Farewell to artist Pavel Usanov and new details of his tragic death
In the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in Moscow, the funeral was held for the tragically murdered bass guitarist of the Lyube band Pavel Usanov. The rector of the temple, a famous preacher, father Dmitry (Smirnov) buried the musician. More than a thousand people came to say goodbye to Pavel.
Friends, colleagues and associates shared with MK what kind of musician, philanthropist and person he was.
Nikolai Rastorguev said goodbye to a friend and colleague.
Everyone who walked from the Dynamo metro towards Petrovsky Park with flowers, it was clear that they were visiting Pasha.
Strong, broad-shouldered men with a military bearing, long-haired musicians in scarves, clergymen in cassocks gathered in the courtyard of the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos ... Pavel Usanov's circle of friends and acquaintances was so wide.
The oak coffin with Paul's body was placed in the southern part of the temple. From the very morning, all the space around him was filled with baskets of flowers, and everyone continued to carry them.
We came to honor the memory of the bright man Pasha Usanov, and also to convey a mourning bouquet from St. Petersburg actors from the series “Street of Broken Lanterns,” says one of the musician’s fans, Elmira. - Pasha was friends with these artists. Unfortunately, they could not come themselves, they sent flowers through us. We mourn with the actors, together with the whole country.
Men in dark suits and camouflage silently entered the temple with flowers. And only at the exit did they agree to talk about Pavel.
We have known Pavel for more than three years. We had joint projects on the military-patriotic education of youth. For him, the word "motherland" had a special meaning, - shared with us the commander of the Saturn special forces unit of the Office of the Federal Penitentiary Service for the city of Moscow, Colonel of the Internal Service Boris Nikolaev. - Pavel went to concerts in the Donbass, sang for the wounded in hospitals, for children from the orphanage. He also constantly visited units of the Internal Troops, the Dzerzhinsky Division, and the Special Purpose Center. This is a very big loss for all of us.
Right with a suitcase in hand, his admirer Igor Kuznetsov from Kirov came to say goodbye to Pavel.
I am passing through Moscow. In our city, Pavel studied at the pop department, at the art school. And yet - he played for the Kirov "Dynamo". We consider him a countryman. Arriving on tour in Kirov, instead of a restaurant, he went to his own student canteen. He said that the taste of those cabbage soup brings him back to his happy student years. I specifically took tickets for the evening train to put flowers at the coffin of Pavel Usanov.
With a huge bouquet of roses, Alexander Muromsky, a nine-time Russian champion in strength records, came to commemorate a close friend.
Pasha and I have known each other for many years, together we patronized 17 orphanages, constantly touring them. Pasha gave charity concerts almost every week. Never turned down a soldier. He thought that he should ... After all, at one time he served in the Totsk motorized rifle division. Many guys from his call ended up in Chechnya, he was in uniform and did not get into that party. The guys joked, they say, we'll be back soon ... It was 1991. 6 people returned, 90 died. Pasha, as they say, "hurt", remembering this time, he was very worried ...
He shared what he knew best, gave lessons in parishes, taught music to children with difficult destinies. For a year I went to the village of Byvalino near Moscow. Then his students took first place at the international competition in Bulgaria. When he organized his group "Encounter Battle", he went to vocal courses. And even had surgery on the septum in the nose to improve breathing. Before that, he wanted to convey what the Lord had given him, namely the feeling of love for the Motherland.
Pasha is the person who could sacrifice absolutely everything. Take, for example, the case of a priest who was kidnapped a few years ago in the Stavropol Territory by attackers. It was necessary to pay the ransom in two days. Pasha immediately responded. He had a dream to build a house in Novokosino, a plot had already been purchased. To rescue the priest from captivity, Pasha sold his land. This amount was not enough for the ransom, he called me, in two days we collected the necessary funds, saved the priest.
Pasha and I also helped send humanitarian aid to Donetsk and Luhansk. When they found out that it did not reach Pervomaisk, they collected a new consignment. Basically it was food. After all, people simply did not have enough food.
About the events of that ill-fated night when Paul was injured, Alexander says:
Those who were in the restaurant said that Pasha raised a toast to the Donbass. He did this often, because with all his heart he rooted for civilians who lived in the basements of houses due to constant bombing. At the next table, as I understand it, there were guys from Odessa. They expressed a different point of view than that voiced by Paul. After that there was a push, Pasha ran into a certain comrade by the name of Dobry, who then called his friends for help, they caught Pasha already on the way to the house, inflicted fatal injuries on him.
He still got home on his own ... It was necessary to immediately call an ambulance, but Pasha was strong, he thought he was recovering. His wife Juliana turned for help only in the morning. Kolya Rastorguev insisted on this. Time has been lost. I remember the doctor came out after the operation, reassured us, said that Pasha would be in an artificial coma for two days, then the recovery process should begin. We all relaxed... But he never regained consciousness.
In what happened, many see mysticism.
We managed to talk with Valery Lvovich Nikolaev, whose son, bass guitarist of the Lube group Alexander Nikolaev, tragically died in a car accident in August 1996.
I think it's all about the guitar. I remember how the band, while on tour in America, bought the guitar of some famous bluesman. The musician himself died, I don’t remember exactly, but I think from drugs. This guitar was made by a well-known company, modern, sophisticated. "Lyube" got it inexpensively, - says Valery Lvovich. - My son Sasha began to play on it. I asked him then: “Aren't you afraid? Can the thing of the deceased have a negative effect on the new owner? Sasha just shrugged it off. A year and a half later, he died in a car accident. He was replaced by Pavel. Moreover, they even looked alike with Sasha. Pasha was also very friendly, not scandalous. This guitar passed to Pasha... How can one not become superstitious?
Friends say that Pavel could have died in the Donbass. Their car came under fire several times.
Having been in the war zone in the Donbass for the first time, he returned silent, - says his friend Yuriy. - Then he said: “There, people have eyes, as if sprinkled with ashes.” And he kept asking: “How can you leave the Russians where it’s hard for them?” He was especially struck by the teachers, who, despite the constant shelling, did not stop playing music with the children. And, they did it for free. They understood how important it is to put talent on the wing, even when there is a war... And Pavel understood this. To give people hope, he organized the cultural and educational movement "Native Spaces". During the hostilities, he held a children's music competition with his comrades-in-arms in the Donbass. Pavel said that shell explosions were heard, and the children continued to play courageously on stage.
Then he and his associates began to buy things, food, medical equipment. All this was sent to the Donbass as part of the EMERCOM convoy.
- “I will go out into the field with a horse at night,” they sang softly, swallowing the tears of a girl in black scarves.
And there was already a stream of people going to the temple.
I came from St. Petersburg to light a candle at the coffin of Pavel Anatolyevich, - says Gennady, a cadet of the Suvorov Military School from St. Petersburg. - I remember he was with us on January 27, the Day of the complete lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. In St. Petersburg, everyone had a candle burning in the windows in memory of the victims of that terrible time. Pavel said that he had specially come on this holy day for Petersburgers to light his candle... Now I am here too.
Meanwhile, his friends went to say goodbye to Pavel Usanov, with whom he studied together at the Gnessin Academy.
We had five friends, now it turns out that there is no one, the most talented, - says Cyril. - Pasha was always very smiling, friendly, open. We lived in the same dorm room. He always rescued everyone with money. Who and what owed him, Pasha did not remember when they gave him the money, he was very surprised. He was a generous soul, very unselfish. After graduating from the academy, we crossed paths with him more than once in the theater of the Soviet Army, when he already played in the Lube group, but in Pizhon. Being on tour in Israel, despite the tight schedule, he found our classmate Nikolai there. Friendship for Pasha was sacred.
Pasha and I worked together in the group for ten years, - Yuri Rymanov says in turn. “He has done so much in forty years that even ten people cannot do it. Even without "Lube" he was a person.
Friends bitterly noted that today in the temple Pavel Usanov "gathered" several generations of musicians who had not seen each other for 10 - 15 years.
Pasha for me was like an epic hero: strong, reliable, open to people, - says songwriter Alexander Shaganov. “I never heard a bad word from him. He was the soul of the Lube team. He was a wonderful musician, understandable to both a metropolitan resident and an inhabitant of a small village. Without advertising his charitable activities, he gave a huge number of concerts for children from orphanages and orphanages. He also spoke to conscripts and veterans. They say about people like Pasha - "the salt of the Russian land." He lived a short life, but managed to do a lot. He left us in the middle of life, in the middle of spring.
In order not to talk about his death, for me Pasha died in battle. It wasn't some kind of nighttime mess. They killed him on purpose. They dealt blows incompatible with life. Moreover, they attacked meanly, from the back, like jackals ...
Have you seen Pasha's fists? - asks a strong guy in camouflage, who called himself Roman. - In an open battle, the killers would not have coped with him. He was engaged in hand-to-hand combat, went to the gym, ran crosses, and swam in the lake until late autumn. They broke his head, coming from behind.
Near the coffin, a woman in black was crying: “For three weeks I struggled, balanced, suffered a craniotomy. There wasn’t enough strength...” And already, turning to us, she began to explain: “And how he loved his mother, he tried to come to Novocheboksarsk as often as possible. She worked at the telegraph office, and from the age of 12 Pashka worked part-time by delivering telegrams. He worked all his life, lived with God in his soul, drew strength and inspiration from faith.
He lived 40 years, 8 months and 8 days, - says the old woman, straightening the ribbons on the wreaths. - Look at the photograph of Pavel, what radiant eyes, an all-understanding smile... He prayed for many, now it's time for an answering prayer for his repose.
Someone turned on the song of the group "Meeting Fight", which Pasha organized in 2006, on the phone. The wind ruffled the flowers in the hands of the admirers of Pavel Usanov. And over the temple the lines were heard: “Who am I? - wolf, or brother? Coward or hero? Poor or rich? How many people will remember me? ... "
Let's remember! friends said out loud.
Give rest, Lord, to the newly-departed Paul, - a woman in black said quietly, baptizing the portrait of a musician. - He is now where there is neither sadness nor sighing.
The funeral began. The rector of the temple, Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, was in time for its beginning. On this day, Father Dmitry had to bury his old friend and mentor, who passed away at the age of 91. In two days, he began the funeral service for Pavel Usanov, who was only 40 years old. Father Dmitry managed to inform us that the priest from the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, who knew Pavel Usanov well, managed to give him communion several times in the hospital.
The attack on the bass player of the Lyube group, says Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, was a manifestation of the policy of persecution for dissent, which is carried out by supporters of the new government in Ukraine within the country and abroad. Such an approach threatens them with death, she is sure.
ON THIS TOPIC
“Give them human rights, European values, respect. You won’t have any values or respect until you stop shooting people on the Maidan, burning in the houses of trade unions and killing in bars on a national-ideological basis. First, intensive rehabilitation from nationalism, then everything the rest. Otherwise, clinical death from self-poisoning," Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page.
Writer and musician Zakhar Prilepin spoke about the details of the fatal evening in his column on REN TV. "Pasha was sitting in a bar, discussing exactly the very topics that we discussed with him - Donbass. It hurt with him - and, there is nothing to hide, we talked and we talk about it often," he said. “There was someone in the cafe who, apparently, did not like the conversation. Pasha was hit on the head. From behind. Face to face with him, the killer had much less chances. Pasha could stand up for himself. The result: a fracture of the base of the skull and an intracerebral hematoma ", Prilepin added.
"Three weeks in a coma. The other day, his wife Yulia asked to pray for doctors. Today (April 19. - Approx. ed.) Pasha, without leaving a coma, died. People who kill for a word, for a position, for courage have bred. He did not take up arms. He helped the children. How to relate to this? How to forgive? Something breaks inside. It hurts very much, "the writer admitted.
Pavel Usanov is known for his help to the people of Donbass, in particular to children. In 2015, he organized the Native Spaces cultural and educational movement, the first project of which was a children's music competition. The event took place in Donetsk during the hostilities between the security forces controlled by Kyiv and representatives of Donbass.
Recall that the musician of the Lyube group Pavel Usanov on the evening of April 2, in an unconscious state, was urgently hospitalized at the Sklifosovsky Institute with a head wound after a severe beating at the Beer Pub establishment in the Dmitrovsky district. He was diagnosed with a fracture of the base of the cranial vault, a closed craniocerebral injury and concussion.
Maxim Dobry, a resident of the Solnechnogorsk district of the Moscow region, is suspected of the crime. The attacker denied guilt, but witnesses pointed to him. In addition, his actions were recorded by surveillance cameras. A criminal case has been initiated under the article "Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm", which provides for punishment of up to eight years in prison. In connection with the death of a musician, the case may be reclassified to a more serious article.
Lube is a Russian rock band created with the participation of producer Igor Matvienko. The frontman of the group since its inception in 1989 is Nikolai Rastorguev. "Lube" performs patriotic songs with elements of folk music and "yard chanson".History of the group
In 1989, Igor Matvienko, then a novice producer of the Record studio, decided to create a musical group that would be radically different from all the popular domestic groups of that time. The basis of the repertoire of the newly minted team was to be made up of songs of military-patriotic themes and lyrical ballads with elements of the author's song and folk motives. 
The composer nurtured this idea for several years, and during this time, in collaboration with the poet Alexander Shaganov, he accumulated a sufficient amount of musical material. But with the search for a soloist, certain problems arose. At first, the producer offered to lead the new group to his longtime friend and classmate at the music school Sergey Mazaev, but he refused and advised his friend Nikolai Rastorguev to participate in the competition for this place, who had previously performed with Matvienko in the VIA “Hello, song!”.
And although at the first audition the singer did not impress Matvienko, he nevertheless took him on tour with him. Also, the first composition of Lube included bassist Alexander Nikolaev, guitarist Vyacheslav Tereshonok, drummer Rinat Bakhteev and keyboardist Alexander Davydov. However, quite quickly, changes took place in the line-up: Yuri Ripyakh took the place of the drummer, and Vitaly Loktev began playing the synthesizer instead of Davydov. Also in Lube they took the second guitarist Alexander Weinberg and backing vocalist Alexei Tarasov.
January 14, 1989 is considered the birthday of "Lyube" - on this day the first songs "Old Man Makhno" and "Lyubertsy" were recorded.
The main stages of creativity
The first compositions of the group immediately became the leaders of domestic charts. In March 1989, the team went on their first tour of Russia. Music and arrangements for the band were written by Matvienko, and Alla Pugacheva advised the musicians to wear post-war uniforms at her annual Christmas Meetings. In the same year, the guys performed at the musical break “What? Where? When?".Lube - Roulette (1989, "What? Where? When?")
The new team, which stood out sharply against the background of sugary-caramel sweet-voiced colleagues on the stage with its stern appearance and hooligan, somewhat aggressive repertoire, immediately attracted wide interest and attention of the public.
The group was named "Lyube" in honor of Lyubertsy, Rastorguev's hometown. According to another version, the word "lube" has Ukrainian roots and means "any, anyone." Everyone can interpret the name of the group as he wants, Rastorguev believes.
In 1990, the group appeared on television, became the laureate of the "Song of the Year", and cassettes with their songs filled all the recording kiosks. In the same year, the pilot album "Atas" was released, and in the spring of 1991 the group gave several concerts at the "Olympic" with a new concert program "All Power - Lyube". 
At the same time, the team began filming their first professional video clip "Don't Play the Fool, America", which was created using elements of computer graphics and animation. This video work was awarded a special prize at one of the prestigious international festivals.
Lube - Don't play the fool, America (the first clip of the group)
At the end of 1991, it was decided to replenish the group with a choir. So backing vocalists Evgeny Nasibulin and Oleg Zenin appeared in the line-up (later he and Weinberg together founded the Our Business group). Instead of Ripyakh, who left the group, Alexander Erokhin, who previously played in the Gulyai Pole group, sat on the drums.
By the end of 1992, Lube released another album and gave a total of about eight hundred concerts, bringing together almost three million people. 1994 was marked by the release of the film "Lube Zone", which included new songs that compare favorably with the previous ones in sound, theme and sound quality. A special place in the work of the group was occupied by the composition "Horse", which for decades became its hallmark. At the premiere of the song in Sevastopol, Nikolai Rastorguev could not hold back his tears on stage, and this touching moment, which was aired, made a huge impression on the fans of the band.
Lube - Horse
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Victory, the song "Combat" was presented, which became a cult for several generations of the inhabitants of our country and was recognized as the best in 1995. A year later, the group released a disc of the same name, which included duets in Lyudmila Zykina and Rolan Bykov. The track list includes compositions that are well known even to those who are not interested in the work of "Lube": "Samovolochka", "The main thing is that I have you", "Moscow streets".
In August 1996, bassist Alexander Nikolaev got into a fatal accident. Andrey Danilin joined the group, having lasted a year in the group. In 1997, Pavel Usanov took his place.
Over the following years, "Lube" repeatedly became laureates of the "Golden Gramophone" and "Song of the Year", and their heartfelt, sincere and heartfelt compositions could be heard in popular domestic TV series. For example, the series “Plot” with Sergei Bezrukov was opened by the lyrical “Birches”, and “Border. Taiga novel" by Alexander Mitta - "You carry me, river." The songs "Call me softly by name" and "Let's break through, opera!" became the calling card of the series "Deadly Force".
"Lube Zone" (full movie)
By the tenth anniversary of the group, a new album was presented and a grandiose tour was organized, which ended with a large-scale performance at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex, which lasted about three hours.
In the fall of 2002, President Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila visited a concert of the Lyube group, praised their work and invited the musicians to visit their Sochi residence. Then Rastorguev became the People's Artist of the Russian Federation. In general, the group does not hide its conservative political views and actively supports United Russia, often giving concerts in support of it.
In 2005, in support of the next album "Scattering", several grandiose concerts were held in the capital, in which Sergey Mazaev, Nikolai Fomenko, Nikita Mikhalkov, the orchestra of officers of the Alpha group took part. One of the songs in a duet with Nikolai Rastorguev was performed by Igor Matvienko himself, who usually appears very rarely in public.
In 2009, Lube backing vocalist Anatoly Kuleshov tragically died in an accident.
In 2015, in Lyubertsy, a sculpture “Dusya-aggregate” was installed in honor of the group, and Rastorguev became an honorary resident of the city. In the same year, the first album “For you, Motherland” was released after 6 years of silence, timed to coincide with two dates at once: the 25th anniversary of the group and the 55th anniversary of Igor Matvienko.
The song “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” from the new disc, sung together with the soldiers of the Alpha special forces unit, was included in the soundtrack of the remake “The Dawns Here Are Quiet ...” by Renat Davletyarova. And “Just Love” can be heard in the full-length military drama “August. Eighth "Dzhanik Faiziev.
In 2016, bassist Pavel Usanov died from a brawl in the Moscow region. He quarreled with restaurant visitors because of his position on the conflict in Donbass and was beaten to a coma, from which he never came out. By a strange coincidence, he died on the same day as Anatoly Kuleshov, 7 years later. Dmitry Streltsov became the new bassist of Lube.
Collaborations with other artists
- "My Admiral" - "Lube" ft. Victoria Dayneko
- "Just Love" - "Lube" ft. "Roots"
- "For you, Motherland!" - "Lube" ft. Sveta Aya
- "A Dawn" - "Lube" ft. Sergey Bezrukov and Dmitry Dyuzhev
- "Talk to me" - "Lube" ft. Ludmila Zykina
- "The Volga River Flows" - "Lube" ft. Ludmila Zykina
- "Two Comrades Served" - "Lube" ft. Rolan Bykov
- "Clear Falcon" - "Lube" ft. Sergey Mazaev and
“Pasha died today,” the press service of Igor Matvienko said. Pavel Usanov died on April 19 in a Moscow hospital, where he was taken in an unconscious state.
In early April, information appeared about the detention of a bass player suspected of beating, who on the night of April 2-3 was hospitalized with serious head injuries at the Research Institute. Sklifosovsky. A law enforcement source said that 40-year-old Usanov was hospitalized in serious condition with a head injury after an attack by unknown people in the Dmitrovsky district of the Moscow region. The musician was taken to intensive care. He was hospitalized in a Moscow hospital in an unconscious state. Doctors assessed the condition of the musician as serious. He was diagnosed with multiple fractures and a concussion. Subsequently, it was reported that the bass player underwent a craniotomy.
The day before, his condition improved, and Usanov's relatives even announced the collection of donations for the rehabilitation of the musician.
On April 3, a suspect in the attack on Usanov was detained in the Moscow region. A 39-year-old resident of the Solnechnogorsk district was prosecuted under Part 1 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm”). According to TASS, in connection with the death of a musician, the case may be reclassified to a more serious article.
Usanov joined Lube in 1996 after the death of the group's previous bassist, Alexander Nikolaev, in a car accident. Prior to that, he played in Sergei Zhilin's Phonograph Jazz Band. In 2006, he created the Encounter Battle group, where he performed in parallel with Lube.
Writer Zakhar Prilepin spoke about the reasons for the beating of the bass player of the Lyube group Pavel Usanov, as a result of which the musician fell into a coma and subsequently died. He wrote about this in his blog on the REN TV website.
The incident occurred in a cafe in the Dmitrovsky district of the Moscow region. “Pasha was sitting in a bar, discussing exactly the very topics that we discussed with him - Donbass. It hurt us with him - and there is nothing to hide, we talked about it often, ”Prilepin wrote.
According to him, one of those present at the institution did not like the conversation. “They approached Pasha and hit him on the head. Behind. Face to face with him, the killer had much less chance. Pasha could take care of himself. The result: a fracture of the base of the skull and an intracerebral hematoma, ”the writer noted.
The information provided by Prilepin was commented by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova. “Give them human rights, European values, respect. You will have neither values nor respect until you stop shooting people on the Maidans, burning them in the houses of trade unions and killing people in bars on a national-ideological basis. First intensive rehabilitation from nationalism, then everything else. Otherwise, clinical death from self-poisoning,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
