Psoy Korolenko (since 2006 – simply Psoy; his real name is Pavel Eduardovich Lion, born on April 26, 1967) is a well-known songwriter and singer, performer, philologist and critic. According to his own definition, he is “a youth philologist, akyn, bodysinger and modern skomorokh”.
Psoy performs his own and others’ songs, accompanying himself to keyboard instruments, mainly a Casio sequencer in accordion timbre. Experimenting with quite various song traditions he sings in about 6 or 7 languages, most frequently in Russian, Yiddish, English and French.
His original art mixture traces to the creative manners of Marx Brothers and Spike Jones, Yuriy Vizbor and Tiny Tim, intellectual comedy of Tom Lehrer, French chanson, Russian bard song and city romance, as well as the style of Jewish street musicians "Klezmer" and Russian rock. His role of modern skomorokh of the epoch “after postmodernism” allows him sneering at the passing away culture and at the same time imparting new energy and meaning to it.
Psoy regularly performs at club and university stages in Russia and abroad. Since 1997 he has been engaged in the internet activity, writing articles for different websites.