Valeriy Pisigin
Valeriy Fridrikhovich Pisigin () is a Russian writer; historian; blues, British and American folk music researcher; and former political activist. Biography. Valeriy Pisigin was born in Chelyabinsk, USSR. In 1990, he graduated from Kazan State University with specialization of history and social science teaching. In 1982, created a political club which later was named after Nikolai Bukharin. The major mission of N.I.Bukharin's Political Club was building democracy in Russia. Pisigin was one of the young informal political leaders in the period of so-called Perestroika launched by Mikhail Gorbachev. From 1988 to 1990, he took part in some  international scientific conferences in Germany, France, and Brazil giving presentations. From 1988 to 1993, remained president of the Interregional Cooperative Federation of USSR (ICF) which was defending interests of the small and the middle business of the province. From January 1991 to January 1993, founded "The Provincial Weekly Newspaper «Continent»" (Провинциальный еженедельник «Континент») and was functioning as its editor in chief. In February 1992, became a member of Council of Constitutors of weekly newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti ("The Moscow News"), which was supporting the democratic processes in Russian society. In April 1992, Pisigin joined the . In November 1992, he repeatedly gave  presentations and talks on reforms and problems of the development of enterprise in Russia at universities of USA (New York University, Princeton University, University of Dallas and Duke University in Northern Carolina). In January 1993 Pisigin shared his perspectives on the future of democracy in Russia at the conference "America and Russia in the Future", Washington, USA ("The Future of the Democracy in Russia". Starting from autumn 1996 to date, Valeriy Pisigin has been primarily focusing on literary work. From 1995 to 2001, he was working on book series about modern Russia, in which he described painful transformations in people 's lives and severe economic depression after the collapse of USSR in the 1990s. Pisigin's books on Russia have been published in monthly literary "thick" magazines Novy Mir and "Oktyabr". Beginning in 2001, has been researching English and American folk music. By the present moment five volumes of "The Stories on English-American Music of 50s and 60s of the 20th Century" and five volumes of the series devoted to the blues "The Coming of the Blues. Vol. 1-5" have been published. Working on the books about music Pisigin would repeatedly meet and communicate with key figures of  American and British folk revival of the 1950s–1960s, such as Pete Seeger, Shirley Collins, Bert Jansch, Izzy Young, Samuel Charters. Collecting source materials writer travels frequently across USA and Europe. From autumn 2004, Pisigin has been living in Finland.