All these new pop groups keep popping up everywhere, and many don’t stay around for long, but new duo Nepara (Not a match) is one of the acts that’s here to stay. Sasha Shoua and Vika Talyshinskaya first made their mark a year ago when their song, "Drugaya prichina" (Another Reason) raced up the charts. This spring they released their debut album "Drugaya semya," (Another Family) which became the top-selling album in less than two months, beating Smash!, Glukoza, Via Gra and even Filipp Kirkorov. Their first hit single was soon followed by two more – "Oni znakomi davno" (They Met Long Ago) and "Pesnya o lyubvi" (Song About Love). But they don’t just spend their time in the recording studios, they also tour, which is what they’re doing now.

You always say in your interviews that you live up to your name that implies you’re not a couple for each other, but if you’re not a good match, then what holds you together?

Vika Talyshinskaya and Sasha Shoua: Our common cause, our cooperative union – Nepara.

Which of you is the leader? Or do you prefer to avoid that subject?

VT: I don’t think either one of us is the leader or should be the leader. Sasha writes the songs and the music. God did not give me such a talent, but we each have our own part to play and we work on this project together and make this music together.

Don’t you ever have disputes over the creative side of things?

SS: No, there’s no problem. We usually both like the new songs, or we don’t like them.

VT: Nepara is two people with different personalities, but we are a good match as far as the music and work goes. We choose music that we both like.

How do you get the ideas for songs?

VT: It takes a long time. When we got the song "Oni znakomi davno" from the songwriters, we were enthralled with the idea that it would be a future hit. We were more overjoyed about the song than what it really was about, so we weren’t able to really incarnate it so soon. Oleg Nekrasov, our producer, would say, "Sing it with soul, Vika," and I would sing it, and he’d say, "What’s this funeral dirge?"

SS: I have plenty of songs that could be a good song for a foreign audience, but unfortunately, or fortunately, they’re not adapted to Russian listeners. What we do is quality dance and lyrical music, and it’s not for everyone. We didn’t do anything new in "Drugaya semya," but we took the musical essence to a new level.

How do you know you have songs that would be better suited to foreign audiences?

SS: At the end of the ’90s I sang pop songs and worked in clubs in Germany. I had a contract to record demo-vocals for western European stars. You sing the song from beginning to end and sing as should be sung, so that the person knows what they’re supposed to do. I put in as much effort as a star puts in. In the West, any song is promoted as a hit, but not here. Songs that I originally sang were then sung by German stars such as Dieter Bohlen and the Scorpions. That was just my work, not my own creation. I just earned my living that way. But I didn’t manage to create songs of the quality as the ones I recorded in the studio.

What kind of music do you like?

VT: I wouldn’t say I like this or that style or this or that performer. I like particular songs – lyrical, older songs, something by Laima Vaikule or Vaya Con Dios, for example.

SS: I like a lot of different music – Al Di Miola, John McLaughlin, Modern Talking. People laugh at Modern Talking in Germany, but they sell more than anyone else, they sell more all over western Europe, and that’s a huge market. I also like Blue System.

How did you meet?

SS: We met at a birthday party for Lada Dance. There was a sort of karaoke competition there. Every guest entered and sang something. I sang, then Vika came over and suggested singing the Eros Ramazotti-Cher hit, "Pui che puoi."

VT: We didn’t take any steps to create this project then. I was working hard on my diploma work for the show business faculty at GITIS theater school, and Sasha helped me.

SS: We became friends. Then at one party our producer Oleg [Nekrasov] came up and said, "Guys, let’s get you singing!" He thought up the name. He was fed up with our creative searching and exclaimed at one point, "What kind of a duet are you! You’re no match at all."

What are your thoughts on having "another family"?

SS: Every second family comes up against this problem sooner or later. Everyone falls in love at some point or another, at 40, 50, or even 90. People can fall in love several times over during their lifetime, and each time for real.

VT: Trust your heart and hope for the best.

SS: This can happen to anyone who trusts their own heart more than their reason or their wallet.