BONE MUSIC

"They are images of pain and damage overlaid with the sounds of pleasure, fragile photographs of the interiors of Soviet citizens inscribed with the music they secretly loved"

THE X-RAY AUDIO PROJECT is devoted to the underground community of music lovers and bootleggers who defied the censor in cold-war Soviet Union to make and distribute their own recordings of forbidden music - BONE MUSIC- as we christened

In an era when the recording industry was ruthlessly controlled by the State, they found an incredible risky means to do so - they built their own recording machines and used repurposed X Ray plates as the base for strange beautiful discs they sold secretly.

It was an act of street enterprise, cultural resistance, technical ingenuity and human endeavour.

The project tells their story with an online archive, books, an award-winning documentary, live events and a major travelling exhibition. The project is supported by Arts Council England and has received significant PRESS and media coverage.

Go HERE to see images from our exhibition

Go HERE to watch our TED talk and other films about bone music and the Soviet x-ray bootleggers 

Go HERE to see and hear images and sounds of  Bones discs 

Follow the links above for our BONE BLOG, NEWS, EVENTS and more.

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This story has been researched over the last several years -mainly through interviews and recording oral testimonies of individuals for whom it was life, not just a story. As well a story about strange, ghostly flexi discs, it is a story about how much music can matter. 

Thanks to all those who have helped us, supported us, and shared their knowledge, images, sounds and memories, especially in Russia, Ukraine and Hungary.

If you have stories to tell or discs that we can include in the X-Ray Audio Project, please get in touch

THE BUREAU OF LOST CULTURE

The Bureau of Lost Culture is dedicated to sharing counter-cultural stories through research, writing, film, installations and broadcasts. By evoking the spirit of the forgotten underground it aims to inspire with narratives of risk and provocation.

It is piloted by Stephen Coates.

For more information go HERE

The BONE MUSIC exhibition is curated by Stephen Coates and Paul Heartfield.

STEPHEN COATES is a music producer, writer and broadcaster. He came across the subject of the X-Ray recordings in 2012 when travelling to Russia to perform as The Real Tuesday Weld. He has written two books on the subject ‘ X-Ray Audio’ and ‘Bone Music’. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, he is particularly interested in the interaction between counterculture and culture.

For more on Stephen go here

PAUL HEARTFIELD has worked extensively in the music industry, photographing many international bands and musicians over the last decade and has made portraits of most of the senior British politicians of the last few years.

For more on Paul go here

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For assistance, contributions, support and expertise we’d like to thank: Aleks Kolkowski, Maxim Kravchinskij, Rudolf Fuchs, Artemyi Troitsky, Galina Shtanko, Nick Markovitch,  Alex Budovsky, Sergey Chernov, Sergey Korsakov, Marina Tsurtsumia, Laysan Gilmanova, Nix Stewart, Irene Kukota, Andrey Lubakin, Roger burton, The Horse Hospital, Monica Whitlock and the UK Arts Council. 

For generous permission to use images and recordings: Aleksandr Khrisanov, Alexandr Moskalenko, Anatoly B, Andrei Arntgolts, Andrei Minkin, Ilya Shirokiy, Justinas  Shimkauskas, Nickolay Markovich  Kurganoff, Sergey Stavitsky, Valeriy, Yuri Bernikov  Yuriy Boyarintsev, Yuriy Gladkov, Gregory Kachurin

COPYRIGHT

All images and texts copyright 2025

Rights to all text, materials, images and recordings remain with their respective owners and must not be copied, reproduced or re-posted without permission.