1966. Yanka Diaghilev was born

December 1988, Omsk. Photo by Andrei Kudryavtsev

50 years ago, September 4, 1966, a poetess and rock singer Yana Diaghilev (Yanka) was born in Novosibirsk. Along with Omich Yegor Letov, she was a key representative of the Siberian punk.

Solo or in cooperation with various musicians, Yanka recorded six albums: “NOT PROVENT” (Mignon; January 1988), “declassified elements” (June 1988), “Home!” (Acoustics; January 1989; since 1995 it is published under the name "Sold!"), "Anghedonia" (August - September 1989), "Home!" (Electricity; August - September 1989), "shame and shame" (Mignon; February 1991; published posthumously, supplemented by earlier notes).

The singer took part in the projects of Letov - "Civil Defense" and "Communism".

She also owns dozens of poems not laid on music.

Although the problems of the texts of the Yankee is existential, and not political, they somehow express a sharp rejection of the Soviet system. A number of songs, in particular "on tram rails", "special reason", "declassified elements", is devoted to life in the conditions of a totalitarian regime.

On the evening of May 9, 1991, Yanka left her cottage near Novosibirsk for a walk and did not return back. The police sabotaged the search for the missing, until the editor of the investigation department of the Literary Newspaper Yuri Shchezhikhin intervened in the situation. On May 17, the body of the Yankees was found in the Inya River, on the shore of which stood its country village, more than 40 kilometers downstream. The deceased was discovered by the fisherman.

The death of Yanka was not investigated. Some of the singer’s friends were inclined to the version of suicide: the last months of her life was in deep depression.

Meanwhile, according to the testimonies of other friends of the Yanka, a large broken wound was on the back of the deceased, and there was no water in the lungs.

In June 2013, the Commission of the Novosibirsk City Hall refused the initiative group of citizens in the installation of a memorial plaque on a private house at 61 Yadrintsevskaya St., half of which was occupied by Yanka and her parents. The costs of manufacturing and installing the boards were taken by activists themselves.

In support of the refusal, officials referred in particular to the conclusion of the rector of the Novosibirsk Conservatory Konstantin Kurleni and the chief artist of the city of Yuri Burika. Courley said that Yanka was "a talented novice poetess, but her activity was local generation and was known in a certain social environment." Burik noted that the sketch of the memorial plaque does not meet "architectural and artistic requirements." It was stated that it is too gloomy.

In addition, the city hall indicated that the house according to Yadrintsevskaya, 61 is intended for demolition.

Activists, however, ordered another sketch of the memorial plaque, which in January 2014, the city hall, who refused to demolish the house by this time, approved . On May 31, 2014, the board was open.