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Thursday, July 2, 2009

RIP Lyudmila Zykina, Russian Folk Singer

Lyudmila Zykina, who rose to stardom from the factory floor to become one of the Soviet Union’s best-loved folk singers, died Wednesday in Moscow. She was 80.

Her doctor, Vladimir Konstantinov, told the Itar-Tass news agency that she had died in hospital on Wednesday morning. A statement on 1tv.ru, the Web site of Channel One television in Russia, said she had had a heart attack a few days before her death.

Born in Moscow in 1929 into a family of singers, Ms. Zykina worked during World War II as a turner in a Moscow machine tool factory. Her singing career took off after she won a pan-Russian singing competition in 1947.

With her powerful, deep voice, she symbolized the Soviet style of Russian folk singing, using traditional songs but performed in an almost operatic style with orchestral backing.

link: Lyudmila Zykina, Russian Folk Singer, Dies at 80 - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com


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