For the past month, I’ve been on vacation in South Korea. Originally, my trip began in Seoul; however, about a week ago, I continued my journey in Busan. While being suddenly hit with jet lag, a month later, I was scrolling through TikTok at 3am. This is where I stumbled upon a video that would transport me 30 years in the past to Soviet Russia; learning the story of a young man who yearned for change but passed too soon to see it. This man is Viktor Tsoi, a Russian man who sang anthems of hope and change for millions of young people across Eastern Europe as the founder and lead singer for a band named Kino. His message has stayed relevant for decades, now touching the heart of a random girl from Florida vacationing in South Korea. 

The video I saw was a beautiful one of a golden landscape with fields being caressed by a sunset. In the background, a guitar played a chord progression like no other, and I was suddenly determined to find where it came from. The first few times of using Shazam to find it resulted in sending me to some songs that I definitely knew were not the ones I was looking for. I think the funniest result was getting Prince’s “Purple Rain” from Shazam when I definitely knew “Purple Rain,” although another lovely song, did not sound like that.

Continuing my search, I found my answer not from Shazam, but from a comment saying that it was a song called “Pack of Cigarettes,” or “Пачка сигарет,” by a band named Kino. As I rejoiced in finally finding the song name, I sat on my bed in the dark and started listening to the song in its entirety. Even though the one guitar solo that I heard in the TikTok video is the most popular part of the song, my favourite part became the guitar riff at the beginning of the song, continuously played behind the main vocalist’s voice. 

After hearing the song for the first time, fully letting myself become one with each instrumentation, I had the uncontrollable need to know more about this band. What messages were they trying to convey? Who were they? Since I do not speak Russian, I only had the sound of the vocalist’s voice and the instrumental to go off on. With those two details though, even for one who does not speak Russian, I could feel that there was a deeper meaning here, there was a story being told and I had to know what it was. Thankfully, with the invention of the internet, I was able to search and find an English Translation.

As I kept the tab open and began to play the song once again, I read the translation while the lyrics were being sung and was once again whisked to a different world. The song was deep, deeper than I originally thought, however it did not stay in the dark grime of its realistic lyrics. Instead there was a little light, perhaps the singer’s cigarette lighter, providing the listener with some hope in those dark times. Now, I will preface this with the fact that I don’t support smoking as it can lead to horrible consequences; however for years in history, it was a way for others to connect with each other and form communities in dark times. As with all things, there are two sides to them, and I feel that it is important to consider both before forming an opinion.

The song begins as follows:

[Verse 1]

Sitting and looking at unfamiliar sky from someone’s window

And can see no familiar stars

I’ve been walking all the roads far and wide

Once turned around and couldn’t see the footprints

[Chorus]

But if you have a pack of cigs in your pocket

It means that the today’s day isn’t that bad

And a ticket for the plane with the silver wing

Takes off and leaves only a shadow on the ground (Genius English Translations)

From what I’ve seen in a lot of Kino’s work so far, there is always a contrast between a sad circumstance and a brighter outlook. In the first verse, the songwriter addresses the pain of being in an unfamiliar land. They continue on to write that they are continuously travelling on a path that seems to have no end, alone. They are lost in the unfamiliar, no place to call home and nothing they can recognize.

It is in the chorus though, that the writer reminds themself that as long as they have something they know, something familiar in their hand, reminding them of why they continue on this journey called life, it is possible to continue on. They can take a leap into their future, signified by climbing on a plane, and afterwards they find their shadow, the weight of their worries and past, recedes behind them.

This interpretation I had was first inspired by another translation and analysis of the lyrics by a Reddit Author named “SlimpWarrior.” In their analysis, they wrote that, “…I believe that anything familiar would work for him: friends, family, food, or something that makes life worth living despite the depressing situation…” (SlimpWarrior’s Reddit post). I feel that this meaning of the cigarette package being something familiar in a foreign place is why I feel so connected to this song; why I love it so much.

Travelling to a foreign country is not an easy thing to do; especially for over a month. This is something I have realized as I continue to stay in South Korea. I am definitely enjoying the new scenery but I am also missing my family deeply. Just when Seoul was becoming familiar to me, I moved and went to Busan, a totally different place in comparison to what I was used to for the past month. The place is definitely beautiful, but there are times when it all feels so unfamiliar. One day, when I felt down, I found a little restaurant by the beach called Burger in New York. Seeing something familiar, in a whole different country, brought me so much joy.  I think this experience is why the lyrics of “Package of Cigarettes” resonate so much with me. It feels as if I found a friend who understood what I was feeling, feeling that sense of loneliness in a foreign place but finding comfort in something familiar. 

With this sentiment, I dove deeper into finding more about the band. I wanted to know who was the one writing these lyrics; who was the person whose words comforted me, a girl decades in the future from when the song was just released? It was then that I found Kino’s artist description on Spotify and met Viktor Tsoi, also referred to as Tsoy, for the first time. It was written that he was a singer who sadly passed away too soon but was a voice for the youth of Soviet Occupied Eastern Europe to fight for change in one of his songs, “(We are waiting for) Changes,” or “Перемен.” After reading that, I was intrigued and listened to it, pulling up the English Translation on the side.

Once again, I was comforted and inspired beyond anything I could imagine. The song was yet another one with a dark premise but hopeful message, striving to voice to the world that the youth of Soviet Occupied Eastern Europe want change; they were not going to just give up, they were going to continue to strive towards a change in the dark world they became so familiar with. 

By now, it was probably 4am, but I knew I just had to hear more. I had to hear more of Tsoy’s voice, more of the band’s beautiful instrumentation, and as I continued to listen, I found even more songs filled to the brim with hope despite a despairing world. Although the Spotify Description gave me a lot of information about Kino’s performances and lifespan, I really found myself drawn to the voice behind them. I wanted to know more about Tsoy specifically. With this in mind, I went to the internet once again and found his Wikipedia page. Usually, I don’t like reading Wikipedia pages as their credibility sometimes fluctuates; however, there weren’t a lot of resources in English, so I made do with what I found.

It was there that I found out Tsoy was the son of a Russian Mother and ethnically Korean Father who’s family was exiled by Stalin to Kazakhstan but originated in present-day Kimchaek, North Korea. It was that little detail that made me softly laugh, as what would be the odds for me to find a Russian Band whose founder had a Korean heritage while I stayed in Korea. It was also while reading this article that it truly hit me that the man died 20 years prior.

It seemed as if I had found my new favourite musician and lost him all in the span of an hour.

But as I continued to learn more about him and look at what other fans have said about him, I realized that I didn’t really lose him; his legacy will continue on as long as I remember him, as long as more and more people read his lyrics and listen to the music he poured countless hours into across his lifespan.

No matter how short it was.