Two Siberians

Two Siberians is a Russian instrumental duet. It is an unprecedented phenomenon. There is no other band in the modern history of Russian music, which has risen to such eminence without making any compromises.

Artyom Yakushenko (electric violin) and Yury Matveev (electric and acoustic guitar) met while studying at the Irkutsk Art Academy. Their experiments with various musical idioms and styles resulted in their concert debut as a duet in 1986 at jazz festival in Novosibirsk, Siberia, where they were awarded as the “Best Original Artists” kindling the interest of critics and the audience. The same year they became members of ‘Pilgrims’ Theatre’ rock band, quite famous at that time. In 1992, Artyom and Yury decided to play together again as a duet — that was the beginning of Two Siberians (or the “White Fort” as they called themselves at that time).