Zodiac

Zodiac was the first collective in the musical landscape of the Soviet Union to present electronic dance music of quality rivaling Western disco stars like ABBA, Boney M, and Space. Their 1981 debut album "Disco Alliance" on Melodiya sold in millions of copies, becoming a scarce treasure among Soviet music lovers. With their "cosmic" melodies, the group cultivated an air of mystery—band members never performed live and were unknown to the public. The original lineup consisted of Latvian State Conservatory students led by future composer Jānis Lusēns, who later focused on classical composition. Though the project was abandoned, the unprecedented surge of interest in electronic music led to its revival. In 2002, the electronic project PPK released a cover version called "Resurrection" that became a European dance hit. In 2005, GalaRecords released the remastered "DiscoAlliance," and in 2006 Zodiac performed live for the first time at a Cosmonautics Day celebration in St. Petersburg, receiving a symbolic certificate for a plot of land on the Moon—a fitting tribute to the Latvian electronic pioneers whose music has finally found its rightful place.