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History

1975-1983 | 1983-1986 | 1986-1990 | 1990-1997 | 1998-2002 |
2003-2006 |
1983-1986

1983 . After having quit the military ( Shepelev from the Artillery, Palmov from the Air Force), both changes their professions which they studied at the universities. Palmov began working as a sound engineer in the Utesov's State Orchestra of Russia.

That time was very difficult for Ornament. Even Grigoriy Gladkov who came from St. Petersburg with a plenty of new ideas could not stop the band from collapse. Very soon the story of «Ornament» came to its end at the Sverdlov's Club.

George Palmov Grigoriy Gladkov Prisekin (with banjo)

But it was the beginning of «KUKURUZA».

Andrey Shepelev joined Utesov's Orchestra as an engineer and banjo player. Vladimir Larshin, the violinist with musical education, also played there. Everything went very well. A rehearsal place in Moscow with all the necessary equipment was at the disposal of «Kukuruza». These resources gave them plenty of time to study Bluegrass during the tours. Rostislav Prisekin, who came back from the Soviet Army in Czechoslovakia , also did not waste time and joined «Kukuruza» to play the acoustic guitar and harmonica. Alexander Tarev played contrabass, completing the traditional set of Bluegrass instruments. Larisa Nuzhdova (later Grigorieva) contributed with vocals in Russian and English.

The first «Kukuruza» concert took place at the Youth Day festival at the Dzerzhinsky Park (Ostankino) on one of the rainy days of 1984. The song by Grigoriy Gladkov "Sing, Vasja!" brought success to the young band.

The first «Kukuruza» The first concert

In 1985, the changes in Utesov's Orchestra's leadership forced some band members to leave their "sweet home". Andrey Shepelev was the first one but he was immediately invited by Barry Alibasov to «Integral». G. Palmov and Larisa went to Ukraine to work in the Khmelnitskiy Philharmonic. «Kukuruza» was suspended.

After six months of traveling around the country the members, of the band decided to stop everything and continue «Kukuruza». Moreover, the song "Sing, Vasja!" was often on the radio. This song was included in the New Year LP "Masquerade". The group received many invitations to TV shows. Unfortunately, not all members were able to "stop everything". The group had to search for a new fiddler and bass player.

TV show «Shire Krug» G.Palmov, A.Tarev, V.Larshin

Rostislav found the fiddler not on the roof, but in the subway: it was easy to recognize the violin case. Sergey Mosolov was a student at the University of Culture and played in «The Moscow Country Count Band». Aleksey Aboltynsh studied at the same university and played tuba in the same band. He has just successfully passed the competition to play in the orchestra of the Bolshoy Theatre, but to the horror of his mother, was ready to give up everything and play contrabass in «Kukuruza».

Sergey Mosolov (fiddle) Aleksey Aboltynsh (contrabass)

Everything went well again, but the new name of the group was not well accepted by the people "above". The name «Kukuruza» was sometimes ignored in advertisements or programs and was often substituted by "the group of merry music" or simply "the group led by A. Shepelev or Gr. Gladkov".

The breakthrough came when Eleonora Belyaeva, a host of the program "Muzykalniy Kiosk", announced to the whole Soviet Union: "Sing, Vasja!" by «Kukuruza»."

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