March 24, 2021

Who is Manizha?


Who is Manizha?
Manizha uses her ethnic heritage and femininity to draw inspiration for her work.  MANIZHA | vk.com

Russian-Tajik singer and prospective Eurovision candidate Manizha has released a cryptic and satirical video in an attempt to address her haters by declaring herself made of salt.

How did we get here? It's a long story.

On March 8, Manizha performed her song "Russian Women" on television and, by a national televoting process, earned herself the opportunity to represent Russia on the international stage. Her song, which strongly advocates for the empowerment and support of women, did particularly well given that her performance happened to coincide with International Women's Day

But not everyone was pleased by this topic, or with Manizha's strong work as a feminist activist. The Russian Union of Orthodox Women, in particular, published an open letter demanding a ban be placed on Manizha's song because it was their belief that the lyrics encouraged hatred towards men and does harm to the ideal of the "traditional family." Others have dismissed the singer in thinly veiled xenophobic comments regarding her nationality (even though she has lived in the country since the age of 2). 

It was with these individuals in mind that she created a faux-exposé in which she herself plays a T.V. reporter who covers what is described as the direst catastrophe of the past year (COVID-19 notwithstanding): herself. The report mainly asks, "who is Manizha exactly?" and to answer that question she brings in the "scientist" Veniamin Aleksandrovich to do some research.

Through the extremely scientific process of breaking into Manizha's dwellings while she was asleep and stealing her skeleton, the esteemed scientist was able to conduct some research and come to some startling conclusions. He ultimately decides that Manizha is something much worse than simply not being Russian, she's not even human and is instead composed entirely of salt (perhaps this is a reference to Anna Akhmatova's famous poem about Lot's wife?). 

We still aren't sure what exactly to make of this hilarious video, but we do hope that it makes Manizha's critics take a minute to think about how ridiculous they themselves are being. Or at the very least, confuses the heck out of them.

You can watch the video for yourself here. Maybe you'll understand it better than we did.

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod: A Novel in Many Voices

Stargorod is a mid-sized provincial city that exists only in Russian metaphorical space. It has its roots in Gogol, and Ilf and Petrov, and is a place far from Moscow, but close to Russian hearts. It is a place of mystery and normality, of provincial innocence and Black Earth wisdom. Strange, inexplicable things happen in Stargorod. So do good things. And bad things. A lot like life everywhere, one might say. Only with a heavy dose of vodka, longing and mystery.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955