusively by composer Denis Sladkevich who, according to Maria, "writes about love with surprisingly girlish lyrics." The group is scheduled to record its first CD, in New York, by the end of the year. Kolibri, which is soon to release its fourth recording, originally based most of its performances on new arrangements of popular Soviet songs from the 1950s and '60s. They have moved on to co-writing the majority of their songs with male musicians, a cooperative arrangement Pivovarova says helps them get rid of the "oversentimentality" and "lack of irony" in their music. Pepsi, which names groups like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Annie Lennox and Whitesnake as their creative inspirations, struggles less over the subtlety of its music and stage presence. Indeed, according to Maria, the band's biggest problem is not in overcoming the hurdles typically faced by "female" women, but in trying to give a softer edge to what she considers their naturally commanding personalities."It's very difficult for us to find men who are stronger than we are," she said. "We always control the situation and are the center of attention at any gathering. We're tired of it, but what can we do?"Pepsi will be performing at midnight Saturday at Pilot dance club and again 11 P.M. Sunday at Sexton F.O.Z.D. Pilot is located at 6 Tryokhgorny Val. Tel. 252-2764. Nearest metro: Ulitsa 1905 Goda. Sexton is located at 6/21 Pervy Baltiisky Proezd, bldg. 2. Tel. 151-1211 or 151-3682. Nearest metro: Sokol.