Kukuruza

Last updated
Kukuruza
Origin Moscow, Russia
Genres Bluegrass, country, country-rock, country folk, Russian folk
Years active1984 (1984)–present
Labels
MembersLineup beginning c. 1998/2000
  • Svetlana Shebeko
(lead vocals)
  • Pavel Titovetes
(electric guitar)
  • Sergei Novikov
(violin)
  • Roman Mayboroda
(bass guitar)
  • Dmitry Krichevsky
(drums)
  • Georgi Palmov
(harmonica, mandolin, acoustic guitar, vocals)
Past membersLineup 1993 [1]
  • Irina Surina
(lead vocals)
  • Alexei Aboltynsh
(acoustic bass, electric bass, vocals)
  • Anatoliy Belchikov
(drums)
  • Sergei Mosolov
(fiddle, vocals)
  • Andrei Shepelev
(banjo, dobro, steel guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, composer)
  • Georgi Palmov
(mandolin, clarinet, vocals)
  • Dmitry Vakhrameev
(banjo)
  • Mikhail Venikov
(guitar, electric guitar)
  • Additions from 1998 album Endless Story
  • Ilya Toshinsky
(banjo)
  • Roman Zaslavsky
(piano)
Website www.kukuruza.info/english.shtml
Irina Surina (June 2017), lead singer for Kukuruza, 1989-2000 Irina Surina.jpg
Irina Surina (June 2017), lead singer for Kukuruza, 1989–2000

Kukuruza is a Russian band who progressed from a student startup to become an international touring act in the early 1990s.

Contents

In 1994, the Chicago Tribune said they were "among the top country groups of Eastern Europe and Russia". [2] That same year, they performed their bluegrass-influenced music before the genre's founder, Bill Monroe, at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. [2] As of 2013, they were the only Eastern European group to play at the Opry.

Their repertoire includes a mix of music, from Russian folk to American bluegrass, to country-rock, rock-and-roll and blues. [3] [4] The band toured the United States six times from 1991 to 1994. [5] They have performed country and bluegrass-influenced music longer than any other Russian group, with a total of 15 albums over 30 years, 3 in the United States and 12 more in Russia. [3] The band is still active, but with a different lineup of performers than they had in the mid-1980s and 1990s when they rose to international prominence. In 2010 they played at the Montreux Jazz Festival. [6]

The band's name КукурузА is the Russian word for corn. [7] Years after the founding, the story of taking the name has been lost, as different members remember different things. The name wasn't meant to imply corny or funny, however. [2] It was a serious name that implied that the band had many flavors, just as corn has many flavors, depending upon where it is grown. [2]

Beginnings

The band began as a student "collective". [3] In 1975, students Sergei Senchilo (acoustic guitar) and Czech student Vladimir Ambros (harmonica) got together to play songs of United States, England, and Scotland. [8] By the next year, they had attracted others, and were calling the group Ornament. [8] Ornament lasted until about 1983. Beginning in 1984, some of its members continued to play together under the new name Kukuruza. [9] [10]

They began their interest in western music before the end of the Cold War. Their early adaptation of western music in the years before perestroika was difficult and dangerous, because western music was suspect (possibly illegal) in the Soviet Union. [2] [11] [12] Facing bans for playing "music of the ideological enemy," they pursued their musical interests in the mid-1980s, attending music festivals and recording their first album, We Sing in English, which was not one of their bluegrass albums. [13]

The Soviet Union gradually loosened official resistance to western music and some western bands were able to tour. [14] After seeing performances by Roy Clark (who visited Russia in 1976 and 1988) and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (who toured Russia in 1977), the students who would become Ornament and Kukuruza looked for music that they could access to learn from. [2] [15] [14] They learned the bluegrass style by listening to Czech bands, and to American performances through banned Voice of America shortwave radio broadcasts and black-market second-hand records. [2]

Bluegrass has specific instruments, some of which were rare in Russia. Others were present, but not played in the bluegrass style there. They chose western instruments and taught themselves to use them, dobro, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and guitar, as well as electric guitar. [16] Not being in the United States, they didn't have the bluegrass community's artistic pressure to conform to use only acoustic instruments. They adapted electric guitar into their mix, perhaps led by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, whom they had seen in concert, who also used electric guitar in some of their music. Learning the style on their own, they successfully blended it with Russian music. [17] [18] They began a process of fusing east and west. Songs such as John Hartford's 1971 progressive bluegrass "Vamp in the Middle" were translated and adapted, using bluegrass instruments to create the sound but blending with Russian vocals. Similarly they applied western instruments (electric guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle) to a Russian jazz work, Leonid Utesov's "The Old Cabby's Song". Russian folk songs were adapted too, and one of the band, Andrei Shepelev, proved to be a songwriter as well. He was credited as writing or adapting many of their pieces on the albums made in the United States.

When the 1998 record, Endless Journey was released, the president at Gadfly Records, Mitch Cantor, commented on the group's style. [19] He said that he didn't think of them as a bluegrass band, but a group with a "unique juxtaposition of styles," able to switch between Russian traditional, jazz and bluegrass styles of music, yet still maintain their own sound. [19]

United States tours

The band made tours to the United States in the early 1990s. During the release of their second record made in the United States, Crossing Borders, they performed at the Grand Ole Opry, and were on the television show Nashville Now . [20]

They were given the opportunities to work with county music performers Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson and Jerry Douglas, the latter of whom performed on their Crossing Borders album. [21]

Lineup

1975, pre-Ornament
Sergei Senchilo (acoustic guitar)
Vladimir Ambros (harmonica), Czechoslovakia
Ornament (1976–1983)

The members of the group had graduated from undergraduate studies by 1981. In 1983 the group ended.

Sergei Senchilo – bandleader, vocals, acoustic guitar (1975– )
Dmitry Sukhin – piano
Vladimir Galperin – violin (1976)
Sergei Bondarenko – acoustic guitar (1976–1978)
Vladimir Ambros – violin, banjo, mandolin, lip accordion, Czechoslovakia (1976–1980)
Eva Kovacs – vocals, less than one year, Hungary
Georgy Palmov (beginning fall 1976) – clarinet and block-flute, mandolin, guitar, lip-organ
Andrey Shepelev – 5-string banjo (1978–1994)
Rostislav Prisekin – bass guitar (1979–1980)
Dmitry Sukhin – sound engineering, (1980– )
Larisa (Nuzhdova) Grigorieva – vocalist (c.1980–c.1989)
Karel Wahh Ukrainian guitar, Czechoslovakia (c.1980– )
Kukuruza 1984/1985
Larisa (Nuzhdova) Grigorieva – lead vocals
Andrei Shepelev – banjo
Vladimir Larshin – violin
Rostislav Prisekin – acoustic guitar, harmonica
Alexander Tarev – double bass
Bari Alibasov
Georgy Palmov
Sergei Mosolov – double bass

Parallel projects by former Kukuruza members

Red Grass

Larisa Grigorieva, lead singer for Kukuruza from 1980 to 1989, performed on the albums Let's sing in English and The Magician. [22] After leaving Kukuruza in 1989, she founded the band Red Grass (1990–1995). [22] The band created one album, Рыжая трава (Red-Backed Grass), in 1995. [22]

Although Russian country music suffered a decline in the late 1980s after the closing of the "фестиваля кантри и фолк музыки 'Фермер'" ("Farmer" festival of country and folk music), Grigorieva was still involved in Russian country music in 2018, managing the Moscow Country Bridge Festival. [22] [23] [24] Her album contributed to the name "Red Grass" to refer to Russian country music. [24] That name was also used as an album title by former Bering Strait performer Ilya Toshinsky and had been suggested in the United States in 1994 as an apt name for pre-perestroika Russian-bluegrass music. [25] [26]

Discography

United States

Russia

Related Research Articles

Bill Monroe American bluegrass musician, songwriter

William Smith Monroe was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluegrass music</span> Genre of American roots music and sub-genre of country music

Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."

Doc Watson American musician (1923–2012)

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's fingerstyle and flatpicking skills, as well as his knowledge of traditional American music, were highly regarded. Blind from a young age, he performed publicly both in a dance band and solo, as well as for over 15 years with his son, guitarist Merle Watson, until Merle's death in 1985 in an accident on the family farm.

Hayseed Dixie American bluegrass band

Hayseed Dixie is an American band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2000. Their first album was A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC. The band performs bluegrass cover versions of hard rock songs and also original songs of a mostly satirical or absurdist nature in a self-created musical genre which the band calls "rockgrass." The band's name is a linguistic play on the name of the band AC/DC.

Sam Bush American mandolinist

Charles Samuel Bush is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival.

New Grass Revival American progressive bluegrass band

New Grass Revival was an American progressive bluegrass band founded in 1971, and composed of Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson, Ebo Walker, Curtis Burch, Butch Robins, John Cowan, Béla Fleck and Pat Flynn. They were active between 1971 and 1989, releasing more than twenty albums as well as six singles. Their highest-charting single is "Callin' Baton Rouge", which peaked at No. 37 on the U.S. country charts in 1989 and was a Top 5 country hit for Garth Brooks five years later.

Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show 60 Minutes. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first album was Alexander Arzamastsev (drums), Natasha Borzilova, Sergey "Spooky" Olkhovsky, Sergei Passov, Lydia Salnikova, Sasha Ostrovsky and Ilya Toshinsky.

Peter Rowan American musician

Peter Rowan is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings.

Vassar Clements Musical artist

Vassar Carlton Clements was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical traditions.

Doyle Lawson American bluegrass and gospel musician

Doyle Lawson is an American traditional bluegrass and Southern gospel musician. He is best known as a mandolin player, vocalist, producer, and leader of the 6-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Lawson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

The Grascals American bluegrass band

The Grascals are a six-piece American bluegrass band from Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in February 2004, the band has gained a level of fame by playing on the Grand Ole Opry and bluegrass festivals around the country, as well as with Dolly Parton.

The Infamous Stringdusters American progressive acoustic/bluegrass band

The Infamous Stringdusters are a progressive acoustic/bluegrass band. The band first emerged in 2006 with the limited release of a five-song extended play CD The Infamous Stringdusters, followed in 2007 by their first album Fork in the Road. Both of these were on Sugar Hill Records. The band consists of Andy Hall (Dobro), Andy Falco (guitar), Chris Pandolfi (banjo), Jeremy Garrett (fiddle), and Travis Book. The band has become known for a complex, distinctive, and groove-friendly sound along with a bluegrass theme.

Gary Ruley and Mule Train Acoustic bluegrass band in Virginia, US

Gary Ruley and Mule Train is an acoustic bluegrass band based in Lexington, Virginia who also play New Grass and Jazz music.

The Kentucky Colonels (band) Bluegrass music band

The Kentucky Colonels were a bluegrass band that was popular during the American folk music revival of the early 1960s. Formed in Burbank, California in 1954, the group released two albums, The New Sound of Bluegrass America (1963) and Appalachian Swing! (1964). The band featured the influential bluegrass guitarist Clarence White, who was largely responsible for making the acoustic guitar a lead instrument within bluegrass, and who later went on to join the Los Angeles rock band the Byrds. The Kentucky Colonels disbanded in late 1965, with two short-lived reunions taking place in 1966 and 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brittany Haas</span> American fiddle player (born 1987)

Brittany Haas is an American fiddle player, who also sings and plays the banjo. She is a member of the Boston-based alternative bluegrass band Crooked Still, which is currently on hiatus. She is a regular performer on Live From Here. She tours with the Haas Marshall Walsh and Haas Kowert Tice trios, and participates in many international fiddlecamps, including the Ossipee Valley Music Festival. As of 2018, she is a member of Hawktail, which includes Kowert and Tice, as well as mandolinist Dominick Leslie.

Steep Canyon Rangers American band

Steep Canyon Rangers is an American bluegrass band based in Asheville and Brevard, North Carolina. Though formed in 2000, the band has become widely known since 2009 for collaborating with actor/banjoist Steve Martin. In 2013, the Steep Canyon Rangers' solo album Nobody Knows You won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. The previous year, their 2012 collaboration with Steve Martin, Rare Bird Alert, was nominated for the same award. Steep Canyon Rangers have recorded 9 solo albums plus two collaborative albums with Steve Martin. SCR performed as a quintet for nearly a decade before intermittent touring began as a sextet with Steve Martin; the band still performs in both configurations. In May 2013, Steve Martin and SCR began performing with Edie Brickell after she and Martin co-wrote and recorded Love Has Come for You.

Ray Legere Musical artist

Ray Legere is a Canadian bluegrass fiddler, mandolinist, guitarist and band leader from Sackville, New Brunswick.

Scott Vestal is an American banjoist, songwriter and luthier, known for his innovative approach to playing and designing the banjo.

Rickie Simpkins American singer-songwriter

Rickie Simpkins is an American fiddler and mandolinist in the bluegrass tradition. He is best known for his solo albums and his work with the Lonesome River Band and the Seldom Scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Strings</span> American bluegrass musician (born 1992)

Billy Strings is an American Grammy Award–winning guitarist and bluegrass musician.

References

  1. ↑ Kukuruza Crossing Borders (album cover (reverse side)). Durham, North Carolina: Sugar Hill Records. 1993. OCLC   30615870.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Duckman, David (20 February 1994). "No Second Fiddle, Bluegrass In Russia? Kukuruza Plucks And Picks With Aplomb". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "КУКУРУЗА (translation: Corn)". KM.RU Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "15 gadu jubilejas Kantrifestivālā ieradīsies īpaši ciemiņi" . Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  5. ↑ ""KUKURUZA"" (PDF). Montreux Film Festival 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010. [Bio sheet at Montreux Film Festival 2010 page]
  6. ↑ "PROGRAM '10, BY ARTIST - K". montreuxjazzfestival2010.com. Montreux Jazz Festival. Retrieved 8 February 2018. KukuruzA (RUS), 07 July 2010, venue: Parc Vernex, time: 15:00
  7. ↑ Proshina, Zoya G.; Eddy, Anna A., eds. (6 October 2016). Russian English: History, Functions, and Features. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 194–195. ISBN   9781107073746. In Russia there are more than twenty country and bluegrass bands...Kukuruza 'Popcorn'...who perform mainly classic country songs...
  8. 1 2 "КукурузА History 1975-1983". kukuruza.info. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "КУКУРУЗА". KM.RU ЭНЦИКЛОПЕДИЯ [KM.Ru Encyclopedia]. Retrieved 8 February 2018. The oldest and most famous Russian-speaking group working in this style. Formed in 1984.
  10. ↑ "КукурузА History 1983-1986". kukuruza.info. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  11. ↑ ""KUKURUZA"". kukuruza.info. Retrieved 21 February 2018. At that time, this kind of music was quite frowned upon, if not outright forbidden...
  12. ↑ Blazeski, Goran (30 September 2016). "How The Beatles brought the Soviet Union down and destroyed communism". vintagenews.com. Retrieved 21 February 2018. ...Soviet citizens were expected to just know that the West was their enemy...arts were strictly regulated...illegal to import Western music in the Soviet Union, so teenagers listened to Radio Luxemburg and recorded their songs on tapes...
  13. ↑ "History". kukuruza.info. Retrieved 21 February 2018. Despite problems and even prohibitions (since "country" was the music of the ideological enemy at that time), «Ornament» was a regular participant of Student Fests in Moscow
  14. 1 2 Shipler, David K. (24 May 1977). "Yerevan Rock Audiences Find Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Far Out". New York Times. New York. Retrieved 8 February 2018. band's success here and the fact of its tour through this country reflect belated official acceptance of Rock from the West after a long period of resistance...
  15. ↑ Lewis, Jim (26 August 1988). "Roy Clark heads to Russia with his 'Friendship Tour'". United Press International. Retrieved 8 February 2018. Roy Clark, star of the syndicated TV comedy show 'Hee Haw,' is taking his banjo, his guitar and his group on a short tour in November...last appearance in the Soviet Union was in 1976...
  16. ↑ Bessman, Jim (21 February 1998). "Russia's Bluegrass Pioneers Bring Their 'Story' to America". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. pp. 31, 34. Retrieved 21 February 2018. ...the band learned the genre...through bluegrass tapes, albums, and songbooks... and 'our fantasy'... didn't have resources to learn...five-string banjo...unusual instruments like the dobro...
  17. ↑ Duckman, David (20 February 1994). "No Second Fiddle, Bluegrass In Russia? Kukuruza Plucks And Picks With Aplomb". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. Retrieved 29 January 2018. ...incorporate the bluegrass sound into a variety of traditional Russian melodies and folk tunes...
  18. ↑ Kuzmukhamedov, Erkin (5 December 1992). "В США появились российские "Кукуруза" и "Колибри" (translation: In the US appeared Russian "Corn" and "Hummingbird)". Kommersant. Moscow, Russia. I was impressed by the professionalism of the band's musicians and the ease with which they arrange Russian folk songs in the spirit of American folklore....the Americanization of Russian folklore is quite successful. ...fresh and brightly colored, characteristic of the country.
  19. 1 2 Bessman, Jim (21 February 1998). "Russia's Bluegrass Pioneers Bring Their 'Story' to America". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 31, 34. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  20. ↑ Telebistro. "Porushka Paranya (original version) by Kukuruza at Nashville Now TV-Show". youtube.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018. This is the original bluegrass version of the Russian folk song "Porushka Paranya" (Порушка Параня). Performed by Kukuruza (famous Russian bluegrass & country band) at Nashville Now TV-Show during the band's US tour in 1993 (sung by Irina Surina).
  21. ↑ Barnard, Anne (3 February 1994). "Kukuruza's Bluegrass Takes Root in America". Moscow Times. Moscow, Russia. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  22. 1 2 3 4 "Л. Григорьева. Рыжая трава (L. Grigorieva. Red-backed grass)". gorenka.org. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  23. ↑ Grigorieva, Larissa. "Larissa Grigorieva, Intro". Facebook . Retrieved 15 February 2018. Manages Moscow Country Bridge Festival and Александр ЛИТВИНЕНКО, художник, "Папа Карло рок-н-ролла"
  24. 1 2 akaz66 (6 April 2017). "Лариса Григорьева – Рыжая трава/1995 Bluegrass,country (Larisa Grigorieva – Redhead grass / 1995 Bluegrass, country)". ...It was this combination that received the unofficial name of Russian country redgrass......2009 she returned with the festival "Country Bridge", being the author of the idea and the festival producer...
  25. ↑ "Red Grass". amazon.com. Retrieved 15 February 2018. ... Ilya Toshinskiy's new solo album, Red Grass (Hadley Music Group), is an instrumental bluegrass album ...
  26. ↑ Duckman, David (20 February 1994). "No Second Fiddle, Bluegrass In Russia? Kukuruza Plucks And Picks With Aplomb". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. Retrieved 29 January 2018. In pre-perestroika times, Kukuruza could have been called a redgrass band.
  27. ↑ "Kukuruza, Kukuruza (A Russian Country Bluegrass Band)". allmusic.com. OCLC   28578439 . Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  28. ↑ "Kukuruza – Crossing Borders". discogs.com. OCLC   30615870 . Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  29. ↑ "Kukuruza – Endless Story". discogs.com. OCLC   43551389 . Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  30. ↑ "Various – Давайте Петь По–Английски = Let's Sing In English". discogs.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018. Ensemble - Ensemble "Kukuruza" by A. A. Shepeleva * (tracks: A6 to B5). Leader - A. Shepelev * (tracks: A6 to B5). Vocals - B. Zdorovova * (tracks: A2 to A5), M. Semashko * (tracks: A1 to A4). Vocals, Guitar - M. Feigin * (tracks: A2 to A5, B6).
  31. ↑ "Кукуруза – Фокусник". discogs.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  32. ↑ "Там, где солнечный свет". itunes.apple.com. January 1993. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  33. ↑ "Кукуруза – Бесконечная История". discogs.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  34. ↑ "Чудак, птичий рынок и фокусник". itunes.apple.com. January 1996. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  35. ↑ "Ой, мороз, мороз!". itunes.apple.com. January 1997. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  36. ↑ "Кукуруза – Anthology. Part 1". discogs.com. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  37. ↑ "Принуждение к радости". itunes.apple.com. January 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.