Diana Arbenina: “I didn’t expect school to be such a serious journey”

Life and work of Diana Arbenina

In rock culture, it is customary to declare oneself with talented performances, and not with shocking antics on the verge of what is permitted. Therefore, the Russian rock Olympus is occupied by real professionals who have been winning hearts with sincere music and piercing songs for many years. It was Diana who became part of the presented platform, where the most outstanding figures of contemporary art are located. A professional approach to work, various roles in films, new works, music - all this revolves around Arbenina.

Diana Arbenina on stage

Diana Arbenina has retained her status as the most soulful and mysterious rock singer for more than 20 years. Her songs skillfully play on the strings of the human soul, but little is known about the performer herself. Diana Arbenina does not want to talk about her biography - it is enough that she opens her soul on stage. Her life is a series of unusual actions and bright meetings, the meaning of which is learned only years later. The extraordinary singer has always been surrounded by many rumors that have not been confirmed or refuted.

Latest news about Diana Arbenina

The singer is still at the peak of popularity in Russian rock. She continues to delight numerous connoisseurs of her work with her song masterpieces. In 2020, a new album, “Only Lovers Left Alive,” was released.

Arbenina is seriously involved in charity work. She took part in a concert dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Chulpan Khamatova’s “Give Yourself Life” foundation. Together with little Sonechka Friday, who is sick with leukemia, the song “Southern Cross” was performed.

“Night Snipers” tour throughout the country and participate in the filming of music videos. One of the latest popular masterpieces is the video for the song “I really wanted to.” The first performance took place at the 10th music awards “Chart’s Dozen” and on the group’s official channel.

The group’s own studio is a grandiose project, expected to be completed in 2020.

Childhood and early years

Diana Arbenina (nee Kulachenko) was born in 1974 in the town of Volozhin, with a population of just over 10 thousand people. It is located 75 km from Minsk, on the Volozhinka River. There were no musicians in the singer’s family, but the love of words and beautiful, sonorous speech was instilled in childhood - Arbenina’s parents were journalists. The girl’s family did not stay in one place for a long time, and at the age of 3 the girl moved with her parents to Borisov, and at the age of 6 they ended up in Chukotka.

Studying at school was given to Diana with particular ease. She had unsurpassed hearing and creative inclinations. Despite all the family difficulties, she was able to overcome herself and achieved incredible results. Most likely, it was the difficulties that strengthened her character and love for music.

Diana Arbenina in childhood

After 2 years, her parents divorced, and before graduating from school, Diana, her mother and stepfather, a surgeon, lived for some time in Kolyma, and then in Magadan. There she received a high school diploma and entered the Pedagogical Institute at the Faculty of Foreign Languages. But she didn’t finish her studies and left for St. Petersburg. In 1993, Diana entered St. Petersburg State University at the Faculty of Philology and after 4 years received a diploma in the specialization “Russian as a foreign language”. From that time on, creativity became the girl’s work, hobby and meaning of life, right up to the birth of children at a fairly mature age.

The biography and personal life of Diana Arbenina developed in an extremely successful way. This did not stop her from achieving incredible success and results. Thus, today she is a shining example of how you need to love music in order for everything to work out in your career. Many well-known publications wrote about the achievements of the promising singer.

Musical activities

Diana wrote her first songs “Frontier”, “I Painted the Sky”, “Only Noise on the River”, “Melancholy” and “Evening in Crimea” in 1991. She performed with them at student parties, amateur concerts and other entertainment events. But already in August the development of her musical career began. At the II All-Russian Festival of Author's Song, the young singer successfully performed solo and in a duet with Svetlana Surganova, whom she met at one of the concerts. After the festival, Diana returned to Magadan, and a few months later Svetlana moved there.

Talented performers performed for some time in restaurants, nightclubs and casinos, but soon returned to the Northern capital, where there were more opportunities to express themselves and get to know the local rock scene. At these concerts they were no longer a nameless duet, but a group called “Night Snipers”.

In 1998, Surganova and Arbenina released their first album, “A Drop of Tar,” and from that moment on, the group’s popularity began to gain momentum: a busy schedule of performances, filming videos, and endless tours. Their songs instantly became hits and were played on all major radio stations. In 1999, the group recorded the album “Baby Talk”, and 2 years later released the album “Frontier”. Apparently, the name was significant, since from that time quarrels often began to break out between the performers, which led to Svetlana Surganova’s departure from the group.

Singer with children

Diana Arbenina remained the only soloist of the group, but this did not diminish her popularity. On the contrary, in 2002 - 2013, Night Snipers released 7 albums. One of them was recorded in Japan together with the popular musician in this country, Kazufumi Miyazawa. During the existence of the group, Arbenina wrote more than two hundred compositions and several dozen poems - “anti-songs”. They found their place in 25 albums (two of which, “First Bullet” and “Second Bullet,” were not released).

Now Arbenina tours less, but this is more due to political reasons than the desire of the singer. In 2014, during a performance in Kyiv, the singer supported Ukrainian fans and spoke negatively about her Russian colleagues who refrained from touring in Ukraine. This act caused the cancellation of three dozen concerts of the singer in Russia and one poetry evening. Although the singer has repeatedly said that there was no political motive in her words.

Participation in musical projects

Arbenina never refused to participate in interesting musical projects. She could be seen as a solo performer at rock festivals or appreciated her collaboration with the group “Bi-2” in the project “Odd Warrior”. With them she recorded the album “Milk”. Everything the singer did attracted the attention of listeners, even if they were not interested in rock. Filming in films also became a very interesting stage in the star’s career. Today her life has begun to attract incredible attention from fans.

Group "Night Snipers"

Diana Arbenina appeared on television as a participant in the “Two Stars” project and a jury member in the “Voice of Ukraine” project. The most important thing is that the actress really has a professional approach to assessing talent. Her musical skills were appreciated by many critics and work colleagues. A variety of music shows and programs became more interesting for television viewers, as Arbenina’s appearance was accompanied by incredible applause.

The singer constantly organizes solo acoustic concerts. It is impossible not to mention her December Moscow “apartment parties” or participation in events dedicated to the memory of B. Okudzhava and V. Vysotsky. such a responsible approach to the art of music cannot go unnoticed. Organizing events requires large financial and material costs, but Diana does not skimp.

Diana Arbenina in the show “The Voice”

Work cannot go on forever, so you need to find time for your family and children. Diana Arbenina’s personal life and unconventional orientation never prevented her from achieving high success in her career. She easily found new projects for herself, wrote music, poetry and improved herself in all directions.

Diana Arbenina on Cosmo.ru

• I do not believe! 11 fictitious marriages of Russian celebrities
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• The meaning of Diana Arbenina’s life: the singer congratulated her daughter and son on their anniversary
• Diana Arbenina: “We gave the most fun New Year’s concert for a tipsy lady”
• The crown jewel of Diana Arbenina’s concert on Valentine’s Day will be the hit “A Second A Second”
• Secrets of the New Year's show Muz-TV: everything we will see on January 1, 2020
• The Golden Gramophone Music Award Ceremony took place in the Kremlin
• Nikolai Baskov and Diana Arbenina at the Golden Gramophone press breakfast
• How do domestic rock queens dress: from Zemfira to Arbenina

All articles …

• WWF Russia celebrated its 25th anniversary with friends in Serebryany Bor
• Elena Borscheva, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and 7 other star IVF mothers
• Diana Arbenina, Evelina Khromchenko and others at the premiere at the Bolshoi Theater
• The winners of the IX Russian Music Award of the RU.TV Channel have been announced
• Diana Arbenina ridiculed Eurovision fans who were outraged by Madonna
• The premiere of the video for Diana Arbenina’s new song #ringtone took place
• Premiere of the video for Diana Arbenina's song by the group "Night Snipers" - #ringtone
• “I’m lying”: Diana Arbenina wrote a warm appeal to Svetlana Surganova
• Diana Arbenina will take the jury chair in the new season of the project “You are Super!”
• Diana Arbenina kissed a participant in the show “Married to Buzova” in a new video
• Night Snipers presented the premiere of a new video for the song “Incandescent”
• Memorable events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad from the siege
• Diana Arbenina was injured in the mountains and ended up in a French hospital
• Ksenia Sobchak will make a tough selection for the place of her assistant in the new show
• Ask your question to Diana Arbenina!
• Basta: “My main task is to raise my daughters”
• Debriefing: a stylist comments on the stars’ outfits at the MUZ-TV 2018 awards
• Valeria Gai Germanika shot a video about Pskov teenagers for a song by Diana Arbenina
• Andrei Konchalovsky, Yulia Vysotskaya and other stars at the Nika Award ceremony
• “Golden Gramophone 2017”: 17 star looks that surprised us
• Diana Arbenina invites fans to collaborate
• Diana Arbenina: “The worst thing is to be in emotional slavery”
• 42-year-old Diana Arbenina posed naked and talked about her personal life
• The Konstantin Khabensky Charitable Foundation will present a children's play
• Stars of the first charity “Pioneer Readings”

Poetic activity

In 2004, fans of Arbenina’s work were able to read the collection of her poems “Catastrophically”, and 3 years later the book “Dream Deserter” was published, in which the singer posted many new texts, prose works, songs, photographs and paintings written by her personally. A year later, the book was published in audio format under the title “Dream Deserter: I Speak.” The text is read by the author. From 2008 to 2013, 4 more books were published - “Lullaby in a Sniper”, poetry collections “Auto-da-fe” and “Sprinter”, “Stalker”. A total of 10 collections were published.

Arbenina with children

For 8 years now, the group has been publishing the magazine “Gavroche”, dedicated to its own creativity. Thus, Diana Arbenina’s orientation is of no interest to anyone; everyone enjoys her talent and ability to achieve their goals.

Theater activities

In 2020, another facet of Arbenina’s talent emerged when she played Bagheera in Konstantin Khabensky’s theatrical production “Generation M.” For two years in a row, the singer held creative meetings with students during tours in various cities.

Arbenina has not acted in feature films, but her voice is spoken by the girl soldier Nyx in the cartoon “Elysium.” Arbenina’s songs became soundtracks for 18 films and TV series, including “I Stay,” “Kandahar,” “Ours,” and so on. As an actress, she showed herself from various sides. Every film, TV series or theatrical work was a great success. What are such projects as “We are from the Future-2”, “Azazel”, “Radio Day”, “Tochka”, “Sklifosovsky” and “Clinch” worth? Every day she only increased her knowledge and became an example to follow.

Arbenina's song is heard in the film "Sklifosovsky"

If we consider the biography and personal life of Diana Arbenina, then many publications of the “yellow press” wrote about her orientation. In fact, this is an incredibly bad approach, since the singer has incredible talent that has helped her achieve great results. And the rumors about her gayness are not all true, so you shouldn’t trust outside sources.

Creativity[ | ]

Along with concerts as part of the “Night Snipers” group, Diana Arbenina regularly holds solo acoustic performances, including annual December apartment parties in Moscow, participates in collective events and concerts, such as “Own Track” (collective concert in memory of Vladimir Vysotsky), “In Memory Bulat Okudzhava" (concert of bard songs in Peredelkino), publishes his own books of poetry.

In 2002, Diana took part in the recording of the musical theme for the TVS reality show “Behind the Glass. Now you are in the army"; in the fall of 2002 - in the dubbing of the Russian translation of the cartoon "Elysium" (the character is a girl officer Nyx).

In 2004, Arbenina released a collection of poems and texts “Catastrophically”[2].

In 2005, Arbenina participated in the combined project of the Bi-2 group “Odd Warrior,” and in 2006 she recorded backing vocals for two tracks on the Bi-2 group’s album, “Milk.”

In 2007, Arbenina’s book “Dream Deserter” was published, which included a large number of poems published for the first time, song lyrics, prose, as well as photographs of the author. In early 2008, an audio version of The Dream Deserter was released, entitled The Dream Deserter: I Speak. On this record Diana reads her poetry solo[2].

In 2008, Arbenina’s book “Lullaby in a Sniper Style” was published, and on July 8, 2009, on Diana’s 35th birthday, a solo performance “Motofoso” took place, staged by director Nina Chusova[2].

In 2009-2010, the Night Snipers group published its own official magazine, Gavroche[2].

In April 2012, Arbenina’s poetry collection “Auto-da-fe” was published[21].

In December 2013, a collection of poems and prose from different years, “Sprinter,” was published, and in 2014, the book “Stalker”[2].

In 2013-2016, Arbenina was a columnist for the Russian Pioneer magazine and a participant in the Pioneer Readings [ source not specified 500 days

].

In 2014-2016, in addition to concert performances in cities of Russia and the world, Arbenina held creative meetings with university students [ source not specified 500 days

].

In 2020, Arbenina made her debut on the theater stage, playing the role of Bagira in the play “Generation M” by Konstantin Khabensky’s studio[2].

In 2015-2017, Arbenina hosted her own program “The Last Hero” on “Our Radio” [ source not specified 500 days

].

On April 21, 2020, the first personal exhibition of Diana Arbenina’s paintings opened at the Central House of Artists in Moscow and lasted until May 9[22][23].

On June 14, 2020, Arbenina performed in St. Petersburg as a headliner at the FIFA World Cup Fan Fest in Russia immediately after the Russia-Saudi Arabia match[24].

Discography[ | ]

During the existence of the rock group “Night Snipers” the following albums were recorded:

• “The Second Bullet” (unreleased album, 1995),
• “A drop of tar/In a barrel of honey” (1998),
• "British" (single, 1999)
• "Baby Talk" (1999),
• "Canary" (1999, released 2008 on vinyl),
• "Frontier" (2001),
• "Alive" (2002),
• "Tsunami" (2002),
• “Trigonometry” (live album, 2003),
• "SMS" (2004),
• "Simauta" (single, 2005),
• “Trigonometry-2” (live album, 2005),
• "Koshika" (2006),
• "Bonnie & Clyde" (2007),
• “South Pole” (single, 2009),
• "Army 2009" (2009),
• "The Last Patron" (DVD, 2009),
• “Army tour. Finale" (DVD, 2009),
• "Kandahar" (single, 2010),
• "Motofoso" (DVD, 2011),
• «» (2012),
• "Fiesta" (single, 2013)
• "Acoustics. Songs as they are" (disc 1. "Shadows in Paradise", disc 2. "Between Us") (2013),
• "Boy on the Ball" (2014)[25],
• “Only Lovers Will Survive” (2016)[26],
• “Wake Me Up” (single, 2017),
• “Choi” (single, 2017)
• “Sad People” (single, 2018),
• "Instagram" (single, 2018)
• "Crowns" (single, 2018)
• “If not weak” (single, 2018)
• “I can fly without you” (OST “Mistresses” 2019)
• "Ringtone" (single, 2019)
• “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” (2019)

Books[ | ]

• “Fleabag” (1996, poems, paintings)
• “The Goal” (1996, lyrics, paintings)
• “30 songs of Night Snipers” (2002, notes, chords, lyrics)
• “Patrontash” (2002, lyrics, poems, paintings)
• “Catastrophically” (2004, lyrics, poems, paintings)
• “Deserter of Sleep” (2007, lyrics, poems, prose, paintings, photographs + audiobook)
• "Sniper Lullaby" (2008)
• “Auto-da-fe” (2012, lyrics, poems)
• “Sprinter” (2013, poetry, prose)
• "Stalker" (2014, lyrics)
• “Running” (2017, lyrics, poems)
• "Tilda" (2017, prose)

Songs for cinema[ | ]

Participation in television projects[ | ]

• In 2004, Diana Arbenina participated in the team television game “Fort Boyard” with Leonid Yarmolnik and Oksana Fedorova. She was on the team with Alexey Mikhalev, Elena Korobova, Mikhail Zelensky and Maxim Pokrovsky.
• In December 2007 - April 2008, she participated in the television project “Two Stars” in a duet with Evgeny Dyatlov. The couple took second place and received Alla Pugacheva’s “Alla’s Golden Star” prize.
• In 2009, she participated in the TV show “Great Races” on Channel One [27].
• In 2011, she took the place of coach in the Ukrainian TV show “Voice of the Country” (“Voice of the Country”). Her mentee Ivan Ganzera became the winner of the project. In the second season, Arbenina also acted as a coach and won again: 1st place in the project was taken by her team member Pavlo Tabakov.
• In 2015-2016, she took part as a judge in two seasons of the musical entertainment project “Main Stage” on the TV channel “Russia-1”[28].
• In 2020, she became one of the mentors in the show “Battle of Talents” on the Muz-TV channel[29].
• In 2020, she became one of the jury members in the third season of the show “You’re Super!” on the NTV channel.
• In 2020, she became one of the jury members in the second season of the project “Come on, all together!” on the TV channel “Russia-1”[30].