Ural Grandmas Win Celebrity Fans With Viral Videos

Energetic grandmothers from the village of Verkh-Tisa (Sverdlovsk Oblast, near Yekaterinburg), home to only 150 people, have become popular bloggers. More than 100,000 followers now watch them on social media. The performers record viral clips in which they sing popular songs.

Several years ago, the grandmothers created their ensemble called Nadezhda (Hope). At first they sang at feasts and performed at local celebrations, and later they began shooting music videos that drew the attention of celebrity hosts from national TV channels. At that time, the group had a small VKontakte page.

The ensemble has six vocalists in total, and they are assisted by their director, Ksenia Mkrtchyan — she founded Nadezhda on her own initiative and now actively develops its social media. She admitted to us that the idea of starting their own blog came after journalists from E1.RU visited them.

“It started with the song ‘Sigma Boy,« which we sang together in the banya. After the E1.RU People»s Award, we were so inspired — we performed with Revva. When we returned to the village, routine set in, and we felt we were missing something. We didn«t want fame — we just wanted to grow further and connect more with young people,” Ksenia shared.

The grandmothers began racking up millions of views almost immediately. They were also noticed by dozens of show business stars: Mia Boyka, Prokhor Shalyapin, Zivert, Olga Buzova, Leonid Agutin, Ida Galich, and many others.

“Of course, we didn«t expect this, we weren»t ready for such attention. When celebrities like our videos, we immediately take a screenshot. When Agutin liked our video, we celebrated right then and there. Our performers sometimes sit over tea and wonder: ‘Why on earth are they all watching us?«” the ensemble»s director added.

Earlier, we told the story of how the married couple Nikita and Ekaterina Tatarinov live virtually alone in a remote village about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Yekaterinburg and run a popular channel called Zaimka na Urale (Homestead in the Urals). They talk candidly about themselves and their daily life, show how they cook in a traditional Russian stove, manage a large farmstead, and build their dream home.

Also read the story of a Ural family who traded life in a big city for a remote village. To submit homework for remote school, the mother has to drive to a gas station where there is internet access.

And check out how an ordinary family was reviving a village in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Sergey and Svetlana Maslikov survived both a major fire and the pandemic.