Outlaw music in Russia: the unlikely rise of a popular genre

Contextualizing the shanson phenomenon

Criminals' music from its origins to the early Soviet period: a glorified archetype

Soviet underworld music: from the Bolshevik revolution through the end of the Stalin era

From post-Stalinist censorship to the contemporary mainstream: the birth of the shanson

The shanson: main features and tropes

The shanson in Russia: from the slums to the Kremlin

Turning Russia's immediate reality into song

Epilogue: Soundtrack to Russian life.