Yanka Dyagileva

Yanka (born Yana) Dyagileva was born on 4 September 1966, in Novosibirsk, USSR to Stanislav Dyagilev and Galina Dyagileva, both engineers. She was of Russian, Ukrainian and Czech origin. In 1973 she attended public school and studied piano for a year at a music school before quitting. This sparked her interest in the guitar. While still in school Yanka started writing poems (which have been lost) and performing, singing and playing guitar in school talent shows. In 1984 she entered the Novosibirsk Institute of Water Transport Engineers, but dropped out in her sophomore year. During this period she performed with the political band AMIGO. The earliest of Dyagileva's poetry that has survived is from 1985. In December 1985 she traveled to Leningrad, where she may have met Alexander Bashlachev. In October 1986, Dyagileva's mother died of cancer.

In April 1987, Yanka met Egor Letov and joined his band Grazhdanskaya Oborona (Gr.Ob.). From 1988–1990, Dyagileva toured and performed with the band. She recorded her first album Not Allowed (Russian: Не положено) in January 1988. Her first performance before a large audience took place on 24 June 1988, at a punk festival in Tyumen, recorded in the bootleg album To the Drop-Outs (Russian: Деклассированным элементам). In 1989, Dyagileva performed in Leningrad for the first time as part of a concert produced by Sergei Firsov, who became Dyagileva and Gr.Ob.'s first producer. Dyagileva's album Sold! (Russian: Продано!) was recorded in Firsov's apartment. Dyagileva's final known public appearances took place in November 1990 in Irkutsk, Angarsk, and Leningrad. Her final live concert recording took place in Irkutsk on 10 November 1990. Several more performances were planned for February 1991 in Irkutsk; it is unknown if they ever took place. At the end of February 1991, Dyagileva recorded her last songs in a Novosibirsk Electro-Technical Institute dormitory: "Legs [Feet] Above the Ground" (Russian: Выше ноги от земли), "Five-Kopeck Coin in the Road" (Russian: На дороге пятак), "About Little Devils" (Russian: Про чёртиков), and "Water Will Come" (Russian: Придёт вода).

9 May 1991 is accepted as her official date of death. That evening she left her family's countryside home outside Novosibirsk and did not return. Her body was found by a fisherman on 17 May in the Inya River. She was presumed to have drowned near Novorodnikovo Train Station and been carried 40 kilometers by the current. On 19 May, she was buried in Novosibirsk's Zayeltsovskoye Cemetery.

The exact time, place, and conditions surrounding Dyagileva's death are unknown. Some believe that she committed suicide, others that she drowned accidentally. Her death was ruled an accident, based on the forensic evidence. Proponents of the theory that she committed suicide point to the fact that her step-brother and close friend, Sergei Shurakov, had just died of causes related to medical malpractice, on 23 April 1991, affecting her deeply. There were also rumors that Dyagileva was murdered, as it was alleged that her skull had been fractured and there was no water in her lungs (indicating that she died before falling in the river). There was no formal investigation into this allegation. Unconfirmed accounts indicate that a few of Dyagileva's close friends received postcards from her on 10 May 1991. The text was (approximately): "May everything be good with you. I love you very much. May God protect you from misfortune."