Attractive appearance, a pleasant voice and the nostalgic style of performance, characteristic of the pop music of the post-Soviet space of the 90s in modern processing, allowed the performer to gain wide popularity among an interested audience.
Childhood and education
Kristina Viktorovna Gerasimova was born on August 28, 1990 in the city of Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) in the German Democratic Republic. Her parents lived in this German city during military service father of the family. After the reunification of Germany in 1990 and the dissolution Soviet Union in 1991, the Gerasimov family moved to Kyiv. 
The period of life in Germany had practically no effect on Christina, who was still little at that time, although she recalled in an interview mom's stories about joint walks along Dresden art gallery or her birth in a boat sailing on the Elbe.
WITH early childhood Christina strove for music and art, which was greatly encouraged by the girl’s parents. Their considerable merit was that Kristina Gerasimova studied vocals and piano at a music school.
By the singer’s own admission, the event that determined her desire for a musical career was a trip to Cuba in 2002. Finding herself far from her parents, Christina did not study, but only composed songs, enjoying the special Cuban atmosphere of freedom and joy.
In 2007, the future singer Luna successfully graduated from Kyiv school No. 53 with in-depth study German language. The next stage was studying at one of the Kyiv universities at the Faculty of Journalism. Although directing and music attracted the girl much more than the profession of a journalist.
The beginning of a musical career
In 2009, Christina met her future husband Yuri Bardash, a music producer, founder and lead singer of the hip-hop group “Mushrooms”.Interview with Kristina Gerasimova
Relations with Yuri have never been easy. According to the singer herself, first her pregnancy, then postpartum depression ruined the relationship between the spouses, and in 2014 they decided to temporarily separate. It was during this period that Christina experienced a creative surge, wrote more than 30 songs and, after setting music to the text, published compositions called “Moon” and “Vigray” on her YouTube and Soundcloud accounts. The new performer quickly attracted the attention of the audience.
According to Christina’s memoirs, in her childhood she was already interested in music of a certain genre and direction. Her circle of interests firmly included Zemfira, Mumiy-Troll, Linda and Guests from the Future. This greatly influenced musical style the Moon itself in the future. Christina's songs belong to pop music, while the performer herself and her fans associate the specifics of her compositions with nostalgic aesthetics musical culture 90s of the last century.
Quick take off
Christina consolidated her success on October 15, 2015 with a video for the song “Autumn,” which she filmed in the courtyard of her house. The simplicity and originality of the setting and the text itself aroused great interest among connoisseurs of popular music. The video quickly collected several hundred thousand views, and this success ultimately became the beginning of the singer's career.Moon - Autumn
Christina’s first public performance took place as part of the autumn fashion show “Mercedes-Benz Kiev Fashion Days”, where she managed to captivate the audience with her simple love songs. It is noteworthy that in the following years the singer took part in this event more than once, leaving her mark even in one of the fashion collections, items from which were decorated with lines from the texts of the Moon.
The period from the end of 2015 to May 2016 was entirely devoted to preparations for the release of Kristina Gerasimova’s first studio album, entitled “Mag-ni-you.” It was for its release that the singer took the pseudonym Luna. It was presented in full at the singer’s debut solo concert in Kyiv. A number of lyrical and memorable compositions (“Moon”, “Autumn”, “Magnets”, “Bottle”, “Distances” and “Boy, you’re snow...”) immediately captivated major Ukrainian and Russian radio stations. The album was produced by Luna herself.
Until the end of 2016, the main occupation of Luna and her partners was touring the CIS countries and Israel, and on November 3, the singer’s debut Moscow concert was a success. In parallel with this, on October 28, 2016, Luna released the mini-album “Sad Dance”.
Constant touring and separation from her son served as inspiration for Luna to create songs on the theme of love at a distance, which were included in her second studio album, “Freedom Island.” The release was scheduled for November 18, 2017, and the main single of the disc was the song “Free Love”, the video clip for which collected a record number of views for the singer on YouTube - 4.8 million. Soon after its release, the album reached 3rd place in downloads in the Russian-language section of iTunes.
Video making
In addition to some of his own clips, a shining example which became the video for the song “Autumn”, in 2011 Kristina Gerasimova filmed and edited for popular singer Julia Nelson video clip for the song “Not By You”.The video that Christina Bardash shot for Yulia Nelson
The successfully completed work gave the girl self-confidence; later, the list of Luna’s works included videos for compositions by the singer Inaya and the group “Nerves”. By the way, all projects, except for Yulia Nelson, belong to the Ukrainian company “Kruzheva Music”, the founder and owner of which is Yuri Bardash.
Luna's personal life
As mentioned above, Kristina Gerasimova married producer Yuri Bardash in 2009. While pregnant, Christina and her husband flew to Los Angeles in 2011, where their son George was soon born.Moon – Ogonyok
All last news You can learn about Luna’s life from the vocalist’s pages on Instagram and VKontakte, and you can get acquainted with her compositions and videos on the singer’s profile on YouTube.
It is known that on April 12, 2019, Cosmonautics Day, Luna will present a new, very personal album “Enchanted Dreams” in one of the clubs in Minsk.
IN last years Ukraine is being shaken by one revolution after another, and this time it is not only and not so much about politics. The revolution of dignity, when millions of Ukrainians were faced with the question of national identity, while simultaneously linking it with the European cultural code, was followed by, and now also a musical one. We tell you who Luna is and why American Vogue called her the face of the Ukrainian musical revolution.
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The most interesting thing on the Ukrainian scene is now happening in new pop music. , Pianoboy, The Maneken, Ivan Dorn are proof of this. In addition, the production center "Lace", the founder of which is the husband of Christina Bardash - the same Moon - Yuri Bardash, has been actively supplying high-quality pop performers, musicians, photographers and producers for several years, many of whom we owe for the emergence of the phenomenon of the Ukrainian musical revolution .
One of these new pop performers was the singer Luna. The project has existed for two years, and in 2016, literally everyone started talking about Luna as a breakthrough in the Kyiv musical underground - from the Russian Wonderzine to the Ukrainian glossy magazine, and now even American Vogue, which for the first time drew attention to Ukrainian music.
Journalist Liana Satenstein, specializing in the culture of the CIS countries and, in particular, Ukraine (she is the author of last year’s article about), writes that the music of the Moon “is a symbol of the changes taking place in Ukraine against the backdrop of the political situation, war and an unstable economy.” Of course, a comparison of Luna’s music with a similar trend in fashion – that which is being done by people from the post-Soviet space and Gosha Rubchinsky – also suggests itself.
Luna herself characterizes her musical style as “soulful pop” - it feels nostalgia for the post-Soviet 90s and noughties, a romantic passion, as well as the current trend for “Gopnik fashion”, exported to the West by the same Gvasalia, Rubchinsky, and other designers.
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Christina Bardash is perhaps the most unusual face to ever become a symbol of a musical revolution,
— Vogue writes about Luna. In less than a year, 25-year-old Christina, thanks to her vocals, music video, recorded literally on the knee in the spirit of “new sincerity” and personal style won the attention of music and fashion critics and simply people who understand modern music- and fashion, which is important.
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- Luna says, while Liana calls her face "elfin". After Christina and her team uploaded the first video for the song “Autumn” on Facebook, people began to distribute the video themselves, and within six months all tickets to the Kyiv concerts were sold out.
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According to Luna, the 90s and early 2000s are her main source of inspiration. And this is no coincidence, since it was precisely this period of minimalism, flourishing and emergence into “ Big world“various subcultures, feminism with its “new femininity” Phoebe Philo, the era of supermodels, the peak of popularity and - most of all, modern fashion.
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For Ukraine, the 90s became, according to Luna, “a time of revolution in the minds of people and the awakening of Ukrainian youth.”
In the article, Satenstein describes in detail the image of Christina Bardash during the interview: she was wearing a pink Roberto Cavalli minidress with buttons, which “would be more suitable for the wife of a Slavic mafioso,” but on Christina it looked absolutely organic.
My style depends on my mood, and the same thing happens with my music,
- says Bardash. And, indeed, before Luna had the opportunity to buy clothes in the Kyiv boutiques Helen Marlen and Asthik, she - according to her own words in previous interviews - dressed in a second-hand store on Lesnoy (which, by the way, the same Liana Satenshtein calls in ranking best places for shopping in Kyiv), since she invested all the money she earned in her favorite business.
Luna owes the lion's share of her popularity not only to her style and vocals, but also to her decidedly amateur videos - many of them filmed on a phone. Luna maintains an image of "new sincerity" that opposes commercial music and popular culture, slowly killing real, living culture and art. Bardash shot the video for the track “Autumn” spontaneously with a small pocket camera when she took her son to kindergarten.
I love Kyiv. It's a beautiful city, although some people are ruining the culture. But now there is a new generation of young guys who are changing the situation - and I am one of them,
Bardash says in an interview with Vogue. The phenomenon of the singer Luna lies in the fact that her music is, of course, part of our unique, so to speak, cultural code with its residential areas, dull pop music and infantile nostalgia for the past, which Christina Bardash transforms into a high-quality modern product that is interesting to the West. Thanks to people like her, Ukraine is gaining a new face and in a few years will cease to be associated with a poor, war-torn country, which is often shown in the news and in which something is always wrong, thank God.
Biography
Christina's father was a military man, so he always kept the girl strict. Christina also has a younger sister. Mom devoted herself entirely to raising children.
As a child, the girl was very interested in music, so her parents decided to send her to music school for vocal and piano training. After graduating from school, she entered the university to study journalism. She liked to study, but she never worked a day in her profession. While still studying at the university, the girl became interested in directing and began working as a camera operator.
As the musical career, the girl starred in videos shot for the famous songs “Beat” and “Let’s Forget Everything,” produced by the group Quest Pistols. I became interested in video making. She shot video clips for Yulia Nelson and the group Nerva.
At the end of spring 2016 the first solo album singer called “Mag-ni-you”. It was during this period that she took the pseudonym Luna. On October 27 of the same year, the girl released the album “Sad Dance,” which took first place in the top in one day best songs Ukraine.
After the stunning popularity of the released album, the girl conducted the “Eclipse” tour. On November 3, 2016, Luna held big concerts in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Riga.
At the beginning of April 2017, the single “Bullets” premiered. In mid-July of the same year, the second song from the album “Ogonyok” was released, Christina immediately presented her video clip for it. Luna calls her music soulful, as it reminds her of the 90s.
Personal life of Christina Bardash
The singer is the wife of producer Yuri Bardash. In 2012, the couple moved to Los Angeles. At first they lived in the Hollywood Hills, and later moved to the Venice area. In the same year they had a red-haired son, George. In America, she devoted herself entirely to her child, leaving creative activity for a while.
In one of her interviews, the singer admitted that all the time she lived in Los Angeles, she learned to be free and independent from anyone.
The couple lived in America for two and a half years, after which they returned to their homeland to continue developing creative potential Moons in the vastness of Ukraine and Russia.
Regarding the fact that her husband is promoting the Mushrooms group, Luna says that she sees nothing wrong with it. She says that singer Luna's audience is growing gradually, so she will never have problems with having listeners.
In one of the interviews, Luna admitted that the song “Boy, you are snow” was addressed to her lover, with whom she had an argument, and she felt insulted. She was referring to her current husband and musician of the group “Mushrooms” Yuri Bardash.
Christina Bardash loves to cook for her husband and son, she dreams of opening a bar-restaurant. She explains her craving for cooking by the fact that she is a vegetarian and finds shortcomings in all vegetarian restaurants, so she dreams of opening a place that will meet the needs of all people who refuse to eat meat.
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Now the singer’s entire family is leading healthy image life, and she does yoga and meditates every day.
The singer notes that her main goal is the happiness of family members and only in second place is creative activity. Although it is quite difficult to imagine this girl not involved in musical activities.
Louna is a Russian rock band. Some journalists call it a “side project” of another famous rock band called The Musicians Themselves, however, they refute this definition in an interview. They insist that Louna is an independent project. The band gained popularity in 2010, when they released their debut album called “Make It Louder!” Immediately, the songs of this group topped the popular “thematic” charts.
Group name
It comes, as you might guess, from the word Luna. The final touch was the letter “o” added to the name by guitarist Ruben.
Genre
The genre of this group can be defined as experimental alternative music. Some consider it alternative metal. The collective’s creativity is at the intersection of many styles and genres of recent times. The Louna group is one of the most unusual projects on the market today. Russian stage. In her songs you can hear echoes of an alternative line, which is the main one. At the same time, grunge notes are also heard (post-grunge - in the official version). It is safe to say that a genre to which the work of this group could be classified does not yet exist. Therefore, it makes no sense to build analogies. Attribution to a genre such as alternative metal is somewhat far-fetched. We can consider the work of this group an experiment that has already proven its worth. The Louna group has thoughtful, vibrant lyrics. They are aimed at combating various evils of modernity, including social injustice and religious fanaticism.
Composition of the group
The vocalist of the band Louna is Lusine Gevorkyan. She is participating in this moment in 2 teams at the same time, also performing in the Tracktor Bowling team. Today a large number of people believe that she is the founder of alternative vocals in our country.
The second participant is Vitaly Demidenko, who is better known as Vit. This is the band's bassist. He also competes in Tracktor Bowling. Vitaly has his own fan club.
The band's guitarist is Ruben Kazaryan. He is also a part-time author of texts on English language. Ruben played in bands such as Ens Cogitans and Southwake.
Another guitarist is Sergey Ponkratiev. He has also been seen working with the two bands mentioned above - Ens Cogitans and Southwake.
Drummer - Leonid "Pilot" Kinzbursky. He is a talented drummer and longtime fan of the band Tracktor Bowling.
Create a group
The creation of the team dates back to September 2008. It was then that the participants of Tracktor Bowling, Moscow alternative group, Vitaly Demidenko and Lusine Gevorkyan founded this team. They were also joined by guitarists Sergei Ponkratyev, Ruben Kazaryan and drummer Leonid Kinzbursky.
In the group's work, the emphasis was immediately placed on powerful sound, as well as on the intellectual content of the texts. Louna's songs charge the listener with energy and make him think.
First performances, first awards
On May 23, 2009, the group's first performance took place. It is considered the date of his birth. The performance took place at the Tochka club in Moscow. The young and not very well-known team won the RAMP Award in 2009, receiving it in the “Discovery of the Year” nomination. The rock band Louna subsequently gained great fame in the musical community. Louna has been a headliner at various rock festivals. In 2009 - at Extreme Girlzz Fest, in 2010 - at Metal Summer Fest" and "The Neighboring World", in 2011 - on "Invasion" and Kubana, in 2012 - also on "Invasion" and Kubana, etc.
Debut album
The band's debut album, "Make It Louder!", as we have already said, appeared in 2010, in the summer. Its release was made in the fall of the same year. This event was a turning point in the history of the team. A clearly expressed irreconcilable social position and non-standard music aroused the interest of the general public, as well as the media. Let us note that the leader of “Cockroaches!” took part in the recording of the debut album. (Russian punk band), as well as Ervin Khachikyan, keyboardist System groups Of A Down.
Growing popularity
In February 2011, the team presented the single “Who Do You Trust?”, made together with the vocalist of the Lumen group Rustem Bulatov. In the summer of the same year, at the invitation of the organizing committee of "Invasion-2011", Louna performed at main stage this festival together with such stars of Russian rock as “Alice”, Gleb Samoilov, “DDT”, “Kipelov”, “Splin”, “Lyapis Trubetskoy”, “Pilot”, “King and the Clown”, “Chaif”, “Bravo” ", "Bi-2" and others.
The composition "Fight Club", included in the debut album, was included in the rotation of "Our Radio" in January 2011. And a week later - and into the “Chart Dozen” (rock chart). This song rose to number two and managed to stay on the chart for 16 weeks. Later, in the summer of the same year, another song of the group - “Make it louder!” - within a month it reached the top of the charts and did not give up its position for 2 weeks.
Expert council of the "Chart Dozen. Top 13" ( annual award) the group Louna was nominated to the finals in as many as 3 nominations - “Best Soloist”, “Song of the Year” and “Breakthrough”. In addition, the team was invited to perform at the award ceremony, which took place at Crocus City Hall On March 7, 2012, Louna won the award, winning the “Song of the Year” (“Fight Club”) category.
Second album
The group's second album, "Time X", was released in February 2012. The disc included several protest-themed tracks. In addition, the album included several lyrical compositions. In the same year, in March, they played solo concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, dedicated to the release of the second album. 14 new songs were included in it. The leader took part in the recording famous group as well as Alexander Ivanov, leader of the NAIV group (which disbanded in 2009) and the current Radio Chacha project.
In an interview, S. Mikhalok said that he likes to collaborate with musicians from Louna. He noted that the bulk of duets in rock and roll and on the stage are created when producers want to derive some benefit from it. However, Louna is not a commercially driven project.
New assault on the "Chart Dozen"
The song “Everyone has the right” has been in rotation on “Our Radio” since February 2012. She stayed in the “Chart Dozen” for more than two months, reaching third place. The composition “Mama” topped the hit parade for three weeks in a row in August 2012. In total, she stayed there for more than three months.
June 12, 2012 marks the group’s performance at the “March of Millions.” Along with the main studio activities, the recording of an English-language album is also being prepared. The band, according to the musicians, has plans to perform at the largest rock festivals, including world-class events.
“People look up” is a song that started airing on “Our Radio” on November 16, 2012. A video was also shot for it by Svyatoslav Podgaevsky, who had previously made videos for this group for the songs “Mama” and “Make It Louder.”
Louna conquers America
In 2013, on January 25, it became known that the group's first English-language album would be released under the name Behind a Mask. The Red Decade Records label will take part in its publication. The song Mama was first heard on Chicago radio 95FM W.I.I.L. on March 22. After that, 138 Americans called into the air. About 75% of them said they liked the song. One even confused the Louna singer with the In This Moment singer. The single Business was released on March 26, followed by a high-budget video of the same name, which was presented to Western viewers. Also in 2013, on February 24, the group’s English-language website began operating. At the same time, the track list of the future debut album appeared.
Based on popular voting on February 24 of the same year, L. Gevorkyan was recognized as the best rock vocalist in Russia. She beat Helavisa, Zemfira and Olga Kormukhina. The vocalist of the group Louna won the “Best Soloist” award, which she received from the hands of a famous actor.
The band's first English-language album was released on April 30, 2013 (Behind a Mask). It received positive reviews from various online publications in the United States.
A tour of US cities took place in the fall of 2013. Louna played concerts in 26 cities in America with The Pretty Reckless, a US band, and Heaven's Basement, an English band. In 44 days, Louna traveled through 13 states. During the tour, in addition to live performances, the group gave numerous interviews, performed an acoustic set on a Chicago radio station and was received with great interest by American radio listeners. The group’s songs were in rotation on seven of America’s largest radio stations, and the song “Up There” took 13th place on the WIIL FM chart. At the American concerts, all albums and paraphernalia were sold, which indicates a high interest in the band’s work.
Album "We are Louna"
The albums of the group Louna replenished their list on December 1, 2013 with the appearance of a new one - “We are Louna”. It was recorded using crowdfunding, that is, with money from listeners. The fundraiser was recognized as one of the most successful in the history of music crowdfunding in our country. In the fall of 2013, a large-scale tour of the United States took place.
2014 in the history of the group
In 2014, work was underway on a video for the song “With You”. It came out on June 30th. In May of the same year, the group played two anniversary concerts for its fifth anniversary in the capital, and one in St. Petersburg. At the fifth anniversary, her friends performed with the group. Among them we can note Ilya Chert, Rustem Bulatov, “Cockroaches!”, “Elysium”, “Brigade Contract”, “Prince”, “Stigmata”, “Fantastika”, etc. Also released documentary called "We are Louna".
2015
In 2015, the premiere of the composition “The Fighter’s Road” took place in the “Chart Dozen”. The song immediately reached sixth place, and a month later topped the charts.
In February the group returned to concert activities. Interest in it from the media also increased: the team began to be more actively invited to broadcast on various radios. From January to May this year the group visited 40 Russian cities, covering almost all regions. This tour, called “Even Louder!”, is currently the largest in the history of the group. Almost all cities of this tour were sold out. According to the unanimous opinion of metropolitan and regional promoters, Louna is currently one of the most popular rock bands in Russia.
On May 30, 2015, the discography of the Louna group was replenished with the collection The Best of, which included best songs. Bonus tracks - “The Path to Yourself” and “Freedom” (acoustic arrangement). “In Me” is a song included in the album in a version recorded together with D. Rishko.
Simple, sincere lyrics and minimalistic arrangements in the spirit of the 90s - according to American Vogue, this is what “the face of the Ukrainian musical revolution” looks like. The publication assigned this status to Kiev resident Kristina Gerasimova, who performs under the pseudonym Luna. Her songs were not played on the radio, and her videos were not broadcast on TV. Luna's work has become popular thanks to the Internet. At the same time, the artist herself states that she does not consider herself an indie project.
Childhood and youth
Kristina Gerasimova (at the time of her marriage - Bardash) was born on August 28, 1990 in the German Democratic Republic, where her father served at that time. The family lived in the town of Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz) for about two years, after which they moved to Ukraine. The Gerasimovs settled in Kyiv.
Together with her younger sister Alina, Kristina studied at school No. 53 in Kyiv, having time for choreography classes after school. IN junior classes Christina visited folk dances, later - ballet, to which she devoted 6 years. Then the girl changed dancing to music. At art school for two years she studied solfeggio, vocals, attended a choir and took guitar lessons.
Music
Christina recorded her first demo when she was 14 years old. While studying at school and then at university, the girl wrote poetry and music, but did not consider it necessary to demonstrate her creativity to the public. The first performance took place only in 2015. The actress took part in Mercedes-Benz Kiev Fashion Days. And a year later she presented her first album “Mag-ni-you”.
The grandiose solo performance made too strong an impression on the performer: Christina took a break from creating songs and focused on performances. Following the capital of Ukraine, the concerts of the “Eclipse” tour took place in Riga, Yekaterinburg, and Moscow.
Moon, video "Autumn"In the songs of the first album - “Boy, you are snow”, “Bottle”, “Bambi” - the melancholic mood and sound in the style of pop music of the 90s, characteristic of Luna’s work, were immediately determined. Critics draw parallels with creativity,. The singer herself names Glass Animals, groups, “Guests from the Future”, as well as performers and. Own style she defines it as “soulful pop.”
At the end of 2016, Luna released the mini-album “Sad Dance”. The album made a successful debut: on the first day it took first place in iTunes Ukraine and second in iTunes Russia and iTunes Armenia.
Luna's video for the song "Ogonyok"In 2017, the performer released her second album, “Freedom Island.” Of the 8 tracks, 3 were presented earlier during the year: “Bullets”, “Ogonyok”, “Friend”. The video for the song “Ogonyok” turned out to be the most popular video in Luna’s assets: more than 50 people were in the frame. In 6 months, the clip collected a million views on Youtube. The songs "Jukebox" and "Free love" became hits.
Luna performs the song "Jukebox"It is noteworthy that in the first clips, the “multi-stanker” Luna not only thought through the plot and style of the video, but also tried to control the technical side:
“On the set of “Bullet” I really gave it my all, because I thought through every shot, went to the rental store, chose lenses, a camera, set the light - in heels, then climbed into the frame.”Subsequently, the singer agreed to delegate these responsibilities to directors. This, however, does not exclude Luna’s participation in creating the script and developing images.
Personal life
Christina was married. Her ex-spouse– producer, co-owner of the company “Kruzheva Music”, participant. The hit “The Ice Is Melting” is dedicated to the Moon.
In 2012, the couple had a son, George. At that time the family lived in Los Angeles. Christina describes this period of her biography contradictorily:
“I have just begun my adult life. And all this came at me. This is all great, but this America is still around, and I just found myself alone with myself and my calling to be a woman. I butted heads for a while because I wanted to remain a girl who could go to discos, smoke, party... I threw objects out of the house, screamed for the police to come and take me to the madhouse, and could run naked into the street. But that's okay, I'm not ashamed of it. I had to get over this trash."Luna’s life returned to a calmer direction after writing her first album. As the artist admits, she was referred by a friend. The girl became interested in the connection between humans and natural cycles, the cosmos, and ways to manage their energy.