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History

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

At the beginning of 1998, Irina Surina gave up singing for a very serious reason: in the summer, she became a mother. The rest of the band faced the question of how to proceed. After a series of unsuccessful attempts to substitute Surina, «Kukuruza» made the only possible decision. In order to avoid direct comparison to Irina, Gennady Tarasov was invited to join as lead vocal. Very soon, «Kukuruza» presented its new program in Dibrov’s show “Anthropology.”

Nikolay Plyavin (keyboard) also joined the band. Later, Andrey Baslyk (bass, now in the band "Kalinov Most") replaced Alexei Abolyunsh (contrabass). Andrey Zachesov also left the band. The musical style of the group eventually drifted towards country-rock.

Gennady Tarasov Andrey Baslyk Nikolay Plyavin 1999, «Kukuruza»

In 1998, the club “KUKU…” opened in Moscow . «Kukuruza» moved there with all of their bags and baggage. Many unforgettable concerts and jam sessions took place on the stage of this cozy club. Unfortunately it was closed at the end of 2002.

Irina Surina, Raisa Saedshah and Anatoly Stchast`ev «Kukuruza» in «KUKU...» Sergej Palmov (Volosatiy) and Surina

The “duel” between violinists Michael Rachkevsky ( Russia ) and Peter Ostroushko ( USA ) took place in Moscow in October 1999. The Kremlin Chamber Orchestra and «Kukuruza» took seconds. Once in the USA , Ostroushko helped «Kukuruza» and played two concerts pith the band replacing Sergey Mosolov.

«duel» ticket Peter Ostroushko and «Kukuruza» (1994, USA)
M.Rachlevsky, P.Ostroushko and «Kukuruza» (1999, Moscow)

Irina Surina , who continued to work with «Kukuruza», along with her solo project, eventually left the band by 2000. Michael Venikov also quit in hopes of finding luck and success elsewhere. Michael Kljagin brought “fresh blood” to «Kukuruza».

Michael  Kljagin «Kukuruza» without Irina Surina

«Kukuruza» could not remain long without a female vocal, and so Svetlana Shebeko joined the group. Since that time the band has been a well-tuned team consisting of highly professional musicians:

Svetlana Shebeko - lead vocal, she is a well-known jazz singer in Moscow , and now sings blues and country.
Michael Kljagin - guitar; one of the best guitar player and well-known session musician.
Konstantin Voskresenskij - keyboard, despite being born in the Tula region, famous for its armory and Russian honey cakes "prjaniki," Konstantin chose music over one of those fields, and is now one of the best keyboard players.
Roman Levchenko - bass-guitar; the only foreigner in the band, Roman hails from Ukraine.
Dmitri Krichevskij - drums; has played with «Kukuruza» since 1995 and likes intellectual music and good drum sets.
George Palmov George Palmov - acoustic guitar, mandolin and harmonica; he is the veteran of the band and has played since the time of "Ornament".

In the summer of 2001 "Kukuruza" played a concert devoted to 15-th anniversary. At the stage of Central House of Artist several "generations" beginning with Grigory Gladkov and Alexander Kazankov to Irina Surina, Michail Venikov and Andrei Baslyk sang and played together.

Michael  Kljagin and Michael  Venikov Irina Surina and «fresh» «Kukuruza» Alexander Kazankov 20 years after

The «Kukuruza» still continues its concert activity. The band recently took part in several great festivals in Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , and Poland , where it confirmed its title of the best Russian country band. They play traditional country and country-rock, a bit of blues and rock-n-roll, and their own original songs in Russian.

Luunja Suvekantry (Estonia, 2001ã.) Michael  Kljagin and Tynu Aare («Apelsin»)

The style of «Kukuruza» relies on the clearness and exactness of live instruments, in addition to the ability to improvise and experiment. The atmosphere at concerts constantly changes from nostalgic to romantic to unrestrained gaiety.

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