Lost Viktor Tsoi song from 1988 discovered after nearly 40 years

A rare recording of "Children of Minutes", a song by Soviet rock legend Viktor Tsoi of the band Kino, has been found after almost four decades. The cassette was preserved by Sara Okerren, daughter of the former Swedish consul-general in Leningrad, who recorded Tsoi performing the song at a private party in June 1988. The discovery was announced on June 21, 2026, Tsoi's birthday.

A nearly unknown song by Viktor Tsoi, frontman of the iconic Soviet rock band Kino, has surfaced after almost 40 years, preserved on a cassette tape by the daughter of a former Swedish diplomat in Leningrad.

The Discovery

Collector Sergei Chubrayev found the recording of "Deti Minut" ("Children of Minutes"), which Tsoi wrote in 1988. The find was announced on June 21, 2026, Tsoi's birthday, through an interview in the St. Petersburg magazine Sobaka and a 17-minute documentary film titled "Privet Karlu Gustavu" ("Hello Karl Gustav"), released by the Union Music label. The song itself plays during the documentary's final segment.

Chubrayev had first come across the song's lyrics in the archive of Alexander Lipnitsky, bassist of the band Zvuki Mu, who died in 2021. For years, it was believed that only the written text had survived. Tsoi had reportedly forbidden anyone from recording the song and told friends he was not ready to perform it publicly.

The Swedish Connection

Chubrayev began searching for a recording among foreigners who had visited Leningrad during the 1980s. He quickly tracked down Sara Okerren, the daughter of Sweden's consul-general in Leningrad at the time. Okerren had spent holidays in the city and befriended its underground cultural scene, including Tsoi himself.

«I wrote to her and told her I was looking for 'Children of Minutes,'» Chubrayev recalled. «She replied: 'I recorded it on my player!'»

Okerren had captured the performance on a Walkman at a party hosted by Georgy Guryanov, a fellow member of Kino. She described that evening: «Vitya sang his favourite songs for us several times, things like 'When Your Girl Is Sick' and 'Brotherly Love.' And then he suddenly decided to sing us a new song. He was a little shy, not quite sure, but you could sense he really wanted to perform it.»

Why Tsoi Kept It Private

On the recording, Tsoi can be heard explaining to his friends that the song might have already lost its relevance. He also noted that the lyrics contained many references to songs by other artists, essentially a polemic with contemporary Soviet rock bands. According to Chubrayev, the song is filled with quotes and parodies of bands including Alisa, Televizor, and Ado.

Lipnitsky had previously recalled, in his 2008 documentary about Kino, that he first heard "Children of Minutes" when Tsoi performed it in Moscow in 1988. When asked whether it would appear on Kino's next album, Tsoi reportedly replied: «Absolutely not. It will offend many people.»

What Else Is on the Tape

The cassette holds more than just the rediscovered song. Chubrayev revealed it also contains acoustic versions of tracks that have never been heard in that format before, including "Pachka Sigaret" ("A Pack of Cigarettes") and "Lyubov, Eto Ne Shutka" ("Love Is No Joke"). «I hope we will release those online in the future,» he said.

The Song's Afterlife

After Tsoi's death in 1990, "Children of Minutes" was occasionally performed by other artists. On June 20, 1992, Kino co-founder Alexei Rybin and the band Atas performed it at a Luzhniki memorial concert in Moscow. In 2010, Vyacheslav Butusov's band Yu-Piter recorded a cover version that appeared in "Igla Remix," a sequel to the 1988 film "Igla" in which Tsoi had starred.