The heresy of skating to "unpatriotic" music in Russia
Who. Pyotr Olegovich Gumennik (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2002) is a Russian figure skater.
That. He has caused a scandal in his country by presenting a performance for the national team trials with music by the German group Rammstein.
Because. The vocalist of this famous band has been very critical of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and canceled his performances in Russia over the past year.
Pyotr Gumennik started learning to skate in 2006, when he was 4 years old. At that time, the German industrial music band Rammstein had been performing for 12 years and Ukraine was on its third president, but both names have crossed paths.. The Sports Ministry told Gumennik this month that he had better change his program, choreographed to a Rammstein song, because the band has criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine.. The music chosen by the young skater has been described as “unpatriotic” in a complaint filed with the government.
Perhaps Gumennik, 21, hasn't been following the news or is unaware of the patriotic furor engulfing his country.. Over the past few months, the German group's lead singer, Till Lindemann, has openly supported Ukraine.. Furthermore, as some Russian deputies have lamented, the name of the group coincides with that of the air base where NATO generals discuss the supply of weapons to kyiv.
Gumennik wanted to perform at the Russian national team skating trials with the song Sonne. On September 16, the athlete announced that he had had to abandon the idea of performing with the German group's music for reasons beyond his control, since he was not allowed to play that piece.. He himself found out about it the day before leaving for rehearsals, without any other rehearsed choreography, and had to urgently switch to last year's program: Dawn of Faith by the string ensemble Eternal Eclipse.
Important figures from the world of figure skating supported Gumennik or expressed their regret about the situation. “Banning English or German speaking groups is nonsense. Many artists have ambivalent attitudes towards our country. “Elton John lives with a man, so now we won't listen to his songs?” said sports commentator and presenter of “patriotic” and pro-war events Dimitri Guberniev.
Other skaters, on the contrary, have asked that the issue be vetoed. Gumennik's coach, Veronika Daineko, said that Tamara Moskvina, a coach and one of the heads of the St. Petersburg federation, approached her and showed her a letter saying that skating to such music is not patriotic.. It was signed by Evgeny Kartushin, administrator of the fan community of another skater, Sofia Samodelkina.
Finally a solution has been reached: Gumennik will be able to participate in the season's competitions with a program based on the Rammstein song, but with a “reworked” artistic proposal.. A possible option is to retouch the first part of the song, which features the voice of the band's lead singer.. This is how Sportsdaily explained it, although on Thursday afternoon the uncertainty continued.
The scandal has grown so much that the Kremlin's press secretary, Dimitri Peskov, had to clarify that the president is not following the situation.
Rammstein is one of the most popular Western bands in Russia, and has composed soundtracks for the country's cinema.. In 2021 he performed in Red Square with Russian military bands at an event organized by the Ministry of Defense. But in 2022 the Rammstein frontman canceled his solo concerts in Moscow and Novosibirsk just days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.