 It became highly popular in the 1960s and was sometimes considered as an alternative to official VIAs.Music characteristics of the genre consist of simple, easily repeatable parties, usually played by a single acoustic guitar player who simultaneously sang.Among the singer-songwriters, termed as "bards", the most popular were Bulat Okudzhava, Vladimir Vysotsky, Yuri Vizbor, Sergey and Tatyana Nikitins.