АИГЕЛ (AIGEL)

Aigel is a Russian duo formed by Tatarstan-born poet and vocalist Aigel Gaisina and Saint Petersburg electronic musician Ilya Baramiya, known for his work with SBPCh and other projects. The pair came together after Gaisina published her poetry collection «Суд» (Court), written in the wake of her own experience with the Russian justice system, and their music channels that same unflinching perspective on incarceration, state violence and survival.

Their debut album «1190», released in 2017, fused Gaisina's literary, rhythmically dense Russian-language verse with Baramiya's minimalist, bass-heavy electronic production, earning them a reputation as pioneers of what critics dubbed literary rap about prison and freedom. Songs like «Пыяла» (a title in Tatar meaning glass) and «Татарин» blend Tatar cultural identity with contemporary Russian rap and pop sensibilities, giving the duo a distinctive bilingual, cross-cultural voice.

Aigel's sound sits at the intersection of spoken-word poetry, trip-hop-inflected electronics and pop hooks, and tracks such as «Чудовище», «Свет» and «Снег» expanded their audience well beyond the Russian underground rap scene into wider pop and alternative circles across Russia and the broader Russian-speaking world.