Leonid (Joseph) Dukhovny (July 18, 1938 – May 4, 2022) was a Soviet and American songwriter, poet, musician, bard, producer. Dukhovny wrote songs in Russian and Ukrainian languages, using his own lyrics, as well as lyrics by other poets. He wrote over 200 songs. Most famous songs are "Podol" ("А без Подола Киев невозможен"), "Waltz for Two" ("Вальс двоих"), "Spring In The Forest" ("Осень в лесу"), "Let's Talk" ("Давай поговорим"). He won the prestigious

Grushinsky festival Grushinsky festival (russian: Грушинский фестиваль) is an annual Russian Bard (Soviet Union), bard song festival that was established in 1968. It takes place near the city of Samara, Russia, Samara, on the Mastryukovo lakes. The ...

in 1976. Dukhovny is famous for his songs about neighborhoods of

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

: "Podol", "Evbaz", "Shulyavka", ... He is also known for his satirical Ukrainian songs. Dukhovny was one of seven heads of the

Bard (Soviet Union) The term bard ( rus, бард, p=bart) came to be used in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, and continues to be used in Russia today, to refer to singer-songwriters who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment, similarly to folk sin ...

movement, responsible for the Ukraine and Moldova regions. He was a founder and the head of a Bard club "Koster" ("Bonfire"), which was one of the first and the biggest bard clubs in Kyiv. After moving to San Francisco Bay Area in 1992, he founded and became the president of one of the first and the largest Bard clubs "Poluostrov" ("Peninsula") in USA. Since 1992 Dukhovny was a community leader for Soviet and Ukrainian communities of San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

Biography

Dukhovny was born July 18, 1938, in

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. He studied and defended his dissertation in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

at Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (MISI) and Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (VZISI). He graduated from special courses in

Directing at the Ministry of Culture. The first song (paraphrase) was written in 1952–1953. Dukhovny was the founder of one of the first Kyiv bard-clubs (KSP) "Koster" ("Bonfire") becoming its president from 1973 to 1992. He was one of the seven coordinators of the "Union of the KSP" (1979–86) - the first informal association of the KSP bard clubs of the USSR. He was responsible for the Ukraine-Moldova region. He was a well-known culturologist of the world movement of the

. In the former

Dukhovny was repeatedly subjected to repressions by

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

for his works and activities. Dukhovny was a laureate of many

festivals (in particular, the prestigious bard-festival

in 1976). He frequently judged regional, country, international festivals (Moscow, Chimgan, Minsk, Riga, Leningrad, Kyiv, Ottawa, San Francisco and others). On September 11, 1992, he immigrated from Kyiv, Ukraine to

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

, USA. On October 19, 1992, Leonid founded "Poluostrov" ("Peninsula") bard club in San Francisco Bay Area, and led it until his death. One of the first and largest bard-clubs in USA. Within the framework of the 2nd Open All-American Festival "Peninsula-96", together with B. Golstein, he held the founding meeting of the "ARCA" association (Association of Russian-speaking Clubs and Authors of Poetic Song USA), where he was elected its president. Dukhovny was an author of a number of articles and theoretical developments on the problems and history of the

movement. He lectured at universities (in particular, in Kemerovo, USSR and Stanford, California, USA). Songs, articles and poems were published in collections, booklets, magazine collections, periodicals. In 1998, a CD with 20 songs was released, in 1999 - an audio cassette. Many songs are copyrighted. There were cases when authorship was restored in court. He organized, promoted and produced concerts by bards from 1980s in USSR to 2022 in USA. Dukhovny was killed in a fire at the apartment complex in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

, USA on May 4, 2022.Погиб Леонид ДУХОВНЫЙ, автор песни «Без Подола Киев невозможен» — Maksim Kravchinskiy
/ref>

References

External links

Biography, Songs, Photos at the main bard repository

Bard-club "Poluostrov" ("Peninsula")

Article in the newspaper "Diaspora"

Songs and photo

Song lyrics: "Podol"

Song lyrics: "Davay pogovorim" (Let's talk)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dukhovny, Leonid 1938 births 2022 deaths Soviet singer-songwriters Soviet poets Ukrainian singer-songwriters Russian singer-songwriters Russian bards Musicians from Kyiv