U.M.A

23 Pine Ridge Crescent

Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6N9


204-648-4507

Adam Krupa

Adam Edward Krupa

November 9, 1933 — November 9, 2020

2023 UMA Hall of Fame Inductee

Adam Krupa Biography 

The Ukrainian Musicians Association is proud to induct Adam Krupa into the Ukrainian Musicians Hall of Fame. 

 

 Adam was born in 1943 at Lake Audy, Manitoba to Mike Krupa and Mary Wasylenko. He was the 2nd youngest of 8 children, and a very gifted fiddle player with an incredible ear for music. At an early age, the word spread through out the community how talented he really was! Soon there were requests asking him to play at functions, so the first group he formed became known as “The Prairie Troubadours”. They were selected as the only band to play dances at the Sandy Lake North Hall when the committee needed to pay off the debt for their newly built hall. The band’s pay was $20 dollars each at the end of every job, which was considered a fair wage at that time. The Troubadours played for 4 years.  

 

The next band Adam formed was known as “The Trail Riders”. With this group, Adam recorded his first album entitled “The Trail Riders”. For this recording Adam played 3 of his own compositions. One of those numbers, The Trail Riders Polka, became very popular, and has been copied by many bands.  

 

Adam enjoyed displaying his mastery of the fiddle, including several fiddling contests on CKX TV, and was also featured on CJGX, Yorkton’s TV Talent Show.  

 

Now when Adam had a booking to play for a very large Ukrainian wedding in Sandy Lake, he called upon Pat Lamb to play the accordion for that night. Pat, at that time was in nurses training. But before long, Adam and Pat started playing jobs together, dating, and were married in 1969.  

 

 

Pat’s dad was the famous Peter Lamb, an excellent fiddler in his own right, so Adam was considered the competition! When Pat was growing up, Pat jokes she came up with a unique way to eliminate the competition…..“I married him!!!” she says. 

 

Adam and Pat formed the group “Northwind,” and played many dances and weddings for 7 successful years. In fact the last year before retiring, the band had 6 bookings for Ukrainian New Year’s, better known as Malanka. The various towns, Erickson to Brandon, to Sandy Lake, all changed their dates to have “The Northwind Band” play for their New Year’s Celebration. Also at that time, Pat’s dad, Peter Lamb, was still playing, and she recalls that many a night after both groups finished performing at different venues, they would meet up in Oakburn in the early morning hours to a big pot of borscht prepared by Pat’s mom. 

 

In 2015, Adam was presented with “The Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Ukrainian Musicians Association. Adam passed away in 2020 leaving a legacy and his composition “Trail Riders Polka” for everyone to remember him by.  

 

Adam Krupa… a gifted musician and composer…..Vichnya Pamyat! 


 

**  2015 Lifetime Achievement Award  **

Adam was born at Lake Audy, Manitoba.

His first fiddle was worth $12.00, bought by his brother Mike.

Adam started playing by ear at age 12 and his first number was “You Are My Sunshine”.

From then on he played to every record he heard from Andy DeJarlais, Ward Allen, Don Messer, Tommy Buick and Jim Gregrash who happened to be Adam's neighbor.

Adam started his first band – a 3 piece – known as the "Prairie Troubadours" and played for 5 years.


Recorded as lead Fiddle under “The Trail Riders”.

Adam needed an accordion player for a wedding in Sandy Lake, MB so he phoned Pat Lamb to fill in.

They began dating and married 2 years later.

They formed the band “Adam Krupa & Northwind” and played for many years.


Peacefully on November 24, 2020, Adam passed away at home with his wife by his side.  Adam leaves behind Pat (nee Lamb), his wife of 51 years along with his daughter Darla Caligiuri and husband Tony with grandsons Caden and Colby, his son Dean Krupa and wife Jennifer with granddaughters Kamryn, Grace and Finley. He is also survived by a large extended family including a sister, two brother-in-laws, 4 sister-in-laws and many nieces and nephews.


Adam was born at Lake Audy, Manitoba in 1933 to Mike Krupa and Mary Wasylenko, the second youngest of nine children. He walked to a single room school every day through arduous conditions and after school, his priorities were hunting, trapping and fishing to supply the family with food as his father had passed away when Adam was three years old. He moved to Winnipeg at age 19 and worked at the Simmons Bedding Company for several years, but the saying that “you can’t take the country out of the boy” was very true for Adam as he returned to the homestead and began raising cattle. He was skilled and resourceful in many ways: doing his own veterinary work with the cattle, building anything and everything, repairing his own machinery…whatever it took to keep the farm operational. He worked hard and long days and sacrificed greatly all of his working life.


Adam was a gifted fiddle player who was self-taught from an early age and was well-known throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northwestern Ontario. He had an incredible ear for music and could play a tune exactly as he heard it. He composed his own original fiddle tunes and recorded an album that is still played today on local Manitoba radio stations. He was inducted into the Ukrainian Musician’s Hall of Fame and was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. He started a few bands and played many weddings, socials and dances over the years. It was through playing those dances that he met Pat. He needed an accordion player in the band and called on Pat to fill in the spot. After several dances, they started dating and were married in 1969. That band named “Adam Krupa and Northwind” continued for a great number of years.


He thoroughly enjoyed hunting and fishing but his greatest joy was spending time with his children and grandchildren. He was very proud of his children’s achievements and enjoyed watching his grandchildren grow up. He also had a green thumb and loved gardening. He loved to visit with friends and family often the fiddle would come out during those times for a jam session.


He was a kind, honest to a fault, generous and gentle man who will be greatly missed by all that knew and loved him.


In 2002 Adam and Pat retired from playing and moved to Cochrane Alberta.
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