Pop music in Ukraine

Pop music in Ukraine is Western influenced pop music in its various forms that has been growing in popularity in Ukraine since the 1960s.

Decades

1970s

The 1970s saw the emergence of a number of folk rock groups. One of the most prominent was a group known as Kobza which included 2 electric banduras. Initially it started off as an instrumental group playing folk inspired cool jazz. Other groups gradually appeared on the scene primarily from Western Ukraine such as Medikus, Smerichka. Major contributions were made by song writer Volodymyr Ivasiuk and singer Sofia Rotaru and Nazariy Yaremchuk.

1980s

After the tragic death of V. Ivasiuk in 1978, 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 had a pop songs in the Ukrainian language such as the group Samotvety - Verba.

1990s

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 - New Ukrainian Wave 92 (Kyiv) sponsored / producing by the Rostyslav - Show Agency. At the end of the 80's it was considered that Ukrainian language based rock would not be effective. The sponsoring of a Ukrainian only festival did much to change this perception. Music groups (hoort) that came to prominence were:

In the 1900s Ukrainian music in itself was not as popular as it is in this day. Green Grey was by far the most popular trip hop group in the country. Green Grey was the first Ukrainian band that was endorsed by Pepsi. The band did many concerts internationally.

2000s

Ruslana performing Wild Dances at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

In recent times folkloric elements have made a resurgence in modern Ukrainian pop music. Hutsul folk melodies, rhythms and dance moves were used by the Ruslana, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.

Okean Elzy

Recent developments

One of the most important and truly original musicians to come out of Ukraine in recent years is the ultra-avantgarde folk singer and harmonium player Mariana Sadovska.

Ukrainian pop and folk music arose with the international popularity of groups like Vopli Vidoplyasova, Viy, Okean Elzy, et al.

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.

By November 2018 Ukrainian radio stations must broadcast no less than 35% of songs in Ukrainian or if it plays 60% of its songs in the official languages of the European Union then 25%.[1][2]

Styles

Rock

Ukrainian rock bands include Braty Hadiukiny/Брати Гадюкіни, Komu Vnyz, Plach Yeremiyi/Плач Єремії, Taras Petrynenko, Viy, Vopli Vidoplyasova, *Burning Hearts and others. Opalnyi Prynz/Opalni Prinz/Опальний Принц was, perhaps, the most influential Rock band in the late 80's. 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, etc.

Black Metal

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.

A Cappella vocal groups

DakhDaughters musical band performing in the genre "freak-cabaret" and theatrical performances.

Pikardiyska Tertsiya, Mensound

Singer-songwriter

Viktor Morozov, Andriy Panchyshyn, Eduard Drach.

Fusion groups

The band Mandry is known for fusing traditional Ukrainian music with rock, blues, reggae and chansons.

Hip-hop

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.

Music of the Ukrainian Diaspora

Gogol Bordello

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 Rushnychok, Syny stepiv. It is through Yevshan that Luba Kovalchuk recorded here first recordings and started her rise through an album called Zoria (Album cover by Maurice Prokaziuk).

Ukrainian Labels

References

  1. ↑ Ukraine imposes language quotas for radio playlists, BBC News (8 November 2016)
  2. ↑ Special quotas for radio stations to promote Ukrainian songs enforced today, UNIAN (7 November 2016)

Ukrainian ethnomusocological resources:

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