VIA (music)

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VIA (Russian: ВИА) is an abbreviation for Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble (Вокально-инструментальный ансамбль, Vokalno-instrumentalny ansambl). It is the general name used for popular music (pop, rock, folk, etc.) bands that were formally recognized by the Soviet government from the 1960s to the 1980s.

In Soviet times, the term VIA generally meant 'band', but it is now used in Russia to refer specifically to pop, rock, and folk groups active during the Soviet period.

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union the term gradually went out of use.

In Yugoslavia, the abbreviation VIS (Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic: ВИС), meaning vokalno-instrumentalni sastav (вокално-инструментални састав), was used in the same context.