“His compositions inspired three generations. Now they are inspiring a fourth one”
17 rock bands will perform Braty Hadiukiny’s songs at the concert “Serhii Kuzminsky In Memoriam”
On June 3, the Kyiv Sports Palace will host the concert “Serhii Kuzminsky In Memoriam,” dedicated to the leading voice of the legendary Braty Hadiukiny band. (Let’s recall that Kuzia, as he was known, died on August 3, 2009 after a serious illness; he was 46 years old.) It is unprecedented! Show business, like any artistic milieu, is full of jealousy. However, in this case, bands will join efforts to remember a man who influenced their formation as musicians. Thus, we are slowly disproving allegations of inability to unite. Was Kuzminsky as recognized when he was alive? (We like to honor the dead.) Braty Hadiukiny had gone through all possible development phases including a dissolution of the band in the mid 1990s, and then Kuzia became known as DJ under the name of Pubert. However, Braty Hadiukiny had always been self-sufficient and, one can say, helpful. Having stopped actively performing, they created their own studio, where various bands’ discs were recorded.
The event may well become the biggest ever for Ukrainian rock music, given that it will be attended by 17 bands. These include Okean Elzy, VV, Boombox, TNMK, Haidamaky, Mandry, TIK, Komu Vnyz, MadHeads XL, DakhaBrakha, and the Belarusian band Lyapis Trubetskoy... They will join the original Braty Hadiukiny team in performing their own versions of iconic songs. We already know that VV will sing “Vsio Chotko,” Mandry will perform “Arrivederci, Roma,” Komu Vnyz is to sing “My – Khloptsi z Bandershtatu,” Lyapis Trubetskoy will join them with “Narkomany na Horodi,” while TNMK is to perform “Faine misto Ternopil.” By the way, TNMK were the first to break the news of this event, at the presentation of their new album late last year. “Braty Hadiukiny were number one!” says TNMK’s Fozzy. “They were the first band to sing in a living language. Unfortunately, I discovered it late. Having heard their CDs and realized on what dates they had been recorded, I experienced a culture shock! Now I acquired a habit: every time I go back from the Carpathians, I turn on Hady’s music. All four of their albums, one by one.”
In 2006, after an 11-year-long hiatus, the band played in the same Sports Palace, with 12,000 spectators in attendance. This figure was given according to the official statistics, i.e., the number of tickets sold, but many more had come by invitation... Music columnist Yurko Zeleny notes that no Ukrainian musician had ever experienced such a success. And it is unlikely that anybody will. Even foreign stars are seldom capable of it. However, according to Yurko, it was not just a concert. All present were engulfed by joy, excitement, even release of emotions. It happened without any external agents, with sober people.
“Hadiukiny have become rock legend when all the band’s members were still alive,” he concludes. “With their advent in the late 1980s, the musical Ukraine had declared with a strong voice its coming out of the Soviet era’s shadows and the formation of Ukrainian music as an original, first-grade phenomenon. In addition, Braty showed how to apply rhythm and blues chords to the inherently Ukrainian songs’ material. They were heralds of freedom, and all the time associated with it.”
It is worth mentioning that they inspired three generations, and are now inspiring the fourth one.
The concert “Serhii Kuzminsky In Memoriam” is unprecedented in the Ukrainian show business. We have not seen anything like it before. It is yet another corroboration of Braty Hadiukiny’s status – they are the legend.
