NAVIBAND’s Kseniya Zhuk and Artem Lukyanenko: Human Efforts Shape the World

NAVIBAND’s Kseniya Zhuk and Artem Lukyanenko: Human Efforts Shape the World

This issue of the magazine is imbued with a romantic aura. Therefore, we have chosen fitting heroes for our “Alphabet” section – the magical and radiant Kseniya Zhuk and Artem Lukyanenko from the group NAVIBAND. They are united by their joint creativity and great love – for their work and for each other. Today, they share their thoughts on their son, music, improvisation, travel, and a bit about raccoons.

Photographer: Anna Shot @hanna_shot

A — Artem

Kseniya: Artem is not just a friend and husband to me. I value that our relationship always has a moment of “leveling up” internally. We strive to constantly develop ourselves. It’s great to have such a person by your side.

Artem: Yes, we don’t let each other relax. And it’s cool to go through life together.

B — Grandmother and “Bis, Bravo!”

Artem: As a child, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents. It was my grandmother who taught me to read and write; thanks to her, I knew all the letters and numbers by the age of three. She is a very active and spirited person: she still works in the garden and makes preserves. And she cooks very tastily! All the guys from the group love to visit her – she feeds everyone heartily.

Kseniya: Once, as a joke, our friend and sound engineer asked grandmother at lunch: “Do you have carp too?”, and she replied, “Yes, I’ll bring it now!” (Laughs.)

Artem: And grandmother also has an Instagram page. In the stories from concerts, she constantly writes to me: “Bis, bis! Bravo, bravo!”

G — Cities

Artem: We have a tradition: every New Year we go to new cities and countries. This year, our dream came true: we went to New York. And with our friends, it was crazy! This city filled us up and inspired us. We will definitely go back there.

Kseniya: The very fact that you have the opportunity to see other cities and countries, to travel, is incredible. It’s useful to change the usual picture, to get out of your comfort zone. Plus, we walked so much that we lost weight and became culturally enlightened!

E — Raccoon

Artem: In 2018, we went to Los Angeles to visit friends, drove around California, stopped by San Francisco, and… we were robbed there. In the evening, we decided to drive around and check if our friends’ documents were thrown away somewhere. We stopped at every trash can, looked inside, and shone a flashlight. And in one of them, we found raccoons! They were sitting with bags in their hands and looking at us intently, as if to say: “Get out, this is our territory!” And we realized: we don’t belong here! (Laughs.) We saw raccoons live for the first time, and this story stuck with us.

I — Improvisation

Kseniya: I don’t like pre-made scripts! For example, I don’t like to read questions before an interview. I’d rather say something extra, but it will be what’s on my mind at that moment. This also translates into my stage life: I love to improvise on stage. Planning is great, but spontaneous things and decisions are the coolest.

Artem: In our life, everything is in the flow. We can buy tickets and fly somewhere in a day. It’s useful to “let go” of yourself sometimes.

K — Cat and Mole

Kseniya: That’s what we call each other. The mole is me! I am a very curious person. If I need to find out something, I “dig” as deep as possible. And I really love detective stories.

Artem: Kseniya loves to get to the truth and find out the facts! And the funniest thing is when she mishears or hears half of a conversation: she starts making such conclusions, conducting such investigations! (Laughs.)

L — Love and Lennon

Kseniya: I like that love can be multifaceted: love for a child, a friend, a loved one, parents, events, cities, even things… And it’s always different. Love is everything.

Artem: Love rules the world. Peace & Love, as Lennon said.

M — Matey

Kseniya: Matey is a name that we liked a long time ago (in 2018, Kseniya and Artem had a son named Matey). It’s a purely Belarusian name, but at the same time, you can find a variant of this name in every language. When Matey starts traveling, in England he will be able to introduce himself as Matthew, in Spanish-speaking countries as Mateo. The name Matey means “gift from God.” He is our miracle that rejoices and motivates us to work every day, including on ourselves.

Generally, the letter M is one of my favorites. Many important words for me start with it: Matey, mom, music, dreams, husband… This letter is always associated with warmth, movement, and aspiration.

N — Napoleon

Artem: I recently came across an interesting photograph where Mstislav Rostropovich, a famous Russian composer, is standing, holding a Stradivari cello in his hands, and next to him sits Marc Chagall. And on the cello – a huge scratch. It turned out that this cello was once in the hands of Napoleon, and the scratch is a mark from his boot. Once, the cello belonged to a French composer. Napoleon listened to him and asked to give him the cello to play it beautifully too. The composer did not dare to object to the emperor, with trembling hands he gave the cello, but Napoleon, out of ignorance, scratched it with his spurs. Then Rostropovich played on it. It is believed that after his death, his wife sold the cello for 20 million dollars to a Japanese association. Such is the story. So not all emperors and great people are perfect.

Kseniya: All people are imperfect, and that’s great. And yes, Artem really loves to find and remember interesting stories!

O — Vegetables

Kseniya: Recently, we decided to try not to eat meat. At first, as an experiment, but the experiment has already lasted for three months. And we feel comfortable. There are many debates and sides to this issue, it’s a personal choice for everyone. Personally, vegetables give us much more strength, energy, and comfort. Moreover, we rarely ate meat anyway.

Artem: We don’t have any difficulties with nutrition – neither on trips nor when going to cafes. And most of the participants in our group also do not eat meat.

P — Dad

Kseniya: I always thank my dad for the musical part of my life. He has an inquisitive mind and knows many interesting facts. It is thanks to him that I have developed a great taste in music.

Dad is an important word for me, also because Artem has recently become a dad. I think that fatherhood is a new and special level of maturity.

R — Rubinstein

Artem: Yesterday we were listening to classical music, and I came across an interesting fact from the life of the outstanding pianist Arthur Rubinstein. It turns out that when he was 21 years old, he was poor. He was already engaged in music, but was considered a mediocre pianist. It all came to the point that he decided to commit suicide and hanged himself on his belt. But the belt was also “poor” and broke! The musician fell, and he had an epiphany, an even greater feeling for life awoke in him. He lived a long life and gave concerts even when he was over 80 years old. Life is beautiful, and we advise everyone to feel it always and in every moment!

S — Light and Shine

Kseniya: I appreciate the inner light of people. I love it when light people are around – it makes you feel warm inside too.

Artem: I associate the letter S with a similar word – shine. It’s very important when people radiate shine. Such people are always visible, they attract attention. Sometimes, in a cafe, a company is sitting nearby, and one person stands out. And you constantly unconsciously throw a glance in his direction – he radiates shine and charisma so much. So shine, radiate, give light!

Kseniya: Shine bright like a diamond!

T — Dance

Kseniya: Artem and I have “our” song – he proposed to me under it, we danced to it at our wedding. We love to dance, it’s an important part of our life together.