Mumiy Troll

Mumiy Troll is a Russian rock group, founded in 1983 in Vladivostok by vocalist and songwriter Ilya Lagutenko (Илья Лагутенко). The literal name of the band, 'The mummies' troll', is a pun on Moomin Troll, the series of Finnish children's books by Tove Jansson.

Mumiy Troll broke up when Lagutenko, who graduated in Mandarin and Chinese Economy, went to serve in the Soviet army (Russian Air Navy). Then he came back and they gained immense popularity with the release of their first (official) album Morskaya (Морская, Marine) in May 1997, which showcased a combination of melodic hard rock and Lagutenko's offbeat lyrics and coy, androgynous performance style. The second CD Ikra (Икра, Caviar), followed seven months later, and was equally successful.

Mumiy Troll remains one of Russia's most popular musical acts. Ilya Lagutenko defined their music style as rockapops. Once again Mumiy Troll became the leader of an entire new musical trend copied now to greater or lesser degree by Russian wannabees and mainstream artists. Being an example of one of the successful long-standing independent artists in Russia band released 8 studio albums so far, wrote and produced soundtracks for a full length cartoon movie and gave a new sound to classic Russian silent sci-fi movie and donated tracks to feature films including Russian blockbuster Night Watch, where Ilya also plays the Vampire. His face is on the cover of the American release.

Mumiy Troll is well known in Japan, China and Europe. The band cooperate with “Shoot The Artist” (Bjorn Tagemoose, video) and “Tne Agency” (North American tours-2009). The band's North American tour of 16 dates earlier this year was a huge success, so “The Agency” announced another two month North American tour.

Mumiy Troll is not a one-man band – the 4 people on stage have been together for the last 10 years. Yuri Tsaler, one of the most admirable guitarists in the country, is also the co-author of some of the songs. Oleg Pungin began his drumming career at the age of 7 and is still delivering the strongest pumping beats as he helps to record a good half of all records in Russia. Sdwig is the bass player who is in charge of introducing the band to modern-day technologies.

Mumiy Troll was the first to support the activities of PSI organization fighting AIDS in Russia and performed at the No Name Fever exhibition for AIDS in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2005. They are also well known for conservation activities on wild life in Far-East taiga and helping local minorities to survive. Ilya Lagutenko is a patron of the British-Russian Amur fund for the protection of Amur tigers and leopards.

Mumiy Troll – first in Russia and one of the first in the world – opened its own social network Ikra.tv.