Samotsvety (Russian: Самоцветы, which means "Semiprecious Stones") is a Soviet VIA band formed in 1971, in Moscow.
It became one of the more successful and better known VIA bands, recording a number of hits and serving as a springboard to fame for several Russian musicians, including Dmitry Malikov, Vladimir Presnyakov Sr., and Alexander Barykin.
[1] The group produced a string of hits in the 1970s, including "Moy adres Sovetskii Soyuz" (My address is the Soviet Union),[2] "Tam, za oblakami" (There, beyond the clouds), "Vsya zhizn vperedi" (My whole life is still ahead), "Ne povtoriayetsia takoye nikogda" (Something like this will never happen again), "Vse chto v zhizni yest u menia" (All that I have in my life), "Shkonlniy bal" (School dance), and "Na zemlie zhivet liubov" (There lives love on this earth), among others.
The band broke up in the late 1980s when many VIAs were going away as a result of changes in both government censorship and popular tastes.
However, in 1996, Yuriy Malikov decided to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of the band by bringing together many of the ex-members for an episode of the television series "Zolotoy shlyager" (Golden hit).