In Ufa, a mural featuring the portrait of Russian singer Zemfira on the facade of a five-story panel building on Ushakova Street, where she spent her childhood, has been altered — the guitar, lyrics from the song "Voskresenie" (Resurrection), and the image of a girl on a swing were covered with pink paint, reports infohub.kz.
The graffiti appeared in 2021: artist Oleg Kaibyshev depicted a guitar with a large portrait of Zemfira, a girl on a swing, and lines from the song "Voskresenie." The girl on the swing was the singer herself. The incident was reported by UTV.
Residents of the building are unhappy about what happened: they take pride in their famous native even after Russia designated her a foreign agent. "As a former resident of the neighboring courtyard, I am outraged. It was always pleasant to walk past, and everyone knew that Zemfira had lived in this building. It even raised property values to some extent, and what was done now is vandalism, not patriotism," one user wrote in the comments.
According to the publication, the mural was painted over by local authorities at the initiative of Sergei Zaitsev, founder of the public movement "Zov Naroda" (Call of the People). Changing the facade required the consent of the building's owners, but the work was carried out without a general meeting. Users suggest that the authorities' actions are linked to the singer's political stance and her departure from Russia in 2022.
Zemfira was scheduled to perform in Almaty in 2025, but the concert was canceled at the last moment: two weeks prior, KazNU stadium refused to host the singer. On social media, the star bid farewell to her Kazakh audience — likely she has no plans for concerts in the country for now.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle reported that in 2023 Zemfira apologized for her dissatisfaction with concerts in Kazakhstan.