1968–2015
Kuzma Skriabin
Singer, frontman of the band Skriabin
A medical school graduate who became Kuzma Skriabin: for more than a quarter of a century Andrii Kuzmenko fronted the band Skriabin, hosted TV shows and wrote a book. He died in a car crash in 2015; posthumously made a Hero of Ukraine.
Key accomplishments
- Founder (1989) and lifelong frontman of the band Skriabin: the albums Ptakhy, Tango, Moia Evoliutsiia, Radio Liubov and others
- Third prize at the Chervona Ruta festival (1991) in the pop music category
- Host of the TV shows Shans (with Nataliia Mohylevska) and Sheikanemo on the Inter channel (2003–2008)
- The book Ya, Pobieda i Berlin (Me, the Pobeda and Berlin, 2006)
- Order of Merit, 1st class (2015, posthumously); Hero of Ukraine (2020, posthumously, Decree No. 323/2020)
A rock star with a medical degree
Did you know the frontman of Skriabin trained in medicine? Andrii Kuzmenko, known as Kuzma or Kuzma Skriabin, was born in 1968 in Sambir in the Lviv region. From 1985 he studied at the Karelian Medical Institute in Petrozavodsk, and in 1993, like Volodymyr Ivasiuk two decades before him, he graduated from the Lviv Medical Institute.
Sixteen albums in a quarter of a century
Kuzmenko founded Skriabin while still a student, in 1989, and led the band for the rest of his life. The first success came in 1991 at the Chervona Ruta festival in Zaporizhzhia, and the song “Na Dakhu” (On the Roof) made it onto a CD of the festival’s winners. Later the band won awards at Tavriiski Ihry and Pisnia Roku. Skriabin recorded 16 studio albums, from Chuiesh Bil (1989) and Ptakhy (1995) to Tango (2005), Moia Evoliutsiia (2009), Radio Liubov (2012) and 24 (2014).
A voice on air
Kuzma was also known as a host. He presented the Hariacha Simka chart show (2000–2002), and in 2003–2008 the TV shows Shans (with Nataliia Mohylevska) and Sheikanemo on Inter. In 2006 his book Ya, Pobieda i Berlin came out, with novellas and the band’s lyrics.
How he is remembered
On 2 February 2015, near the village of Lozuvatka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Kuzmenko’s car collided with a milk tanker; according to the police, the car crossed into the oncoming lane on a bend. The singer died at the scene. He was buried in Briukhovychi near Lviv. That same day thousands of people in cities across Ukraine gathered in squares to sing Skriabin’s songs.
Kuzma’s songs have been covered by Tina Karol, Pianoboy, Boombox, Antytila, KAZKA and others, and monuments to him stand in Lutsk and Kyiv. Posthumously he received the Order of Merit, 1st class (2015), and the title Hero of Ukraine (2020). The title stirred arguments on social media: to his fans he is a cult singer and a sharp critic of those in power, while critics point out that in 2004 he toured in support of Viktor Yanukovych.
