Leonid Dukhovny

Leonid (Joseph) Dukhovny (July 18, 1938 – May 4, 2022) was a Soviet and American songwriter, poet, musician, bard, and 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. The most famous 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 in 1976. Dukhovny was famous for his songs about neighborhoods of Kyiv, such as "Podol", "Evbaz", and "Shulyavka". He was also known for his satirical Ukrainian songs.

Dukhovny was one of seven heads of the Soviet Bard movement, responsible for Ukraine and Moldova.

He was a founder and the head of the bard club Koster ("Bonfire"), one of the first and the biggest bard clubs in Kyiv.

After moving to the 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 the US.

Since 1992, Dukhovny was a community leader for Soviet and Ukrainian communities of San Francisco and Silicon Valley.