Ribs (recordings)

{{Short description|Illicitly-produced gramophone discs made from discarded X-ray prints in the USSR}} {{use dmy dates |date=August 2021}} [[File:Rock on Bones2.jpg|right|thumb|"Rock on bones" Gramophone record (USSR, 1950s). Gallery "Vinzavod", Moscow]] '''Ribs''' ({{lang|ru|рёбра}}, translit. '''ryobra'''), also known as '''music on ribs''' ({{lang|ru|Музыка на рёбрах}}), '''jazz on bones''' ({{lang|ru|Джаз на костях}}), '''bones''', '''bone music''' or '''roentgenizdat''' (рентгениздат, {{Tooltip|lit.|literally}} '''X-ray publishing'''), are improvised gramophone recordings made from X-ray films. Mostly made through the 1950s and 1960s,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GtyBgNyzXEC&pg=PA69 |page=69 |last=Raleigh |first=Donald J. |title=Russia's Sputnik Generation: Soviet Baby Boomers Talk about Their Lives |year=2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-21842-1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Minor |first=William |title=Unzipped Souls: A Jazz Journey Through the Soviet Union |year=1995 |publisher=Temple University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_4G16GmDJkC&pg=PA2 |page=2 |isbn=978-1-56639-324-9 }}</ref> ribs were a black market method of smuggling in and distributing music that was banned from broadcast in the Soviet Union. Banned artists included emigre musicians, such as Pyotr Leshchenko and Alexander Vertinsky, and Western artists, such as Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald and Chubby Checker.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40257510|jstor = 40257510|title = The Rock Inundation|last1 = Starr|first1 = S. Frederick|journal = The Wilson Quarterly|year = 1983|volume = 7|issue = 4|pages = 58–67}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=West, Richard|title=REDS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL---BUT NEED INTERPRETATION|work=Los Angeles Times|page=1|date=Jun 25, 1965}}</ref>

== Production == Medical X-rays, purchased or picked out of the trash from hospitals and clinics, were used to create the recordings. The X-rays were cut into 7-inch discs<ref name=unglued>{{cite book |last=Ganley |first=Gladys D. |title=Unglued Empire: The Soviet Experience with Communications Technologies |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=1996 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NeGfprIKbi0C&pg=PA11-IA7 |pages=4, 10 |isbn=978-1-56750-197-1 }}</ref> and the center hole was burned into the disc with a cigarette.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Soviet-era bootleg music recorded on discarded X-ray plates |magazine=New Scientist |issue=3051 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830512-700-soviet-era-bootleg-music-recorded-on-discarded-x-ray-plates/ |first=Clare |last=Wilson |pages=24–25 |date=9 December 2015 |access-date=13 February 2016 }}</ref> According to Russian music critic and rock journalist Artemy Troitsky, "grooves were cut [at 78rpm]<ref name=unglued /> with the help of special machines (made, they say, from old phonographs by skilled conspiratorial hands)"; he added that the "quality was awful, but the price was low, a ruble or a ruble and a half."<ref>{{cite book |last1= Easton|first1= Paul|editor1-last= Riordan, James|title= Soviet youth culture|volume= 2|year= 1989|publisher= Macmillan|location= Basingstoke|isbn= 0-333-46231-9|oclc= 246807650 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uUSvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 |page= 47|chapter= The Rock Music Community|postscript= Available at University of Indiana}}</ref> The disks could be played five to ten times.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/779443|jstor = 779443|last1 = Logan|first1 = Wendell|last2 = Yrina|first2 = Satrina|last3 = Lebedev|first3 = Victor|title = The Development of Jazz in the Former Soviet Union: An Interview with Victor Lebedev|journal = Black Music Research Journal|year = 1992|volume = 12|issue = 2|pages = 227–232|doi = 10.2307/779443 |access-date=17 August 2021 |url-access = subscription}}</ref>

== Legality == The clandestine approach to circulating banned popular foreign music eventually led to a law being passed in 1958 that forbade the home-production of recordings of "a criminally hooligan trend".<ref name=unglued /> The "hooligan trend" refers to the ''stilyagi'' (from the word ''stil'' meaning style in Russian), a Soviet youth subculture known for embracing Western styles of dress and dance.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41050842|jstor = 41050842|title = Strange Young Men in Stalin's Moscow: The Birth and Life of the Stiliagi, 1945–1953|last1 = Edele|first1 = Mark|journal = Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas|year = 2002|volume = 50|issue = 1|pages = 37–61}}</ref>

== Preservation ==

=== The X-Ray Audio Project === While on tour with The Real Tuesday Weld in Saint Petersburg, the English musician Stephen Coates came across an X-ray record at a market stall. Coates was inspired to launch ''The X-Ray Audio Project'', an initiative to provide a resource of information about ''roentgenizdat'' recordings with visual images, audio recordings and interviews.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/29/bone-music-soviet-bootleg-records-pressed-on-xrays |title=Bone music: the Soviet bootleg records pressed on x-rays |first=Peter |last=Paphides |newspaper=The Guardian |date=29 January 2015 |access-date=24 December 2015 }}</ref> In November 2015, after several years of research and interviewing bone bootleggers, his book ''X-Ray Audio: The Strange Story of Soviet Music on the Bone'' was published by Strange Attractor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coates |first=Stephen |title=X-Ray Audio: The Strange Story of Soviet Music on the Bone |publisher=Strange Attractor |year=2015 |url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/x-ray-audio |isbn=978-1-907222-38-2 }}</ref>

In June 2015, Coates gave a TED talk on the subject at TEDX Kraków.<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49aWAHqi200 |title=The story of X-Ray Audio: What would you risk for the sake of music? |first=Stephen |last=Coates |work=TEDxKraków |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=17 August 2021 }}</ref> He and sound artist and researcher Aleksander Kolkowski went on tour, telling the story of the Soviet X-ray bootleggers and cutting new X-ray records from live musical performances as a demonstration of the process. The touring exhibition Coates created with photographer Paul Heartfield was covered in ''The Guardian'' and on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite AV media|date=2015-01-27|title=Hear the banned Soviet music recorded onto X-Rays|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02hrdb3|type=Radio broadcast|access-date=2021-05-21|publisher=Today|language=en-GB}}</ref> In September 2016, the pair released the long-form documentary ''Roentgenizdat'' featuring interviews with original Soviet-era bootleggers and archive footage.

In 2019, Coates wrote and presented ''Bone Music'', a documentary based around interviews carried out in Russia for an edition of BBC Radio 3's ''Between The Ears'' series. The programme told the story of underground culture of forbidden music in Cold War era Soviet Union and featured the Russian band Mumiy Troll recording a Vadim Kozin song cut straight to X-ray.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bdjg |title=Bone Music |publisher=BBC |work=Between the Ears |date=17 November 2019 |access-date=17 August 2021 }}</ref>

=== Archival collections === Other preservation projects conserving collections ribs music include:

* The ''Richard W. Judy and Jane M. Lommel Collection of X-Ray Film Recordings'' at Great American Songbook Foundation Library & Archives includes 18 distinct records and digitized audio from recordings of The Andrews Sisters and Bill Haley & His Comets.<ref>[https://songbook.accesstomemory.org/richard-judy-x-ray-film-recordings Richard W. Judy and Jane M. Lommel Collection of X-Ray Film Recordings]</ref> *

==In popular culture== The short story "Bone Music" from the 2020 collection ''Good Citizens Need Not Fear'' by Maria Reva is about a lady who makes her living from the music "on bones".<ref>{{cite web |first=Jessica |last=Payn |url=https://theartsdesk.com/books/maria-reva-good-citizens-need-not-fear-review-tales-gloomy-humour-and-absurdist-charm |title=Maria Reva: Good Citizens Need Not Fear review - tales of gloomy humour and absurdist charm |work=theartsdesk.com |date=19 May 2020 |access-date=15 August 2025 }}</ref>

The 2025 exhibition "Tomorrow I'll Miss You" by neo-conceptual artist Richard Humann is based on the re-creation of bone music. Humann directed an AI to generate 60s-inspired songs which he printed onto individual X-ray discs.<ref>{{cite web |first=Thalia |last=Vrachopoulos |url=https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/bone-songs-at-leonovich-gallery/7425 |title=Radiographs of the Soul: Richard Humann’s Bone Songs at Leonovich Gallery |website=White Hot Magazine |date=13 December 2025 |access-date=24 December 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= |date= December 2025|title="Tomorrow I'll Miss You"|url=https://www.mutualart.com/Exhibition/Richard-Humann--Tomorrow-Ill-Miss-You/32E82136C7FB352F | website=mutualart.com }}</ref> Humann discusses his relationship to the dissident practice in an essay for Art Lantern Magazine.<ref>{{cite web |first=Richard|last=Humann |url=https://www.artlanternmag.org/home/bone-music-resurrection |title=Bone Music Resurrection|website=Art Lantern Magazine |date=12 January 2026 |access-date=23 January 2026 }}</ref>

== See also == * Samizdat * Magnitizdat * Flexi disc

== References == {{reflist}}

== Further reading == * Coates, Stephen (Ed.) (2015). ''The strange story of Soviet music on the bone''. London: Strange Attractor Press, {{ISBN|978-1-907222-38-2}} * {{cite book |last1= Yurchak|first1= Alexei|editor1-first= Adele Marie|editor1-last= Barker|title= Consuming Russia: popular culture, sex, and society since Gorbachev|url= https://archive.org/details/consumingrussia00adel|url-access= registration|year= 1999|publisher= Duke University Press|location= Durham, N. C.|isbn= 978-0-8223-2313-6|oclc= 185952345|page= [https://archive.org/details/consumingrussia00adel/page/82 82]|chapter= Gagarin and the Rave Kids}} * {{cite book |first=Alexei |last=Yurchak |authorlink=Alexei Yurchak |chapter=Chapter 6: Imaginary West |title=Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation|url=https://archive.org/details/everythingwasfor0000yurc|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press}}

== External links == * [https://x-rayaudio.squarespace.com/ X-Ray Audio] * [https://x-rayaudio.squarespace.com/boneblog/2014/10/16/bones-at-the-horse-hospital/ The Horse Hospital] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021013358/https://x-rayaudio.squarespace.com/boneblog/2014/10/16/bones-at-the-horse-hospital/ |date=21 October 2014 }} * Roman Tschiedl: ''[http://oe1.orf.at/programm/432886 Bootlegs auf Röntgenfilm: Der illegale Sound des Kalten Krieges]'', Radio OE1, 2. April 2016 (German/English, Interviews with Stephen Coates, Aleksander Kolkowski and Masha Dabelka on Ribs recordings) * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVMS0efKZRA&t=9s "X-Ray Bone Records in the Songbook Archives"] 15 March 2023 at Youtube.

Category:Audio storage Category:Recorded music Category:Censorship in the Soviet Union Category:Soviet phraseology Category:Music of the Soviet Union Category:Second economy of the Soviet Union Category:X-rays Category:Underground culture