Lyudmila Zykina

Lyudmila Zykina
Людмила Зыкина
Zykina in 2004
Born
Lyudmila Georgievna Zykina

(1929-06-10)10 June 1929
Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died1 July 2009(2009-07-01) (aged 80)
Moscow, Russia
Resting placeNovodevichy Cemetery, Moscow
OccupationSinger
Years active1947–2009
Title
Awards
Signature
President Vladimir Putin awards the Order of St. Andrew to Zykina, 15 June 2004

Lyudmila Georgievna Zykina (Russian: Людми́ла Гео́ргиевна Зы́кина; 10 June 1929 – 1 July 2009) was a national folk singer of Russia.

She was born in Moscow and joined the Pyatnitsky Choir in 1947. Her surname is derived from the Russian word for "loud" ("зычный"). Beginning in 1960 she performed solo. She befriended Ekaterina Furtseva, the powerful Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union, and was reputed to be a favourite singer of Leonid Brezhnev. It is known she was a particular favourite of both Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il, performing in Pyongyang six times at the invitation of the Kims. It was also reported that Kim Jong-il was so fond of Zykina that he invited her to Pyongyang in 2008 in hopes that her performance would help him recover from illness.[1] Olga Voronets was considered Zykina's main rival.[2]

Among Zykina's many honors were the Lenin Prize (1970) and Order of Lenin (1979) as well as the titles of People's Artist of the USSR (1973) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1987). According to Dmitri Shostakovich, Zykina was "more than a brilliant interpreter, she was a coauthor, co-creator of composers".

Her signature songs include Techot Volga and Orenburgskii platok. The asteroid 4879 Zykina is named after her. Lyudmila Zykina died on 1 July 2009 after suffering a heart attack.[3][4][5][6]

  1. ^ "Kim Jong-il's Favorite Russian Singer Dies", Chosun Ilbo (29 October 2009)[1] Archived 5 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ "Народная песня Ольги Воронец. Пусть говорят. Выпуск от 14.01.2014" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  3. ^ "Famous Russian singer Zykina dies". BBC News. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  4. ^ ""Queen of Russian folk" Lyudmila Zykina dies". Reuters. Moscow. 1 July 2009. Archived from the original on 6 July 2009. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
  5. ^ Через три недели после 80-летнего юбилея скончалась народная артистка СССР певица Людмила Зыкина (in Russian). NEWSru.com. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  6. ^ "Выпуск новостей в 12:00 сегодня, 27 ноября 2016 года. Новости. Первый канал". 1tv.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 27 November 2016.