Gaisina started writing songs in school and first performed on stage when she was 16. She released her debut album, Les (
Russian: «Лес»), in 2003.[3] In the mid-2000s, she gained recognition as a poet and translator of Tatar poetry in literary magazines.[4][5][6] In 2013, Gaisina and Temur Khadyrov formed the experimental electronic group Tak Krasivo Temno.[citation needed]
Ilya Baramiya
Baramiya was born on 18 June 1973 and lives in Saint Petersburg. He is a
sound engineer and
producer. Baramiya started making electronic music in 1997 and has been a member of the groups
Yolochniye Igrushki, 2H Company, and
Samoe Bolshoe Prostoe Chislo. He was the curator of the "Contemporary Music and Sound Design" area at the Mayak School of Creative Industries.[7]
History
In the fall of 2016, Gaisina contacted Baramiya on social media with the idea of staging a play based on her poetry collection, Sud.[8] Тhe idea evolved as Gaisina and Baramiya worked together, and they ended up forming the group Aigel. In the beginning of 2017, the group held their first concerts in Moscow and St. Petersburg.[9]
On 10 April 2017, Aigel released their debut album, 1190.[10][11] The title refers to Gaisina's partner's sentence, as he was supposed to spend 1190 days in prison.[citation needed]
On 6 August 2017, the
EPBuş Baş (
Tatar: «Буш Баш») was released. The title means "empty head" in
Tatar.[12][13]
On 25 August 2017, Aigel released the music video for "Tatarin", directed by Ilya Soloview.[14][15] As of October 2017, the video had 1.5 million views on
YouTube.[16] As of June 2019, it had been viewed about 40 million times.[17] On 9 October 2017, Aigel performed "Tatarin" on the late-night talk show
Evening Urgant.[16]
In 2018, Aigel released their second album, Muzyka (
Russian: Музыка,
lit. 'Music').[18]
In June 2019, Aigel released the music video "Chiotkiy" (
Russian: Четкий), directed by Ilya Soloview and starring Danila Kholodkov from
Shortparis.[15]
In August 2019, Aigel released their third album, Edem (
Russian: Эдем,
lit. '
Eden/
Adam').[19]
In March 2020, Aigel released the music video "You're Born", directed by Andžejs Gavrišs. Andrey Nikolaev, won the cinematography in a music video award at
EnergaCamerimage Film Festival for his work on "You're Born".[20]
In August 2020, Aigel contributed a track to the compilation album For Belarus, intended to support victims of repression in Belarus in connection with
the 2020 protests, with proceeds from the album's sales going to the Belarus Solidarity Foundation.[21][22]
In November 2020, Aigel released their fourth album, Pıyala (
Tatar: Пыяла,
lit. 'Glass'). All of the songs on Pyyala are in
Tatar.[23]
Musical style
The group's lyrics mainly describe Gaisina's personal experiences related to her partner's trial and imprisonment and the expectation of his release.[8][11][24] Since Gaisina and Baramiya live in different cities, most of their collaboration occurs remotely. Baramiya sends beats to Gaisina, and Gaisina writes lyrics and records her vocals.[17] The musicians had not met in person or even spoken on the phone until their first concert.[24][17]
Most of Aigel's songs were written by Gaisina specifically for performance to music, but some of the lyrics come from poems written earlier and then adapted to music. Baramiya has cited
Run the Jewels as an influence.[11]