DIANA ARBENINA and The Night Snipers

Nochnyie Snaipery (Russian: Ночные Снайперы, literally 'Night Snipers') is a Russian rock group. It was founded in 1993 as an acoustic female duo of Diana Arbenina (Russian: Диана Сергеевна Арбенина) and Svetlana Surganova (Russian: Светлана Яковлевна Сурганова). The ladies played guitar and violin respectively, sharing the vocal and songwriting duties evenly, eventually adding amplification to the band. Since its inception the band has participated in a variety of Russian musical festivals — from the underground (such as Babye Leto and Moguchaya Kuchka) to the major events (Nashestvie, MAXIDROM, Krylya), as well as touring extensively domestically and abroad. Night Snipers best known singles are Tridtsatpervaya Vesna ('31st Spring'), Rubezh ('Frontier'), Stolitsa ('Capital'), Asfalt ('Asphalt'), and Aktrisa ('Actress'). The majority of the songs in the band's repertoire is written by Arbenina and Surganova, but some use the poetry of such famous authors as Joseph Brodsky, Anna Akhmatova, and Federico Garcia Lorca. In 2002 Svetlana Surganova left the band to create her own group Surganova i Orkestr ('Surganova and Orchestra'), and Diana remained the headliner of Night Snipers. Diana Arbenina and Svetlana Surganova are Russian lesbian icons. Several songs, performed by them with Night Snipers or solo, hint of intimacy between women and are considered lesbian and feminist anthems of Russophone world.