Where did emo go?

Where did emo go?

Veterans of the movement reminisce

In the mid-2000s, emo was the most widespread and visible of the youth subcultures. These were young people who listened to American emotional hardcore, wore slanting bangs, tight jeans and numerous scarves and badges printed in black and white or black and pink. The State Duma was worried that emos were promoting suicide, skinheads saw ideological enemies in the emotional subculture, and among schoolchildren the phrase "emo-sax" was a universal answer to all questions. At some point, the emo wave subsided. Unlike other subcultures that can be found in city squares and squares, emo is not seen or heard. The WOC spoke with veterans of the emo movement to understand what it was and where it all went.

Jacob, 24 years old

Was an emo boy from 2005 to 2007. It all started for me, the stump is clear, with unrequited love and a sea of ​​​​alcohol. Then I heard about the music, and then about the direction. For me, it meant being part of a good company of people who supported your musical tastes, who wanted to stand out from the crowd, in principle, like any teenagers. There was no public position. It all looks more like a club of interests and just a hangout. We were looking for listings (free apartments of friends or acquaintances, where you could hang out in a huge crowd at night), went to concerts (gigs), drank cheap alcohol, Blazer and Jaguar. And the ideals in this culture itself are simple: to be sincere, not to hide your feelings, emotions, but, of course, the majority do not care.

I dressed in skate shops, because in the 2000s, buying bright and tight clothes, especially skinny jeans, was wildly problematic. The main thing is to emphasize your thinness. From music, I listened to emocore / screamo / emoviolence, because this music originated in the USA. Bands like The Used, Drop Dead Gorgeous, From First to Last, Orchid, Funeral for a Friend, Underoath. Russian alternative scene, but, in my opinion, we played exclusively nu-metal and metalcore, and not emocore, the exception is the Origami group.

I left in 2007, when a bunch of so-called poseurs appeared, who simply made fashion out of this culture and it ceased to carry any meaning. I decided to just remove the external attributes, piercings and long bangs, so as not to consider myself one of them. But I still like this kind of music, I listen to it with pleasure. The subculture exists and has not disappeared anywhere, the time when every third was emo just passed, all the fagots just left there, because it’s no longer fashionable to look like that. In my opinion, there are guys who are just in the subject.

Elina, 20 years old

Been emo since about 2009. I was small, but very much delved into this subculture. Everything serious started in 2012. Those were great times. At the moment, I do not want to classify myself as a member of any subculture, each person is individual. But it was the emo culture that made me realize that. You know, emo is the most peaceful subculture, I agree with all the positions it represents.

There was also misunderstanding on the part of the people. But they are all gray masses, they will never understand what it is like to express their emotions openly, they thought that we were crazy, so be it. But we do not drive ourselves into the framework of society and do what we want. The emo spirit will probably stay with me forever.

Anton, 20 years old

I became emo in 2008. At first, for me it was just a cool look, music, I felt that it was close to me. Later, I delved into the ideology of culture and became convinced that I needed it. The essence of culture was detachment from public opinion, not following the stereotypes, patterns and prejudices laid down by society, positioning yourself as an autonomous unit, and not part of the system, freedom of expression, freedom of expression of emotions and opinions, not being afraid to accept yourself for who you are, openness.

I listen to emocore, both domestic and foreign, early post-hardcore, mall emo, pop punk. In 2008, I wore what I wear now. Narrows, hoodies, T-shirts, shirts, sweaters, rather elegant and not brutal clothes.

The subculture is alive, confirmation of this is emo publics with a large number of subscribers, the fashion just passed and those who were in it just because it was fashionable. Now they belong to the subculture that is fashionable now. For me it was not emo, just fashionistas. Those who were ideologically in this movement remained in it. In fact, now it is also slowly becoming fashionable, "bring back 2007." The whole essence of the subculture in the views on the world, I have always said that emo do not become, emo are born. After all, without having a certain worldview, a certain state of mind, a certain way of thinking, would this be interesting to me?

Three emo girls (chorus) Bangy
Margera, Polly_Di, each 22 years old

We became emo in 2006, sort of. A certain party was formed, and everyone was partying at the Theater and Manega. And the rest - do not rub. All their labor knew each other. And the left, I don’t rub, came, and we threw eggs at them. The main message was that it is important not to hide true emotions, to be who you are. Maybe it was a way to express himself, who knows. At school, in general, all the teachers thought that I was goth. It was just fashionable. That's all. Everyone was Emory, and we weren't that different. Just like then everyone began to hang out in Solyanka. And now it's fashionable to go to techno parties.

Vasily, 20 years old

In the emo-party (I propose to call it exactly the party), since 2007, I have been the peak of the popularization of this culture in the sense that this peak is associated with its heyday, the acquisition of the status of the dominant youth subculture at that time to such an extent that, due to its popularity, it ceased to be similar on this basis to a subculture, but has become a mass culture, covering large sections of young people. This same emo wave did not leave me aside either. Many of my friends and acquaintances gradually began to master a new style of behavior, clothes, new music, adopting and copying all these attributes from each other. It was truly a wave that absorbed more and more new guys every day. As we know, it is difficult to resist the pressure of the wave, and being in such a weight category - at that time I was only 13-14 years old. And according to all the laws of physics, this very wave carried me far and for a long time. I succumbed to the general euphoria.

Now many have a job, a family, but for this minority, who remained in the party after the decline in its popularity by 2010, these ideals remained for life, and friends in the movement became friends for life. Until now, we are gathering in large companies, arranging gatherings. All are not the same teenagers that they were then. But the so-called spirit still lives on. Everyone remembers the past - the time of freedom and carelessness, children's joy and children's insults, first love. Perhaps that is why many of us have matured in mind, but have not grown old in heart. We can say with confidence that the ideals laid down even then are still manifested in communication between us. I am emo as long as there is someone to see and spend time with. I am emo until my soul and my heart grow old and die. We are getting smaller, but this culture will live forever. Despite the decline in the popularity of the emo movement, there are still teenagers who are interested in emo culture and get into the party.

Xenia, 20 years old

It all started in 2007, I was 12, if I'm not mistaken, and continued until I was 14. I don't know how it happened. I often came to Moscow since childhood, I saw it all, I was interested. And in our city there were such people. Now, oddly enough, they are successful, many have moved to America, they are engaged in business, and I remember them with slanting bangs, in packs. Everyone already has families, children. I was the smallest in the group.

There were fights a couple of times. Boys would come up to us and start talking rudely, but fortunately for us, in most cases we could explain that there was nothing wrong with that. Once my girlfriend and I had a fight with two boys, and they were 25 years old. A boy, our friend, came up, he separated us. Yes, and at school there were a lot of skirmishes with teachers, classmates. I didn’t give a damn about the school uniform, and I wanted to wear black and pink spats on my arms and shave my whiskey. I smoked, listened to rock, dressed strangely. Mom was against all this, she constantly cursed, but she decided that I would get over it - and so it happened. They cut off my oblique bangs one day, and that's it. It's gone with that. I sat and cried, and by the evening I had already calmed down, and I felt good.

It's very funny to say that I grew up. It's just that at some point you start to realize that it's not always good to show your emotions and let people know what you really think. And you don’t want to stand out, you want to do the same thing that you did, but no longer stand out. There is no desire to gather in the city center dressed in pink.

It was fashionable to have bright color combinations, bright with black, to show positive and negative emotions in this way, that everything in your life is striped. There were girls, they wore pink tutus, striped T-shirts, leggings.

Thanks to the subculture, I began to understand people in many ways, their bad sides. At that time, I stopped loving my hometown, I wanted to leave there. It seemed that all people are kind and beautiful, but it turned out that they were not.

The era of emo is over, and thanks to the acquaintances I received in the 2000s, I began to get tattooed, people appeared who set me on the path of a musician far from emo culture. At least the look remained the same. The funny thing is that many of the "chelkari" that I knew became completely different people. Someone runs, paints cars and walls. Someone became a football player. But most of them became musicians. Someone even began to lead a normal family measured life.

DA Info Pro - May 31st. A decade ago, colorfully dressed guys were everywhere - ardent representatives of youth subcultures, who, with their non-standard outfit and defiant behavior, tried to oppose themselves to the society of the 2000s. You can also meet punks who will not die out in any way. And even sad emo girls who inherited a black and pink wardrobe, a set of pins and a Tokio Hotel discography from their mother. But it's all just splashes.

Like cow tongue?

It seems that subcultures disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. But, despite the opinion of unfortunate researchers, this is not entirely true. Or rather, yes, but not quite. Naturally, some of the tomboys who “stand out from the gray mass” have long abandoned their dreams of a general rebellion, but the other half have not stopped transforming youth ideas, adjusting them to new circumstances.

A peculiar evolution allowed ex-followers of subcultures to successfully adapt to modern realities, and in some cases form completely independent movements and styles, in particular, musical ones. And this despite the fact that the typical external paraphernalia in the lion's share of cases was replaced by the widespread fashion for beards, tattoos or hair dyed in all colors of the rainbow.

But to put it bluntly, most of the young rebels really had to forget about the spirit of the struggle forever. The rest chose a different path. We will talk about the first and the second.

Not about everything, but in order ...

Youth subcultures of the late 2000s protested against the still fragile system of state values, and also had their own attitudes, a certain philosophy and, often, ideology. If you do not delve into the details, then we can say that the first non-formals appeared back in the days of the USSR. And already in 1991, the punks, in the truest sense of the word, were solemnly sitting on tanks parked near the Government House in Moscow.

At one time, the Union, which took the position of a parent, demandingly planted a certain number of values, and part of the youth, as it should be for "children", had to protest. And she protested. Then the forms of self-expression that were objectionable to the authorities of the USSR began to be “smuggled” from the West.

In fact, this is a brief history of the appearance in the Union of the first dudes, rockers, punks and others. "Parent" tried to punish, forbid and re-educate. And the “children”, in turn, resisted, ran away from control, “licked their wounds”, but did not give up. After the collapse of the USSR, the situation changed. In place of a single state ideology came first the pluralism of Perestroika, and then absolute democracy, which destroyed the established system of values ​​almost to the foundation.

The main "opponent" of the youth disappeared, but the war, which, according to the testament of Viktor Tsoi, "the cause of the young", still continued. If there was no enemy, then, of course, he had to be appointed. Society was once again chosen as a rival, but for this it was necessary to provoke it by any available means, including: music, clothing and non-standard behavior.

Then the empty place of centralized structures, for example, the pioneers and the Komsomol, began to be occupied by peculiar circles of interest - the same ones that became fertile ground for the prosperity of motley rebels in the mid-2000s. These rapidly growing groups will soon begin to copy the already developed ideology of foreign subcultures, which will later be altered, adjusted to the very realities of the 2000s, by the second wave of their followers.

Path number "one": assimilation

The core of absolutely subcultures has always been students and schoolchildren, whose appearance in a particular group of non-formals was often predetermined by musical preferences. As well as aesthetic tastes, which rarely coincided with generally accepted norms. Without going into details, one can recall the strange appearance of punks, various kinds of rockers or goths.

Firsthand:“In a nutshell, Gothic is a passive protest against mass social values, philistinism and philistinism, the futility of being and achieving “success” in understanding society. In general, we did not disappear anywhere. We simply consider it below our dignity to be exhibited. What are we, hipsters?

But the juvenile rebels grew up and, as a result, more and more often faced with the very society, which, as practice showed, spat on any pseudo-cultural revolutions. As a result, yesterday's informal students had to go in search of work, which means, both literally and figuratively, to wash off the usual war paint from their faces, which increased the chances of being liked by the employer.

Firsthand:“I can tell you now that everything is decay, materialism is evil, and money is dust.”

Such assimilation, of course, can be called extinction, but only in part. Since it clearly does not imply a general change in worldview. Also, not all movements did this. Some of them flatly refused to support traditional values, even as a joke.

Skinheads are a prime example of this. The desire to eradicate the underground champions of racial superiority led to a kind of rebranding. The official ban on wearing the usual paraphernalia with neo-Nazi motifs forced admirers of the stylized swastika to repaint themselves in the colors of football clubs and adopt a new coat of arms - the Celtic cross. This resulted in the creation of ultras movements, some of which are infamous not only for their ardent loyalty to the team, but also for the flourishing of nationalist or pseudo-patriotic ideas.

Bushido, or the Way of Rappers

Today, Russian rap is called the main music of Russian youth. But the first more or less suitable masters of a rhyming word to beat appeared in the CIS only in the early 1990s. They still could not boast of individual technique, clearly inferior to seasoned overseas performers. Even despite the fact that the latter, if they were understood, then only after the notorious bunch of “mazafak”.

The younger generation, identifying themselves as one of the offshoots of hip-hop, and often they were schoolchildren, walked around in wide denim pants, loose T-shirts and bright hoodies. Massive bijouterie glittered on the wrists and necks, and panama hats and other attributes of a typical wardrobe adorned their heads. Now all the aforementioned wealth is considered to be archaism.

It is clear that against the backdrop of seemingly reckless goths, punks and metalheads yelling "heavy metal rock" on every corner, representatives of the hip-hop environment looked almost appropriate. So to speak, in the spirit of free time.

However, the rise in popularity of rap music came at a time when most subcultures, in fact, were already relics of their time. Or were in decline. The thinned "fauna" exposed the hidden rebelliousness and radical romanticism of rap, which only added fuel to the fire of youthful maximalism.

But rappers, namely they were leaders and trendsetters, had one extreme, which played a key role not only in the stability of the subculture, but also in its unprecedented flowering. More than the "gray society", hip-hop artists only hated each other. On the one hand, this led to eternal splits and branches, and on the other hand, it made rap culture incredibly tenacious.

In the heat of confrontation, the performers tried on new images. Soon, some of them deliberately stopped wearing the notorious wide jeans, opposing themselves to colleagues in the shop, who allegedly fixated on external paraphernalia, and not on craftsmanship. It was then that it was not the brightness of clothes that began to come to the fore, but the technique and filigree of rhyme.

This phenomenon, which allowed rappers and their audience to exchange "uniform" for the quality of a musical product, helped not only to preserve the subculture, but also to turn it into the global something that it is now.

Our regular reader Tatyana from St. Petersburg is interested in: “Just 5 years ago there were sooo many subcultures. especially in big cities. there were goths, and punks, and emo, and other "non-standard" teenagers. Today there are no such subcultures. well, actually no! every third today is covered with tattoos, wears rock and roll clothes (fortunately, fashion dictates this) and dyes their hair all over the colors of the rainbow. and there are practically no specifically formed subcultures. That's why?) Thank you!”

We asked our expert, practicing psychologist with great experience, Olga Stadnitskaya that influenced the mentality of the people. This will be discussed in our publication.

Where have subcultures gone in Russia?

Five or seven years ago, in the glorious city of St. Petersburg, there were many strange-looking people. At almost every step one could meet a group of comrades of pubertal and post-pubertal age, standing out sharply from the general background. We will not delve into the typology or classification of subcultures and countercultures. Much has been written about this without us.

Emo girl

Emo - young man

The question is, where did they go? Why can't Iroquois, corsets and baubles be seen?

That is, sometimes you still come across freaks of varying degrees of neglect, sometimes you happen to meet a metrosexual. But against the backdrop of rampant democracy, characteristic of modern fashion trends, the external paraphernalia of subcultures somehow faded.

After conducting a blitz survey among friends and acquaintances of various age categories, the author has two main versions.

Version 1: everyone fled to the network

So, young people tend to believe that the reason lies in the network. Until recently, in order to find like-minded people and resolve issues of self-identification, a young person had to go to the people and look around. Now the need for this has disappeared. Go to the Internet and become anyone without getting up from your chair. You can be an elf, a troll, a hikkimori, a fan of any musical group or a whole musical direction. If you can't sit in a chair, find people with similar interests or worldviews and meet them in real life. In this regard, the author personally is of great interest to flash mobs and professional flashes. The abundance of Internet communities provides young people with truly unlimited opportunities.

We will not evaluate this phenomenon. We note only one circumstance: young people who have found themselves on the net are not striking.

Version 2: nothing to fight against

Another point of view, which the author is inclined to adhere to, without denying, however, the Internet version, reads approximately as follows: in addition to external paraphernalia, subcultures have a certain ideology. Again, we will not delve into the analysis of the features of value systems and the degree of aggressiveness of various subcultures. That's not what it's about.

We will also not delve into the psychological prerequisites for adolescents' craving for protest behavior. More has been written about this than about subcultures. Let us pay attention to the following: the ideology and system of group values ​​of any subculture almost always acted in opposition to the leading, official ideology.

Let's try to imagine Russia in the period of "developed socialism" and "construction of communism" in the form of such a large parent. Moreover, this parent knows exactly what his children need and firmly implants the values ​​and ideas required by the context of the time.

And let's imagine separate subcultures in the form of a child. Children, as expected, protest. Harmful ideological proposals are smuggled in from the "wild west": hippies, rock, punk, and so on. etc. Children have a choice of forms for expressing protest reactions.

The choice of an alternative ideology is dictated by the temperament, the degree of aggressiveness and the intellectual status of the teenager.

The parent punished, forbade, re-educated, the children left "home", licked their torn ears, but did not give up.

But then what happened happened. Russia suffered perestroika. The unified state ideology died a long time, giving way to the absolute revelry of democracy and pluralism. This process was accompanied by the rapid growth of the most aggressive and defiant subcultures. At the same time, the more expressive their external attributes became, the less ideological, value content remained in them. It is understandable. In the process of boiling, scale is always the first thing to form.

At present, the author has not been able to detect any progress in the field of creation by the parent state of a new, unified system of values. Accordingly, teenagers simply had nothing to fight against, nothing to protest against. The hopes of the current authorities on the ROC have not yet been justified. Orthodoxy does not cope with the task of creating a unified state system of values.

And the movement of Pastafarians with colanders on their heads that arose as a result of an attempt to resuscitate spiritual values, you must admit, is not yet drawn to a subculture either.

Yes, some young citizens are still trying to express themselves, giving vent to the so-called "teenage reactions" with the help of rainbow-colored dreadlocks and piercings in the most unexpected parts of the body. But somehow scattered, unprincipled. Even just to attract attention in such ways has become problematic.

But it's even more interesting. There is, however, an assumption that the Internet will provide more and more opportunities for the adaptation and socialization of adolescents in real adult life. Or to avoid reality - there were hippies, they became hickeys. Well, let's wait and see.

Do you still remember how popular emo, goths, skinheads and other subcultures were 10 years ago? Do you think they are all dead? But no! We remembered the four main youth movements in Russia in the 00s, found their representatives and tell you how they live today.

Goths

Story

all slides

Goths appeared in the UK in the late 70s, when several pioneering bands formed in a new musical genre - gothic rock: Bauhaus, Killing Joke, Gloria Mundi and others. Fans of these bands adopted different elements of the image from idols. But a turning point in the history of the subculture was the opening of the London club Batcave ("Bat Cave") - the most gothic club in the world, which lasted from the 82nd to the 85th.

Worldview: Romantic-depressive outlook on life.

Daria Maslovskaya, 22 years old

I “merged” into the subculture somehow by itself three years ago. I was not influenced in any way by my company in those days, and I can’t say that I became a goth in one day. At first they began to attract clothes and style. When I got older, I began to understand the thoughts of the Goths, I began to share their views. I was really interested in their position. I have always been drawn to this style, since childhood. In clothes, I am more attracted to the usual gothic style and Victorian. Everyone, in my opinion, a person who is far from the gothic theme, always expects something gloomy, dark, mystical from the goth. Cemetery trips are also included in the myths about the Goths. Goths are the most ordinary people. They cry, laugh, worry. They don't worship Satan (well, maybe a little) and they don't eat babies. True, when I was at school and dressed in all black with chains, I was regularly taken to the principal, and the teachers even tore out my piercing in the toilet. Of course, I defended myself and could even punch the offender in the nose, but when I entered the law school, I nevertheless began to dress more calmly, and I go to work (I'm a cellular operator) in boots, trousers and a white shirt. But the Goths are absolutely normal people, and I urge everyone not to be afraid and make contact with them.

emo

Story

Emo, like goths, came from the world of music. In principle, both emo-core and gothic rock stem from punk rock, and these subcultures have a lot in common, but they both just hate when they are compared. The main difference between emo and goths is that the former hate themselves, while the latter, like real nihilists, hate the world around them. Emo is distinguished by romanticism, suffering from unrequited love and, as you might guess, heightened emotionality. That's why their main colors are black and pink. Black is about loneliness and rejection, and pink is about rare flashes of joy and happiness. So they just listened to Tokio Hotel. In 2007, emo was the most widespread subculture, and the authorities of the Russian Federation even tried to fight it - on June 2, 2008, parliamentary hearings were held in the State Duma, at which deputies proposed to fight emo and goths with all their might, believing that this would inevitably lead to child suicide .

Worldview: Suffering from unrequited love, eternal sadness and loneliness.

Vlad Kuzevoy, 25 years old

I came to be emo six years ago because I always knew that I was different from all the people around me. I am swimming in a different direction. Everyone thinks that emos are the ones who always cry and cut their hands, but this is not true. In fact, we are just very emotional and are not ashamed of it (but we don’t show it in public either - we experience everything in ourselves). Now I study at the Faculty of Philology of St. Petersburg State University and dress the way I want. I absolutely don't care if someone doesn't like my checkered laces or hoodies, because all these years, people around me can't close their eyes to pronounced subcultures and constantly insult us. Most often it is something like: "P *** aces!" (homosexuals. - Note. ed.), but I got used to it a long time ago and don’t even pay attention to jokes from classmates.

visual key

Xepher Group

Literally, visual key means "visual style". This subculture originated in Japan in the early 90s, when local punk rock mixed with glam rock and metal. This movement was controlled by androgynes - guys in women's clothes, wigs and a full marafet. In Russia, this subculture was carried away in the era of the dawn of anime and manga - Japanese cartoons and comics, where almost all the characters are androgynous.

Pavel Ivanov, 23 years old

It seems to me that it is very difficult to find a person who did not watch anime in grades 5-10 10 years ago. I still have 40 manga (anime comics. – Note. ed.) about some schoolgirls, gays from Tokyo and my favorite "Touching Complex" about a two-meter heifer and her small guy. By the way, I learned to draw from these comics: there were tutorials at the end of each book. In general, all this Japanese culture covered me right with my head, and I went further: I signed up for Japanese courses, started listening to Japanese rock and doing some crazy hairstyles. True, I decided not to wear makeup, it would be too much. Even my bright red Mohawk got too much attention. And then the fashion for all this began to decline, I had a normal haircut, went to Japan and somehow got sick of this topic. From past hobbies, only excellent drawing skills and knowledge of the language remained. Now I am studying journalism, we have a department of the Japanese language, and I periodically study with the Japanese. It's been a great experience and I'm very grateful for my longtime fascination with their culture.

Skinheads

Skinheads are neo-fascist groups, the very ones that shout "Russia for Russians" and "Moscow for Muscovites." The first skins in history, by the way, were not racists, and among them there were even blacks - all together they fought against the bourgeoisie. Only in the second wave of skinheads did the Nazis appear. In Russia, skinheads were most active from 2007 to 2009. At first they limited themselves to beatings, and then they began to kill "foreigners" - that's what they called visitors. And firearms were used. In 2009, for example, 71 people were killed at the hands of skinheads in Russia, and 441 were injured. At the same time, the government of the Russian Federation was seriously puzzled by this issue and began to actively fight against local Nazis. The level of aggression has subsided, but Moscow skinheads can still be found from time to time in the city center - for example, on Pushkinskaya.

Worldview: Russia for Russians.

"Rugby player", 30 years old

The whole essence of skinning was like in the song “Life on the Outskirts of Moscow”: white cars, fights for the colors of your favorite team, sharpened buckles, armature in the sleeve, a parody of English fashion and heavy boots that elegantly crushed the teeth of animals. Such a circle of Slavs or a game of "300 Spartans". I have a couple of stab wounds from anti-fascists. We have always had and have a gang, it has more than 300 people who fight for cleanliness and order in the city where they live. But all of the above does not prevent me from being an artist - now I am shooting a short film about fashion. I don’t wear a “grinder” in everyday life - I prefer Kenzo sneakers, but I still think that the best teacher of “cleanliness” is a knocked out tooth.

Where did the Goths go?

By the beginning of the 8th century in the Iberian Peninsula there were only 80,000 ready. When the Moors conquered Gothia, the Goths realized that the best way to stay closer to power was to convert to Islam. They took Muslim names, but for a long time their descendants remembered that they were descended from the Christian Goths. Christians called people who converted to Islam, renegades(traitors).

The first at the beginning of the VIII century. A count of the region of Tarragona, named Fortune, the son of Cassius, converted to Islam. His descendants began to be called Banu Kasi - children of Cassius. A century and a half later, it was the richest family in northern Spain. And one of the Banu Kasi-Musa then took possession of the lands from Zaragoza to Toledo and even opposed the emir!

Many renegade Goths occupied important posts in the Emirate of Cordoba.

Cordova conducted a brisk trade with the German lands. In this picture, Caliph Abdarrahman III receives the ambassador of the German Emperor Otto I.

In the ninth century some of them began to create their own states right in Andalus. Omar ibn Hafsun was especially famous. He tried many professions, was a shoemaker, a hired soldier, and in 884 he set up a robber nest in the south, in the mountains of Babastro.

He soon issued a manifesto calling on both Muslims and Christians to fight against the Emir. And by 886, a vast territory, with a third of the entire Andalus, recognized his authority. Ibn Hafsun approached Cordoba with an army, and the emir himself recognized his state. Other areas broke away from Andalus under the guise.

But gradually the movement of Ibn Hafsun, which went under the slogan of fighting the power of the emir, began to fade, especially when he himself converted to Christianity and began to fanatically persecute his former Muslim comrades-in-arms. His daughter founded a monastery in Babastro with severe orders, where they prepared martyrs of the faith. Finally, Ibn Hafsun had few adherents left, and he had to hire soldiers in Africa.

The emir of Cordoba Abdarrahman III (reigned 912-961) put an end to this protracted adventure. Ibn Hafsun himself died in 917, but his sons defended the fortress at Babastro until 928. Soon rebels in other areas of Andalus submitted, and the Goths finally left the arena of history.

Ambassadors of the Byzantine king Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus at a reception with Caliph Abdarrahman III. There were close economic, political and cultural ties between Byzantium and Cordoba. Marble and mosaic smalt were delivered from Byzantium for the construction of palaces and mosques.