Yan Frenkel
Yan Abramovich Frenkel () (November 21, 1920, Kyiv – August 25, 1989, Riga, USSR) was a popular Soviet Ukrainian composer and performer of Jewish descent. Biography. Yan Frenkel was a Russian Sovjet composer born in Kyiv, Ukraine. He was originally taught violin by his father, and later studied classical violin at the Kiev Conservatory under , and the piano. During the Second World War he was evacuated to Orenburg, where he entered at the Orenburg Antiaircraft Military School (Zenitnoe Uchilishche), and played the violin in the orchestra of the "Avrora" Cinema. In 1942 served at the front lines, was wounded. After  the hospital, since 1943 played in the military orchestra. After the war, since 1946 he lived in Moscow, where he wrote orchestral arrangements and played the violin in small orchestras. He began composing songs in the 1960s. His first was the song "Gody" ('The Years'), written to lyrics by Mark Lisianski. During his later career he worked in collaboration with many prominent Soviet musicians, including Mikhail Tanich, , and the husband and wife team Konstantin Vanshenkin and ]. Thanks to Mark Bernes his song "Zhuravli" ('The Cranes', lyrics by Rasul Gamzatov) became a major hit. Frenkel gave concerts in which he performed  his own music. During these concerts the audience would generally join in. His songs were included in the repertoire of many Soviet performers. He also appeared in the movie "The Elusive Avengers", for which he composed a score. Yan Frenkel died on August 25, 1989 in Riga (as foreshadowed in his song "Avgust" ('August') to the lyrics of ). His wife Natalia died in the mid-1990s, but his daughter Nina has lived in Italy since the 1980s. His grandson Ian Frenkel is a musician (pianist and arranger) in the United States Coast Guard Band. Trivia. As reported by composer's fan  site, members of Soviet ruling bureaucracy orchestrated a campaign against 'The Cranes', citing the song's religious undertones. The case was elevated all the way to the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who decreed "acceptable to perform, but not too often". Frenkel was the prototype for Gena the Crocodile, a fictional, friendly crocodile in the series of popular animation films Gena the Crocodile, Cheburashka and Shapoklyak.