Vocal-Instrumentral-Ensembles, abbreviated as VIA, were a distinct format of late-soviet popular culture. Music groups carrying this label enjoyed tremendous success from the mid-1960s until the mid-1980s and have since become the object of a nostalgic revival. As a research subject, they offer important insight into cultural politics and the music industry of their time, as well as movements of negotiation, popularisation and canonisation of new sounds, aesthetics and performance techniques. This issue invites scholars to take a more active interest in the VIA’s musical and institutional qualities and offers first explorations into this multifaceted phenomenon.
