dec17-
And the news just keeps rolling in! Kristina Orbakaite is releasing a new, 2 disk Greatest Hits collection,see the story at Kristina Orbakaite 2-disk The Best. Apparently Via-Gra will not have a new album out until 2010, if you believe the reporting in this article - No new VIA-Gra until 2010 ?. Air has announced the dates and locations for their American tour, you can see the schedule on their MySpace page..
We are still searching for information on the new soloist for Blestyaschie. I would be happy with a birthday, but many news sites are just now reporting that Julianna has left the group. In the mean time, here are 3 photos of the group performing in Moscow - Blest - Dec.8,2009, second in series, and the third.
Here is a YouTube video of the new lineup performing at a charity event(?) - Solchenii Mir Detstva. And here is a 'low quality' YouTube video of Anastacia and Anna performing at the Jazz festival in November - Unchain My Heart.

dec15-
We are still 'catching up' on the last few months worth of entertainment news. And since this page is all messed up with links and stuff, it is kind of hard to read. So, let me add in a few new videos, and we'll just review the latest action...
The smokin' -est. The hottest music seems to be coming from Ukraine these days. Nothing puts a smile on my face better than listening to Svetlana Loboda ! Check this out - Svetlana singing Nafig Nuzhen Mne. And a few months ago, Svetlana teamed up with Alyonna Vinnitskaya for this stadium rocking performance of We will rock you . There was a story I read over the summer, about Vera Brezhneva and Nadezhda Granovskaya getting together for a .. I can't remember. But here they are, in a sweet documentary of a photoshoot for OK , at - Vera and Nadezhda for OK.
Kristina Orbakaite released a video for her new song, Kvatit Show. You can also listen to all 5 new songs on her website at - 5 New songs from Kristina .
Let us not forget -
Tina Karols' Radio Baby, Stojas' Naj, Naj (audio only), and Elena Risteskas' Dosta videos.
And to top it off, we have -
Janna Friskes' A Na More Beliy Pesok, and Anna Semenovichs' Bozhe Moy.
Alright, let us hop south toward the Mediterrainian, starting with Greece -
Despina Vandi released her latest compilation Despina Vandi - GREATEST HITS 2001-2009, and you can find more information on this Wikipedia page.
Notis Sfakianakis has a new album out in early December, named "Matomeno Dakri" .You can view a video for the song Akou File on YouTube.
In Serbia, Zeljko Joksimovich has a new album out this year, titled "Ljubavi". Here is the title track , Ljubavi, this is audio only, but you can find a few more of the new songs in the related video column on that YouTube page.
You can do the same for Stojas new album, simply find more new songs in the Related Videos column for Stojas' Naj, Naj (audio only).
And finally, Urban Symphony released the single Päikese poole back July..
We are working on a playlist for these songs, and adding in a touch of winter/christmas spirit. Which we hope to have up on our site before December 25th.!

dec14-
We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season ;-) Cleaverb presents The Top 5 Songs of 2009 !
We are just beginning to update most of the pages on our site; the top 5 was our first project. We are not making any major changes, just updating links, and eventually several new pictures for our favorite artists.
Also, cleaverb has just uploaded a new video to our YouTube account. We just realized that Yulia Savicheva has no 'official' video for her song, Goodbye,Lyubov... so we added a colorful video to the song.You can view the video at - Yulia Savicheva - Goodbye, Lyubov by cleaverb!. Frankly, this was too simple. I think we will have to find a more creative video to our collection within the next 2 months.

dec12-
Okay, we are doing our best to research Blests' newest member , Marina Berezhnaya . This presents a challenge; for literally the young woman is fresh out of school. Actually, she is still attending university.
Here is some of what we have found - a large Blest picture,
and Blest did a Q/A session on December 9th. There is a video, and text in Russian for the questions and answers. Or you can use the Google Translator, just set the language to Russian and translate into your preferred language.
Here is a nice history of the school (in english) Marina mentions, Gnessin at - Gnessin history , and Wikipedia has a list of 'famous' artists who graduated from the school at - Gnessin wiki page.
Getting back to the Guzei pictures, there is a fine shot of Via-Gra at - VIA-Gra GG 2009.

We would like to remind everyone that Wikipedia is accepting donations for their annual fund raising campaign. It's hard to miss the banner atop their pages. Wikipedia is an 'indespensible part of our (online) lives' ,it seems we visit the website daily.

We are within a few days of releasing the "Cleaverb Top 5 of 2009" ! All the usual candidates are qualified, but I thought Helena Paparizou was releasing an English language CD this year ? We are in the process of choosing the songs, and so far there is one artist who has not made it to our top 5 before... ciao for now ..

dec 1-
Hopefully you have been reading our Blog to know that cleaverb has spent all of November on a movie binge. Streaming movies from netflix, and a few other websites, and and culminating in a James Bond marathon on SyFy over the weekend. I think we're back.Maybe. The first change/news we looked for is a new Total: website. No songs, no news, no website.

The biggest news for November came on the last day; Blestyashchie has added a new member!
(a google translation, looks okay but not checked) - +Last Saturday at the award ceremony 'Golden Gramophone' We are proud to have presented a new soloist. Meet (the girl's name is) Marina Berezhnaya. Marina 19 years old, and she graduated Gnesinka. I came to the group casting, - said Marina - My friend literally insisted that I be asked to join the group after the audition ..... And I accepted! Now immersed in the community, Marina is already recording new songs with the girls - are preparing a new album. " I am glad to have joined the group in its 15 year anniversary! I'm only 19 - I literally grew up on the groups the songs! " And now - look like there was destiny - has itself become a "Blest"! With the new role of Marina, as many claim, already coping well - in the Kremlin, she made a vivid impression on colleagues in the workshop.+
The short news story on Blest.ru at "Meet Marina B" (in Russian) , and this article seems to have a better picture - new group picture!

"The former singer of the group - Julianna Lukasheva - left the group on her own, to pursue her personal happiness, said spokesperson Irina Rozov."
Here is a 7 minute video about Yulia and her Porsche automobile : Yulianna's Porsche. Yulia, we wish for you all the happiness and success in the world.

Okay, on with the new videos:
Elena Risteska just uploaded an HQ version of her new single at - Elena Risteska - Dosta.
Zhanna (Janna) Friske has never looked better in a swimsuit, and we are glad the new video was shot on a 'beach'.Here is Jannas' new song, A Na Morye Beliy Pesok. Anna Semenovich released the video for her latest single around Halloween .Have a look at - Bozhe Moy.
Another late october video we haven't mentioned was Tina Karol's Radio Baby, see it at : YouTube.
Paola and Chiara have been releasing videos, but YouTube pops up a message that says, "this video is not available in your geographic area." Very strange. Well now, someone (not sure if this is an official channel) has started a new P nC channel, PaolaAndChiaraGlobal. All videos in HQ, check out the rare Second Life 2007 among other PeC classics!
Here is a video about Ani Lorak to host Junior Eurovision 2009. And a very ambient type of song from Fever Ray - Keep the Streets Empty for Me.

Alright, let's see what else we have:
Yulia Kovalchuh has a new song, Tvoya Podruzhka, which you can hear on her MySpace at Yulia's MySpace.
Air has embarked on a world tour, seen on Air's MySpace.
Elena Risteskas' website currently is running in the previously mentioned 2006 state. Ace of Base - well , we haven't see anything official from the group since their website went offline. Funny, that Ace Of Base still has an RSS channel working ? With news from April...
Via-Gra has a nice rockin' number on their site at Via-Gra official...
The Nu-Virgos site is showing a 404 error, Tina Karols site is 'not found' , Stoja's album is still in production, and Leslie - Intro - A la recherche du bonheur her new album will be out in 2010. Hopefully, not like the last album was out in 2009... gah!
Anyway, it would be great to hear Leslie singing some new RnB. it's not our favorite genre, but she is pretty good.

Anyway. Wow, this is by far the longest post on a new month we have made in several months! This is a pretty slow year for 'our favorite' artists. Actually, it has been pretty sour. But we still have many great songs and memories from the past 2 years.. I know E-type had promised something new coming soon. But we do not see any news right now.
As for me - Cleaverb is looking at creating a couple of new videos for our YouTube audience.
We are not buying any new albums until after Christmas , nor have we downloaded any lately.
What intrigues me most is seeing DVD rips of Blestyashchie music videos, when we can't even find that the group ever made / released a collection on DVD. we are going to find it. Big IF it is out there.
UPDATE: The DVD can be seen on this page - Blestyashchie - Best Songs DVD (2007).
cleaverb.net has been averaging 3 GBs of bandwidth a month since July. We are not exactly sure who is visiting or where that traffic is going. But you all are welcome to visit us often. Ciao for now ...