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| Music of Ukraine | ||||
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Pop music in Ukraine is Western influenced pop music in its various forms that has been growing in popularity in Ukraine since the 1960s.
The 1970s saw the emergence of a number of folk rock groups in Ukraine. One of the most prominent was a group known as Kobza which included 2 electric banduras. It began as an instrumental group playing folk inspired cool jazz. Other groups gradually appeared on the scene primarily from Western Ukraine such as Medikus and Smerichka.
Major contributions to Ukrainian pop music were made by songwriter Volodymyr Ivasiuk and singers Sofia Rotaru and Nazariy Yaremchuk.
In a development the KGB defined as "radio hooliganism", from the end of the sixties thousands of high-school and college students In Dnipropetrovsk became ham radio enthusiasts, recording and rebroadcasting western popular music. Annual KGB reports regularly drew a connection between anti-Soviet behavior and enthusiasm for western pop culture, but in 1980 conceded that all ideological and police efforts had failed to stem its spread. [1]
After the death of Volodymyr Ivasyuk in 1979, developments in Ukrainian pop music almost ground to a halt. Even established folk -rock groups such as Kobza began to sing in Russian. The songs of Ivasiuk were rarely heard on the radio and many of the established singers such as Sofia Rotaru began to sing in Russian exclusively.
Many Ukrainian musicians moved to Moscow, and various Moscow-based pop groups created songs in the Ukrainian language such as the group Samotvety – Verba.
Following Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms, a small number of pop acts such as Russya and Vechirnya Shkola came on the scene, performing in the genre Soviet italo disco-pop that was becoming popular throughout the USSR.
The 1990s saw an explosion in the Ukrainian Pop music world. This was brought on by the Chervona Ruta Festival which was held in Chernivtsi in 1989 and sponsored by the Kobza corporation and Pisennyi Vernisazh, and New Ukrainian Wave 92 (Kyiv) sponsored and produced by the Rostyslav - Show Agency. At the end of the 80's it was considered that Ukrainian language based rock would not be influential, but the sponsoring of an exclusively Ukrainian-language music festival did much to change this perception. Music groups that came to prominence at this time were:
In the 1990s Ukrainian music was still growing in popularity. Green Grey was by far the most popular trip hop group in the country and the first Ukrainian band that was endorsed by Pepsi. The band did many concerts internationally. At the end of the 90's the most popular Ukrainian pop singer among teenagers was Yurko Yurchenko. Many compared the level of fanaticism among the visitors of his concerts with the band "The Beatles".
In recent times folkloric elements have made a resurgence in modern Ukrainian pop music. Hutsul folk melodies, rhythms and dance moves were used by Ruslana, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
Ukrainian pop and folk music rose in popularity around the world with groups like Vopli Vidoplyasova, Viy and Okean Elzy.
The group Kazaky became one of Ukraine's first outfits to achieve a degree of international recognition only weeks after its constitution in 2010 by relying on the impact of its video through the internet.
Despite the deteriorated relations between Ukraine and Russia in 2016, new Ukrainian bands achieved Russian charts success. The wave of Ukrainian artists making Russian chart success has been labeled "UkrPop". [2] Since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Okean Elzy and BoomBox stopped performing in Russia, [2] but they were one of the few Ukrainian artists to do so. [2] Most tried to avoid making political statements and continued to perform in Russia. [2] Ukrainian artists and bands with rising success in the 2010s include Maruv, Kazka and The Hardkiss.
In 2016, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time, this time with Jamala's song 1944, which was partly sung in Crimean Tatar.
On 8 November 2018, a law came into force that mandated Ukrainian radio stations to broadcast no less than 35% of songs in Ukrainian. If 60% of songs are played in the official languages of the European Union, then 25% is the minimum. [3] [4] [5]
Russian pop (Russian : Русская попса, Russkaya popsa; Russian : Русская эстрада, Russkaya estrada) has arguably been the leading music style in Ukraine, [6] post-Soviet countries and Russian diaspora. Ukraine has the biggest Russian diaspora (see Russians in Ukraine). In the Soviet Union, Ukraine used to produce up to half of all Russian speaking pop singers in the World. [7] Among the biggest music promoters in Ukraine is Filip Kirkorov and Arkadiy Ukupnik. [7]
Many singers in Ukraine sing in both Russian and Ukrainian languages.
Ukrainian rock bands include Braty Hadiukiny/Брати Гадюкіни, Komu Vnyz, Plach Yeremiyi/Плач Єремії, Taras Petrynenko, Viy, Vopli Vidoplyasova, Yurcash, Burning Hearts and others. Opalnyi Prynz/Opalni Prinz/Опальний Принц was, perhaps, the most influential Rock band in the late 80's.[ citation needed ] Okean Elzy, featuring Slava Vakarchuk has long been among the most popular bands of Ukrainian pop-rock, and has had some success abroad. The pop-singer Ruslana also uses some elements of rock in her work. The Hardkiss - one of the outstanding Ukrainian indie-bands. Interesting in rock music is Skryabin.
The Rock legends of Ukraine is a series of compilations of the best works of known Ukrainian rock groups.
New wave of rock music in Ukraine is represented by such bands as TOL, Skinhate (Hardcore), Flëur, Ya i Drug Moi Gruzovik, Snuff, Pictures Inside Me, Fakultet (New Metal), S.K.A.Y. (Pop rock), Marakesh (Alternative rock), Holy Blood (Folk metal), Kara, FACTOR 150 (Christian Metalcore), Robots Don't Cry (Punk rock), Opozitsiya, xDeviantx, E42, The Homebodies, Jinjer (Metalcore / Prog Metal), etc.
Influenced by their Norwegian counterparts, Black Metal bands include Nokturnal Mortum, Lucifugum, Drudkh, Hate Forest, Astrofaes, Holy Blood, Blood of Kingu, Raventale, Lutomysl and Dub Buk.
Pikardiyska Tertsiya, Mensound
Viktor Morozov, Andriy Panchyshyn, Eduard Drach. Юрко Юрченко
The band Mandry is known for fusing traditional Ukrainian music with rock, blues, reggae and chansons.
One of the prominent groups is Tanok Na Maydani Kongo ("The Dance on the Congo Square") which raps in the Ukrainian language (specifically the Slobozhanshchyna dialect) and mix hip hop with indigenous Ukrainian elements. Most Hip-hop in Ukraine is however in Russian.
Ukraine's 2005 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, GreenJolly's "Together We Are Many", had recently been the unofficial anthem of the Orange Revolution. Eurovision required the lyrics be changed for the contest version because of rules against political content.
Recently a new artist named Vova zi Lvova (literally "Vova (Volodymyr) from Lviv"), part of a collective known as Chorne ta Bile ("Black and White"), has entered onto the Ukrainian hip hop scene, gaining attention not only because of his serious lyrics (compared to groups such as TNMK, which frequently sing humorous or joke songs) but also because of his unique usage of the Ukrainian language in his lyrics.
Pop music in the Ukrainian diaspora took off in the mid sixties in Western Canada with cover recordings by the Drifters 5 of Beatles tunes. They were followed by performers such as Mikey and Bunny. In the 1970s Montreal positioned itself as a major centre for Ukrainian Diaspora pop music mainly through the efforts of Bohdan Tymyc and his Yevshan corporation. Yevshan released numerous recordings by Zabava bands such as Ukrainian-Canadian bands Rushnychok and Syny Stepiv. It is through Yevshan that Luba Kovalchuk recorded her first recordings and started her rise through an album called Zoria (Album cover by Maurice Prokaziuk).
Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello mixes traditional Roma music of Ukraine with punk, ska, and jazz. [8]
Other musicians of the Ukrainian diaspora include:
Ukrainian music covers diverse and multiple component elements of the music that is found in the Western and Eastern musical civilization. It also has a very strong indigenous Slavic and Christian uniqueness whose elements were used among the areas that surround modern Ukraine.
Zdob și Zdub is a Moldovan folk punk band, based in Chișinău. The band represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21 May 2005, finishing 6th. They also represented Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, on 14 May 2011, finishing 12th, and represented Moldova again, in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, on 14 May 2022, finishing 7th. The band is often referred to by its fans as ZSZ. To date, Zdob si Zdub are the only artists to have qualified from a Eurovision Song Contest semi-final three times.
"Wild Dances" is a song composed and recorded by Ukrainian singer-songwriter Ruslana, with lyrics by herself, Oleksandr Ksenofontov, Jamie Maher, Michael Fayne, and Sherena Dugani. It represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, held in Istanbul, resulting in the country's first win at the contest.
Sofiia Mykhailivna Yevdokymenko-Rotaru, known simply as Sofia Rotaru, is a Ukrainian pop singer of Romanian origin.
Ukrainian rock is rock music from Ukraine.
Okean Elzy is a Ukrainian rock band. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. It is the most famous and successful Ukrainian music band. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received FUZZ Magazine music awards for "Best rock act".
Vopli Vidopliassova, also shortened to VV (ВВ), is a Ukrainian rock band. It was created in 1986 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. The leader of the band is singer Oleh Skrypka. Vopli Vidopliasova are the founders of Ukrainian rock-n-roll style and neo-ethnic rock. They first sang Ukrainian rock outside Ukraine. Their influences include folk, patriotic songs, punk, hard rock, heavy metal and, most recently, electronic music.
"Chervona Ruta" is a popular Ukrainian song written by Volodymyr Ivasyuk in 1968 and performed by many singers. Due to its wide popularity, Chervona Ruta is widely considered a Ukrainian folk song. It is named after a mythological flower, the chervona ruta, which if found turning a red colour by a young girl, was meant to bring happiness in love.
Sopilka is a name applied to a variety of woodwind instruments of the flute family used by Ukrainian folk instrumentalists. Sopilka most commonly refers to a fife made of a variety of materials and has six to ten finger holes. The term is also used to describe a related set of folk instruments similar to recorder, incorporating a fipple and having a constricted end.
People's Artist of Ukraine is an honorary title awarded by the government of Ukraine. It is the highest title awarded to outstanding performing artists whose merits are exceptional in the sphere of the development of the performing arts, including theatre, music, dance, circus, and cinema. For visual arts, there is a separate title.
Oleh Suk is a Ukrainian rock musician, specializing in the bass guitar.
Oleh Yuriyovych Skrypka is a Ukrainian musician, vocalist, composer, and leader of the group Vopli Vidoplyasova.
Sofia Mikhaylivna Tarasova is a singer, actress and former member of the Ukrainian girl group Nu Virgos. She represented Ukraine at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013, with the song "We Are One", placing 2nd overall with 121 points.
Braty Hadiukiny, or simply Hady is a Ukrainian rock band from Lviv, one of the most successful Ukrainian bands of Soviet times. The band's musical style combines different genres such as rock'n'roll, blues, punk, reggae, funk and folk. Ironic song lyrics contain a lot of local vernacularisms, slang and surzhyk. The name translates as "Hadyukin Brothers", where the fictional last name Hadyukin is derived from the word hadyuka, or "viper". The abbreviation literally means "snakes"
Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko, known mononymously as Ruslana, is a Ukrainian singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, actress, activist, and former politician. She is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. She is also a former MP serving as deputy in the Ukrainian parliament for the Our Ukraine Party. Ruslana was the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Ukraine in 2004–2005. She is recognized as the most successful Ukrainian female solo artist internationally and was included in the top 10 most influential women of 2013 by the Forbes magazine. The U.S. Secretary of State honored her with the International Women of Courage Award in March, 2014. She has been named an honorary citizen of her hometown Lviv and was nominated to receive the title Hero of Ukraine.
The Hardkiss is a Ukrainian rock band formed in 2011, consisting of Julia Sanina (vocals), Valeriy Bebko (guitar), Klym Lysiuk (bass), and Yevhen Kibeliev (drums). They participated in the Ukrainian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Helpless", placing second in the final. To date, the Hardkiss has released four studio albums, one EP, one live album, and numerous singles.
Yevhen Halych is a Ukrainian rock musician, TV host, DJ and the frontman of Ukrainian rock band O.Torvald.
"I Believe in U" is a song written and performed by Ukrainian singer Jamala. The song was presented on 12 May 2017 in Kyiv in Palace of Sports at the concert of the singer. It was released as a digital download on 14 May 2017 by Enjoy! Records.
Yuliia Oleksandrivna Bebko, professionally known as Julia Sanina, is a Ukrainian singer and the front woman of the Ukrainian alternative rock band The Hardkiss.
Yana Oleksandrivna Shemaieva, known professionally as Jerry Heil, is a Ukrainian singer, songwriter and YouTuber. She began her career after launching her YouTube channel in 2012, publishing vlogs and musical covers.
Ukrainian ethnomusocological resources:
