‘Take It Down’ on ‘Free Pussy Riot’ album – free download!

Today, Riot Grrrl Berlin‘s third compilation album, ‘Free Pussy Riot’ is available for free download. I contributed the track ‘Take It Down’ to the compilation – this is the only place you can get this track, so go download it now!

The album is dedicated to members of Pussy Riot, a Russian riot grrrl band who have been imprisoned for performing a musical “punk prayer service” in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow – a song that calls on the Virgin Mary to “chase Putin out”. It was part of a series of peaceful protests in the form of ‘guerrilla performances’ across Moscow. Amnesty International has described the members of Pussy Riot as “prisoners of conscience” who are being punished for the “broader political context” of their actions, and not the actions themselves. If convicted, they could face 7 years in jail.

While this compilation is a free download, the members of Pussy Riot need financial support to help with their legal costs. If you can, please support them by donating via Paypal from the Free Pussy Riot website.

Pussy Riot in their own words (from their Facebook page):

“We wanted to create a new form of protest – maybe not such a huge one, but we compensate for that with the bright, provocative and illegal nature of our performances,” Kot said.

Pussy Riot are sworn to anonymity, hence the colourful balaclavas members use to hide their faces, even when giving interviews. “It shows we can be anybody,” says a band member who goes by the name Garadzha, wearing a hot-pink ski mask and matching stockings.

What united them in October was the feeling that something had to change in the country and in its culture of protest, which, until tens of thousands took to the streets after contested parliamentary elections in December, had had hardly any effect on the political discourse.

“We understood that to achieve change, including in the sphere of women’s rights, it’s not enough to go to Putin and ask for it,” said Shaiba. “This is a rotten, broken system.”

Her bandmate Tyurya said: “The culture of protest needs to develop. We have one form, but we need many different kinds.”

The band began writing songs with lyrics such as: “Egyptian air is good for the lungs / Do Tahrir on Red Square!” and performing on trams and in the metro. Videos of the flash gigs began spreading across the internet. When the protest leader Alexey Navalny was jailed for 15 days after his arrest during Russia’s first post-election protest on 5 December, three members of Pussy Riot took to the roof of the jail where he was being held, setting off red flares as they sang “Death to prison / Freedom to protest!”

The fear of arrest long ago left the band members, steeped in the tradition of illegal protest. “We have experience with it, we’ve been detained at protests before,” said Tyurya. “It’s not scary – you’re surrounded by good, normal people, those who protest against Putin.”

“The revolution should be done by women,” said Garazhda. “For now, they don’t beat or jail us as much.”

“There’s a deep tradition in Russia of gender and revolution – we’ve had amazing women revolutionaries.”